Hey Girl…

So apparently, after last night’s emotional post I feel the need to bring your something light and fluffy and completely random today. Without further adieu…

Ryan Gosling is all over the internet with these “Hey Girl…” meme.  Have you seen them? I like to be fashionably late to all fads internet related, so I’m just now seeing them. But they are hilarious. This morning I came across a few that were homeschool/SAHM related, and can I just say, I laughed so much that my children came to see what was going on. They didn’t get it.

Here are a few of my favorites I found on The Google. (Just search for Ryan Gosling hey girl homeschool or whatever your hobbies/interests are. There are hundreds of these out there.)

Oh and this is hilarious too. It’s Ryan reading some of his favorite “hey girl” posts.

You’re so very welcome.

Every night…

Every night they come. One by one. Hands full of tools. Full of supplies. Faces covered in smiles. Kind greetings on their lips. They come to work. Night after night.

Every night they leave their families. Their homes. Their responsibilities. To come here. To my house. Their families sending them off with their blessing. No thought to the sacrifices they’re making.

Every night is a new crew. No crew has been the same. Oh I see the same faces over and over, but the combination is always different, always a surprise.

Every night I hear them greet one another with joy; as if they haven’t seen each another in weeks rather than just days, or even hours. It’s a party! These guys enjoy one another’s company. They enjoy what they are doing.

Every night the laughter bubbles up through the floor. It’s contagious. Sometimes it’s giggles or chuckles. But mostly it’s full-on belly laughs. The sound of it is beautiful.

Every night they they work. Hard. They hammer things. They saw things. They paint walls. They use the gifts that God has given them. The talents. The time. They energy. They give out of the abundance of their hearts.

Every night they build my nest. They ask for my preferences. I answer their questions. I offer suggestions. They’re happy to oblige.

Every night I pay them with brownies, cookies, cupcakes, or other sweets. It’s all I have to give. There simply aren’t enough brownies, cookies, or cupcakes in all the world to adequately convey how deep my gratitude runs.

Every night they bring hearts overflowing with their offering. An offering to Him. For His glory. But first, their offering flows through my house. It floods my basement. It floods my heart.

Every night, when all is quiet, I go downstairs. I see their work. I marvel at their efficiency. I’m humbled by their dedication. I’m left speechless.

Every night my heart overflows in praise and thanks to Him. That He would bless me so abundantly.  And in such an incredibly tangible way. This is the visible evidence that He loves me. That He cares about me. That He hears me.

Every night they sow seeds. They work the soil of their own blessing. They water their dreams. They work confident  in the knowledge that God loves them. He cares about them. He hears them.

Every night God loves you. He cares about you. He hears you. If He will do this for me, what more will He do for you?

Thursdays are the new Friday

Thursdays have always been our Fridays here at The Ball Room. The Music Man is a pastor which means Sundays are the start of his work week. I also try very hard to stick to a Monday through Thursday school week at The Ball Room Academy.

Fridays are sacred. They’re special. And I guard them with my life.

Fridays are for fun. They’re for field trips and shopping excursions. They’re for playing at the park and eating ice cream for lunch. They’re for family and reconnecting after a long week going in different directions. They’re laid back and relaxing.

Because Fridays are so special, Thursdays have become special too. They are the Friday night. They’re made for pizza dinners, movies, and staying up late. They’re the kickoff. The start to our weekend.

A couple years ago, the only dance class available for The Girl was on Thursday nights. Oh, we fought that one, hard! But in the end, she went to dance every Thursday night for two years.

I saw our Thursdays change during that time. They became more like the other nights of the week. Hectic. Rushed. No more pizza dinners. No more movie nights. Bedtime was still late but not because of fun family time.

Last fall, dance was moved to Friday nights. We got Thursdays back at the costly price of Fridays. Now I’ve had to watch our Fridays disappear. The Music Man has more and more weddings, projects, and commitments that take him away from us on Fridays. The Girl often has school work to finish up. It’s a rarity that we go for fun excursions anymore on Fridays. And always if we do we need to be back in time for dance. Rush. Rush. Rush.

It’s Thursday today and we haven’t really started our day yet. We’ve eaten breakfast, of course, and all are in various states of being dressed. We’ll get to school soon. But it feels a bit laid back because it is Thursday after all and that means its our Friday.

I still feel the same excitement on Thursdays that the weekend is here. Then I remember that our life has changed. Our family has had to adopt a new normal.

We have no plans for tomorrow other than to finish up some science and dance of course. (We do have a recital in just a few short weeks.) The guys will be here in the evening to work on the basement. We’re getting so close… But I still long for those carefree Fridays on Thursdays. The giant brunches and leisurely strolls around the mall. Road trips for fun field trips. A trip to the beach. A big relaxing dinner out and a movie on the couch after the babies are in bed.

I don’t know if those days will be a part of our lives again. Perhaps it was ours for just a season. Life has gotten so crazy and busy. I feel the need to slow down growing stronger each week. To stop and play outside more. To laugh and tickle The Baby. To soak up every moment. To live our days of family fun in slow motion.

Am I the only one who feels this way? Who feels this strong sense of urgency to stop and savor each moment?

Because if life has gotten this busy and crazy in such a short time, what does the next year hold for us? Or the year after? What will happen when we have three children involved in extracurricular activities rather than just one? Will The Music Man’s commitments continue to require more and more of his time?

Will it ever end? The busy-ness?

How do I make it all slow down?

{insert clever title here}

You know that feeling you get when you are so tired you feel like you are going to fall asleep if you blink too long?

Yea.

That’s how I feel right now.

A recap of days four and five is coming tomorrow or the day after. It’s too much to do right now, but I will say this much… It is incredible to see the transformation from day to day. Every morning after breakfast I take the kids down to see what was done the night before. I’m amazed at it all myself, but to see it through their eyes is precious!

Tonight Doug (the man with the plan) asked me what I thought. I looked around searching for the adequate words to describe what I was thinking. I was speechless.

When he came a few months ago and put five, FIVE, just FIVE outlets in our basement (we had one previously) I cried. Over five outlets. I reminded him of this and said, “how do you think I feel about all this?” He got it.

 This is the crew from last night. From L to R… My Music Man, Paul M., Michael, Doug, Rodney, Paul F., Jefe, Ewing (back), Dougie (front), and Jerry.

These guys are awesome and I owe them a debt of gratitude. However ALL glory and praise goes to God. HE is the reason this is happening. I am ever mindful of that.

To God be the glory.

GREAT things He has done!

I feel the earth move under my feet…

It amazes me to see a long-prayed/hoped for dream materialize before my very eyes.  Five or six years ago I joked about the guys of our church finishing our basement. And now it’s actually happening. Over the weekend a few hard-working men cleared the basement, framed not one, not two, but THREE new rooms in my basement. They’re like those little worker ants who band together and totally demolish a gigantic log in a matter of hours. Or something…

Here’s a bit of a recap. This is more for me and my full-hand family than anything. I want to remember all the fun little details of this process so I understand if you just skim the written word and peruse the pictures.

Day 1: I was so caught up in the activity of clearing the basement that I completely forgot to take any pictures. Needless to say,I was completely bummed when I realized it! (Side note: Apparently I was so caught up in the festivities that I also forgot to take The Girl to dance. Nice. Mother-of-the-Year. Thankyouverymuch.) After the kids went to bed and The Music Man collapsed on the couch, I made more cookies. The Girl couldn’t sleep so she ended up helping me make the red velvet cupcakes too.  What?! Men need sweets to maintain their energy and momentum.

We also went downstairs to document the end of Day 1. I’m calling these pictures the Empty Befores.

Muchas gracias to The Music Man, Doug, Rodney, Jerry, Ewing, Michael, and who could forget Jefe (aka Jeff).

Day 2: If I heard it once I heard it a thousand times. “Mommy. I kinna wanna go downstairs wis all da worka guys. Please cannI?” My boy. He struggled with having to stay upstairs “wis da girls” when he knew the guys were hard at work below. He wanted so badly to be one of the guys and help. It was sweet and endearing the first forty seven times. Time forty eight and beyond was just annoying.  Cute, but annoying. My little boy loves to be a “workah guy.”

Now for the pictorial documentation… All of this was done by three or four guys in just a few hours.

Life goes on, so after the guys cleared out on Saturday I started a load of laundry. My boy needed clean underwear and all. It’s weird because I’ve wished and waited for years to do a load of laundry IN a laundry room and now I finally am. It’s wonderful but so surreal at the same time. I even pretended to turn off the light and shut the door before I came upstairs just to see what it will be like in just a few days.

My grateful heart overflows…Thanks to The Music Man, Doug, Rodney, and Jefe.

Day 3: The pounding, POUNDING, POUNDING was beginning to get to me (twitch twitch). It was making naps virtually impossible.  So I did what any sensible mom would do: pack the kids up and go get half-price happy hour frappuccinos at Starbucks for everyone.  Kids napped and mommy listened to some radio station that was only playing one hit wonders. I think this goes without saying, but it was wonderful.

As for the progress downstairs, the playroom is completely framed in. The family/school room is almost done too. They ran out of 2x4s again, but all that’s left is a little closet to frame in.  Next up is to electrify the place. Woo hoo.

Thanks again to The Music Man, Doug, Jerry, and Paul.

You guys NAILED IT!

Literally!

(Bahaha!!!)

Ok, I’m done.

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You have to admit, that was pretty funny.

And so it begins…

That there is a PODS. It was just delivered. The boy declared this the “best day EVER” more than once of 52 times that it was the “biggest truck he had ever seen in his whole entire life” which considering he’s just about four, I’d say that’s something.

The vast expanse of undoneness that is our basement has been well documented on my old blog so I don’t need to go into detail about how pleased I am to finally be starting this project. But for the purpose of life documentation, here are a few before pictures.

School Room Corner

Toy Corner

View towards the stairs and laundry area

Stair Wall

Over the years we have rearranged the basement a million times.  Always purging, sorting, organizing.  I think we finally have it set up in such a way as to use the space to its fullest (undone) potential.  However, it’s still an unfinished basement.  When we were approached about getting it finished, we jumped on the opportunity. We had long ago drawn up plans and we’ve know for years exactly how we wanted the final product to look like.  So this is the plan…

The Music Man, of course, has a fancy, schmancy 3D mock up with paint, carpet, and finishing touches.  Personally I like my white board version better.  It’s not to scale. (Shocker, I know.) You get the gist at any rate.

• In the upper left hand corner is the laundry/utility/storage room.  This will remain unfinished for the most part.  A few outlets and a light switch on the new walls will cover it.  There will be loads of shelving to accommodate storage.  I’ll have space for an overflow pantry and most importantly, I’ll finally be able to have a chest freezer! Yay! No more overflowing freezer upstairs.  I’ll be able to stock up on staples when the sales are great.
• The red room to the left will be a play room.  Shelves and all manner of organizational goodies will cover the walls. Glass french doors will close this room in to allow plenty of light into this interior room. Again lots of outlets and overhead lighting will finish it off.
• The main room on the right will be a school/family room.  Sliding doors under a deck provide the only natural light for this space so it’s important to me to have plenty of overhead lighting. In addition to overhead lighting, we’re putting in two ceiling fans.  Our house is built on a steep incline and the height is in the basement.  We have 13-14′ ceilings now and they will be finished to 9-10′. We don’t want to lose any of that height–it was the main selling point of this house for us and also opens the room up so much. But with ceilings so high, it’s hard to get a cozy temperature down there in the winter. The fans will help to push the air down and keep the room warm.
• Finally, the stair wall will be opened up for the last 6-8′ with a half wall.  The hallway itself will be wider than a typical hallway to add to the open feel we want to keep.
• Under the stairs will remain a storage space but an added door will allow us access to the closet which also houses our sump pump.

I have a Pinterest basement board with a collection of finishing touches that are swimming around in my head.  If you’re so inclined you can pop over there to get an idea of where I’m headed with decor. (And ya know, if you’re gifted  in the interior design and want to help me pull ball of those pins into some sort of actual plan, I’d much appreciate it. Oh and my budget is somewhere between nothing and a little.)

I do have some time to pull my ideas together, but for now I have to focus on packing up everything to be moved to the PODS tomorrow.  The furniture will go to The Music Man’s office for now.  Thankfully, he has a large office. I have to move our school things upstairs as we have just a few weeks left until our summer break.  Hopefully, we’ll have room in the PODS for all the toys, but longterm storage and odds and ends things will go in first.

If you think about it, pray for me through this whole process.  My house will be turned upside down and inside out.  If you’ve ever lived through a remodel, you know what I’m in for.  I have never done this before, so the anxiety of the unknown can be overwhelming at times.  I’ve been warned enough to know that I have to just go with the flow.  That’s harder for me to do than it used to be.  Something about the addition of three kids to my life has made me dependent on structure and order.

 

Oh Lord, Creator of us all.
Thou Ruler of the heavens,
Who endows the day with sparkling light
And with sweet slumber robes the night
When bodies rest from anxious toil,
Regaining strength to till the soil.
From weary souls Thou tamest grief.
From anguish doesn’t Thou grant relief.

-Ambrosius, 300AD

This is what happens when I have time to think…

• So I was on The Facebook and happened across this little gem. It made me smile a few times, nod my head in agreement even more times, and shout an “amen” and “hallelujah” once each. It’s a good’un.

20-Somethings’ New Year’s Resolutions

• My son calls bananas “blanas” and so do I.

• I watched Crazy, Stupid Love last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. A delightfully refreshing movie. In addition it reminded me of the good ol days of Michael Scott. Man, has the office gone down hill since he left.

• I had breakfast with Spiderman and Spidergirl this morning. There were a few awkward moments. I won’t lie.

• I’m thinking of glueing socks on The Baby. They’re always falling off and that’s the only way I can think of to get them to stay on.

A Soft Start

So it’s been a while.

This post isn’t the result of a new year resolution or anything.

You see, my life was crazy last fall with a ginormous pregnancy belly taking over and shutting down my life. Then The Baby came and with her came visiting family and the holidays.

It was a wonderful few months. Meeting this new little one has been a blast. She’s been nothing but surprises from the moment we found out she was on her way. But I think we are all ready to go back to life as usual. Routine and structure have not been in our vocabulary for months. It’s been awesome at times and brutal at others.

Tomorrow we start a new normal. I don’t know what it will look like just yet, but lesson plans are done, the school room is clean, and Mamacita has been up since 4am with a baby who only wants to sleep on her. Last baby gets what she wants so first day back to school may be a short one to make room for a long nap. I mean how can I possibly resist this…

This week will be a soft start. Low expectations. High patience. Flexibility is top priority. Perfection is lowest priority. Let’s face it, I’m just hoping to make it through alive and with all three children still intact.

Here we gooooooooo…

First World Problems

It’s taken me a while to turn my thoughts to this baby…life as it is now has been crazy and busy and all-together more than I can handle at times. Around 30 weeks I realized how soon this babe would be here and began to prepare…sort of. It was like everyday I would become fixated on some that I HAD to have for the baby or something I HAD to do before she comes, but none of it was of any real importance. I wasn’t really preparing. I was stalling by filling my every thought with things I thought I needed.

The Internet is a wonderland for the creative senses. Options are seemingly endless. For the right price you can get just about anything. eBay, Etsy, and Pinterest are incredible places to shop and brainstorm. I was looking at hats, car seat covers, canopies, Robeez, etc. I picked out all my favorites and planned when I would order them so as to not blow up the checkbook all at once.

The one thing I’ve been fixated on more than any other has been a new car seat cover. Ours is perfectly fine, but it’s brown, khaki, and yellow. It screamed BOY!!!! to me. I wanted something completely girlie and gorgeous for this last baby of ours. I found this adorable cover at a reasonable price. The seller was even willing to customize it for me with the colors I wanted and make it to fit perfectly on my car seat.

Then the other night my carefully laid plans began to unravel. I had ordered the canopy pattern and had all the materials I needed to get started on it. The Music Man pulled out the car seat so I could measure it. That’s when I saw that our seat was not the one that I thought it was. We didn’t have a Graco. We had an Evenflo.

I was already emotional and this put me over the edge. I had been so fixated, mildly obsessed even, that this mistake (on MY part) caused me to lose it. Completely. As I sat on the floor in front of the car seat crying all I could think of was the millions of mothers around the world who just hope and pray for healthy, full-term babies and the strength and provision to care for them once they’re born and here I am crying because the car seat cover I want may not be exactly the way I wanted it to be. What a First World Problem!

That’s a First World Problem.

That’s a phrase that gets said alot around our house lately. It’s our way of reminding ourselves and our kids that most of this world is just struggling to have food and clean water. It keeps our “problems” in perspective.

A few examples of First World Problems:

• Facebook’s new changes
• Ashton and Demi Drama
• Anything Apple Related (Sorry Babe.)

As I sat on my basement floor thinking about when had I grown so oblivious to reality, I realized that none of it mattered to me.  I had a perfectly good car seat with a great cover that would work beautifully for my little girl regardless of what color is was.  I asked God to forgive me for being so selfish and ignoring His heart for the world.  In an instant the insanity that had been my obsessive fixation on a new car seat cover was gone and I was ok with it!  I felt the weight of a thousand pounds lift off my shoulders.  And I haven’t thought about it since.

This is my experience.  I’m not saying that you are ignoring starving children in Bangladesh if you buy a new car seat cover for your little one.  I just know what the Lord was asking of ME and I responded to that.  You need to be obedient to what He asks of you which may be very different than what He asks of me.  I just encourage you to keep your heart close to His so that as He reveals His world to you, you are ready, willing, and able to do what His bidding.

But keep in mind the blessings we live under in our great nation, where things like this bring such joy to an otherwise dreary day. While extremely entertaining, it’s definitely a First World thing.