Strange Noises

There's this thing about kids in the house - the weird noises. Even though we try to keep toys with batteries out of the house, they find their way in. Sometimes, randomly out of nowhere, a toy on the floor or in the toybox will feel neglected and remind us that its still alive and kicking... or singing or whistling or wheels rolling. It still startles me sometimes.

These poor toys have been given so much attention and in the process been over-loved. And then one day they're abandoned. And I understand why they suddenly call out in hopes that someone will remember them. Their only hope is to find another child to love them and play with them. Time to go purge the kids' closets and toyboxes to clear out the old stuff!

Wild Animals

As I was just telling Denise... when the kids go without their naps you might as well just lock the doors to the cages and let the wild animals go crazy inside. Any attempts at encouraging civilized behavior fall on deaf ears. And enforcing the rules only causes more chaos.

The real debate of the situaiton lies right here. I can't let them just run wild and disregard all the rules and expectations. But they're incapable of dealing with the slightest stress and melt down at every opportunity. The question is - nap or no nap? Put them to bed now and who knows if they'll sleep tonight? Deal with the crabby chaos and count down the minutes until bedtime? Today, I vote for the nap. Yes its 6:30 p.m. and this will mess up the schedule later tonight. But I put up with it for 3 hours now and I just can't take it anymore!

Now - how to get the boy to sleep without a royal struggle? The Shaggy Dog on tv, a comfy pillow on the couch... He's been siting there for about 10 minutes and just laid down. My guess is he'll be out within the next three minutes!

Scaffolding

by Seamus Heaney

Masons, when they start upon a building,
Are careful to test out the scaffolding;

Make sure that planks won't slip at busy points,
Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.

And yet all this comes down when the job's done,
Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.

So if, my dear, there sometimes seems to be
Old bridges breaking between you and me,

Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall,
Confident that we have built our wall.

********************

David, today is our fifth anniversary.

I'm proud of you and me, proud of what we've done in the last five years. We work together during the day to build the business in which we've both invested so much time. We work together in the evenings and weekends to build the family we've created together. We've definitely had our rough times. But the good has outweighed the bad and we've come out stronger for every struggle we've endured.

You're an amazing man and I want the world to know it! You never let me go to bed angry, you make me laugh when I'm sad, you take care of me and provide for our family. Its been so much fun making this house into a home and growing our family from you and me to include two more people who have their share of both of us in them. In their faces, and their personalities.

Remember when I first moved in with you and the yard was nothing but 3 foot tall weeds? And we mowed down the weeds and tilled and hauled fill and topsoil around and planted grass seed and hoped it would grow? And it did.

And remember the next year when we dug up the grass to put shrubs in? And the whole time I was thinking - we put so much work into growing this grass and now we're breaking our backs to dig it up. And we put in shrubs and flowers and they grew.

And later we dug up the yard more to put in the patio and deck and flowers and a tree.

Honey, when I was growing up I always hated yard work and helping with home improvement projects. But with you its always been a great adventure that we get to do together. I love working on projects together. The tiller before we had grass - was it 100 degrees that day? The trencher to dig the trench to bury the drain pipe but the machine almost buried itself. The auger to dig holes for the deck ("Let go of it!" "I can't! My hand is buried under the handle!" Another one that almost buried itself). The tamper to pack down the sand (that thing was a bucking bronco!) and the wet saw (good idea getting my dad to do it...), and the power rake and the aerrator (ANOTHER bucking bronco).

Remember making all our flower arrangements for the wedding and coming home to find the dog had eaten everything and spay painted his face green? Remember the day we brought Archer home? And Shelly? Remember where got each of the pots that now sit above our kitchen cabinets? And how great the walls and carpet looked before we had kids? ;)

We've been here in this home only a few years but already have so many great memories. And I know that there will be tough times ahead, that's what life will always bring. But I also know there will be lots of fun things and I can't wait to share them with you!

I love you so much. Happy Anniversary!