Ode to bleach

Just in case someone out there doesn't know what an "ode" is, here's how wikipedia defines it: "typically a lyrical verse written in praise of, or dedicated to someone or something which captures the poet's interest or serves as an inspiration for the ode."  While this one certainly isn't poetic, it is inspiring.  To me, at least.

I have always loved the smell of bleach.

I think it may have come from being a lifeguard and being around chlorine a lot.  Or maybe it goes back even farther than that.  I just never used it around the house much because it seems like such a harsh chemical.  It is, I'm sure, terrible on the environment. 

However.

I have found a new LOVE for bleach on this island.  In a land where the rule is "If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown flush it down," I quickly came to appreciate the power of bleach when nothing else quite took care of that dirty job.  I clean my toilet here almosty daily to help prevent the bathroom from stinking too badly.  Too much information?  Sorry.  But that's where my renewed love for bleach started.

Then, this island ran out of bleach.  Seriously.  No one had bleach to be purchased.  And, after a few weeks, I wanted it worse than ever.

Then, I had baby #3.  And her drooled-on clothes molded.  And her bouncer molded.  And her carseat molded.  And her exersaucer and her playmat and her wonderful hand-made quilts molded.  So today I got desperate and I soaked everything in a giant vat of water and bleach, risking that all the bright, fun baby colors would wash away.  Guess what?! 

SUCCESS.

Bleach eats mold.   OH HOW I LOVE BLEACH.



Also, we had a great day yesterday.  We didn't go anywhere and we didn't really do anything but we just had a good day.  Maybe it's because it was Sunday.  Maybe it was because the kids ALL napped long enough for me to relax in front of a chick flick.  Either way, it was a good day.  We had a couple of little visitors.  First a snail and then the cutest little crab I've ever seen.

There are definitely some things I'm going to miss when we leave.

Swimmin'...and Other Stuff We Do

There are no public swimming pools here (I know, *gasp!*).  We're fortunate to have made friends with the owners of one of the local hotels on the island who have been generous to let us come for a swim anytime we ask.  It's a nice break from the cove now and then - not as far to drive to and no sandy mess/swimsuits that never dry from the salt water when we get home. 

Gracen loves the water.  As soon as she gets in, she laughs out loud and kicks her legs furiously and loves to splash with her hands. 

Are these not the biggest leaves you've ever seen?

A bunch of bananas on our trees ripened this week.  We were trying to cut them down one bunch at a time but the birds got into them (they peck holes through any of the skin that is even close to turning yellow).  So I spent one afternoon whipping up banana bars and a 5x batch of banana muffins.  I froze the other half of the bananas as mash for future muffins.  My neighbor, Lloyd, who has about 100 banana trees (no exageration), offered me another bunch of his about 3 days later.  I said "no way" at first, but then I couldn't let it go - bananas are $2.00 a pound here!!  So I gave 2 bunches away and have about 3 more huge bunches "yellowing" in our laundry room under the house.  *Sigh* bananas.

One of Alden's favorite "boredom" things to do is to freeze small plastic toys in a little bit of water.  Then he chips them out of the ice with a fork.  Our cistern OVERFLOWED this week from all the rain we've been having (2 weeks ago it was HALF full!!).  So I'm enjoying getting to let the boys play with water and washing all the laundry I want and flushing the toilet (almost) every time and bathing the kids lots and...*sigh* water!

Gracie, fresh from the bathtub.  I am ENAMORED with this girl.  Could you get any cuter?!

Lizards are ALL over the place here.  Alden caught his first one, a tiny little thing.  He no doubt squished the poor thing half to death in the process but boy was he proud of himself!  I could get a picture of it because it wasn't moving when I first made Alden let it go.  Poor thing.  But it sure made Alden's day!

Here's another boredom activity.  We LOVE cars at our house.  To spice it up, I put some construction paper roads up on the wall with sticky tac.  The boys had fun with it for a few days before the edges of the paper started curling from the humidity.

And that's what we've been up to!

In The Words of Alden

Alden: Hey Mom, did you know that smoothies bring you joy? (slurp, slurp)

Me: Why, yes, Alden.  Yes, I did. :-D

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

Okay, Jaron's not really been "gone" but he hasn't really been "here" either. Since he finished block exams today (which he has every 3 weeks), he took the rest of the day off to be with us.

We decided it was the perfect opportunity to try out the new kite Grandma Brunson had mailed us!  It was funny because we put the boys in running shoes, which they pretty much haven't been in since Christmas in Idaho (we live in flip flops), and they thought it was soooo cool!

And, of course, our cheerleader:

Happy Day! 17 block exams down, 6 to go!!

P.S.  Will somebody PLEASE, PLEASE tell me how to put a video up on here?!

Dear Alden and Eli,

Dear Alden and Eli,

If, a year or two from now, you wonder why I'm "always out to get you in trouble," just remember this day.

Love,

Gracen

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU to all the wonderful people who responded to my cry for help. :-)  I loved the "I've been there toos," the practical information and the undeserved accolades.

A friend of mine from back home posted a wonderful blog in her comment.  It's called Asking Jane and its an AMAZING mother of 11 who writes answers to people who submit questions.  I've been reading it like a mad woman since yesterday and it is full of goodness.  This woman has got such a wonderful spirit about her and is very inspiring.  She has got the essence of motherhood figured out.

One post especially struck home. It's titled "Feeling Overwhelmed?" and I've copied it here so that I always have it and can easily refer back to it:

"One of the things that makes motherhood so overwhelming is that it never stops. It keeps coming at us day and night. We wake up to the same routines, sometimes having had only a few hours of sleep. Often, we heap on that-- financial worries, an argument with a husband, feelings of isolation or troubles with extended family. We may find ourselves feeling not just overwhelmed but disillusioned with the choice we’ve made and, worse, disappointed with ourselves because we aren’t better at it.
These feelings, when you give in to them, are actually the greatest threat to your success. I repeat, it’s those feelings that are the greatest threat—much more than your actual circumstances. They halt you in your tracks. You want and need to be propelled forward! Here are my suggestions.
Do something about it. Don’t you love the scene in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers where Millie turns the pig pen of a cabin into a real home and revolutionizes the table manners and brings civility to the chaos? In much the same way, you can step back from your overwhelming situation and ask, “What is it that’s getting me down?” Is it the clutter, the disobedience, the lack of support, my appearance, the dirty kitchen floor? List everything that’s bothering you and then change things. You are creating a little world here. You can improve relationships, plan a weekly night out, organize a play group, clear out clutter, rearrange the bedrooms, put flowers on the table.
Somewhere along the line, I made the discovery that what I didn’t do actually overwhelmed me more than what I did. Walking by that weed-filled flower bed twice a day was so much more overwhelming than just going out there and weeding it. It took 20 minutes. It felt good. I felt better. It usually led to sweeping the sidewalk and washing the front door. If your overwhelmed feeling revolves around lonliness, find a walking partner--just 20 minutes in the evening does wonders, start a book club or have an honest discussion with your husband that lays out concretely what you need and what might help. "I need to go out with you every week." "I'd like some time to myself for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoons." I've learned that most husbands aren't good at guessing but they're willing to support us when we're clear about our needs.
Here are a couple of practical habits I adopted at some point, that changed everything for me.
*Do something toward dinner in the morning. Just decide what you’re having and thaw the chicken or start the salad. There is nothing worse than 4:00, tired kids, husband coming home and no plans for dinner. You’ll feel better all day if dinner is in the works.
*Whenever possible, Don’t wake up to yesterday. When the kids are finally in bed, do a quick pick up of the house, make sure the kitchen table is empty, and start the dishwasher. I know….you’re too tired for that. But just do it anyway. You’ll get your second wind and it will feel good to do something that will not be undone while you’re doing it. You’ll be able to start the day fresh. Maybe your husband will help you and you can watch a movie afterwards (while you fall asleep.)
*If at all possible, get up a half an hour before the kids do. Have a good prayer, make your bed, get dressed, start breakfast. Just plan that you'll rest in the afternoon but there's no substitute for productive mornings.

I know what you’re thinking. That I’m one of those Chihuahua type women with boundless energy. Not so. I’m actually quite anemic and even sort of lazy. But I’ve learned that a little energy well-placed changes everything.

One final and perhaps the most important thought is this: Never lose the vision of what you’re really doing. It’s big. There are no shortcuts to the family you want. It’s going to take all you’ve got. But the whole process is a good one and the whole outcome is amazing. Keep before you, the vision of what you want your home to be today and what you want the final outcome to be. Then keep reaching for it. As the days go by, you'll have more and more satisfying moments. Home really can be a heaven on earth. Pray aways and be believing.

Love, Jane"

The End of The Day, Mean Mom and The Mess

Maybe it's because Jaron is gone a lot.
Maybe it's because my therapist, a.k.a. my sister Genny, has been in Alberta at her in-laws (a.k.a. unreachable by phone for our 2 hour gab fests) for two weeks.

Maybe it's because the combination of the two leaves me very little resources on which to unload my 8,000 (average for a woman) words a day.  Wait, that's average?  Then mine must be closer to 10,000.

Maybe it's the inescapable heat.

Maybe it's the remoteness of this island, where we have few places to escape from the house to.

Maybe it's the fact that Alden has started following up every one of my requests with "But Mo-omm..."

Maybe it's the fact that Eli stepped on a nail and I'm now carrying two everywhere I do go.

Maybe it's the fact that Gracen is sick, feverish and grouchy and covered head to toe in a rash.

Bottom line, evenings are A MESS at our house lately.  The kitchen's a mess of dirty dishes.  The rest of the house is a mess of toys.  I'm a mess of "Mean Momness."  It's the only time of day that I yell and threaten.  I think there's just too much to do in too short a time.  Throw in two fighting brothers and a fussy baby, and it's a recipe for disaster!

It's not the actual bedtime routine that's a problem - that we've got down pretty good.  It's the crunch time beforehand that's killing us, I think.

Any advice?  'Cause at the end of the day I'd like to feel a little less like this:

And a LOT more like this:

The Day to Day

My blog is not generally my journal of thoughts (I would drive you people MAD if it were), it is first and foremost a journal of our family happenings.  But I feel like I post a lot of pictures but I don't tell what's really going on day-to-day very well.

Our days have quite a consistent pattern right now.  We wake up with the sun, and somehow, sometimes a little before.  It is rare that there is a "6" on the clock when I wake up - it is much more often a "5."  It leaves me craving that dark basement room all the kids slept in at Grandma Brunson's house.  You know, the one where they slept in until "8" some mornings?!  Yeah, that one.  It used to be that the boys would crash into our bedroom, climb into bed and dump the train basket out and we'd officially be up for the day.  Over the last few weeks, it's morphed into me getting up at the first cry or cracking of our door open to try to spare Jaron an extra half hour's sleep.  I help Eli potty then feed Gracen while lying in the boys' double bed, steadfastly hoping we all might fall back to sleep.  Doesn't happen. Ever.

Then we make breakfast.  With milk a whopping $11 A GALLON here and cereal ranging from $4-$7 PER BOX, we rarely have my favorite pasttime breakfast.  Instead, we have branched out to good ole' fashioned home cookin' for breakfast.  Yummy but I'll be honest, I don't enjoy having to make 3 meals a day.   However, I have discovered some great recipes.  Here is the BEST syrup you've ever tasted - buttery and with just a hint of cinnamon.  Goes GREAT with french toast.  Before we (meaning the kids) are done eating, we send Jaron out to catch the bus at 7:10.  He is armed with breakfast, lunch and dinner to go, 'cause that boy ain't coming home until the last bus, at 9:00.

After breakfast, the kids watch a little TV while I pull myself together.  I feed Gracen again and put her down for a nap at 9:00.  After Gracen's hour-long nap, we are pretty predictable: I bust out the kid craft box or one of my "Things To Do With Preschoolers/Toddlers" books or we escape the house.  If it's a Wednesday, you'll find us at the grocery store because Wednesdays are the only day fresh anything comes to the island.  Other days, we hit the park, the cove, Donna's yard full of trucks, Kayla's trampoline across the street or Megan's house.

After lunch is the best time of day, aka naptime.  Sometimes, it happens just right and ALL THREE go down for a nap at once.  Alden is in this tricky kinda "needs a nap but not really" phase.  If he doesn't nap, he is one grouchy monster by bedtime.  If he does nap, he is one perky eyed little thing come bedtime and doesn't go down until 9ish.  It's a lose-lose cycle.  If he naps, he stays up late.  If he stays up late, he naps the next day.  But this too shall pass!  Eli and Gracen have lately been napping a glorious 2 hours plus AT THE SAME TIME lately.

After naps, we soon find ourselves in what Julie B. Beck calls "the swing shift."  It is our craziest time of day.  Between the hours of 4-7, we prepare dinner, eat dinner, clean up dinner, clean up the house and prepare for bed.  The kids are tired and ornery and ALWAYS FIGHTING and Gracen is finally growing weary of getting her needs always met last (BLESS that child and her good temperment!).  After dinner is also when I also get Jaron's breakfast, lunch and dinner together for the next day.

Other things we spend time doing on a regular basis are: hanging laundry, sweeping the floor MANY times a day to discourage ants, having other SOSers come over to chat, and baking together.  Alden has two little neighborhood buddies, Dillon and Shaliq, and he likes to run around outside with them.

Jaron is crazy-busy this semester.  We see him usually for a few hours Saturday evenings and then Sunday mornings and evenings.  He's really enjoying his pathology and pharmacology classes, even if they are a ton of work.  There is not much going on in Jaron's life outside of school right now.

And that is our day-to-day as we head into summer 2010.

Oh, and I couldn't help but post a couple of pictures.

When Alden was 1 1/2- 2 he went through this walking on his tip toes phase.  Eli has taken it one step further - he walks on the top of his feet!  I can't imagine how this is comfortable.  He especially walks like this anytime there are even drops of water on the floor - to avoid slipping, of course!

And Alden has officially been ousted from the "bathtub."  He and Eli are just too big to both squeeze into the storage bin anymore.  But, have no fear!  Gracen has graduated!  I can count on one hand the number of times poor little Eli has bathed alone in his whole 2 1/2 years!

Adventures at Fort Bay

I haven't posted pictures of Fort Bay yet.  Today we went down there to get gas for our car and gas for our house, which comes in big cylinder tanks.  We convinced our friends the Khatri family to come with us.  We LOVE the Khatri family.  They are the nicest people there are and they have two boys, ages 5 and 3, and a girl, aged 15 months.  PERFECT for us! 

Anyway, Fort Bay is where the boats come in.

Unfortunately, there were no boats in today.

But there is this little rocky area where some of the locals swim at.  We decided to go down there and toss some rocks into the ocean.

It didn't take long for the boys to get their feet wet. 

And it didn't take long after that to discover the sandy mud.

And it didn't take long after that for the mud slingin' to begin!

Megan and Sophia managed to stay safe up on the rocks, collecting shells.

They got quite a pretty little haul!

I, on the other hand, got mud slung across my back and on my forehead.

Boy, do boys love dirt.

After a few minutes, the boys were wet up to their armpits.  It was pretty fun.  It's a good thing we have a true Saba car - we take anything and everything around in that thing, even wet, sandy boys!

It always amazes me how the ocean is just teeming with life, even on the rocks.  These partially submerged rocks had snails and all kinds of plant life on them.

One last picture before we left.  So much for stopping at the grocery store!  Next time we'll hit Fort Bay armed with our swimmin' trunks!!

P.S.  Is this not sooo cool?  It's a great big vine climbing up a tree.  The leaves at the top of this vine are ginormous - almost as long as your arm.  I thought it was pretty cool how the part that grows up the trunk of the tree clutches to the trunk with these root-like appendages.