Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!

Another rainy morning here in Northern VA and mommy is going a little stir crazy!

We've played endless games of hide and seek, made three new batches of kool-aid playdough and embarked on, not one, but two art projects: watercolor letters and splatter painting in the rain. Puzzles have been brought out, train tracks built and I've lost count of how many books we've read. How many more hours till naptime? :-) And sun, when will you come back?

One of our watercolor projects: A for Andrew. M for Marcail, D for Daddy and G for Grandma are all drying as I write.

Oh and before I close, let's talk about the recent conversation I had with Andrew regarding work and life and babies: "Mommy when I'm 7 I want to be a farmer and drive tractors." When he's 14, he wants to be a mailman but that's short lived because at 15, he wants to be a pirate. Somedays I think maybe we read too many books, especially since Delphinium Twinkle is the name he's chosen for the baby if it's a girl. And Gideon Wilbur if it's a boy. We'll get back to you on those, son!

A Very Magical Place

No, it's not Magic Kingdom at Disney World, or Hershey Park, "The sweetest place on earth": it's my hometown, Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania. You won't find it on a map, but if you search Southern Lancaster County, better known to the locals as SOLANCO, look for a dot on Route 222 labeled Wakefield and it's here that I grew up. From a young age, I knew that I wanted to leave...I wanted to see the world, experience life outside of Amish country. And thankfully, my very wise parents never discouraged me, never held me back, never said no. You're always welcomed back with open arms and so, as an adult with small children, it's a joy to go back and watch my children experience some of the same carefree childhood that I had growing up.

Here's a quick look at a recent visit the kids and I just enjoyed:


My childhood home, as viewed from the seat of the "Farmall 806", Andrew's favorite tractor and the one that I learned to drive as a ten year old. Many a load of firewood was hauled in that tractor during my tenure on Goat Hill Road.


The spring heifers in the field...they run and kick and jump and bawl throughout the day. A sign that life continues, that with time, they'll produce the rich, creamy milk that tastes oh so delicious right from the milk tank.



Barking dogs...they bark and chase passing Amish buggies, spring heifers and Farmall 806's! So much bark but not a bit of bite. This is our dog, Ace, who left us for the open fields of Lancaster County and the spoiling of my very dear mother.


My grandfather, the kids' great pop-pop as he is affectionately called. 80+ years old and the man still puts in 10 hour work days (minimum usually) fixing and restoring tractors in the shop. The shop is a magical place for young children (and mommies too!) Here we get to play in grease, use tools set aside just for our use, ride up and down on the jack, laugh at mommy's childhood writing that was used to organize and label nuts and bolts, climb down in the car pit to look under tractors or trucks or cars...the hours we spend here are too many to count.



We know that chickens give us eggs and that they really are fresher straight from the chicken coop. Thanks to family and neighbors in PA, we rarely have to buy eggs from the grocery store.


A trip to PA isn't complete without tickles from Pop-Pop...and a visit to our favorite store: Maplehofe.


Because you see, at Maplehofe, you can buy ice cream cones at 9 am and no one looks at you like you have two heads. They applaud your support of the dairy industry. And, they only charge 1.00 for an single scoop ice cream cone. So, seconds are definitely a must!!

If you ever find yourself vacationing in Lancaster, PA, call me first. I know the stores to visit, the sights to see...I can line up tractor rides and egg gathering experiences. If you want to milk a cow, I can show you how to do it. And if you need a magical place to run, jump on hay bales, sit in the grass or dig in the dirt, I'll join you on Goat Hill Road and we can all feel like kids again for just a little bit.

April, oh April, where didst thou go?

I remember dyeing Easter Eggs: in fact, I found the last missing one (yes, a real one), inside just yesterday. No smell until the little one smashed it into pieces.

I remember Easter Sunday: getting dressed up for church, singing the Hallelujah Chorus, rejoicing because we serve a RISEN savior, celebrating the holiday with 60 other family members, hunting for eggs and flying kites.

Ahh...my kitchen is back in functioning order. There are still the little things to do: lights, some electrical, crown moulding; but the cabinets are in, the countertops are beautiful and the dishwasher is functioning!

I even had help unpacking the boxes!

No more green shag carpet, no more subfloors...we have beautiful hardwood floors, great for blanket rides, sock ice skating, and monster truck races.

But that also means no more writing on floors: did you catch that kids? ALL of you...

Oh, yes...Now I remember where April went: I was in a fog, in a daze, in a cloud of exhaustion, sickness and surprise. We were blessed to discover that we will be bringing another little one into this world in late October/early November. Thirteen weeks down; perhaps the sickness will begin to subside and the milkshake cravings will set in...

In the meantime, I'm going to count my blessings, not the least of which include these three wonderful people who fill my life with great joy!

From the mouths of babes..

My high school friends will tell you that English was my best and easiest subject. Since I went to school in the days BEFORE papers had to be typed, I was notorious for sitting at the lunch table and whipping out a paper that was due the next period. And usually, I would get an A on it. It infuriated my friends to no end...but I've always been a lover of words. (And a despiser of typographical errors...I actually had to sit on a Christmas Eve program from the chapel service in Germany because it was so typo laden and took my focus from the service itself!!)

And so, I see that I am passing this love, just simply by talking, to my children. One of my all time favorite words is discombobulated...and so today, my son, after getting dressed by himself, asks me: "Mommy, am I all combobulated now?" I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or smile with pride.

And later on this afternoon: "Andrew, what are you going to say to Grandmommy and Pop-Pop on Sunday?" "Happy Easter Indeed!" (From Sunday School: "He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed." )

Son, you crack me up. On the lousiest of days, you can bring a smile to my face. Now, could you teach your sister to say more than Mommy, uh-oh, and Ooo-ooo???

In a blink of an eye...

Why is it that the days can seem so long and when I look back, it was only yesterday that we welcomed March with an East Coast "snow storm?" What have I been doing in these last three weeks? Where has the time gone?

• I'm happy to say that we conquered potty training in the last three weeks. Praise God! Our monthly diaper bill dropped and my three year old is an official big boy! We are so very proud of him.


• We also faced a full ten + days of sickness. I am STILL catching up on laundry!!


• Our cranky, fussy little girl was diagnosed with allergies: wheat and eggs to be exact. And so, we're learning to adjust to a new diet. Between the kids and my hubby, I need a spreadsheet to determine who can eat what.


• We're still in the midst of kitchen renovations: the cabinets and appliances are here, there, and everywhere as we finish prepping the walls for priming and painting. The end is in sight...and yet I still feel so far away from having a functioning kitchen.

Some days I read other's blogs about what they're doing with their children and what's going on in their lives and I feel like such an inadequate mother. Especially on those days when our biggest accomplishment is getting out of bed! And so I keep coming back to these words from Romans that are (usually) posted on my refrigerator:

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2, The Message

Do you see what I see in here?

• "God helping you": I'm not alone in this journey of motherhood. And on those days when all we do is fold laundry and play countless games of Bingo, read the same books again and again...this life is pleasing to God.


• "Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him." Wow! All I have to do is look around at the people I live with to see what God has done for me...and I am silent, awestruck, humbled by the blessings bestowed upon me.


• "God brings the best out of you." Thank you Lord because if it were up to me most days...

Andrew has been going around the house singing and signing "What a Mighty God We Serve" and when I stop to hear his little voice praising God, I am gently reminded that my everyday, ordinary life is pleasing to Him...and it should be pleasing to me as well. Let it be so, Lord. Let it be so.

SNOW DAY

Our world, at 7 am...peaceful, silent, snowy, still, beautiful. I stand in awe of thousands of tiny snowflakes falling to the earth, covering the ground in beauty.



7:45 am: Andrew and Daddy enjoy a good snowball fight while shoveling the driveway before daddy has to report to work, two hours late.

11:30 am: a tradition in the Holloway household. On the first snow day of the season, my mom made homemade donuts while my cousins and I were sledding on goat hill; a tradition that I am more than happy to carry on and share with my own children (minus the sledding on goat hill).

~2:00 pm: donuts are cut with fun cookie cutters by Andrew and mommy and are ready for their second rise of the day.

3:45 pm: the oil is hot and the donuts are a'fryin. Daddy walks in the door to yummy hot goodness right out of the pan.

Can you see why we LOVE snow days?

Traveling with a 3 Year Old

Snippets of an ongoing conversation with Andrew during the last 30 minutes of our recent trip to PA to visit the grandparents. Andrew was very well aware that we were getting close!

* I'm trying to be patient mommy, but I just want to be at grandmom and pop-pop's. Can't you catch up to that white van...you're faster!

*Mommy, PA and pop-pop are the same. P for PA and P for Pop-Pop. "Puh"

* Mommy, look, there's a shooter (referring to a windsock). I explained what a windsock was and that someone we knew used to land his airplane in that field. "You mean our Dave? Dave with Luke, Dave who takes me on the merry-go-round...let's go visit him."

*Wow...all I can see are cows...

*Look at all the crows trying to eat the cornstalks. There's black crows and white crows...I wonder if there are any woodpeckers.

Andrew, living with you is never dull!!!