Our visit to Cleveland Park

We have just about the greatest little park here in town. Cleveland Park used to be a haven for hoods and drug dealers but the city turned it around a few years ago and it is wonderful! There's a lovely little lake with ducks to feed, a huge playground as well as a miniature train that circles the park. We met our friends the Hullinger's there this morning and had a great time, even though it was overcast and sprinkling on and off.

The highlight of visiting Cleveland Park is always riding the train, but today was special because the conductor let Cady ride up front with him and "drive". She was absolutely thrilled and honked the horn so much that a less kindly old man may have lost his patience.

Twilight and Brigham Young

The past couple weeks have felt long to me. I know it's because all I was noticing was the hard things about motherhood. I just felt tired of being bossed around (Cady), resisted (Cady), bitten, screamed at and hit (all 3 Maddy). Exhausted. Going through the motions. It's like I knew I was not in a good place but I didn't know how to fix it.

Two days ago, I checked out mentally for the day after I checked out New Moon from the library, the second book in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I started reading during naptime and finished by 10:30 that night. I cannot put those books down ... they are sooooooo good and now I'm regretting that I didn't put the next one on hold at the library already!!

So after a day of indulging in mental escapism, I knew it was back to business. And I discovered something pretty simple but pretty profound. It's related to a quote by Brigham Young. Referring to prayer, he said once "If you don't feel like praying, get down on your knees and pray 'til you feel like praying!" Well, I discovered yesterday that the same thing applies to playing with my children. If I don't feel like getting down on the floor and playing with them, then I'd better get down on the floor and play with them until I feel like playing!! And it took a while but I broke through the wall and boy, am I glad I did.

I did a stupid thing!

It's one of those things where I debated what to do and now I realize, as Maddy is screaming upstairs, that I made the WRONG choice.

This is what happened. Ray took Cady out after dinner, so I'm home with just Maddy. After bath-time, she insisted upon putting her shoes back on (what can I say ... Maddy is all girl, she loves purses and shoes!). So I read her some books and put her to bed without the usual loud interruptions from her older sister.

Ahhh. It was so nice.

After I closed her door, I was cleaning up and realized, as I was collecting shoes and clothes, that I had put Maddy down with her shoes on. I paused and thought, "hmmm, what should I do? Let her sleep all night with shoes on or go in a take them off?" Well, I went in, interrupted her quiet pre-sleep zoning out and took off her shoes and slipped back out. Bad move. The screaming began. I'm not just talking fussing, but SCREAMING!! Oh well, next time I put my kid down with shoes on, I'll take 'em off in the morning!!

6-word memior

I was tagged 2 months ago by my friend Robin (Checketts) Chapman and it has taken me that long to come up with something that I felt was fitting, yet stayed within the 6 word guideline. No, I didn't forget, Robin!! So this is it: Loyal to God, family, and friends.

I may not be perfect at it yet, but loyalty and fulfilling commitments are things that I take very seriously and it drives me batty when other people don't. If you say you're going to call a friend, CALL THEM!! (pet peeve) I recently found out that, several years ago, I had deeply hurt one of my dearest friends from high school through some inadvertently thoughtless actions on my part. I felt SOOOO bad. I want so very much to be a good friend, daughter, wife, mother, aunt, and daughter of God. I'm not there yet but I'm trying.

Here are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a picture if you want.
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
4. Tag at least five more blogs with links.
5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

I tag Paige, Creedence, Kate L., Hermana Cindy, and Lori Cavin. Have fun, girls!

Good news and a good book

For those of you who have been following the saga of our two homes and our efforts to sell one of the darn things for years now, you will be happy to know that our home in Virginia Beach has rented to a Naval officer and his family. Renting was not our preference but it's certainly preferable to foreclosing in these dire times, isn't it?!? So they move in on Saturday and we will then be back to paying one mortgage ... what bliss!!!

The reason that I'm posting this so late at night is that I have been reading a book today that I could barely put down, except for necessities like feeding my children. I got totally immersed in it! I even let Cady watch more Dora than usual after Maddy had gone to bed so that I could read in peace!! It's called Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. I checked it out from the library this morning and just finished it and it's over 300 pages. OK, I do tend to skim when a book is really good and I just want to find out what's going to happen but it has been quite a while since I read a book that I couldn't put down! Love and murder in the Jim Crow South ... good stuff.

Fun at the family reunion

This past weekend was the Mechling Family Reunion and, coming from someone with ONE first cousin on my mother's side and only a few more on the other, IT WAS SO FUN!! Family, fun and lots of food ... what more could you want?

There were about 25 adults and almost 10 children under the age of 8, with most clustered in the 2 - 4 age range. Cady's favorite new vocabulary word is definitely "cousins"!! There were a few pre-planned children's activities like sidewalk painting and bubbles, but they mostly enjoyed driving around in the fleet of mini-cars available for their use. After driving up into a flower bed once, Cady did pretty well and Maddy was usually a willing passenger!

We parents got in on the fun when it came to the boating activities. Cady and I rode the tube together and she even got to drive the boat for a few minutes ... thanks Uncle Ron! Ray supervised the construction of Cady's first 'Smore and it was a big hit! Lucky for you that I'm not posting any pictures of those activities because I guar-on-TEE you that our children are much more photogenic than we are!

Farewell to G' Weezie and Daddy Ray

Some people may think it a terrible thing to have their in-laws visit for 2 weeks but I consider myself lucky to NOT be one of those people!! Ray's parents left today after an on-and-off visit of over 2 weeks and I AM SAD!! Although we didn't see a whole lot of Daddy Ray (he was working hard from sunup to sundown at the print shop), we got to spend lots and lots of time with Grandma Weezie!

We didn't do much out of the ordinary but it's always MORE fun with Grandma along. Cady and Maddy enjoyed having her at story time at the library, at the neighborhood park and shopping for goodies at the dollar store. Mommy enjoyed all of that, as well as conversations with an adult and all the unsolicited (but very welcome) help around the house.

We love you, Louise!

Comments from Cady

Cady was perhaps a bit of a "late talker" but she sure is making up for it now. She is quite the chatty girl ... it's like having a running commentary on our life from a 3-year old's point of view.

Lately, she has said some things that I thought needed to be remembered ...

"I like ants because I die them."
(she hasn't really grasped the difference in usage between "kill" and "die".)


After a frustrating tooth-brushing episode, I make the mistake of asking,
"Cady, do you like to make Mommy mad?"
She, in total seriousness, replies, "yes."
Great. She's only 3.

We have been trying to teach Cady the concept of obedience, to us, to God, and that when you obey, you feel happy. Obviously, we need to adjust our teaching techniques because she recently stated, "You obey, then you die." Hmmmm.

Ray's personal favorite: "Dammit." That would be from our daughter, not from him. Yes, she said that today after trying to put an especially heavy piggy bank up on the table. After swallowing my laughter, I tried to emphasize that that is not a nice word. Cady pondered and asked, "you mean, like 'butt'?"

Before you begin to think that Cady is a profane little girl obsessed with death, let me add that this is also the girl who declares, "I love my little sister. She's my best friend" and tenderly tells me she loves me when we snuggle in bed. She's a wonderful, bright and fun girl and I love her dearly.

Summer Dayz

Boy oh boy, these pictures say it all ... well, almost. Yesterday was one of those wonderful summer days, sunny, warm but not too humid, which is rare in South Carolina. After naptime, we hooked up the Elmo sprinkler and had some fun!! There's just something that kids love about running through a sprinkler!! When they were ready for a break, we sat down on the steps for some refreshing Italian ice. It was one of those moments in time when I actually p a u s e d and appreciated the simplicity of it, and the miracle of Cady and Maddy playing together for a rather extended period of time! It was absolutely beautiful.