Grrrrrr!!!!!!

Everyone wants to start their morning like this!!!!!!!!!!!! That's my hot water heater and furnaces to the right. Needless to say, no hot water, no heat this morning for the Eykamp family.

Here's hoping that the rest of the day is better.

Kathy

Dreaming........

I would love to say this is my porch. Don't you just want to curl up here with a good book and a cup of coffee and enjoy a lazy Sunday afternoon? Sadly, it is not my porch. Maybe when the kids are older and my husband is okay sitting on "girly" furniture I will finally get my wish but until then I will be happy with our version.

I'm not quite finished yet. I want to go back and get the matching rug and I need to add some plants (I think it looks a little stark). This will be the first time since we moved in (15 years ago!) that we will actually have a functioning upstairs porch. I don't know why I'm so excited, we have a porch downstairs that we use all the time. Last year the kids slept up here whenever they could, they have already started asking when they can again. I can picture them snuggled up on the love seat watching a movie and eating popcorn or Marty reading to his sister. Hopefully my husband and I will bring our coffee up here after the kids are in bed and talk like we used to. Somehow in all of our craziness we have lost each other. Maybe that's how it works when you have kids, you are so concerned with their well being that you forget that it was once just the two of you. You forget what brought you together in the first place. This year has been very hard, maybe I'm just dreaming this is the year we stop struggling. Maybe I need to learn that anything worth having is worth fighting for.

On a different note.. Louisa got a letter from a sweet pen pal! She was so excited to be showered in green flowers, she asked her brother to read it as soon as I handed it to her.

Thanks Victoria you made a little girls day!!!

Whatever you're dreaming of, I hope it comes true!

Kathy

Exhausted!

Here's what they don't tell you when you become a Mother:

For the next 8 - 10 years you will be constantly pouring drinks, wiping bottoms (hopefully that ends at age 4!), getting snacks, preparing crafts, looking at said craft, wiping up paint on the floor (table or wall), doing homework, laying out school clothes, fixing meals (in between the snacks, of course), gluing broken toys, reading books, turning on DVDs, playing with Barbie, Hotwheels, cards, board games, etc..., tying shoes, changing clothes (for fun not because they are dirty), approving web pages, books and TV shows, listening to endless bickering about who gets to sit in the choice spot, chauffeuring to and from wherever, coloring, breaking up fights, picking up toys and anything else the little darlings can think of (did I mention that was just what I did in one day??).

What I have not told you is I also work outside of the house 2 mornings a week, fix meals, wash clothes and anything and everything involved in cleaning this big old house (I am a confessed neat nick so this is a big part of my day).

Why am I telling you this???

Well, I'm exhausted and I needed a break!

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

Spring clean

Yesterday we spent part of the day cleaning the basement and side porch. We have 5 porches so it gets a little confusing when naming them ~ take this to Daddy, he's on the porch (now watch the kids run around looking for which porch he is actually on!). I know this isn't very exciting but we really needed to clean it up, it was getting very junky out there and I could only walk about halfway through. We primarily use this porch for storage since we don't have any. There are a plethora of goods out there but unfortunately the roof leaks so I can't use it the way I would like. For now I guess it will just hold the old paint, chemicals, yard toys and our freezer.

We had new concrete poured a couple of months ago in the basement (don't remind me of the mess it made in my house!) so it's pretty clean down there. There are 2 old hot water heaters that need to come out so Matt tried to push them through the window which resulted in the window breaking and my kids learning a new word (oh, who am I kidding... they already knew it!).

It's the little things in life that are usually forgotten. My husband and me throwing trash out the window into a garbage can listening to our children talking and blowing bubbles on their swing. It might sound boring to some but to me, it was a nice.

Whatever you did this weekend I hope you thought it was nice too.

Kathy

Nothing much, really....

When my kids aren't driving me crazy (and let's face it, kids drive their Mother's crazy!) they are making me laugh. I always wanted kids, I didn't even think it was something that wouldn't happen. I didn't get married until I was 32 so getting pregnant was a priority. We waited 2 years to have Marty and then 3 more for Louisa. Some days I think I want more, if I were younger it wouldn't even be a question, but I'm happy with the two I have.

The kids decided they wanted a web show (like ICarly) so I let them make this video and post it to a blog. I think they made it back in February and every time I look at it I just start laughing. It's so "them". Marty the bossy know-it-all and Louisa the put-upon little sister.

I hope it gives you a chuckle too!

Until next time... Kathy

Spring has sprung!

Saturday the kids and I met my friend Julie and her girls in Richmond. They live in Charlottesville, Richmond is in between us so that is usually our destination. I met her 15 years ago (on the same day I met my husband) and since that day she has been one of my best friends. We have been through a lot in 15 year and we can still talk on the phone for 4 hours, meet 3 days later and have plenty to say.

We went to Richmond National Battlefield at Tredegar Iron Works. Our plan was to do something (anything) outside! We packed a picnic and after a trip to the Visitor Center went across the street and enjoyed the warmer weather.

Civil War Visitor Center

Beautiful Richmond

The kids with Abe and Tad!


Aaah, spring (please note the lack of coats!).


Sunday Matt worked in the yard trying to clear out "winter". The kids were outside all day, they even ate lunch on the porch. I'm glad that finally Spring has arrived in Virginia.


Cheap entertainment.


Bike rides and snacks.


We taught the kids to play UNO - it's now their favorite game.

The best thing about this weekend is that my kids realized that they really didn't need to sit in front of the television all day to enjoy themselves!


Welcome Spring!!!!!!!!

An end and a celebration

Last Saturday we lost my Uncle Eddie to cancer. He had a wonderful life and was surrounded by his family when he died. I'm not a religious person, I don't believe in a lot of traditional views (heaven being one of them). I do, however, believe that when your time comes your energy, your soul, your life force, whatever you want to call it, doesn't just leave forever. I believe that we are constantly being reinvented, reborn. I believe that family units stay together, we become our ancestors. I have no proof of this, of course, it's just what I believe. I don't ask others to believe it or even understand it. When my daughter (who was named after my Grandmother) was born it was like having a little piece of her back. She acts just like a Great-Grandmother she never knew! Maybe it's my way of holding on to a loved one.

Wayne and Eddie Bowen circa 1951

This Saturday my little girl turned 5. I was grouchy for an entire week and yesterday I realized it was because she is growing up. I love her being 5, she's funny and makes me laugh all the time. But I miss having a baby around the house (not the diaper part!).

She's a big girl now!

A birthday party at the YMCA

Cake, need I say more?

Two kids being goofy

A self portrait

We can't stop the passage of time on our family anymore than we can stop it on ourselves. You take it one day at a time and hope that when your end comes, you too are surrounded by the people in your life that matter. And then you go out into the universe and become new again.

I hope your week is peaceful.