This is where we live

Oh man have I had some doldrums-esque days lately! And on those days I have been trying to remind myself of why I love the little town where we live (even when I wish we were living here with a job and a Ph.D.!).

 So--things I have been grateful for about our town in the last 24 hours:

The summer reading programs at our libraries are great! They give us tons of coupons to do things for free all summer--like eat ice cream and go mini-golfing.

We have the cutest little children's museum downtown. For $60 I can buy an annual pass that gets us in not only to our little museum, but hundreds of museums worldwide--including all my favorites in Chicago! Nathan talks nonstop about the firetruck we have locally, even if he doesn't look very excited to be sitting on it today.

It has lots of cool experiments--today the kids did a scavenger hunt that was based off of detailed questions from the exhibit info.

The trains there are always more exciting than our trains at home!

 

And there is a comfy chair in the train room where I can sit and feast my eyes on these glorious Luke cheeks. Oh, how I adore his chubby little cheekies!



Lots of fun areas to play upstairs, and inevitably I run into a friend and we can sit and chat while the kids are playing.

The people who live in our town are so friendly and helpful and kind. Another mom that I'd never met before hopped right up today to lend a hand when the girls were building this catenary arch and I was helping Luke fix his dinosaur.

 Today we ran to the grocery store to grab a few things for tomorrow's Harry Potter party and we saw this fun peanut truck!

And then we went inside and the kids got a cookie from the bakery, and lots of people stopped to tell Luke the Monkey how cute he is. I love our grocery store here (well, this one anyway--there are a whole bunch). My favorite cashier knows all my kids by name and always asks how school is going for the older ones if I only have the younger ones with me.



Speaking of school, today as we were making dinner there was a knock at the door, and it was the girls' favorite teacher in the whole wide world, who will be Isaac's teacher next year--she had offered to loan me something for our party tomorrow, even though she wouldn't be able to come. The girls rushed to hug her and I thought how grateful I am to have her in my childrens' lives, along with all of the other wonderful teachers my kiddos have had, and how grateful I am that they are my friends as well as my childrens' mentors.

And I am grateful for the friends who will come over tomorrow to celebrate a made-up holiday with us.

I'm grateful to the random guy at the library today who looked at me in my pigtails and yoga pants with 5 kids and told me how pretty I was, and that he hoped I wasn't offended that he'd said so. That sure perked up my day. ;-)

I'm grateful for my state-specific running board buddies, who I've never met in real life, but who give me awesome advice and feedback and encouragement every day (can't wait to meet them at the marathon we are all running in November!).

I'm grateful for the kind friends who are going to take care of my kiddos so that I can go spend a few days with my uncle and help him go through my late aunt's things.

I'm grateful for our backyard here, and the fact that we are allowed to keep chickens, and that our neighbors are the kind of people who take iPhone videos of our chickens over the fence so they can send them to their grandkids.

I'm grateful for the librarian who knows all of my children by name and knits gifts for my new babies.

I'm grateful for the friends here who know what I have gone through during the last ten years, and who have mentored and loved me as I have fumbled my way through motherhood and wifehood--the friends who have taught me to can and sew and run and what compassionate service really looks like.

I'm so, so, so, so incredibly grateful for the chance I have had to learn from women who are decades older than I am--I treasure and value their insight and love so much.

I have loved our life here. It's certainly not drawing to a close--an immediate close, at least--but every so often I need to step back and appreciate all of the blessings I have here. Good schools. Wonderful teachers. A church congregation composed of well-educated, brilliant, loving, devoted, and faithful men and women, who give selflessly of themselves and are still absolutely 100% human and lovable. A climate that allows for four seasons and all kinds of wonderful locally-grown fruits and vegetables. Close proximity to my own dear parents (and sisters!). A cost of living that allows us to live in our home which has ample space for all of us, even if I might wish for an extra room here and there! An amazing community of friendly Midwesterners who are down-to-earth and doing their best every day to make the world a better place. Beautiful woods, streams, lakes, and rivers, with an abundance of bike paths and trails to connect all of the places I want to go.

It's a good life we have here, and I'm grateful for it. It's shaped me, our marriage, and our family in so many significant and lasting ways, and it has been the right thing for us.

Playing catch-up...again!

I've spent most of today trying to do things that I can control to make up for things that I can't control that are driving me crazy (translation: we've had some unhappy news about Neil's work and I've spent too much time crying). So now that my course sites are prepped and ready for fall, and I ran my 8 miles for today and the house is clean and the laundry is folded and the 'fridge is stocked--and all the sick kids are finally asleep--I'm turning to blogging catch-up to keep my worries at bay. And to not think about the fact that we were supposed to leave for Utah today. :-(

Also--I am really terrible at remembering to bring my camera/put the battery in the camera this summer. So many missed photo ops (Conner Prairie, I'm looking at you!).

For the record, we spent a really amazing day at Conner Prairie--a living history museum that replicates life on the prairie in the 1830s--a few weeks ago. One of my favorite highlights was watching the girls play (by invitation from one of the actors) on the 200-year-old piano that sits in one of the homes of the "wealthy citizens" in town. Another highlight: playing stick and hoop with the kids, walking around on stilts, watching their delight as they pumped water for a vegetable garden and hauled heavy boxes from a Conestoga to the storekeeper's back room (he paid them with lengths of ribbon and oh my heavens, it was the most exciting thing ever!).

Conner Prairie is a fun place. We love it!

We made blueberry jam and cherry jam one afternoon. Abigail had a playdate, but Isaac, Jules, and Luke worked their little hearts out pitting cherries and stirring jam.

The girls and I took a little road trip to spend a weekend with my sister, who just moved to Chicago. We sat in traffic for a looong time. Enough to take selfies.



But if you have to sit in traffic somewhere, Lakeshore Drive is a pretty darn scenic place to do it!

We had an amazing weekend with her--she took us out for sushi & curry the first night we arrived and we got to walk all over her cute neighborhood (she lives in my favorite part of Chicago--Lincoln Park!). Abigail wowed us all with her love of sushi and I even tried my first legit raw-fish sushi (so, so, so good! Nice to not be pregnant or nursing!). Then we went to a bookstore and Mary Beth told the girls they could each pick out a book--they were in heaven! And then we stopped by a bakery for some sweet treats and then home to bed.



The next morning I got up and had a gorgeous but super hot 10-mile run along the lake--I was SO glad I'd done my long run earlier in the week so I was done early! Then we took the L to the Field Museum (taking the L was probably the most exciting thing that had ever happened in Abigail's life and the most terrifying in Juliet's), and wandered around happily for a few hours.



We found a honey badger that reminded us of Nathan ("honey badger just does what he wants!").

The girls (sort of) humored me by posing in front of the triceratops where I make them pose every time we visit the Field. 

 Jules was feeling pretty crummy by this point (poor kid spent today throwing up with a fever) but she was such a good sport.

After a few hours the girls were really tired, so we meandered out of the museum, stopped for some delicious ice-cream goodies from a vendor on the museum steps, and caught the water taxi back to Navy Pier. We sat down and the heavens opened in a fine example of a Midwest thunderstorm and drenched us all! By the time we made it back to the bus that would take us from the pier to the L we were so sodden it was comical.

But oh, that gorgeous gorgeous skyline! Totally worth getting soaked.



We were all tired and footsore and cold, so we stopped off at Whole Foods on our walk back to her apartment and picked up some goodies for dinner. Predictably, we picked up what Neil refers to as
"[My maiden name] Vacation Special" because salami, bread, and cheese were pretty much the given choices for any meal we ate on vacation as kids. (We also added a spinach salad with smoked Gouda, apples, and bacon, fresh strawberries, a dry-aged salami, chipotle cheddar cheese, more Gouda, and a couple bread options. I kind of love eating with my family!)

And I'm wishing I had better pictures of my sister's apartment because it is gorgeous!! But I left my camera battery plugged into the charger, so every photo of the weekend is from her iPhone and taken at my behest (which probably got really annoying...thanks for putting up with me!!). :-)

Backtracking a bit--we made 4th of July fireworks shirts. So fun!

And got really really really dirty setting off a gazillion fireworks. My dad came down to visit us for the weekend (my mom is out in Utah right now helping out with two new babies! So exciting!) and because he's my dad and he's awesome he bought a ton of fireworks, all of which we set off on the 3rd because he had to go back home before the night of the 4th.

But the kids loved them so much that back they went to the fireworks store the next day and got more. :-)


We had such a great time with my dad--he is always so fun! He drove down really early Friday morning--I was actually still out running (and pepper-spraying myself in the face but that's another story). So when I got back he & Neil had the kids all loaded up on bikes and were headed out for an adventure! Neil went to work and then we spent the day hanging out and having fun, then when Neil got home we started the fireworks party, which lasted until about 10:30 or so. Then the next day we went hiking, bought more fireworks, had more fun party, etc. until Dad left and we went down to campus to watch & wait for the big fireworks (which were spectacular as always), then back home for our neighborhood fireworks (which were surprisingly spectacular as always), then tried to sleep through the booming. Ah, perks of living in a state without fireworks laws...

And guess who is now six! This really deserves its own post, so hopefully that will happen but maybe not.

The night before Isaac's birthday, Neil took Isaac and Luke to one of those places filled with inflatables. They had a pretty good time (except Luke was scared of anyone smaller than him and would hide from younger kids. Poor Luke; Nathan is not an easy person to live with!). 

As always, we celebrated his birthday with a crepe-a-palooza for dinner. Happy Bastille Day! Yum yum yum!



And after the crepes, the lemon meringue pie! (He was much more excited than he looks in this photo post-candles.)

Every single gift my little Isaac received was engineering-based. He has all kinds of fun making his own radio (he was SO THRILLED that he could listen to "All Things Considered"; that kid is a total NPR fanatic), launching fans, making all kinds of horribly loud fire-engine/spaceship/bomb noises, building all kinds of remote-controlled vehicles that he then zooms around the house, building and firing miniature catapults, etc. Total heaven for my builder son!




Other notables:

We got rid of our high chair! Yippeeeeeee!

Funny kids spent an afternoon kowtowing to King Tot ("get it, Mom? Like King Tut, but it's King TOT!").

I finally had a chance to get fabric for Nathan's quilt and had it on his bed less than 48 hours later; he was so thrilled and kept taking us by the hand to lead us in and show off his "reeree pretty quilt!"

Lots of yoga going on over here. One day the kids all got obsessed with the same pose (Wheel) and were doing it all.over.the.house. Like it was impossible not to trip over someone who was staring up at you from the floor. 

Funny Luke borrowed my sunglasses one day and then fell asleep. 

We tried our hand at making spring rolls for dinner one night--they were a huge hit! The kids loved them and this is reminding me that we should make them for lunch one of these days.

We're following a pretty consistent pattern here--three weeks sick, three weeks off, then sick again. I am so not a fan. Poor kiddos...it has not been much of a summer between all of the fevers and the throwing up and the rain...the never-ending, NEVER-ENDING constant rain that has completely slaughtered all of the baby plants in our garden. July 22 and we still have not even been to the pool this year--it's just been too cold and wet (it finally warmed up this week but we are home-bound again with the fever/vomiting/rash goodness). 

This photo is so old, but I made a really fun dinner for Father's Day! It was Moroccan-themed and we had kebabs, fresh pita, fattoush, couscous, green chile relish, red-bean hummus, and tzatziki. Just looking at this photo makes me hungry!

And speaking of photos that make me hungry, I'll live you with this one. My raspberry plant was so good to me this spring (before the rain ruined all the berries).

by the numbers

100: pounds of peaches we processed this morning
3: playgrounds we visited this week
2: number of times it started pouring rain at the playground
34: miles I ran this week
8: miles with Luke in the bike seat on our "date" while he told me all about his favorite rides at Dollywood
100,000 (give or take a few): number of K'nex on the floor in Isaac's room right now...it is construction time again! (My rule is that there has to be a clear path from beds to the door, and it has to be vacuumable twice a week.)
2: number of chickens that have disappeared (the baby bantams).
inestimable: number of tears shed over those bantams by Abigail
2: number of times we visited the "fireworks store" in 24 hours in preparation for the 4th of July (more about that later!)
3: days until my oldest boy is six
2: missing library books right now
6: number of times we've gone through all our shelves looking for those darn library books wondering who snuck them out of the library basket!
4: lengths of fabric I purchased this week to make Nathan a twin-sized quilt
12: episodes of Downton Abbey I watched this week while running on the treadmill (tweaked my knee so I'm staying off the (cambered) roads until it's better, since all our bike paths are still flooded)
2: cherry tomatoes on our sole surviving Sweet 100 plant. Unbelievable rain this year--there is still standing water all over our lawn and garden!
1: day it got above 70 degrees this week
8: pounds I have lost doing a health challenge for the last six weeks with my mom & sisters (apparently eating after 9 pm has been my Waterloo; good to know!).
38: pints of blueberries we bought on Thursday
0: high chairs in our kitchen (!!!!)

Motherhood, guilt, and running

pendant here

I think I've mentioned it before, but I'm training for another marathon. Actually, training doesn't *officially* start until next week, but I have been building up my base mileage ever since the half-marathon I ran over Memorial Day weekend, and this week is the week that I run all of the runs that I will run the first week of training. I ran 141 miles in June (and 9 miles in July--all one day of it so far).

I've been running for 8 years this August--I started about six weeks postpartum with Juliet. I've run through three pregnancies (two of them all the way until delivery, one up until abdominal surgery at 24 weeks), five half-marathons, one marathon, and a handful of 12K/10K/5K races scattered in there. I've gone to physical therapy and learned how to roll my IT bands and what supplements I should take for plantar fasciitis. I can give myself an ice massage without screaming like a banshee. I figure I'm pretty used to this running thing.

But MAN, let me tell you, this current running plan is totally kicking my butt! I figured that I've run a marathon before, I can totally do this--and then I started posting regularly on an online running forum and asked for advice on how to get faster (my pipe dream is to qualify for Boston in the next five years), and then I did a ton of research on the plans that everyone recommended, and picked the one that I thought was the best fit, and so now instead of running nice little midweek runs of 4 or 5 miles, I'm suddenly knocking out 8 miles one day, 9 miles the next, and 12 a couple of days after that. In the FIRST WEEK.

IT IS SO HARD. But simultaneously awesome. Oh, what do you do today during naptime, kid? You took a nap? I ran 9 miles, and I ran them fast!

A lot of times I worry about the fact that literally all my free time is going to running right now (this doesn't count the 3 hours I read every night once the kids are asleep, because reading time is not the same as free time). No creative projects around the house, and I'm always feeling guilty about not being this exciting cruise director for the kids' summer like I have been in years past. (We usually go somewhere fun 3-4 times a week, but I am not doing all kinds of cool art projects or whatnot at home...we've only done a handful thus far.) Part of this is because my kids are getting older and want to do their own thing, but honestly, part of it is because I'm tired! Although when the kids were sick for a month straight, a lot of my fatigue was from being up most of the night with them and not just from running.

Anyway...so there is always a lot of guilt for me around taking so much time for something that is for myself, but man, I don't know what I would do without it right now--it's the only thing keeping me sane and able to handle life's stresses these days. I've gotten into the habit of getting up a couple of hours before anybody else on Saturday mornings and just running for a couple of hours, and then I can come back and do all the Saturday stuff after I've had some time to recoup my sense of self. Actually, I was telling Neil the other day how worried I am about making everyone's lives boring because I'm running so much, and he reassured me that running 12 miles, making it back in time for breakfast, and then spending 6 hours at a living history museum with the kids and then coming home, making dinner, and getting everyone in bed is not exactly wimping out on motherhood, so I do an awful lot of trusting him to tell me if it's too much.

Mostly I figure that as long as we hit the library every week, we get in a few playdates, and we go one or two interesting places I'm good for the week, and if I read stories to the kids every day, keep up on laundry, make sure everyone is practicing, and keep everyone fed we're good to go. It's good for them to spend hours building forts and playing Legos during naptime while I'm pounding out miles on the treadmill...right?

Oh the mother-guilt and second-guessing...it never ends. But I truly don't want to completely lose myself--I know there's a lot more I could be doing as a mother, but I don't think it would be healthy for me to give and give and give without keeping something that is just mine. And for me, right now, that's running a whole lotta miles every week. (And reading. Which is like taking vitamins.)