Swimming Into My Last Post

It's the last day of August. 

My kids go to school in 8 days. 

We are going to have a very hot last week of summer. 

We haven't been in our pool lately because the weather has been cooler. 

It's as if Mother Nature has decided that the Pramuk girls need one last hurrah before they start their jobs. 

We have told our kids that school is their job while young. 

And we expect their 100% effort and participation. 

So, as it's the last week of summer here, before the big Labor Day holiday this weekend, we swam today. 

And, as always, mama had her camera out. 

Thanks for reading my month of posts. 

I did miss a few days, but got most of my thoughts covered. 

I have found that when I do a challenge like this, I do write more. 

It's never as hard as it seems. 

The Henna Tattoo

As she was standing around waiting for the high diver to launch himself off of his shockingly high perch at the state fair, she saw them. 

The ten year old girl saw them. 

The tattoos. 

The henna tattoos at the booth she was standing next to. 

Her mother was standing twenty feet behind her. 

She saw her daughter approach the booth. 

She watched as she began flipping through the pages of tattoos that were offered.

And then her mother announced "look up, he's going to dive now!"

And the daughter peered up into the sky. 

The diver had extended his arms to his sides. 

Like an airplane in takeoff. 

And he dove and flipped and hit his mark in the giant bowl of water below him. 

And the family walked away. 

But the girl didn't forget. 

As the day progressed the girl saw many things. 

Hand carved tomahawks, brightly colored hanging lamps made of plastic, giant stuffed unicorns at the carnival. 

Deep fried candy bars and lemon shakeups. 

As they were leaving the expo building, where people were selling hot tubs and lawn furniture made from recycled plastic jugs, she asked her mother a question. 

"I saw some henna tattoos earlier. Can we look at those again before we leave?"

"Sure" said her mother. 

So they stopped at the booth again. 

The booth that had peeked the girl's interest earlier in the day. 

The booth that hadn't left her mind all afternoon. 

The man at the booth who did all of the talking tried to sell her a face painting. 

"Get yer face painted like Elsa from Frozen for ten dollars, kid!"

"How much is this?" she asked. 

He glanced down at what she was pointing to and said "those are twelve dollars.  You don't want your face painted?"

"No thanks, I want a tattoo."

So her mother inquired as to what the process was. 

Black henna tattoos last two weeks. 

The woman who would be applying the black henna showed her one that she had just had done on her own arm the week prior. 

The girl sat down and the process was over in minutes. 

She had her tattoo. 

No pain involved. 

She had received an Egyptian symbol. 

A hieroglyph. 

It smeared a bit overnight as she slept.

But, it's a tattoo on a ten year old.

It can't and shouldn't be perfect. 

Maybe she needed it to keep an extra eye on her sister. 

Right after application. 

It took twenty minutes to dry. 

The next morning. 

Today. 

Smear and all. 

Illinois State Fair

It's time for the Illinois State Fair, so we drove over today. 

It's a 45 minute drive for us. 

My parents came with the girls and myself. 

Poor Chad had to work and missed seeing the butter cow and butter farmer. 

We live on a small farm, but I never miss seeing farm animals at the state fair. 

We saw animals that we don't keep on our homestead. 

Cows (which are my favorite!), sheep, and pigs. 

The girls milked a cow...

This gal is this year's Grand Champion cow and she just wanted her head rubbed all day long. 

Gigi made friends with a pig. 

The pigs were very talkative when approached. 

The sheep barn was having a judging and many of the contestants were getting prepped for the big show.

The kids like all of the activities and rides that the State Fair offers. 

Rock climbing. 

Archery. 

Carnival rides. 

Some jumping thing that soars them up into the clouds. 

One of the first things we did was head to the Illinois State Police tent and outfitted Gigi with a wrist band. 

It had her name and my cell number and the trooper told her that if she got lost today, to look for the police officers in the big brown hats and they would help her. 

 

We had some cozy dogs, french fries, deep friend brownies, shrimp on a stick, an apple cider slushy. 

The weather was ideal. 

The crowds were low. 

It was a great day at the Illinois State Fair. 

The Huntress Who Doesn't Hunt

I spy the huntress through the trees. 

She aims her arrow at something afar. 

She steadies her arm. 

Waits until her sight is in order. 

And releases her finger. 

Watching the narrow piece zoom to it's destination. 

Hoping she's accurate. 

Hoping she's on target. 

Knowing she's hit her mark. 

Zoe enjoys shooting arrows with her bow. 

She only shoots at a target, such as this homemade one she made on the back of a pizza box. 

She told me today when she was practicing "if I ever shot an animal, even by accident, I would bawl my eyes out." 

Leaving Darth Vader Alone

I follow a blog called Trail Mix.

It's authored by Deborah Rahalski. 

She's a mom of two girls, like myself.

Only her daughters are older than mine. 

And her youngest is leaving home to begin college life in Tokyo. 

Tokyo!  

I thought our rule of "you must go to college at least an hour away from home" would be daunting when the time came. 

Which, luckily for me, won't happen for many, many years yet, as my oldest daughter is starting 5th grade this September. 

We have so...much..time. 

Or do we?

I've heard it's going to fly by.

I guess it already has. 

Zoe is going to be eleven years old in February and I remember like it was yesterday...Chad and I high-fiving one another when we got to her 1st birthday and we celebrated that we had remembered to feed her every day. 

Knowing that time is fleeting. 

That we are living on our second chance, I try to be casual about life.

Like this. 

When I look into the girls' shared bedroom and I can't see the floor. 

I can't see the floor for the mess. 

The mess of psychedelic colored ponies, shrunken Disney Princes, and various teeny hats and wheels scattered over the beautiful 100 year old hardwood floors. 

I sigh. 

And remind them "this does need to be picked up so you can get to your bunk bed."

And they respond "yeeeeees mother!"

But, it's still there. 

And I said those words to them yesterday. 

Darth Vader still sits amongst the troll dolls and pigs wearing dresses. 

I have to remind myself that this won't last forever. 

And one day they may move to Tokyo. 

The Skate Park

Letting our children experience many different things in life is a goal for Chad and I. 

We take our rurally raised kids to the neighborhoods of Chicago frequently. 

To neighborhoods where friends live so that they can ride bicycles down city sidewalks to a park and walk to ice cream shops for a sweet treat instead of driving to one. 

We take them to art museums and science centers, not just museums labeled "children's museums".  

---side note-I'm not a fan of children's museums at all. We stopped going when Zoe was in cancer treatment since she couldn't be in germy environments. And to me, a children's museum is germville headquarters.---

We touch stingrays at zoos, hear concert pianists play at our local university, learn about history in our state's capital, and we skateboard. 

Well, I don't skateboard. 

And neither does Chad. 

But, Gigi has a skateboard that she received for her birthday last year. 

And we hadn't taken her to our lone skate park yet.

So, this morning she gathered her knee pads. 

Put on her elbow pads and fingerless gloves. 

And yelled at us to "hurry up!"

"Yes, I have my helmet, let's go!"

Once she was there and geared up, SAFETY FIRST, she shuttled her little self all over the skate park. 

Up ramps. 

Down ramps.

She did pretty good for someone who hadn't done it before. 

The most skateboarding she had done prior was rolling from our living room to our dining room. 

Gigi is pretty fearless with her body. 

While she has struggled with some social anxiety and separation issues, she's never been afraid to climb, jump, or crash herself through life.

Her life that has only existed for a mere 6 1/2 years so far. 

Her big sister has always been a bit more trepidacious. 

Afraid of getting hurt, falling. 

Because, I think, she spent so much time sitting in a hospital bed. 

Or her own bed because she was too tired to do anything. 

We worried for her and her bones that had had leukemia coursing through them, but we always tried not to voice our concerns too much. 

Zoe is more brave on a different level than her little sister. 

Zoe has no qualms about playing the piano in front of her entire school in a talent show. 

Or acting in a play in the theater group she was in last summer. 

Two things her sister wouldn't have been able to do. 

Zoe did try skateboarding today. 

But, was a bit more careful. 

I'm glad that these two sisters are willing to try new things.

And knowing that they are curious, that their interests are peaked often, I think we are on the right track of this parenting ride. 

Needle And Thread

The creative fairy snuck into my girls' heads this morning. 

She came with thread in her magic bag. 

Gigi decided to sew an outfit for a Barbie doll. 

She's a hand sewer, and puts a lot of attention into the details.

A button on the belt. 

A large flower on the butt of the skirt.  

A smaller bauble on the back of the golden top. 

It kept her busy for about an hour. 

Zoe braided a thin headband. 

Amidst the technology and television there's still time for no nonsense creativity. 

I know that this kind of play is the most important. 

And what I'll remember them doing the most. 

Knowing When Summer Is Over

My kids are craving structure. 

We have 3 more weeks of summer to go before school begins. 

Other schools in our area go back next week. 

But our district is constructing new buildings and *fingers crossed* they should be completed by Labor Day.

So, we start school September 8th.

Which is what happened back in my day. 

School always resumed in early September and let out for summer break in early June. 

But these kids. 

Boy. 

They are getting bored. 

Of me. 

Of each other. 

Of being outside. 

Of the pool. 

Of Minecraft on the iPad. 

They want to go to school.

They want to see their friends.

They want to learn about Native American tribes. 

They want to do book reports. 

They want to eat in the school cafeteria. 

They want out. 

But, we aren't done with summer yet!

I have plans still for them. 

The Sate Fair on Thursday. 

The St. Louis Zoo on a Tuesday. 

Maybe an art museum. 

All when others are at school. 

So it's not crowded.

And they can get their last hurrahs out of the way. 

Before their brains get inundated with common core math and accelerated reading point levels. 

Chad gave them his mini camcorder that we don't use much anymore. 

Because they want to make some movies. 

It's their last summer spark I think. 

And then, it's on to business. 

At A Celebration

I was at a local festival today. 

It was cloudy, but humid. 

I had sweat in every folded area of my body. 

As well as the flat downward sloping plains of my back. 

I ate a deep fried brownie. 

1/4 of my daughter's pizza. 

Fried coconut shrimp on a stick. 

River chips. 

Cotton candy. 

A strawberry crepe. 

1/16 of my daughter's cheeseburger. 

Some lemon gelato. 

We wandered over to the carnival rides. 

And I watched my girls scrunch their eyes up as they rode... 

rides that spun. 

rides that dropped. 

rides that soared. 

I hopped onto the Big Drop with them. 

The ride that sloooowly takes you up high into the sky. 

And them without notice, drops you very, VERY quickly back to the bottom. 

Your stomach lurches up into your throat. 

The thrill is intense for me. 

It's my favorite ride at a carnival. 

My kids both cried. 

Sigh. 

But the smiles came out later. 

When they rode rides without me. 

Knowing that they were having fun was all it took to make me feel better after the creepy carnie guy took their tickets. 

And that they were keeping their snacks down. 

Knowing When To Shoot

When I take pictures of my kids "doing things", like 

running

jumping

diving

dancing

swinging

really anything verby, I take multiple shots of the same thing. 

I set my camera for a continuous shutter release. 

And I end up deleting most of the shots. 

My kids are pretty great subjects. 

Listening to your mother takes effort. 

Listening to your mother can be daunting. 

But when I ask my girls to "do that just one more time", they don't hesitate. 

Because they know out of all of the snapping I do with my camera, I'll come out with something very special. 

And sometimes, the first shot is a gem. 

You just never know. 

So I shoot away.