Bethie's Buzz: Tank Leak to Treasures

Dear Friends and Family,

This past week our hot water heater leaked and died on us. It was at least 10 years old so it had a good run, but we were still caught off guard when I discovered a pool of water in the area under our stairs. Chris and I both worked to quickly clear the space of all the boxes, craft items, and wrapping paper we had stored there. Luckily only a few boxes took the brunt of the leak so we were able to salvage quite a lot of things. The lower boxes contained Chris' childhood things. Middle school notebooks were mostly damaged and some of his toys and trophies were easy enough to dry, but as we were going through his things, the kids were overcome with joy and begging to take many of his stored possessions off his hands.

Among his collection was a baggie filled with "boondoggles." The kids looked upon them in awe, and quite frankly, so did I! I had never been quite so elaborate with my boondoggle designs growing up. Chris sorted through them and shared them all with the kids. I said, "How funny! Little did you know when you were making these that one day you would be giving them to your own children!"

Chris' treasures didn't stop there! He had a collection of civil war bullets, an impressive currency collection dating back to revolutionary times (thanks to Grammie), a sea shell collection, rock collection, and baseball card collection! It was pretty cool to look through all of his treasures.

These kids love their Daddy! I quickly snapped this picture because soon they will be too big for their Dad to pick them both up for a hug!

This weekend, a friend of Chris' came back from being stationed abroad for work. His co-workers worked together to throw her a surprise welcome home party. It was lots of fun for all of us. The kids had fun running around with new friends.

Silly face picture!

Chris and his friend Holly!

As far as the kids go, Claire is loving school, Girl Scouts, Religion, and Field Hockey. She has already memorized her Act of Contrition for her first Reconciliation and looks forward to her classes.

Will has gone from loving school to dreading it some days. He wakes up and says, "Mom, I heard that there's no school today." Or, "Mom, my teacher told me that the next three days of school are canceled!" (What a joker!) Will definitely misses the carefree days of summer where he could eat whatever he felt like eating, whenever he felt like eating. He also misses his quality time with me.

I often hear him say, "Mom, we never get to spend any time together anymore!" Or, "You haven't played with me all day!" He usually says this just a few minutes after we play together or have a long snuggle time. So I know that he is getting time with me, but compared to a few months ago, and even last year in Pre-K, it's much less than he is used to having.

I'm still busy. I had the unfortunate accident of deleting my entire PTO membership spreadsheet last week! UGH! I poured myself a glass of wine and sat down to re-enter all the membership forms again.

Next week is the hearing for the local marina to add a restaurant with alcohol and entertainment. I've been running around with a petition in opposition of this development, getting signatures, and encouraging people to attend.

I'll close with some beautiful pictures of our neighborhood. I hope we don't lose this peaceful place for the sake of commerce and entertainment.