Quiet house

My littlest man starts first grade tomorrow. His brother will go into 10th. I'm going to come home from dropping them off, and cry...

Where did the time go? It's just like Bert sings to the always-too-busy father in Mary Poppins,

You've got to grind, grind, grind
At that grindstone
Though child'ood slips like sand through a sieve
And all too soon they've up and grown
And then they've flown
And it's too late for you to give
Just that spoonful of sugar
To 'elp the medicine go down...

I've always tried to savor my kids' childhood. And having Noah 10 years after the "gang" bought me more Mommy time. But eventually, all good things must come to an end.

I understand grandchildren are very rewarding...

My Biggest Achievement to Date

Tonight, as the sun was setting, and cicadas were still buzzing, I sat swinging and reading my Bible at a beloved nearby park. This park has a gorgeous view of the river and the city across the river. My mom took me there as a newborn while my big sisters ran and played. David took me there when we were dating, and eventually, we took our little ones there. So it seemed an appropriate place for me to do something special. As Noah ran about and played, I swung on a wooden swing overlooking the river, and finished the last verses of Malachi, thus finishing reading the Bible all the way through. I had started in 1997 or 1998, in Matthew, and read through the NT, then started the OT. And now I'm done!

I think I'll start in the the OT again to read through the second time. Also, now that I've read through once, I look forward to just poking around, reading by subject, etc. In fact, a topical study is what is in order, and some memorizing too.

Returing Rebekah to college, sight-seeing

David and I drove Rebekah back to college yesterday. It's funny. It wasn't like the first time we took her there as a freshmen. She's a junior now. No helping her unpack her things, make her bed and such. No long lingering moments before we pulled out. No tears. Just, "Oh my word! Why did you bring all this?" and then dumping it on the floor of her room. Then we took her out for a bite, and hugged and drove off.

Josh starts next week. He'll be a freshman. I wonder if I'll cry. I know he won't! He's been very excited to start college. He'll be a biology major, the first leg to becoming a doctor.

On our way home from dropping Rebekah, David and I took a detour. Realizing that we were not really "needed" at home until really, Monday, we decided to visit Luray Caverns. And then, to be especially carefree, we took Skyline Drive home for a while.

The Caverns were amazing. We'd last seen them in 1989, with David's parents. I went from cavern to cavern, with that "wow..." look on my face pretty much the whole time. It was great to go with David, as he has so many geological little facts tucked into his mind. He was my personal tour guide.

The Skyline Drive was equally beautiful. We would have had to pay $15 to enter it at the Luray area, but the gaurd took pity on us, and let us go free. This was around the time he heard me tell David, "Well, we only had $12 so we'll have to do a U-turn." I'm so glad we did go. We stopped about 7 times to look and chat about what we saw. We saw

3 different kids of butterflies
a deer walking alond the road
a tiny humming birb, which we at first thought was a large bee
amazing mountain ranges

My favorite name for a view was Gooney Manor Run. Gooney Manor. Now that's a study in opposites if ever I heard one. Gooney: goofy, dumb, etc. Manor: wealthy, upper class. I though that was funny. Here's a view from Gooney Run Overlook and Signal (something?) Overlook:















What a nice detour. And the weather was lovely, 74 degrees. What a nice little outing.

Cape May

We returned yesterday from a lovely vacation in Cape May, NJ. My husband's parents took us, and his sister was along too.

We were able to hit the beach twice, climb Cape May's lighthouse ( just David, Noah, and me), go on a trolley tour, play 2 games of miniature golf, buy fudge, shop, and eat out way TOO many times. (It was yummy, but I can feel my fat cells stretching even as I type.)

David gave me a special present at the top of the lighthouse: a lovely anniversary diamond ring. What a guy! We've been married 23 years. Here's a picture, taken from the lighthouse.


















On our last day there, something happened that I knew would go down in our family's record of "Remember When's." Every family has them. They come in two varieties, positive and negative. Funny, but there are usually ten times more negative than positive such memories...

This was not a major one, but I thought it funny, and knew it wasn destined to be remembered. David and I had been shopping, with only Noah, in a store that we come back to twice. (The big kids were shopping elswhere.) We eyed the stained glass panels, trying to decide if and which one we'd like for our family room picture window. There was also a large wooden whale that David had shown me last time in. He thought it would look great in Noah's newly painted, nautical-themed bedroom. The thing was so big, I rejected it outright at first viewing. But now, well, I don't know, I was pretty starry-eyed, with that ring and all... I said yes. I also decided on a stained glass panel.

Now this whale was about five feet long, 20" high at the highest part, and about 2" thick. It's meant to be hung from a ceiling or on a wall. As we lugged our loot to the car, I realized, with a sheepish snicker, that the three kids in the back would have to ride home with this thing across their laps. We drove to pick them up, fussed about what was breakable in the car and where it was, and then introdued them to "Moby Dick," as he was immediately named, as in, "What? We have to ride all the way home with Moby Dick there on our laps?!" It wasn't so bad, as it rested on the two outer arm rests, and was about 4" off the kids' laps. Still it was awkward. And David was right, it's going to look great.

Chocolate Cake

I have discovered the best recipe for chocolate cake ever. Actually, my daughter, Sarah Jane found it first, but this is a variation of it. I was going to make SJ's, the one on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa, for my brother's 40th birthday last week. But there wasn't enough cocoa. I went to the store to buy more and all they had was Special Dark Hershey's Cocoa. This is just a gimmick, I thought, Cocoa is cocoa. They're just getting in on this dark-chocolate-is-good-for-you bit. Well, it was different. And in this recipe - better! I compared the cake recipes on the backs of these boxes, and they were identical. I don't understand it, but there it is.


I used store-bought frosting, Whipped Chocolate or such, and it went great with the cake. This week, however I used an icing that I would call a gritty flop. It was called Creamy Vanilla Icing. Don't use it. It's one of those cooked icings. No matter how I beat it to dissolve the granulated sugar, it was still gritty when I served it. This is the link to it:



http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,166,159183-249206,00.html



My family was great about it, telling me that the "cake was great!" But as I scraped dishes afterwards, I noticed a large amount of icing left behind...

Is this a dream?

I love how the simple things in life can make a child so happy. Since it was such a nice evening, I told Noah I'd take him to the local park. He wanted to bring his big beach shovel along to dig in the sandbox. I think this was a big deal to him. As we walked to the park, he held my hand, and asked, "Is this a dream?" I knew he was looking surprised to be using that big shovel, and I assured him, "No, it' not - we're really doing this!"

Josh is in the process of painting Noah's room. It's going to have a nautical look, as Noah likes pirate ships. So we started with water (the variegated blue carpet). I thought sand would be a good color to feel like the sea. Then Josh decided to make the base board brown, use sand on the wall under the chair rail, dark bluefor the chair rail, and sky blue above the chair rail. So, besides the carpet, the room should feel like a ship, which the sky beyond. I hope it works out that way.

Time for bed. Busy day tomorrow.

Noah humming

Noah is walking around the house humming parts of "Angel of Music" from Phantom of the Opera. I love to watch him playing in his own little world and listen to his little voice humming away on key the happy parts of a song he heard only a few times. How sweet that he found it interesting enough to retain for humming.

My children are growing up so quickly! I was a young mom surrounded by little ones just a short time ago. And now they are so grown. I'm very glad we still have this one little boy left, only six years old. I think God knew I needed just one more.