October Poem of the Month

The Red Wheelbarrow

by William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Everybody had read or heard this poem before, I know, I know. But I have always liked the celebration of simplicity in this poem and the recognition that there are basic things we depend on in life. Sometimes we just need to focus on those basics. Plus, given the business of this month, I needed something short and simple. And, really, this month, I've felt like the red wheelbarrow--like so much has depended on me and that I've been glazed over by rain or stress. But, thankfully, the rain/stress does not last and the normalcy will return. I do want to remember our goings and comings this month, so I'll list them for posterity:

• a red-eye flight and 4 days in Massachusetts, painting, shopping, relaxing
• a week of fall break and 3 half-days for the kids
• football and piano and cub scouts for Mister
• soccer and dance and piano for Sweetie
• a ba-jillion birthday parties for the kids
• Mister's school musical
• the Western States Literacy and Rhetoric conference for me
• cub scout academic fair
• a baby shower to throw for a friend
• the teacher appreciation dinner at school to help with
• the fall festival/trunk or treat at church to attend and make food for
• Halloween with its costumes to find/make
• one bout of the stomach flu

Fall break

So, fall break. It seems so long ago. I had just returned from a nice long visit to Massachusetts, so I was ready just to hang out with the kids and take it easy. We went on some bike rides (until the tires in the baby carrier popped), we went to a couple of parks, we made some Halloween crafts (thanks to last year's 90% off clearance at Walmart), and we went to the zoo. It was all good until the zoo at the end of the week. Then I was ready for fall break to be over. And it was!

The splash pad at the zoo

The Halloween balloons and masks we made. The pic of Mister is the paper mache masks that his class made at school. I got to go in and mask his face. Then after it had dried, they painted them.

Rain, rain, save the day

Today the high temperature was 80 degrees with a cool breeze, so with dinner marinating, we went out to enjoy the dusk and we got hit by a cloudburst. With everyone drenched, we headed in for hot chocolate. After a crazy-busy and stressful day, I desperately needed some downtime. It felt like the exhale after I'd been holding a big breath.

Sweetie Loses a Tooth

When I returned from Massachusetts (another post for another day), I had a few notes waiting for me from Sweetie. As you can see in the drawings, Sweetie has finally lost her first tooth. The day before I left, she told me she had a loose tooth. "Whatever," I said (because Sweetie has been claiming a loose tooth for over a year now--"I'm sure it wiggles!") But I felt it anyway, and, to my amazement, it really was loose. She was determined to have Mr. C, the principal at school pull it for her (probably because then she could bask in the extra fame and glory all day long). So she worked at it a few days, and Mr. C pulled it before I got back from the East Coast.

Here's our now one-tooth-less Sweetie:

Join me

over at Segullah to talk about "Looking in the eyes, looking on the heart."

September Recap

Is it still a "recap" if I never wrote about it in the first place? Regardless, here are some of our September happenings:

I had a birthday, shout, "Hooray!" Except that this is my first birthday where I haven't been thrilled about turning another year because 36 is getting closer to 40 and 40 is supposed to be middle-aged. But I am so young! Anyway, I celebrated with a hard workout at the gym, followed by plenty of over-eating as J and I went out to lunch while a friend watched H and as we picked up all of my birthday freebies for dinner. The following weekend, I made myself a birthday cake for our little family party, and, my Mom will be proud, I made a money cake with $3.60 in the cake in honor of my 36 years. Here's a pic of the overwrapped coins and bills (since you put them in the batter before cooking the cake, I was worried about the bills). Alas, I was not one of the lucky recipients of money in my piece of cake.

Other September happenings: J and I flew up to Utah for the weekend to watch the BYU/Uof U tragedy. Before the game, we got to go up in the press boxes and onto the field. After the game, we were in a state of depression. But the trip was not all sadness. We saw a movie, went shopping, went hiking, drove the Alpine Loop, got to stay with Chris and Allison, and met the whole family, minus Michael and Katie, at ZTejas for dinner one night. And we arrived back home to find the kids healthy and happy, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, who came from California to watch them.

Also, in September, we have been experimenting with sleeping arrangements. Mister and Sweetie do not want to share a room anymore. (I keep telling Mister to wait 2 days until he's in with H and H destroys all of his lego creations, rips his books, and hides his money and candy and he will be begging for Sweetie to return.) But actually, I think I'm ready for the change too. I'm ready to kiss the bunkbeds good-bye for a while and not have to worry about H breaking his neck while my back is turned. If we switch around, though, I do loose the changing table (which will turn into Sweetie's dresser) and the rocking chair/recliner where we read H his books. We experimented for a while with one of the kids (or both) sleeping on the floor in H's room. H has this habit of singing at the top of his lungs for at least 45 minutes before he finally goes to sleep. I wanted to make sure that with someone in the room with him, he could stop the singing/screaming. It happened a couple of the nights, but definitely didn't the other nights, so for right now, we are holding steady and haven't made the switch yet.

And, of course, I can't forget the fact that this month, H has been Obsessed with "Do As I'm Doing" and "If You're Happy and You Know It". So we have been playing them ad nauseum. I think the nursery needs to expand their repertoire.

And, we got out the Halloween costumes. Despite evidence otherwise, H is not going to be a witchy princess. I am leaning towards garden knome. Except, do you think he'd keep the beard/hat on??