Birthday preparations

Tomorrow Ellie turns 12. I think about what we were doing 12 years ago and the expectations I had, some I’ve held true and some are very different.

One of the things that turned out different than I ever envisioned it would is the expectations of my children have for what happened tonight before their birthday. Apparently I spoiled them so much when they were children at a young age that now they expect birthday tree, a special birthday breakfast, two cakes – one for the birthday and one for their party with friends, too many presents, birthday banners to be hanging, and there was even a mention of expecting balloons in the morning. David says it’s time to start disappointing them. Of course he’s sort of joking, and sort of not. I enjoy spoiling my kids, but I wish they didn’t expect the same exacts spoils for each birthday. 

That said, kick number one is made, birthday banners I’ve been home, the birthday tree has been pulled out of the closet and decorated, presents are wrapped and under the tree, cards are downstairs, a birthday menu it suits the birthday girl is prepared, and there’s probably more things I want in it trying to squeeze it in tomorrow.

 I’m so grateful to be able to give the kids are with they have. I hope you’re finding a balance and not giving them too much but they truly are spoiled. I do think we are good kids. I also think it’s important for children to not get everything they want, otherwise, it’s the encouragement to work harder. 

Ellie’s point of view- The Outter Banks 2019

I think this is a story Ellie wrote for school. I enjoyed reading our vacation from her point of view. She is 11 now. 

   During August, 2019, I went on a vacation to the Outer Banks with my family. We were renting out a beach house that was a nice size, and a really

 pretty color. It was on the ocean side, so we had a private boardwalk leading up 

to the beach. We were going with my mom’s best friends from college. They were 

both married, and one couple had a 5 year old son named Jacob. We had gone on 

the same trip last year, in September. This was going to be a really fun trip.

          August 2:16 am 

In the morning, I was so excited to be going to the beach. I had been 

waiting months for this vacation! I knew we were going to be waking up at 4 in 

the morning to leave for the vacation. I was so excited.

        August 4:21 am

I had been awake since 2:16 and couldn’t fall asleep. But where was my 

mom? She was supposed to wake us up! I could hear people downstairs, and I was 

pretty sure it was my parents, but my mom said we were going to leave as early 

as possible to escape the traffic. I wondered if my mom had locked the door 

before going to bed that night. Then, I heard heavy footsteps coming up the 

stairs, and it didn’t sound like my parents footsteps. I knew the sound  of 

everybody in out house’s footsteps, and those didn’t sound like my moms. Maybe 

my mom hadn’t put her indoor shoes on? I pretended to be asleep. The footsteps 

got closer to my room. I half shut my eyes so that anyone who came into the room 

wouldn’t see I had my eyes open. The door was slowly pushed open. And a 

shadowy figure stepped into the room. . . . My mom! I was probably so tired it   

heard the sound of her footsteps differently. She walked over to my bed and 

“woke” me up.

“Time to get ready to go!” She said softly. 

August around 4:50 am

We were all in the car, with the stuff, and ready to go. We drove for a 

little bit, and around 6:57 we stopped at Mcdonalds for breakfast. I had 

pancakes. They were warm, fluffy, and delicious. Several hours later, we arrived at the Outer Banks. Our house wasn't going to be given to us until 4 pm, so we had lunch. We ate at a bagel place and I had a bagel, with cheese, lettuce, and tomato.  Then, we met my mom's friends at a beer garden. we stayed there for around 45 minutes, and then my family went and played Putt-Putt. Finally, our house was ready for us. We got there and it was amazing. We wanted to go out to the beach, but we didn't really have time. so me, my brother, my sister, and Jacob the five year old boy, played in the pool.  we ate dinner, which was frozen pizza, and then went to bed. The next couple days, we went out on the beach, and it was really fun. But on the second day, something not so fun happened. I got stung by a jellyfish. A lion's mane jellyfish to be exact.

Picture from  Beneath Cold Seas: The Underwater Wilderness of The Pacific …  on Google (That looked like the ones we saw)

It felt like being poked with hundreds of needles while getting slapped extremely hard. The sting was red, bumpy, and from my knee and on the underside of my knee up until the top of my thigh. I was done with the beach for that day. The next day in the morning, we went out and found the best thing we could that would cover me up so I wouldn’t get stung, and my mom ordered things for us to wear online. For the first 2 days, the water was quite warm. We saw lots and lots of fish, we saw skates, which are basically smaller stingrays, and less harmful. On the day we went out looking for bathing suits, the water was colder, and less clear.  But it wasn’t too cold, and I caught a fish. I caught a Mino: with my hands. It was being chased by another fish, bigger fish, on the surface of the water. I took one look and scooped it up in my hands. I named it Big Guy, since it was being chased by a big fish when I caught it. I put it in a bucket and watched it. The next day, we bought a fishing net. With the net, over the span of several days, me and my dad caught 2 more fish. They were smaller, black fish. One was named Dad, since my dd caught it. The other one was named Jellyfish, since I didn’t go out to far in the water to catch it, because I was afraid of being stung by a jellyfish. I spent the rest of my vacation boogie boarding, digging in the sand, playing in our pool, and skimboarding. It was an awesome vacation, and I would definitely go back. And I am pretty sure that next year, we will go back, as it has now become a tradition.

By: Ellie Cummings

Parenting fails worth noting

I won’t be remembered as the mother who always did everything right and ontime for my kids. I try, but nighttime gets very hard. 

Clair has been bouncing around all evening so excited for the tooth fairy to come because she lost her first tooth. She truly has been waiting for this for over a year.

At the dinner table Clair is rejoicing in her first lost tooth and the fact that the tooth fairy is coming tonight. 

Max chimes in, “maybe, you never know. Sometimes she takes a while to come.”

Ellie, “yeah, and it’s so disappointing when you wake up and she hasn’t come and you don’t know how many nights it will take her to come.”

🤦‍♀️ Me 

Parenting fails worth noting

I won’t be remembered as the mother who always did everything right and ontime for my kids. I try, but nighttime gets very hard. 

Clair has been bouncing around all evening so excited for the tooth fairy to come because she lost her first tooth. She truly has been waiting for this for over a year.

At the dinner table Clair is rejoicing in her first lost tooth and the fact that the tooth fairy is coming tonight. 

Max chimes in, “maybe, you never know. Sometimes she takes a while to come.”

Ellie, “yeah, and it’s so disappointing when you wake up and she hasn’t come and you don’t know how many nights it will take her to come.”

🤦‍♀️ Me 

Clair is the most improved player after her first season of softball

We embarked on Claire’s for softball season late and unplanned. She went into it struggling to swing and we did work a lot. She decided she wanted to become a hitter and it times showed real focus in the field. There were also times I caught her playing in the dirt. At her end of season party her coach gave everyone an award. He presented Clair with the most improved player award because she really worked hard getting better this year.

To daddy on Father’s Day

A few years ago Ellie made this creation for David on Father’s Day. It sat on his dresser for years. She really put a lot of work into creating a very interesting sky. He really has appreciated this piece of art.

Artwork from Ellie

 In another episode of I can’t keep everything forever, below is a picture that Ellie drew me for a Christmas present of the Arch Angel Michael.  You’re very detailed drawing of a beautiful angel. It’s been up in my office for a few years. Some stuff up off the floor. I love my children and all their artwork. I love to be able to preserve it in our blog. 

First lose tooth!

Clair has been asking when her teeth will finally fall out for at least a year. Ever since kids in kindergarten started losing teeth Claire wanted to lose some too. Every few weeks you asked me when it will start. She’s anticipating it greatly. Two days ago she started complaining about a sore in her mouth. At first we washed with salt water. When she told me it was getting worse and not better I looked at it and realized it was her first loose tooth. This girl was so excited she got the biggest smile on her face. She nearly had tears in her eyes. She grabbed me and hugged me and started rejoicing!

 She spent most of the day excited about the situation and trying to turn it into reasons to celebrate. She is marked it on the calendar and has proclaimed it a day we should celebrate your early as the day of her first loose tooth. She even convinced me to make her macaroni and cheese for dinner. 

Notes everywhere

This girl write me notes telling me how much she loves me all the time. She gives me so much paper that I’m sure, she thinks I don’t appreciate it. I do. I just don’t know what to do with it. I have to eventually threw them away and I feel a little less guilty when I take a picture and save them here for my own memories. Love this girl!

Halloween 2019

This year we had another successful Halloween in the neighborhood. The forecast was for a lot of rain and storms, and people talked about canceling it. But we persevered under a very warm evening with gorgeous Halloween skies. The kids enjoyed  trick or treating and hanging out with the neighbors afterwards. Clair stuck with the big girls mostly. I find it hard because I don’t want anyone going off without one of their parents.

 The boys hung out together as always. Max his Halloween dreams came true. He had been worried earlier in the week he wouldn’t get to spend the evening with Henry. I’m glad it worked out for everybody. 

 I also had the pleasure of visiting both Max and Clair‘s classes in school for the parties today. I’m glad they still wanted me to attend. 

Why Ellie should get the costume she wants

 Ellie and I tend to have a lot of different opinions these days. I know this is the start of the teenage years. One of the things we haven’t really agreed on the past few years is her Halloween costume. She wants to be a lot creepier than I would like her to be. I prefer my little princess returned. This year, she wanted her creepy outfits that look very similar to what she was last year and I didn’t want to spend my money on it. So, she wrote an essay to convince me to let her get what she wanted. Though I didn’t feel the essay was very convincing, the effort was and she got what she wanted.