The Thick of It

There's an old Backyardigans episode where they keep singing, "Into the thick of it! Into the thick of it! Into the thick of it! ... But we can't see where we're going."

It's been on a catchy-little repeat in my head lately.

Mike and I were discussing this--the thick of it (specifically the thick of parenting) just the other night. 

"You know," I'd mused. "I really felt like those years when we had so many kids that were all so little was really the thick of parenting. But I don't know. Maybe we are more in the thick of it now. I mean so many little kids was really physically and emotionally exhausting. But in this stage there are just ... so many things! Older kids who are somewhat independent but still need help, grappling with decisions our kids make that we no longer fully control, kids wrecking cars, kids on our car insurance, younger kids still demanding so much, ..." and I went on for quite some time listing things that currently fall into the wide scope of our parenting.

It certainly wasn't nothing. 

And I don't really know if we were more "in the thick of it" when we had four kids under age five (and six others to boot) or more in the thick of it now. Perhaps it's just a different thick of it. But we are certainly in something. (Which I suppose should come as no surprise having opted to have 10 children. And yet ... I continue to be surprised. And to wonder a wee bit over all the information the Lord chooses to keep to Himself when He initially asks us to do certain things! Ha!)

Anywho. ...

A few bits of things:

Daisy, Goldie and I chanced upon a group of birders (birders!!!) (complete with their long lenses and binoculars) the other day! They were responding to reports (from whatever their birding sources might be) of a rare bird in the area, and they were kind enough to humor me bringing up our love of the Merlin Bird app and to even agree that the unusual bird it recently suggested I was hearing might truly have been that bird (as, according to one particularly friendly birder, it was migratory season and therefore a more likely time for rare birds to be passing through). 

I refrained from asking them if they were familiar with the "Costco Grackle"--a bird seen, from what I can tell, exclusively in the Costco parking lot.

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Jesse attempted to ride Pig the other day. I don't know what possessed him to do it, and, from what I could gather, he failed miserably, but I was proud of his prowess!

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Mette is determined to win "The Great American Award" in school this year. She's already memorized the Preamble to the Constitution, all 50 states, and the Gettysburg Address. (Isn't the Gettysburg address one of the most inspirational speeches ever given? It makes me want to weep wondering if we will ever again have presidents capable of such noble thought!)

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I mentioned car troubles in my paragraphs on "the thick of parenting" above. We have had just a ridiculous spate of them! It seems we cannot go so much as a week without someone denting something or breaking the AC, or getting a flat tire; and we've had numerous cars in the shop. This all seemed to culminate in my totaling our van a few weeks ago. (I also totaled another man's truck in the process. All my fault. Just turned right into someone I somehow didn't see.)

It was a very rattling experience. And I'm so glad everyone was OK! But ... I'm awfully sad about the van. For now we found an incredibly cheap 8-passenger vehicle that will do for the time being (though we have to take two cars even to church on Sunday as we often still have 9 of us together), but I miss being able to so freely fit all of us and all of our stuff! We have had this van since Jesse was a baby!

At least Shannon sent us consolation cookies afterwards. (Perhaps that is how we can account for Starling recently praying, "We thank thee that we had a good time in our car accident."?

Summersby:

Cute little stinkers on a Sunday morning:

A trip to AutoZone:

Twinning:

Loaded up with straw from Uncle Lynn:

Hans with Ellie. (At the start of the past several school years Hans has had to bring a bag filled with things that tell about him. He always includes this picture of the stuffed animal he's had since he was born.):

Starling seems to be loving school, but she also seems to be worn out and incredibly emotional. On the night of Abe's wedding for example, she began deeply sobbing on the drive home from the reception over the thought that maybe her car would be covered in shaving cream and what not (just like Abe and Kenya's was) someday. When we tried to reassure her that she didn't need to ever have that happen to her car, she wept, "But I want it to! It's beautiful but you guys won't like it!" She also sobbed piteously when we went to check on the house progress recently and saw that they had put mismatched windows in several bedrooms. She felt a) we should love the windows as they were and b) we were being mean to the workers by not loving them done incorrectly. 

Dear little soul:

Me and my into-the-thick-of-it partner:

Sheetrock going up and these two enjoying the view:

A sweet little picture Abe took of Hans after he'd given him his first pocketknife the other day:

Kids in School

The kids are all back in school:

Jesse and Anders take the bus some of the time, and some of the time Jesse drives. It's a bit strange not having Penny setting off with them anymore. (Hans was up at the crack of dawn--excited about the first day of school-- and so walked with me and the boys to their bus stop by Aunt Sarah's. He was fully ready--including having his backpack on--with still about 90 minutes before he and the rest of the younger kids would need to leave for their bus.)

Saying goodbye to the cats.

Mette requesting another front-door picture for the second day of school (after all, she did have two new shirts). (Note Hans sneaking in behind her.) 

Penny's first day of college! Like Goldie, she's now attending Utah State. I've never before had college kids living at home--coming and going with their odd, college, class schedules. It's strange having Goldie and Penny unexpectedly here and then not and then here again throughout the school day.

I have no picture of Goldie starting on this same day. Nor of Daisy starting her final year of her master's program down at BYU. But Abe and Kenya did text us first day photos. (Abe's first day of his master's and Kenya's start of her junior year--both at BYU.)

Things have not been quite what I supposed they would be so far. It's the first time in nearly 25 years that I have no little ones home with me during the bulk of the day (Starling was only gone until noon for kindergarten). But, as I mentioned, with Goldie and Penny's schedules, it's often that they are somewhat around--coming and going and what not. 

(In fact, after I returned from taking the kids to school on the first day, I walked into the house and was greeted with a big hug by Penny. "Oh!" she exclaimed frettingly. "Are you OK? All of your kids are gone!" I looked at her with an eyebrow raised and then motioned about me: Penny standing in front of me, Goldie and Daisy [who still had a week before needing to head back to Provo] lounging in the living room--their computers and blankets and books and what-have-you scattered about them. "It doesn't seem too much like my children are all gone," I commented. 

Since then it just seems the days have been full of ... well, not what I thought they would be, I guess?

Certainly I can do everything--errands, cleaning, etc. much more easily than I ever could with all of my babies and toddlers in tow. 

(How I recall hearing people say how busy they were--and how I would still be busy even when my kids were all fully grown--back when I had a house full of toddlers [and no older ones to help during the school days] and thinking, "You have forgotten what it is like to have tiny children. You might think you are busy, but you actually can do the things you need to do. You aren't stopping every other minute to change a diaper, or clean up spilled milk, or get someone a cup of water, or nurse a baby, or stop a fight. And you aren't accomplishing tasks and running errands with mess-making toddlers strewn about you, so don't pretend to an equal busyness!")

And that is still true.

But! I think I still somehow supposed that once my kids were in school, all of my time would be just ... mine for the taking? Is that what I thought? I must have.

I would: run (hmph--Achilles and knees continue to interfere with that), then complete projects, then study the scriptures deeply, then maybe do some family history work, and go to the temple, then plant flowers and practice the piano and develop new talents. Finally, I'd bake some cookies for the kids' return. 

I would not: be sitting in car shop waiting rooms; or trying to get Pig back in her old pen (and properly fed) when she'd escaped her new pen (and with it the feed and water boxes that were staked so she wouldn't tip them and now impossible for me to move); I would not be running necessary errands with my older girls; scheduling a likely root canal after a crown fell off; driving to Bear Lake to clean the cabin for part of Abe's honeymoon; shopping for wedding dresses; meeting with the propane guy--getting him through electric fences and getting cows shut in so they wouldn't get out while he was there (two times on two different days!); or waiting at the new house for the appliance guys to show up so I could direct them to the barn to unload (since the house is nowhere near ready for the appliances we ordered months ago).

In short, I think I really was under the impression that all of life's normal demands and obligations (both good and bad) would no longer exist?

It turns out ... they still do. (Seemingly in spades lately.) There is still only a finite amount of time in each day, and not all of it free. 

Nevertheless, I am excited to figure this new phase of life out--hopefully in some way that actually betters myself--even if it is looking to be somewhat different from what I had supposed it would be! And I hope to learn to feel gratitude for the opportunities it will afford me--rather than a dull feeling of guilt over all the things I assumed it would allow me to immediately accomplish that it hasn't yet!

A Coconut and an Engagement

I recently purchased a coconut. The cashier raised an eyebrow as she scanned it. "You're the first person I've ever had come through my line with one of these," she commented. 

"Well," I tilted my head, considering. "I think this might actually be the first time I've ever bought one. Or, if not, it's been many years. And I don't even know what possessed me to do it. I just saw it there and, on a whim, put it in my cart."

Maybe it just seemed the fitting thing to do--try something new and different--when so many things in life are currently new and different.

We've had a wedding after all (pictures to come). And have I even posted here that we have another one on the horizon? Goldie and Wyatt are now engaged.

She's even found her wedding dress! (Though how she wants to celebrate her wedding day is less certain. Something small and simple [and us giving her money we might have used for a reception to be used for school]? The more traditional, Utah style of reception full of congratulating ward members? All still TBD.

Perhaps all this changing and newness is affecting even the types of foods I buy. :) 

(Note, for those interested: the coconut experience was novel and fun for the kids. They liked Mike getting his drill out to make a hole in the coconut. They liked pouring the coconut milk into a cup. They liked hammering the coconut open. But when it came to ingesting it, most drifted away. I think raw coconut is rather good, but one can only eat so much of it all on their own.)

Abe and Kenya Bridals

They aren't quite married yet, but it's only three days away! Tonight we will be at Kenya's bridal shower, tomorrow the older girls will be at her bachelorette party, and Saturday we will see them wed!

And if that isn't enough to cram into a week (Kenya only just got back from her internship in D.C., so things had to be a bit condensed), I also took some rushed (it was nearly dark) bridals for them on Sunday evening.

And here they are. (Wasn't this me and Mike--all giddy and full of excitement over starting our life as a married couple--only moments ago? What a wild thing life is!)

(Daisy made Kenya's bouquet and will be making all the bride's bouquets, boutonnières, and corsages for us!)