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Coffee doesn't keep me awake but ice tea does.  Three large glasses last night out with my husband left me awake all night.  Of course my younger set of boys slept great and were incredibly happy this morning. Happy is loud.

I told them that if they could catch a rabbit in the back yard I would cook it.  It worked.  Out they went full of testosterone and industry.



My husband looked over his coffee mug with concern and inquired if I was prepared for the consequences.  I sipped some coffee, enjoying the sudden stillness of the living room.  Is having to learn to skin a rabbit worth it?  For 45 minutes of more quiet?  Yes.

Just follow the black yarn up the tree...




Quiet is lovely and the rabbits are eating my blueberry bushes.  And this hunter would be so excited.



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My 7th and youngest child broke one of his training wheels off of his bike.  There was no chance of fixing or reattaching it, at least that's what we told him.  He tried riding his bike with just one training wheel, leaving a long groove in the hot asphalt on one side.  My husband and all 3 younger boys fetched tools and took both brackets and the remaining wheel off.  Any excuse to wield tools with Dad is a party.

And then?  Ta da dum!!!  He figured it out.  He's officially a riding-fool.  It took him only about 15 minutes to get the hang of riding his bike, big-boy style.  I did a victory dance in the driveway which seemed to embarrass both my husband and the boys.  So I did another victory dance for good measure.

Note, this is the same 4 year old boy that earlier the same morning learned to swim with his eyes open underwater.  It was quite a day, so I knew what to expect that night.

A nightmare.

Yep, in my mothering experience every time one of my children has learned a new life-and-limb skill in early childhood whether it be: walking, skipping, leaping off the top of the staircase and landing alive, climbing a tree, swimming, or bike riding; they have always capped the day off with a sleep disturbance.  Sure enough, in the wee hours that night I heard thump....thump...thump..thump.plop and a small trembling body landed in my side of the bed.

I snuggled him and sighed. You only get to be a parental touchstone for a few short years and then you get text messages instead.  Or as the immortal Dot said in, Raising Arizona, "These are getting too big to cuddle."










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