Highlight Hodge Podge

Hi Everyone!

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything...sorry! :-/ Without any ado whatsoever, here's a random highlight list of things that have been going on in House Hardegree (get ready...):

1. Ya'll...Justin built me a clothesline and I LOVE IT!! Check it out!

It has 4 lines, spaced 15-inches apart, and is in the sunniest part of our yard. It's perfect! Now I can do multiple loads of laundry a day if I want to instead of having to space everything out. I also got a fun little pink lap apron to hold my clothespins in while I hang up clothes. Super nerdy? Maybe...

2. I made Levi binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and he explored the entire house with them saying, "I see a wall and a door and a window and a tree!" (or whatever it was that he was looking at). They had a strap made out of pipe cleaners so he could wear them around his neck, which he did for almost the entire day. Mommy success!

Lincoln wanted to get in on the toilet paper roll action too, which of course meant chewing on them. Ha!

3. Lincoln got to swing in a swing for the first time and he LOVED it. He was a little giggle monster the entire time. 

4. Levi made a picture by gluing little cut-up pieces of straw onto a piece of paper (think macaroni art) and squirted the glue out of the bottle all by himself. He was really proud of himself and I was proud of him too because he didn't get glue everywhere! 

If you're wondering what's on his face, he got into my personal marker stash and colored all over himself before I could get to him. It's happened before and, unfortunately, it'll probably happen again. Toddlers.

5. The boys and I played with homemade Sidewalk Paint in the driveway (Cornstarch, water, and food coloring). So fun! I put some in squirt bottles for levi and then poured some out for Lincoln to play with. After the paint was all used up, we had even more fun making it disappear with lots of water.

Don't worry...it's taste-safe.

6. Levi's really into cooking lately. When we were up visiting Grandma and Papa, Levi helped make pulled pork for dinner. Little chef.

7. Lincoln started crawling the day after Memorial Day!! His movements have been a little jerky, but he's getting better at it. He actually realized that he could go places while crawling a couple of days ago, so he set off down the hall giggling because he was following me. Then, when I passed him to go back to the living room, he turned around and started crawling and giggling again. It's been super cute. And of course, as always accompanies crawling, I had to rearrange some of the stuff on low shelves and have had to create impenetrable chair fortresses around the cat food to keep him out, which he openly does not appreciate. But let's be honest, that's kinda funny too. Haha!

He's so excited that he's crawling in his crib. Haha! 

8. Check out my plants! The first pic is of my Zinnias. No blooms yet, but they are getting massive!! I knew it said "giant" on the package, but I didn't realize what that meant. Haha! Below that is our garden. I've now transplanted the pepper plants into the garden and actually used some of the cilantro while I was cooking the other day. Let me tell you, that was super cool to be able to pop out there, pick off a few leaves, and throw 'em straight into my mixing bowl. The last pictures are buds on one of my Marigolds and my biggest Zinnia (looks like it's going to be pinky-purple!!!!)! Hopefully my next post with have more than just green in the picture.

Can you tell how big they are? It's hard to see green on green, but that one in front reaches almost to the bottom of the 7.

9. Popsicles! Sometimes I make popsicles out of smoothies and we all shared some for a snack in the backyard the other day. It was Lincoln's first frozen treat and he was all about it. It got EVERYWHERE!

10. We got new windows on our house!! I have before and after pictures for you below, but it's hard to really communicate the drastic change. The whole house looks different on the inside too! No more old, spider-web-filled, silver, unopenable windows!! The house is quieter and more comfortable. I can open the front window now, which allows for a nice breeze in the morning and then I can close all the windows in the afternoon and put the AC at 79 or 80 and be completely comfortable, not at all hot. It was a great investment. I'm not sure what we're going to do next as far as house projects, mostly because we can't decide, but we've thrown around updating the front-yard landscaping and building a new backyard porch swing. We'll see! You can also see how much our yard has improved in the last month. I took the first picture when we ordered the windows in May, and since then, our yard has filled in dramatically thanks to some weed and feed treatments that Justin's done. Hey-O! (We're pretty confident that we had a grub infestation last summer that killed almost all of our grass...so this is exciting...for us at least...haha!)

11. After Memorial Day weekend, I was getting increasingly frustrated with Levi and his refusal to mind me. So, after some research (re-reading my Jo Frost book and watching old episodes of Supernanny on YouTube...you think I'm joking...), I wrote out some house rules and started afresh on the discipline front. After just a couple days, Levi's back to being the sweet, well-behaved-for-a-two-year-old kid that I know and love. (I love him regardless, but goodness, my patience was getting stretched REALLY thin.) Here are our house rules with some cute creatures to remind us that following these rules makes life a lot more peaceful. (Ok...maybe I just like drawing little creatures and took advantage of the opportunity...so what?)

12. Now that Lincoln can crawl, he's gotten into some shenanigans, as I hinted at earlier. The other day I was changing his diaper in the living room, and when I left him laying there so I could fold a diaper, he rolled over really quick and started crawling around naked. Haha!! Then, Levi saw him and I hear a "snap-snap" and then "Levi wants to be naked too!," and next thing I know, Levi is also crawling around naked like his brother. They both stopped at the back door to look outside. What goofs!!

13. Levi painted with tempera paint for the first time yesterday. We rolled cars in the paint to make tracks and stamped different items in the paint to make shapes (like foam blocks and toilet paper rolls). He also experimented with popsicle sticks and straws to see if they worked like brushes.

14. I got my cartilage pierced on the Friday before Memorial Day! Justin smiled when he saw it (don't worry...he knew I was getting it...I didn't just show up with a new piercing), and then said, "Another hole in my wife's face." Oh J. I don't consider my ear to be my face per say. And anyway, despite his first comment, which I think was part him picking on me and part him thinking nostalgically back to the time when I had fewer piercings, I think he likes this one. At least he warmed up to it A LOT quicker than the eyebrow. Ha!

Other random stuff about/pictures of Levi:

Waffles!

Levi was trying to get a box of toys out in Lincoln's room today and sang this song to the tune of the Jurassic Park theme: "There are toys in there. There are toys in there. There are toys...inside...the box!" I immediately started laughing and therefore inadvertently ended the improvisational masterpiece, but what a gem! In case you've been living under rock and don't know what song I'm talking about, click here and start plugging in the words once you get to the main theme.

What'd I tell you about the markers...it happened again. Levi created a game where he got into his hamper and then very slowly leaned until he fell over with the basket in slow-motion and then spilled out laughing. 

Out of the blue quote that accompanied this: "See? Levi likes eating spinach!" He was eating some baby spinach from my sandwich while we picnicked outside the zoo. I wasn't talking to him when he said this, he just decided to confess it to me like we'd been talking about it all along and I just didn't believe him. 

Playing one of his favorite games: separate/match the buttons.

Levi's current favorite words are actually, as in "actually, I think it's a circle," (sometimes he's right, sometimes he's wrong, but he's always correcting someone), and hilarious. Many things are hilarious...Lincoln, watching a car roll down a block ramp, a bird chirping. You know...the usual stuff.

On our way back from Irving after Memorial Day, when Justin was at a work conference in San Diego, I took the boys to the Czech Stop in West to get Kolaches. The place is normally packed, but for some reason (weather maybe?), I didn't even have to wait in line (always a good thing when you have two little boys with you). I got us some sausage and cheese kolaches for our mid-morning snack and as Levi ate his, he said, "This sausage is GOOD." He then pulled the sausage out of the kolache and ate it first by itself. That kid knows what's up. If you haven't had a sausage and cheese kolache from the Czech Stop, then you need to know that this sausage is awesome!! I can't remember the name of it, but it's czech (obviously) and delicious.

Other random stuff about/pictures of Lincoln:

He may be crawling, but he's still a sweet little baby boy.

Exploring at the library!

Lincoln's vocabulary is starting to increase a little bit, and he also tries to imitate words if you ask him too. He can say "Done" when he finishes eating, or napping, or playing, or whatever; "Tiss" for kiss; "Ga" for cat; "Dada" sometimes; and "Tee" or "teethie" for teeth. He's also said "detss" for dance, "sh" or "shh-shh" or "zee" for fishy; and "tuh-tuh" for turtle. Levi encourages Lincoln to learn new words too. The other day we went to the zoo and when we pulled into the parking lot Levi said, "Zoo! Say Zoo Lincoln! Say Zoo!"

Both boys:

The magnet room at the museum.

Ok. I realize this is SUPER long. And I actually have more to say, but I don't want to exhaust your eyes, and/or completely lose your interest, so be on the lookout for more Hardegree blogging in the next day or so. :-D

Jesse Washington Memorial

"We acknowledge that we are still too often silent and complicit to unspeakable acts of violence in our world. Especially violence that exists in the structures of our society. 

God help us to find our voice and use it to tear down injustice and build new structures that are good and righteous.

We confess that we try and justify the continuing racism around us by saying that "it's not as bad as it used to be," and "things are so much better now."

Please forgive us for not seeing the injustice, prejudice, and racism that we engage in and that is around us. Christ help us reconcile with our brothers and sisters and to love as you love.

We confess the sin of participating in the mob mentality and actions or succumbing to apathy. 

God give us courage and wisdom to stand against hate, overcome fear, and be driven by radical love."

We read this litany, written by different members of Hope Fellowship, during church on Sunday, the 100th anniversary (for lack of a better word) of the brutal lynching of JesseWashington in Waco. You can read more about it here. After attempting to get an official apology 10 years ago and failing, this year they finally got it! A memorial service was held, during which the mayor issued an official apology to the family, some of whom came all the way from Alaska to be there.

I have to say that the part of the service that stuck out to me the most was when anyone who had a relative that was lynched in Waco was asked to stand. It struck me because it wasn't just the family of Jesse Washington that stood up. It was awful, but it made the history of racism in America more real than anything else I've experienced. The people standing around me had been directly affected by racism in a very violent way. It was heartbreaking.

That being said, it was really amazing to see the community of Waco unified behind the hope for a better future, and it is awesome to be a part of a church that sees the importance of being an active part of that community.

Here's the Litany of Transformation that we said toward the end of the memorial service:

"We are Waco, and we want to be a city of peace.

We want to be a city of kindness, generosity, and goodwill.

We want to be a model of racial reconciliation.

We are Waco, and we want to be a city of healing.

We are Waco, and we want to be a city of truth-tellers.

We are Waco, and we want genuine equality for all people.

We are Waco, and we choose a better.

We are Waco."

Mother's Day and Other Shenanigans

Since it's been a week, I feel like I'm coming close to the statute of limitations for writing a post about Mother's Day so here we go. Mother's Day was really great! It was an all-church (aka mega church) day so we had church in the evening, which translates to not having to get up in the morning and rush about. YAY! Then Justin took the boys on a guy trip so that I could have some actual alone time (as opposed to alone-but-they-may-wake-up-at-anytime-from-their-nap time). Then the boys and Justin gave me one of those adult coloring books with some fun skinny markers and some candy. Let me tell you, the adult coloring thing is addictive and awesome. I love it!!

I tell you what, there aren't many things cuter than watching your two little boys carry their presents to you. Levi brought me the candy and said, "Happy birthday Mommy! I want some!" Haha! He was so caught up in wanting some sugar that he got his special days mixed up. What a cutie!

For church that night, I was assigned to read a scripture during worship time. Having never actually done this I was actually really nervous! Ha! But it was so great to be able to really participate in the service in a meaningful way like that. Lincoln didn't want me to put him down, so he sat on my hip while I read. I thought of him as my little moral support.

As far as other shenanigans go...

I put a flower bed around the base of our mailbox and planted my Zinnia sprouts there. Since I took this picture the sprouts have obviously grown and I've spread them out a little bit via some risky transplantation. Levi was very excited about the flower bed.

Also, this was in our garage when I went to go work on the flower bed. It was a GIANT garter snake. I had to call animal control to come pick it up for me. 

In the world of Lincoln, I think he's starting to say "Done" because he always says what sounds like that word whenever he's finished eating and sometimes when I go in to pick him up from his nap. He also says "Kiss," which he pronounces "Tiss," and which is usually accompanied by lots of open-mouth kisses. Sweet thing! He's also rockin' it in the solid food arena and, if you'll notice, I gave him what I usually call a "Nazi haircut." You know...those 40s-style pompadour haircuts. They remind me of the Hitler Youth, but I have to say, it looks rather dapper on our littlest one.

This is one of his favorite new toys. One of our neighbors gave it to us. 

Levi's being the same old goofball, but he really is getting particularly sassy. The other day he asked me to fix his milk cup because "it squirted" (??) so I did what I always do, which is take off the lid, look at the bottom of it, and then screw it back on. This time though, he didn't buy it. He gave me his first ever tight-forehead look...think Resting B Face...(below on the right). Sassy Pants McGee.

Sleep hair!

I love that Lincoln's sneaking away a green circle in this picture. Haha!

The three of us played with water in the backyard this week and it was quite a hit. We had a good time scooping and pouring and making waves. Levi started to "wash" his slide by carrying cups of water over to it and pouring them on top. He also filled up a cup with water and brought it to me saying that he got me a cup of cold water to drink. He then tried to get me to drink it by putting it right up in my face...There are many things I will do for my son, but drinking dirty hand water out of a dirty cup is not one of them. Sorry bud.

I showed Levi how to blow bubbles with crazy straws. He thought it was super cool, which it totally is.

There was also some brother time in the hamper yesterday that was just too sweet not to document...

And finally, I'll leave you with this little nugget from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I just finished (it's so good every time!!):

"We're all human aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving."

Truth. (And whoever says fiction is pointless isn't reading it enough.)

It Can't Happen Here

I just finished reading It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. This book was amazing, partly because it was published in 1935 before many of the atrocities of World War II were known and yet it mirrored them pretty accurately as a possibility, but also because it rang disturbingly close to home today. I'm not the only one who thinks so by the way...here and here. (I realize some may find these articles uncomfortable or slightly offensive...sorry...sort of...) This quote sums up what I believe to be the main point to be taken away from the book - that many Americans are so comfortable in our privilege that we are unwilling to challenge the status quo when it ought to be challenged:

"'The tyranny of this dictatorship isn't primarily the fault of Big Business, nor of the demagogues who do their dirty work. It's the fault of Doremus Jessup! [Main character, normal middle-class white guy who owns a local newspaper.] Of all the conscientious, respectable, lazy-minded Doremus Jessups who have let the demagogues wriggle in, without fierce enough protest. A few months ago I thought the slaughter of the Civil War, and the agitation of the violent Abolitionists who helped bring it on, were evil. But possibly they had to be violent, because easy-going citizens like me couldn't be stirred up otherwise. If our grandfathers had had the alertness and courage to see the evils of slavery and of a government conducted by gentlemen for gentlemen only, there wouldn't have been any need of agitators and war and blood. It's my sort, the Responsible Citizens who've felt ourselves superior because we've been well-to-do and what we thought was 'educated,' who brought on the Civil War, the French Revolution, and now the Facist Dictatorship. It's I who murdered Rabbi de Verez. It's I who persecuted the Jews and the Negroes. I can blame no Aras Dilley, no Shad Ledue (both of these men are poor, uneducated men who become part of the president's national police force after the dictatorship is formed), no Buzz Windrip (the president/facist dictator), but only my own timid should and drowsy mind. Forgive, O Lord!"

I'm not saying that I'm super awesome at being counter-cultural and challenging the systems that need to be challenged, but I do believe that this is a real problem that we all need to work on. (I'm probably about to make some of you uncomfortable again...) As Christians, we are told to be in the world, but not of it, and to me that doesn't mean that we look and act like normal Americans with a few tweaks here and there (maybe not drinking or not cussing or going to church every week), but instead that we live a radically different lifestyle. Politically, it makes me ask some serious questions, specifically, has our socio-economic status and/or our desire to fit into a certain category of being American trumped our ability to see what's most important? Should we really be concerned that our tax money might be going into a welfare recipient's pocket because we earned that money and they didn't? Or should we be disregarding that American "virtue" and instead be focused on loving others until it hurts - by giving even more of what we have to those who need it, regardless of how they got to be in their position of need.

This may seem disconnected from the quote above, but it really isn't. We need to be ok with not being comfortable, to the point that we are willing to work for change. We need to truly follow the example that Jesus set for us and go against the status quo out of love for everyone around us.

I know most of the people I send this blog to do not agree with me politically, and I don't expect you to agree with me necessarily, but maybe think about it...

Some Insights and Maybe Some Ducks

Y'all know reading is my favorite pastime, so when I read something excellent I love to share it with everyone (because I'm the kind of super nerd that is energized by trying to convince others to read the same books as me). I recently re-read The Scarlet Letter, because, unlike most people, I actually really like that book. And just like when you re-read parts of the Bible and God shows you something new, I got some fresh insights from reading this book again (for at least the third time...I know, I know...). Before I share, I just have to put in a plug for the book: If you haven't read it, you should...it's a story with a clear point and the point is excellent.

Ok. First insight: "'Thou little knowest what a relief it is, after the torment of a seven years' cheat, to look into an eye that recognizes me for what I am! Had I one friend, -or were it my worst enemy!- to whom, when sickened with the praises of all other men, I could daily betake myself, and be known as the vilest of all the sinners, methinks my soul might keep itself alive thereby. Even thus much of truth would save me! But, now, it is all falsehood! -all emptiness! -all death!"' - Arthur Dimmesdale

Alright, alright. After typing that out I realize that the dialogue's a little heavy, but hey, you get used to it. 

Anyway, I loved reading this, because if you can wade through the "methinks" and "betakes" you can see that what he's saying is that it would have been such a relief to him to have someone to confide in who knew him for who and what he truly was. Someone that he could share his darkest sins with, even if that person was his enemy. Spoiler alert, he ends up dying because of the spiritual toll that hiding his sin from the world took on his body. The insight? Confess! Outloud! To someone else! It's so important to share your full self with someone else. Hiding your sins eats away at you and presents a false image of yourself to the world. As the venerable Dr. Cloud always says, "Sometimes Christians act an awful lot like people." Pretending to be less of a sinner than you actually are just gives a false image of Christianity to the world and can lead you to implode. Sharing your struggles, on the other hand, not only helps you move on, but also helps non-Christians see that a different lifestyle is attainable. 

Second (and last) insight: "No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true." - Narrator (See! When it's not dialogue it's not so bad. Right?)

This is sort of the less Christian-y version of the first insight. Instead of talking about hiding your sin, it's talking about being someone other than yourself to those around you. You can actually forget who you are, and I can attest to this. As much as I LOVE the HESA program at Baylor and am so very glad that I have my master's in higher ed, I also experienced this forgetting of oneself during my time in the program. In a way I was growing, but after I graduated and started staying home, I had to relearn who I truly am. I spent so much time trying to dress and act a certain way that was counter to myself that I forgot who I was. Not that the clothes or actions were bad, because they weren't, they just weren't me. I mean, let's be real, I don't like having to dress a certain way (hello business casual) and I'm not outgoing really at all, but working with students all day demanded that I fake it. Now I'm back to my slightly weird self, and thanks to the way the program helped me open my mind a bit, I'm now more of a hippie version of myself, which I love. Moral: Be yourself despite the system (or the man...however you want to think of it).

Speaking of hippies, I was reading about Nathaniel Hawthorne and it turns out he spent a lot of time with the transcendentalists and actually lived in one of the utopian communities that was around during that time called Brook Farm. Man, how cool would that be? I know there aren't many people that would agree with me, so I'm not sure why I asked that, but I think it would be so awesome to be part of such a bold and different social experiment. I know none of the utopian communities survived, and they definitely all had their weird quirks and flaws, but I would totally be on board with something like that. Sign me up. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I totally would have been a hippie.

On a somewhat different note, I think I mentioned in a previous post that Justin and I were planning on getting chickens (if not, then hey...we were planning on getting chickens!). Well, the other day, Justin was flipping through The Backyard Homestead and started reading about ducks. After a little discussion and research, we've decided to get ducks instead of chickens. They are quieter, smarter, less skittish, and they eat grubs, snails, slugs, flies, and mosquitoes (!!). They poop more than chickens, but it's excellent fertilizer and they don't scratch up the yard so it can be put to good use. They also lay eggs which apparently don't differ in flavor from chicken eggs really at all, and are considered a delicacy. Oh, and did I mention that they're even lower maintenance than chickens? They don't even need a coop, just a little shack with three walls and a roof will do. That plus a kiddie pool and you're good to go. Needless to say, we're excited! I think we're going to order them and get some ducklings in the mail. How fun is that?? Yay for ducks! 

I will leave you with this thought that Justin shared with me from some of his homework: "Jesus, unlike most responsible American citizens, appears to do no work, and is accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. He is presented as homeless, propertyless, celibate, peripatetic, socially marginal, disdainful of kinsfolk, without a trade, a friend of outcasts and pariahs, averse to material possessions, without fear for his own safety, careless about purity regulations, critical of traditional authority, a thorn in the side of the establishment, and a scourge of the rich and powerful. . . . The morality Jesus preaches is reckless, extravagant, improvident, over-the-top, a scandal to actuaries and a stumbling block to real estate agents; forgive your enemies, give away your cloak as well as your coat, turn the other cheek, love those who insult you, walk the extra mile, take no thought for tomorrow." -Terry Eagleton 

SO.GOOD.