My Tribe

I have a fantastic little tribe here at Fort Stewart. Several moms on our half of the street get together almost daily at the park for the kids to play and the moms to chat (and sometimes drink, because life). It's an interesting adult dynamic, because I can't think of any other friend in recent years that has known so much about the daily minutiae of my life as these ladies (aside from my husband). Seriously, the last time I had something like this I LIVED with the person (college roommate - nothing salacious!) (((In fact, one of the things I hate the most about having a long distance BFF is that I don't know the little things that go on in hers or her families life. But I digress.)))

Anyway, they know pretty much everything.

Which of my kids is a Wildling.
Which of my kids poops 7x a day.
Which of their kids swear they're going to marry one of my kids.
They can tell when one of my kids has had a bad day.
They feed them from their kitchens without hesitation. Knowing (and buying!) the snacks each kids mom finds appropriate.
They check on us continually if someone is sick.
They pick them up.
They drop them off.
They take them in.
They bring them home.
And I do the same.
I know which of their kids are bad sleepers and can tell when they've had a bad night.
I know when someone needs a dinner delivery because though she's fed her children, she's left herself with their PB&J sandwich crusts.
I trust these women to parent my kids almost exactly the way I myself would (sometimes better!)
We celebrate EVERY birthday together.
We celebrate every everything together.
They are my village.
They are my children's village.

Their kids run the same age gamut as my kids, and each one has it's own little bestie within the group.
Most of the girls are a little older than Piper, but she just thinks they're all SO awesome and squeals with excitement when someone offers a hand-me-down. And is always suggesting we give her hand-me-downs to the next youngest girl in the group, with the same sparkling eyes she had when she received them.
ALL of the kids stop and listen when G asks for their attention. One day he corralled ALL 11 other kids into a circle and passed out Popsicles. The moms wouldn't even be able to garner that kind of cooperation. (That kid is so charismatic, I wish he'd realize it.)
And every single "Driveway Kid" as we call them, calls Nash his nickname - Cubby. Which warms my heart like no other. Everyone loves little Cubby.

We have such a special group.

And we're breaking up. Because Army Life.

More another day. Because Mom Life.

Jaunarys

Judging from my blog entry history, it seems I try to get my life together every January. For the last ten or so years. My gosh that's hard to believe. I remember a few years ago - maybe it was 2014 - that I told myself I'd blog 3x a week and then have it professionally printed at the end of the year. I think I did okay for awhile.

But alas here I am again, thinking about how I have got to preserve these days that are passing at both a snails pace and faster than I can comprehend. That's probably why they say "The days are long, but the years are short." It's kind of mind-blowing how true that is. Because these days are painfully long sometimes, but the years seem to fly by before we know it.

My father-in-law told me once that the reason time goes faster when you're an adult vice when you're a child is that for an adult, ever year is a lesser part of the greater whole. Basically, years aren't worth as much to adults as they are to kids. Kinda like the pay differential between men and women. We're all doing the same thing, but somehow it's considered different. Okay, or not. Don't send me letters.

Anyway. These kids lives are passing quickly. My life is FLYING. I need to hold on. I need to remember. 

I need to blog more.

(((Also, don't think I didn't notice that it took until February this year to decide I'm going to get my blogging life back together. Hahaha! I'm already dropping the ball!!!)))

Untitled.

I'm really struggling with social media.

The end.

6 Years Old!

Six years ago, the sweetest little blonde-haired boy CREPT (and I do mean CREPT - 90 minutes of pushing!) onto the scene.

But he was bright-eyed and smart, even back then. He stayed awake (and quiet!) for almost 2 hours after he was born, just taking it all in.

And now he's SIX today.

SIX.

I find it so hard to believe that I've been a mom for SIX years. Although, I think I only got it together about 4 years ago. Ha!

So in honor of Grant's birthday, here are six things I love about him!

1. He is SO FUNNY! The things that come out of that kids mouth are hysterical.
2. He loves to help. Unless it's laundry or helping clean up after the little kids.
3. He is ridiculously smart. He understands so much more than I imagine other 5 (now, 6) year olds do. We've had discussions about racism and the civil war, he knows who the incoming and outgoing Presidents are. And no one on the planet knows more about dinosaurs. Period.
4. He's thoughtful.
5. He's tough. Physically and emotionally.
6. He lives a really wide open life. He has lots of friends (all the neighborhood girls love him!), he has lots of interests and hobbies. He likes to learn new things and read. He loves the outdoors. He loves his family.

So glad he's ours! And that we haven't screwed him up too badly yet!

Bored.

I am so tired, and I am just so bored.

I used to find Facebook interesting enough to add some excitement to my day, but oh. my. gosh. I just can't right now. Even the comments on news articles are so exhausting. And maddening. And saddening.

Anger.

Hate.

Racism.

Arguing.

Name calling.

Rampant grammatical errors.

And that from my hometown newspaper.

I need new avenues of identification with the outside world.

What I need, is a hobby. But then I'd need a babysitter. And those are, apparently, very hard to come by, when you don't want a 14 year old.

I digress.