Someone told me many years ago the flute and clarinet embouchures conflicted. If you played one, you wouldn’t be able to play the other as well. While that didn’t stop me from playing both, it did take a little bit of the joy out of it for me. It turns out this isn’t true at all! Hooray for multiple musical instruments.
Driving in a car with just one kid, no matter which kid, is a lot of fun! It’s when they are all together that I want to ram my head against the steering wheel.
Actually, spending one on one time with my kids doing anything, I am learning, is precious time, and I have really been loving having a few opportunities to do that lately.
It’s true. I really do like playing a musical instrument best in my living room, with no one really listening. This became crystal clear for me again this month after I needed to play in front of just a handful of people. It’s not that I don’t like sharing music with other people, its just that I really do like my living room best of all.
I’m fascinated with Olympic swimming this year. I have been following closely the U.S. swimming olympic trials, and watching swimming is just so thrilling. It’s fast, to the point, and for the most part the winner is uncontested. There is no subjective judging involved. The winner is who the winner is, and the winner is always, very fast. Unbelievably fast. Plus, swimmers are interesting people. I watch/read about gymnastics, figure skating, diving, and some of the other sports that don’t get a lot of attention except in the olympics, but I am learning that swimming is now my favorite.
When a kid decides to read on their own, they approach it with determination and grit! My third and fourth kidlets have been the most determined to read, and they both amazed me with their dedication. Kidlet four does not whine and fuss about sitting down and sounding out books. He seeks me out to sit and listen to him sounding out. Kidlets one and two were fantastic readers who caught on probably more easily, but they fussed all the time until reading was fluent and easy for them. Kidlets three and four probably have had to work a little harder, but their attitude is so positive and hardworking.
Each year I plant a few new herbs on my deck. This year I almost have more herbs than flowers: rosemary, oregano, lemon thyme, cilantro, lavender, basil, and for the first time lemon balm. I wasn’t sure what lemon balm was actually used for when I planted it, but at the greenhouse it had a wonderful smell, so I tried it out. I’ve learned all sorts of ways to use lemon balm this month, and my favorite is in a fruit salad. Amazing!
God’s timing is the best timing, even though sometimes you might feel like your sitting on the ledge headed for calamity. This was apparent in several ways this month.
I discovered the Happy Hour Podcast. I had heard about this podcast before, but since I don’t get a lot of time to listen to podcasts, I hadn’t ever actually listened. While driving to take YaYa to music camp, I found myself in the car by myself for a bit, and decided to try it out. The four hours from the Canadian border back to Grandma Kathy’s in Valley City flew by. It’s the perfect podcast to listen to while driving. My favorite episode (and I’ve only heard five) was the interview with Sally Lloyd Jones, author of The Jesus Storybook Bible (my favorite kids Bible).
Telling all my kids to “pick up 20 things”before we do something has revolutionized my summer. I can’t remember what blog I read this tip on anymore, but it has worked wonders for me. My kids strew things all day. We do a big pick up at the end of the day, but by mid afternoon I sometimes want to bury my head in a blanket because of the chaos. If four kids and I all pick up 20 things, that’s 100 things, and we can make quite a dent. Twenty things only takes a couple of minutes. It feels manageable, and we’ve had success inside the house and outside in the yard.
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