mom match-up

For those of you who follow Corey's blog, I met up with Angela from Bismarck and we had a rockin' fun time. Angela brought out her crew of 5 kids and with the 4 Laurie kids, the day was a whirlwind of chaos, laughs, faux pas, spilled juice, pee, and lots and lots of good convo for us mom's.

Her kids are from Ethiopia and from the U.S. through adoption. We of course have lots in commom there, but it was remarkable to meet another mom who doesn't get wigged out if the kids fight, or spill juice, or accidentally go pee pee on the floor. We laughed about all this stuff and compared notes on adoption stories, adoption grief, adoption behavior and of course, our husbands. Two of our kids are unbelievably similar, right down to the name and age. They have similar behaviors and attitudes and it was a complete relief to feel comfortable enough with Angela to just let the kids be kids, and not make excuses for any weird or freakish behavior.

Her family will be heading back out here on Saturday for a bbq and it will be good to let the kids play again while we enjoy another cocktail and revel in the fact that there is actually at least 2 of us in the greater Bismarck area that 'gets it' and realizes that this phase of our lives will eventually pass and we will be through the child-rearing stage......eventually! I've got friends who sadly live too far away to partake of my mom/kid playdates, but just knowing they exist, makes my world a happier place.

On to new news. Vacation Bible School is continuing for the rest of the week and I am doing the safari storytelling bit. The groups rotate thru and I dish the same story, over and over again. Whew, it gets harder and harder towards the end of the evening, but fortunately I am just volunteering, so I can't be fired if my performance is less than stellar. Madison and her friend Chantal are teaching the kindergarten and first grade group and it seems to be acting as an excellent form of birth control since neither young girl seems to really dig trying to control and entertain a group of ankle-biters for 3 hours! Marc has been tagging along with me since he feels appropriately guilty that I would have yet another chore involving kids and he would have 3 hours at home alone. Yes, he was at church with me, but I still did all the work. Well almost all, since he did push play on the DVD.

Tomorrow is a field trip to McDowell Dam and beach here in Bismarck. The homeschool group of kids are meeting up there to play, swim, play in the sand and I just hope I can get the sand off of them in time for VBS. How can the days get busier and busier when it's summer and summer is supposed to be easy living?

Not this weekend but the next, Madison and I head out for Brainerd, Minnesota for her to get a Dressage riding lesson in with her trainer before he heads off for Chicago. Oh, I guess that means I should get off the blog and make some hotel reservations for us. Busy, busy, busy days coming up and summer has just started. GULP!