where I'm lying as my children race around our neighborhood. Have I told you that I'm on week seven of Sophie home from school, due to a cockamamie Los Angeles Unified School District Track B schedule? Have I complained about it? Have I mentioned that due to severe budget constraints, both personal and public, my respite or babysitting for Sophie has been reduced by 75%?
I'm lying on the hammock, watching Henry rollerblade around, pushing Sophie wildly in her wheelchair. Oliver is on the Pocket Rocket and I've even let them go around the corner, out of my sight. The way I see it, the chances of a big, nasty van pulling up and beside them with ill intentions is really unreasonable. If so, the villains would have NO IDEA what they'd be getting themselves into, and I imagine them driving right back around the corner, sliding the van door open and throwing them back out at me.
I don't even want to ask about the no school thing... ack.
ReplyDeleteLove that photo.
What I loved about the photo was them having a good time! Being a kid, being silly, being free....so sitting in a hammock watching them seems pretty nice but hey, next time when your feeling wild go and join them...run, spread your arms and fly! Maybe it will take your mind off the school issue at least for a short time.
ReplyDeleteI think it' seriously cool that you have a hammock in your front yard.
ReplyDeletethe school stuff, not cool. at. all.
the photos , priceless.
Deb said everything I would say.
ReplyDeleteYes.
Oh you are a brave mother indeed. And so right about the villains. Such a wonderful handful of children here and you deserve to rest on your hammock and gaze at the sky though I suspect those kids rollicking round the block are all the time in your thoughts. There is next to no rest for mothers and especially for you, at this time.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the budget constraints. You need the little respite. The way you see it, with regards to the villains, made me smile:) Nice photo of your kids just having fun.
ReplyDeleteI yeeeeeaaaaaarn to live in a neighborhood like yours. Ours is too hilly for such frolicking and I've been mourning that fact for the full 9 years we've lived here. I think it's wonderful that you've let them do this -- such joy on their faces and it says so much that you can be in the hammock. Seven weeks is unthinkable. I knew Sophie was on a funky schedule (home in October, right?) but seven full weeks!?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about the budget constraints, it sucks big time. You must be so drained. If you need a change of scenery, you and Sophie can always come down and hang with the Bean and I on the beach.
ReplyDeletei love the idea of seeing what you would be looking at if you were lying down....outside..beneath comforting trees.
ReplyDeletesurrounded by the sounds of spring..and the glee straight to your heart of your children's laughter.
i have missed you so, with all the shrine details. it is lovely to resurface here.
I love this. And I think you are doing beautifully.
ReplyDeleteI will not rant about why there are budget cuts. I will agree with your allowing your children the freedom to be kids. Ever read 'The Ransom of the Little Red Chief'? Your comment about the villains returning them made me think of it. Try to enjoy the hammock as much as you can.
ReplyDelete"To the hammock!" whenever you need recharging. I wish you more help and support with dear Sophie from somewhere and somehow.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Bonnie
OMG. You CRACK ME UP.
ReplyDelete((sigh)) a hammock!
ReplyDeleteMy Elisabeth was such a handful, we often laughed about her being "snatched" and brought back to us by thoroughly bedraggled villians. Come to think of it, we often made similar comments about our herd of girls. Fortunately we too, lived in a safe neighborhood where they were watched-over by many Moms, even dogs.
I will not start on the schools. Suffice to say, Grrrrrrr.
You are awesome. I am so glad to have found your little corner of the world.
This is funny. I can see you sitting there contemplating all of this. My children were making an exceptional amount of noise today, and I wanted to throw them out of the house. Sometimes it is too much, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI've never worried about Katie being abducted either, the van would turn around very quickly and the abductors would be covered in bloody scratches and pinches and with large tufts of hair missing.
ReplyDeleteOh Elizabeth, you haven't complained but you should be!
ReplyDeleteGod.
I'm sl glad you got to see what rebecca wrote on my blog. I loved your Good Lord, comment. Made me smile.
I love these photos. And you made me chuckle with the image of the bad guy dropping the kids back off. Glad they got to have some wild free fun and you got to hammock away.
Hope that school thing changes super fast.
posted at bloom...inspired by all,
ReplyDeletei have been tending the seeds of the shrines...they are all up shimmering in the light of love!
and now i am returning to the garden.
i wish your yard ended where mine began...and closer still, allegra always inspiring our hearts and seducing our senses with exquisite delights from her soul kitchen. beyond that Mrs. moon with her chickens in tow..probably owen attached at her hip,filling the air with the colours of her hourly installation of new stories, punctuated by the clicking of her camera. and the industrious adrienne, oh yes...she is in the thick of it. she hangs on every word while she eyes all our seed pots, dreaming of pressing them into works of utter fancy. and her laughter? silver, pure silver spilling across the golden joy we are all bound by. suddenly elizabeth arrives with her hammock to rock in the air of all our dreams, offering her open check to the warm light that spills over all our moments.....her children, a riot of fort building, just close enough, their squealing delight, to get that elvis crowing...
and suddenly we are all joining this trumpeting ode to Spring...to the garden, to our hands as they have finally and forever
returned to the soil.
xoxooxxox,
rebecca
I had wondered why Sophie was at home. "Track B Schedule"?? What the ...is that?? Sounds like a way of cutting money...
ReplyDeleteLove both the photos for entirely different reasons.
I'm hopelessly far behind in reading your wonderful posts, and all of my blogging community, due to the volcano, but am with you in spirit. You made me think of the story, "The Ransom of Red Chief," with your thoughts on kidnapping. I love you!
ReplyDeletelove the kids, the street, the noise I can't hear, the hammock, the mental image of the scary van, going around corners where you can't see ..... could be a milestone of sorts :)
ReplyDeleteI just recently let my 12 yr old walk to the library with her school buddy after school - they have been heavily instructed to scream their loudest possible scream and pinch the hardest possible pinches and run like the wind - needless to say they still managed to have a good time :)
HAHA! I totally have those same thoughts about a child abductor returning my children to me.
ReplyDeleteWTH about the school and respite?!?!?