In the Swing of Things

We declared war on our house yesterday and spent the entire day unpacking. Our life here is taking off. With school, gymnastics, cooking, cleaning, laundry, playgroups, preschool co-op, yard work, exercise, and cleaning up after my two little tropical storms, sometimes referred to as Kate and Jane, I am settling into a busy but happy routine. Unfortunately, my progress with unpacking has slowed considerably. I think I only made it through two boxes all week. The remaining chaos was annoying, but not pressing enough to demand my full attention. Josh took pity on me yesterday and together we spent our precious Saturday in a wild rumpus of unpacking and organizing. Our marriage survived and everything looks so much better now! We only have a few boxes of personal junk to sort through and we will be officially unpacked.

Josh’s second case at BCG ended. We were looking forward to some “time on the beach” as they call the days between projects when we could catch up on a few things. Then Sunday night he got an email that said he had been staffed and his case started the next morning--not a single day off. Should I be surprised? The new case is a traveling case in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is excited about it, which makes me happy, and he will start accumulating frequent flier miles and hotel points, which also makes me happy. He’s afraid it is going to be a really demanding project. Again, should I be surprised? Welcome to BCG.

A little over a week ago, Josh traveled for the first time for work. He was sent to Utah to recruit at BYU. It was a quick trip, but he was able to stay at his parents’ house and at least have a few late night discussions with them. When he returned he said he brought me something from his mom. I like presents, so that sounded good to me. Then he proceeded to pull from his suitcase a bag of yellow squash, a bag of tomatoes, and a bag of cucumbers! I have never received such a unique souvenir. We have been in veggie heaven all week. Wouldn’t you have loved to watch the security personnel scan that carry on.

Kate is doing great in school. I have noticed that school here in Texas is quite hands-off as far as the parents are concerned. There hasn’t been a lot of communication with the teacher, although she seems to be a great teacher. You can volunteer in the school, but not in the classroom. You just drop your kiddo off at the door, stay out of the way, and pick them up in the afternoon. As long as Kate is happy, I’m okay with that and so far she is very happy. We had an interesting conversation the other day, however. She told me that each child in the class has a box where he/she can keep the books they can read all by themselves. She said she had one book in her box. “Great,” I said. And then, although I am trying very hard not to force her to be a crazy must-get-110%-person like her mother, I couldn’t help but ask, “How many books do the other kids have?” She answered, “I’m not sure, but some of them might have two or three.” Then I couldn’t help myself. I told her that next time they added books to their boxes I wanted her to look around and find out which of her friends had the most books and then get at least as many books as that in her box.” Josh was listening to this conversation and shaking his head saying I was creating a “Little Sunny.” I’m pretty sure he was thinking along the same lines in spite of his protestations. The next time Kate’s class added books to their boxes, Kate added 6 books and then 3 more the next day. That’s more like it! Kate loves the alphabet songs and the number cheers, but I do want to make sure her teacher knows she can read.

Jane has had quite the adjustment with her Kate going off to school. I take her to playgroups and she just wants to stay with me. She says, “I want to play with the primary kids, Mom.” She thinks the nursery kids are way too little for her. I don’t know why. They are in diapers, just learning to put words together and recognize colors. Jane came down the other day after I had cleaned up the playroom and said with tears in her eyes, “You threw away my beloved dragonfly.”

I am currently reading Once And Future King, the classic retelling of the King Arthur legend. I came across a great quote the other day. Sir Kay is about to become a knight at which point Arthur will become his squire. Arthur is trying to make the most of his transition from days of adventure and learning to servitude and says, “It is not such bad fun being a Cinderella when you can do it in a kitchen which has a fireplace big enough to roast an ox.” Well, our fireplace isn’t quite that big, but we are certainly happy to be in such a comfortable house. And having your own yard and your own kitchen and your own washer and dryer does make the Cinderella roles more enjoyable. We are all so happy and grateful to have a home.

There are so many kids in the neighborhood. Our next door neighbor is 4-years-old and comes over almost every day. My girls love her. Kate wrote her a note the other day that said, “Trista, do you want to be sisters or do you want to stay with your mom and dad. You can think about it. Love, Kate and Jane.” Trista’s mom said she finished reading it and without hesitation said, “I want to be their sister!” It does my heart good to look outside and see the girls playing. Yesterday we ended up with 5 kiddos in the backyard playing games. They were laughing and having a grand time. One of them came in for a drink and said, “We are having so much fun and you don’t even have anything out here.” As Josh put it, “Welcome to childhood!”

We are happy the heat wave has passed and enjoying our new adventure.