A blessing cannot be kept

I am behind --- WEEKS behind.
I keep thinking about blogging, but then find myself at the pool or on a bike ride or doing something else to soak up those precious final days of summer vacation. And now I just completed my third, busy, meeting filled, paperwork overload, back-to-school workshop day. It feels like I'll now be forever busy and never get a chance to update and write about our family's happenings!  Believe me there is plenty to say!  There are tons to pictures to share...A's 5th birthday parties up north and at the "library pool"...end of the summer stories...  Everything continues to stack up and is waiting to be published.
Eventually everything will be published.
Perhaps this Labor Day weekend in between planning out the entire year's curriculum?
Maybe when this horrible root canal ceases in it's torment?
Soon.  I promise.

Until then I feel compelled to share something I read days ago that I continue to think about each day.  I often talk about my (completely genuine) feelings of being thankful, appreciative, and blessed in my life.  It should come as no surprise that I read something titled "You are so blessed" and felt compelled to share what I cannot stop thinking about.


If you are feeling blessed, repay the blessings bestowed unto you and do something for others.


A blessing cannot be kept.  If it stops with you, then the blessing will disappear.  The blessing will only keep working if it is continuously passed around.  If you are a recipient of a blessing, keep the blessing working by being the source of blessing to other people. 


Reading this was a good reminder to be more than just thankful.  I need to continue to recognize the blessings in all situations in my life and to always remember to give back that feeling of good, love, gratitude, kindness, acceptance, joy, laughter (etc, etc, etc) to others. That's why I smile even when I want to be gobbling down the percocet for this darn tooth!

I hope you are feeling loved & appreciated, giving thanks & then finding ways to give it away to those around you!  

LOVE!

Looks like Ms. Hanson is going back to school 

with a little (nerdy Scrabble) style (that's totally ME!) thanks to WJF and Etsy!

This almost makes me excited to go back in two weeks...

The Journey

Thursday morning while walking out the door I spotted this perfect, sidewalk chalk hand print of Anthony's in light blue barely dusting the surface of the wall.  Immediately I smiled and laughed out loud.  Anthony even stopped to ask why I was being so happy (and perhaps just being downright weird).

I know many moms might see that hand print and get upset at the mess or immediately want to scrub it off.  Three days later the chalky print still remains and I cannot help but feel happy that it's there.  It's a tangible reminder of the little boy who lives here and who has forever made an impression on my heart regardless of all that has happened and all that will continue to happen in the future.

While at our weekly horse therapy appointment his therapist was pointing out definite changes since we started working together back in June.  After she told me that I realized she was absolutely right.  Too many times I'm praying and hoping for the "big picture" to change that I miss the little things.  It was a great reminder.  Progress has been made and is continuing to be made each and every day that we're together.  I know in my heart that someday all of the reading of books, RAD workshops, therapy sessions and time spent together as a family will matter.  I feel strongly that a heart that has been hurt can be healed --- it just takes time.

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save. 

Mary Oliver

Mom's Little Helper

Yesterday we put on our aprons (thanks auntie!), got out the mixer and whipped up a new recipe of homemade brownies.

Unfortunately, they were the worst brownies I had ever tasted.  Mark agreed.  Only Anth disagreed for whatever reason.  The recipe has now been thrown away and the brownies will likely go next.  At least I got some pictures of my cutie patootie assistant baker to enjoy!

Tall Timber Days

Heading up north in the summer time is always wonderful even when the drive home always looks like this around Mille Lacs Lake.

All of the inch by inch, stop and go action is bearable because of the opportunity to spend time with our families in DR/GR.  Last weekend Anth and I head up to see my mom who was recovering from foot surgery and then spend the rest of the time in GR for Tall Timber Days.  The best was Sunday's parade that last an hour and a half on a splendid and much cooler than usual day.  Even though this was our third parade of the summer and we really did not need any more candy, I'm so glad we went.  Maybe we were saving the best for last?!

It was great because Anthony got to spend even more time with 

Grammie Carol and Papa Marv!

 There was a real life fireman walking around...

as well as Ronald McDonald 

(a pirate, roller derby girls, a "green man", Shriners motorcycles and go carts too)!

But none of those things were as good as hearing Papa Marv use his voice to let a certain elected official know what he thought of her recent decisions!  He even got a whole handful of candy from another elected official that he never voted for back in November!  Our future Shriners Club, motorcycle-riding-in-parades papa sure had us laughing! 

The best part for me was watching Anthony proudly waving "our flag" to all the floats while sitting on the curb by his loved cousin, auntie and uncle knowing that these days of summer and being with family are an absolute gift.

This smile (and mouth full of as much candy as he could shove in without mom seeing it) says it all and makes the trip up and back always worth it. 

A's 2nd Annual Grammie List

Anthony told Grammie Carol last weekend that all he wanted for his birthday (14 days and counting) was a pet snake.

WHAT?!

I SERIOUSLY do not think so kiddo!

A DOG is the perfect pet...not a creepy, crawly SNAKE.   

The whole pet snake thing continued on for a few days until yesterday when he came up with a brilliant plan for the two of us to do today.  He didn't think that he would actually get a pet snake from Grammie Carol so instead he wanted to go to Target, look around and have pictures taken of the things he actually did want for his birthday with the hopes his grammies would grant his wishes.   So today we did just that and had a blast looking through the toy aisle.  Clearly this boy knows what he likes and doesn't (obviously...just check out all the following pictures!) and not once was there any whining or begging to get something.  

Buckle your seat belts, grammies and papas!  Here's Anthony's REAL list --- no snakes included! 

I know this may look a bit obnoxious posting this, but it really was his idea once again this year and we had such a great time looking and spending time together today.  On the ride home Anthony was telling me how much fun he had and that he loves summer the best.  "Summer is all about swimming in the pool, eating ice cream and spending time with momma."  Aw.  What a smile inducing comment and a great trip to Target!

Today's Lesson

"It's okay to be different, momma."

Absolutely!
Thanks for the reminder, Bubsa Boo.

Antee & Ashee

Happiness.

Joy.

AJ & AJ

Cousin love.

Carpe Diem

This morning it hit me hard that only three weeks remain in our summer break together.  I know that sounds slightly greedy being we have had, thankfully, three whole months together, but I am sad to see it quickly coming to an end.  There is still so much I want to do and still so much that needs to be done in helping repair a hurt child.  Right now I'm not mentally ready to begin another busy, stressful year of teaching even though I absolutely love what I do.

So instead of moping I decided to consciously make the most out of each and everyday.  I started the day off with getting something accomplished off of the long forgotten to do list I made in May --- cleaning the oven.  After that messy and not-at-all-fun-but-completely-necessary job was completed, A and I got down to the nitty gritty of our day.

We colored.

We talked and laughed.

We made a birthday countdown with markers, scissors and tape.

We watched Scooby-Doo for over an hour.  

We made fresh-out-of-our-garden zucchini bread.

We danced.

We tandem biked.

We went to swimming lessons.

We went for a family walk.

 

There are only 18 days left until my Bubsa Boo turns FIVE (WHOA!) and only 20 days before I step back into the roll of mom/wife/teacher/housekeeper/meal planner-coupon clipper-grocery buyer + anything and everything else that pops up.  

Here's to the next 19 mornings of getting up and just getting to be Anthony's mom. 

Rice Creek Camping

Way back before summer even started Gretchen and I found time on our busy calendars for a weekend of camping together.  At the time we didn't know where we would go or would else would come with us, but we knew we wanted to carve out a few days of summer to devote to getting our families together and spending some time roughing it in the great outdoors.

The summer has been flying by and our camping weekend came more quickly than I originally thought it would.  Gretchen found a great spot going towards the cities - very strange for us because we always camp up north - and once we got there we realized what a gem it is.  The sites were spacious and clean and the beach was close and a little kids' sandy shore dream.  

The Changas, Hares, Sellheims and us all had our tents set up by Friday evening and were ready to have a great weekend together.

 

Anth and "Emers" played and played and played and played and played...

The boys were all about having some shirtless fun Friday night!

 Gretchen brought the entertainment and laughs! 

Interesting flashlight, Sellheim!

 LaMont is kicking!

 

 Bubbles = even more shirtless fun!

 The beach and it's water feature was a blast for A.

Naked Adele is loose on the beach!

The high 90 degree weather was just fine 

as long as we were taking frequent dips in the lake!

 Everyone had fun even the daddies!

 Sleeping babies...

Andie and Amalia

Saturday night brought a storm that caused us to seek shelter at the shower facilities.  Luckily all the kiddos fell asleep in the vans while the storm raged through the area.  When we got back to our campsites we found two of the tents a bit damp/wet in spots, but overall fine to sleep in.  The Changas abode, though, looked much, much different.  Their camp spot had turned into a lake with ankle deep water around and in their tent.  Needless to say, our sleeping arrangements had to be improvised for the night.

The trusty Eddie Bauer Christmas-gift-from-Carol-tent was turned into the Red Cross Refuge Tent that housed the Changas and Hansons for the evening.  In the morning everything was soaked, lack of sleep was evident, but we could all laugh with the knowledge everyone was safe and this was sure to be a camping trip we would never forget.

Hopefully the typhoon of 2011 won't deter anyone in the future and this can become an annual get together for those who like to tent it up and get outdoors.

Our Wednesday Visit

Last Wednesday night A and I spent the evening with Jenn and the boys while the daddies were busy doing their thing - fishing league for Luke and a work trip to Valley Fair for Mark. (Yes, I said a work trip to Valley Fair.  What a rough company Mark works for, huh?!  My school district is always doing fun work trips as well as providing lunch from Chipotle.  HA!  The business world is so drastically different than the education world.)   It was a great night of watching the "big boys" play, loving up little Quin and seeing my amazing friend continue to do amazing things as a mother of three beautiful boys.  Of course I totally enjoyed my time chatting with Jenn; however, for Anthony it was all about Ry and Cam's new, awesome, wonderful, BIG, blue pool.  

He is in love. 

Seriously in love.

It was a wonderful summer night and I left feeling very thankful.

At one point Jenn went inside to cool off and feed Quin.  I had the pleasure of staying outside with the boys.  As I sat on the patio watching I overheard their conversation.  Anthony was very nervous to wear goggles, but really wanted to try it too.  Rylan went totally into Luke Feierabend coaching mode and it was the cutest, bring-tears-to-your-eyes conversation I have heard in a long time.  Not only did Ry help adjust the goggles and give advice, but he also kept cheering Anthony on and telling him that he could do it.  In the end, A wore his goggles with a smile on his face and I was left feeling so grateful for this special little guy that is a part of our Becker-amily.

Cam and Anthony really seem like long lost brothers.  

The things they do are so similar (and weird!) it's like they are destine to be great pals!

 All smiles!

 Jenn looks amazing and is doing an incredible job!

Mr. Quin is almost three weeks old in this shot.  

He's still just a little guy, but oh so sweet and a great snuggler.