For I know the plans...

Today is the kick off of my stint as a stay at home mom. I have worked part time for a long time and have looked forward to being at home with the kids when we moved. I felt like today was the official beginning of that stint since Paul had his first day at Agape Flights today. I was ready!! I had plans!! I was going to make sure we had a fun first day! Now, we are still in the middle of making this house our home (ie doing what Travis thinks needs to be done so I won't get sick looking at peach colored paint!). So, I knew I would need a little of the time to finish up a painting project started Sunday evening. We had breakfast together with fresh strawberries (a family favorite and a treat since they are expensive here now), I was going to do the little bit of painting to finish the project while the kids swam, then we were going to go on a bike ride (we live 2 blocks from the bike trail) and have a picnic at the park just off the trail and maybe swing by the grocery store a few more blocks away if we needed anything for dinner plans. Then we would cool off in the pool and I even promised to get IN the pool (I much prefer to sit near it in the sun and hate to be splashed!). Then, we would have dinner on the table when Paul got home around 5 pm (after I put on my best dress and lipstick, gathered the paper and a cold glass of lemonade and had the children play quietly to greet him when he got home as June Cleaver would have). Anyway, these were the plans. We went over the plans at breakfast and all agreed to the agenda for a super fun day. We cleaned up and the kids headed outside while I got started painting. I hadn't been at it for 5 minutes when from up on the chair I needed to get down for more paint. Now, I hadn't chosen wisely my chair and I was standing on a SWIVEL chair that was actually quite stiff and didn't swivel well. It did fine for painting, but not so well for dismounting. When I shifted my weight toward the floor the chair swiveled and placed the back of the chair between my feet unbeknownst to me. I can tell you can see where this is going...anyway, I hit the back of the chair and WHAM spun around to the floor (it is much funnier in the movies when it happens to someone else, trust me). By God's infinite grace and mercy I did not hit my head on anything, including the floor. I was inches from the kitchen table and one of the chairs. Also, I fell on my elbow, breaking my fall and protecting my head. I could not, for a few seconds imagine what had happened. Then the pain set in and I figured it out quickly. I will try not to dwell on the details, but we will say that the plans for the bike ride were foiled. I finished my project in about 1 1/2 hours and told the kids to pack the lunch up and get their bikes out before reality set in. I realized that if I could hardly walk, sitting on a bike would be impossible. I explained what had happened and they were immediatly sypmathetic (especially Gabe and Riley). They ate their picnic lunch by the pool and went swimming again without me. They joined me on the bed as I relaxed with my ice pack from heaven and figured out how to add music to our blog. (I hope you are enjoying listening to it now!! Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what else we are into right now.) I am not sure what we will do about dinner, right now it is the furthest thing from my mind! And the whole June Cleaver welcome for Paul...you can guess what will happen to those plans too! All this to say my plans for a memorable first day on duty as a stay at home mom were rearranged a bit, but the day certainly remained memorable!!

Paul heads off to work with his new (to him) wheels...both of them!

The kids enjoy their fresh strawberries with their breakfast.

I actually really enjoy painting. It was a dramatic change from peach to shades of brown. I'll post some before and after pictures later.

The kids swim without me (again) without complaining and ate their lunches while I showered.

We settled for snuggling and working on the computer together!