Fun week

Wow! We had quite the week. It feels like we didn't stop once, which makes relaxing today all the more sweet:)

> We made this adorable "back to school" craft from No Time For Flashcards, one of my favorite pre-school craft sites.

> I got crafty and busted out these DIY Geoboards from No Time for Flashcards and Mom Tried it. They turned out GREAT (I will admit that my amazing husband cut the wood for me and also did most of the hammering, lol) and the kids really love them. Aiden in particular has enjoyed playing with his and making all kinds of cool shapes and objects.

> We went kite-flying at Lake Erie and collected rocks to paint pet rocks like these from The Crafty Crow (ours didn't turn out as cute, but the kids still loved it) and we made beach art like these over at Artful Adventures (I didn't bring my camera to the beach, but we made a giant rock sun and a rainbow--so cool!)

> I made these cool number boards for Aiden from Mom Tried It, and he really enjoyed these. We also practiced color patterns and he really impressed me with his pattern-making abilities.

> Aiden and I made robot collages from paint samples we snagged at Walmart (I forgot to take a picture of his, but he was very creative and really is doing great practicing his scissor cutting skills!)

> We copied my friend Lori by making these adorable marshmallow creatures and sculptures. The kids LOVED sorting the colored marshmallows first and then building (and of course EATING!) all sorts of animals and sculptures.

> We did a really fun and COOL marble painting like this one over at Let The Children Play. This was a neat project--I've heard of it but never tried it before and I loved how it turned out. I could totally see buying some cheap canvas and neat colors and making these to actually hang up as art in your house!

We still have two more weeks until Aiden starts pre-school (the latest start of any school in the area! We're restless here!) and we're all looking forward to the change. He's been out of school for 5 months now, which feels like a really long time, lol. I'm looking forward to staying home a bit more and hopefully convincing Miss Ava to use the potty here VERY soon:)

PS--the pics aren't in any real order, sorry for that!

Squires Castle...again

I took the kids to Squire's Castle again today. They had a fun time exploring and I attempted to take some good photos. Just wanted to share:)

The Art of Solitude

"Language...has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone." ~ Paul Tillich

I keep having the same dream, over and over again. It isn't profound, it isn't scary or disturbing or even funny. It's just the same, every single time. I take the kids to a playgroup at the park, we meet a group of new moms and kids, and I spend two whole hours having real conversations with other people who, like myself, now have nothing important to talk about except their kids, their homes and their husbands (all good stuff...of course;) That's the dream, that's it.

Don't worry, I find it as sad and pathetic as you do too.

We've lived here for 5 months as of today. Five whole wonderful months in our brand new house with lots of fun new things to do and places to explore. It's been amazing, really, my love and appreciation for the Midwest has been utterly restored. But every once in a while I get this pang of...homesickness, this sudden clenching in my heart, and I really really miss Macon. The kids and I ate lunch today at Chick-Fil-A and at first, I was ok. I ordered our food, we sat down and ate, and then the kids went to the play area and I sat at my table and I felt it. This wave of loneliness washing over me as I looked around and realized that I've never really been this alone before. I've always had my sister, my mom, my friends. In Macon, we likely would have met several friends and the moms would have sat and chatted away while the kids all played together. I sat there, swiping away the tears leaking from the corners of my eyes, and tried to remind myself, like I always do, that if we were still in Macon, things would be different. All the 4 and 5 yr olds would be in all-day school. My best friend went back to work last month, so she wouldn't have been there. Even Ava would have started 2K pre-school three mornings a week. If we were there, I'd be starting over too, in a totally different way.

It helps to keep reminding myself.

This moving business, it's tough on the soul. The older I get, the harder it seems to be to put away my reservations, stick out my hand, put a smile on my face, and try to make a new friend. I watch my children on the playground with envy and awe, as they skip up to a new child, announce their name and age proudly, and then yell to me, "Look, Mom! I made a new friend!" How easy it is for them! When did it stop being so easy for me? When did I start doubting myself and my merits so much?

I will admit though, all in all it's been a great summer. I've been lucky enough to make a few new friends, and for that I truly am thankful. I am looking forward to Aiden starting pre-school here, to maybe meet a few new mom friends in the pick-up line at school. I know that, in time, we'll make a whole new life here. And until then, I am reminding myself that solitude and loneliness are two very different things, and I am grateful that in having one, I can appreciate the other more.

Swingset and misc.

So this weekend Chuck put together the kids' new swingset. I tried to help, aka: stay out of the way as much as possible and hand him tools and things as he needed them. The boxes on those things always give you so much hope, "You and several of your friends can build and play in one day! Approximate building time: 6-8 hours." Well, it took us (meaning, again, mostly Chuck) about 16 hours total, but we did have a few mishaps. For instance, when your drill bit breaks off halfway into a 4x4, it's not a particularly good thing, lol.

Chuck also built the playhouse last week, which matches the swingset. The kids absolutely LOVE the set and the house. Aiden loves climbing the pirate's ladder and the rock wall and Ava loves swinging (no surprise there). Ignore the lack of grass on the ground in the pictures--that's the main reason we put them where we did, no grass is growing under our pear trees because of all the shade.

I did include one picture for you of what happens when you have three pear trees in your backyard. It's sort of like living in your very own real-life Minesweeper game! Except add in about 100 bees and thousands of ants! Awesome...right? Not so much. We're seriously debating taking them out before next spring. I thought having the pears would be so cool, but you have to pick pears before they ripen on the tree--once they've fallen they are already bad. And these trees are TALL--like hundreds of pears 30-40 feet in the air. They are falling all over the yard and it's terrible. I did, however, pick a bunch of them yesterday so we will see if they ripen and end up tasting ok. That might sway me to keep ONE tree...maybe, lol.

I also included a few pics of the kids in their "tent" from yesterday. While Chuck was finishing up the swingset we set up our beach cabana tent in Ava's room and had a pajama party. The kids didn't get changed out of their pj's the entire weekend long. They were so devastated to hear that actual clothes were required this morning:)

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to my amazing husband. For all that you do, for all that you give us, but most importantly for all that you ARE, I love you.

400 posts!?!?!?!

Can that be right?? Wow. Time really flies. I logged in today to realize that yesterday was my 400th blog post (so technically this is 401, I guess). If you want to go back and remember what things were like in the Bailey household when I started this blog in April of 2008, here you go: http://aabcbailey.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

Thank you to everyone who continues to read our story. The Daily Bailey wouldn't exist without people to read it. You all rock!!

XOXO,
B