A Good Day

I knew it would be a good day when I opened the door to put out the dog at 7am. How did I know this? Pluff mud...... For those of you unfamiliar, "pluff mud" is the muddy, mucky, ooze that lines the bottom of the marsh here in the Lowcountry. When the tide goes out to sea, this ooze is exposed to air and creates an aromatic experience. Now, when we first moved here, I found it a very strange perhaps even yucky smell. Now, I love it. And this was how I knew it would be a good day. You only have a a few chances to smell it throughout the day, and you have to be outside at the right time, and today I was. The day greeted me with warm sunshine, birds singing, and the comfortable smell of pluff mud. I had a brief thought of throwing us all in boots (uh...we don't have any), and heading to the marsh to walk through the mud and grass and find critters and enjoy the sun. Then I quickly thought of the mess and cast it aside. Wouldn't you know that God granted me this little joy today through Luke. We went to visit some friends while Sarah was at her Girls Club event. While the moms and I chatted on the porch, the boys took off for the marsh that starts at the end of their backyard. An hour later, Luke appeared soaked through and muddy...smelling like pluff mud. He looked worried and apologized profusely for his wet clothes, shoes, etc....he new we had 30 minutes to get Sarah and get to the jump castle place for her birthday party. For once, I didn't stress or get frustrated at figuring out how to get him clean and to the party......I told him to go back to the marsh for a few minutes. It all worked out. More on Sarah's party tomorrow. Today I am just thankful for my pluff mud morning, which by God's grace, allowed me a peaceful pluff mud afternoon.

PS: in addition to my new love for pluff mud, I recently made delicious collard greens...and shrimp and grits.....and we love oysters (by we I include "picky"Sarah and Sean, who is entirely too young to eat something that can cause food poisoning....) I'm hoping that while you can take us out of the South, that you can't take the South out of us. My hope is to soak in all Charleston offers these next few months. Either that or I have to figure out how to grow Live Oaks and Spanish moss elsewhere....that could be complicated. Oh yeah.....what does Sarah want for her 5th birthday....a date with her Daddy for High Tea--she may be the most "Southern" of us all.

"un-relaxing" weekend

I keep hoping we'll have a nice relaxing weekend, maybe next weekend. Saturday morning, Patrick and Sarah screened vision at a community health clinic. Well, Sarah made great creations out of glue, heart shaped rubber, and tongue depressors, while Patrick did the eye stuff. She was happy to tag along. Then we took the kids to the beach and the dog too! Sean loved the feel of the sand in his toes. I realized it was his first trip to the beach being a two legged walker now! He also realized the existance of the tide. After traversing the width of the beach he headed straight to the water's edge, only to see the water racing back towards him. He turned right around and ran back to dry sand. I got a good chuckle! The dog had a good beach walk and Sarah was happy as a clam to play in the sand. She probably loves the beach the most and immediately went to work and didn't stop until we left. Luke couldn't figure out why kids were SWIMMING in the 55 degree waters, nor could I! While the sun was warm and it was bout 65 degrees there was a strong, cool breeze....I cannot imagine how cold those kids were. After the beach we headed to one of Patrick's attending's house for a "Lowcountry Boil". We love that meal, and the kids had a fun time with theirs as they painted a new club house. Then we came back home for a quick clean up and jammies and then headed to friends' for a poker game. Today invovled mass for us all. Then the big boys went on a golf outing, while the little ones and I gave the house a good cleaning. We'll meet up with the boys for a post-golf oyster roast overlooking the beach. Luke will surely eat our family's share of oysters like last year. Anyhow, is it Monday yet?

Sell 'em to the circus

Well, one of the perks of homeschooling is being able to attend all kinds of neat programs at museums, libraries, etc during the school day. On Friday we went to a "juggling spectacular". A juggler performed for about 30 minutes and then spent the next hour teaching approximately 30 kids how to juggle....patiently, all the kids juggling at the same time! We started with various methods of balancing peacock feathers and then moved on to what fellow midwesterners from ethnic enclaves would call "babushkas". (Being the only person to fit that title, I was the only person to correctly name the item.....the juggler himself was from Chicago!) Anyhow, we had a blast, even Sean liked to dance to the music, carrying his own babushka....for an hour. I think I may use juggling as a "recess activity" during our school day. Apparently it is a great activity for the minds of kids, something about crossing the midline of the brain or something? The best I see it, if they are searching for a vocation at age 25 there is always Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey. For those of you who have ever read "The Clown of God" by Tomie DePaola, you will appreciate that while entering the building for the juggling adventure Luke reminded me of the story and hoped that maybe he would be able to perform similar feats for Jesus.

Booze

Well, I found myself pondering the life of the third child today. Time is flying by so quickly with the children, and I find parenting Sean somewhat different than Luke or Sarah. Life was a bit more slow and relaxed with the other two, but perhaps I myself was not. I find that I am savoring this bit of childhood more recently and counting my blessings a bit more often too! Today we took a trip to the park for a walk/bike ride (seeing as it was 70 degrees, sunny, and breezy!) I had every intention of it being a nature hike by bringing bags to collect our nature finds....however, I forgot the bags. The walk proved a bit more difficult with Sarah struggling to start and stop her bike each time (but hey, we are riding...and that is an accomplishment!) , myself struggling to keep up with the bike riders, the dog struggling to walk on the leash without being run over by the stroller, and Sean struggling to keep his items in the stroller....and then there was the impromptu visit to the play park. So by the time we left I was a bit tired and trying to remain cheerful. However, when we got home Luke and Sarah played legos QUIETLY for a half an hour and Sean played with his toys. Amidst this I was taking care of my blisters....did I mention that while all the kids had appropriate riding/walking equiptment (including helmets) I did not have proper walking shoes. While working on my toes, Sean walked over pointing to his nose saying "Booze, Booze". Being well versed in Sean speak, I laughed quite hard realizing he was asking me if the gunk on my toes were BOOGERS! Yes, booze equals booger. Shortly there after he brought me a book saying..."Choo-choo-choo" Unusual for him, since his favorite book is "Moon". Again, I chuckled when I realized he wanted me to read him one of Luke's Pokemon books, the main character being Pikachu. Hmm.....how does this happen, the things filling his childhood are a bit different than the things that filled Luke's?! Yet when I thought a bit more, I realized he is probably a bit more blessed. He has a Mom who I hope is more relaxed, siblings who almost always readily drop their tasks and toys to play with him, and more people to love and kiss him during the day. I know I need to overlook the mess that surrounds me and appreciate the blessings they bring me every day.

21st Century

Well, we've finally decided it is time to enter the 21st century.....well sort of. Here is the new Kelty Family blog. I won't describe the confusion and angst involved in it's creation. Perhaps we are not ready for this century quite yet! On second thought that is likely the case as we still have dial-up internet, a tv antenna, a husband without a cell phone, and some remaining clothes from the last century. Maybe we are kidding ourselves with this blog thing, but we'll give it a try! As soon as I can muster the time and follow-through to figure out how to upload pictures, I'll have the kiddies on the screen. As for today, we look forward to the warm weather.....it will be in the high 60's low 70's through the weekend. We are hoping to implement our ideas for a faith-filled lent today....mom has some projects planned!