I've been up since 3am -- can't sleep. The kiddies come back today (after spending a week with both sets of grandparents in Eau Claire), so my wiredness (not weirdness -- I didn't type weirdness!) is probably due to anticipation of seeing them again, and also knowing we have much to do before we get them tonight.
Crammed into our Friday: Steph has a men's prayer meeting early this morning, then a run up to White Bear Lake with the truck to take some things to my brother's house. On the way back he'll meet someone along the way responding to a Craigslist ad of ours (we're in a constant state of giving it all away!), and then get back just in time to take Bambino to the vet to get a thorough checkup before he makes his big move next week to Grandma and Grandpa Prince's house. While Steph's gone running errands, I'll be decluttering and packing -- seems like our constant normal lately. And, as soon as Bambino is back home, we have a date with the coolest missions pastor ever and his adorable wife (who just happens to our finest Minnesota state representative). We'll get a behind-the-scenes tour of the Capital, and then do an early dinner out with the Macks before the kiddies come home. And so... no time for naps today -- maybe the 3am wakeup was just God's way of nudging me out of bed.
Anyway, I decided to finish weeding through Ave's room, and as I walked through the door, I was flooded with memories. This is what I first saw -- the bedding that he's used since he was 18 months old. He was kicked out of the crib quite early to welcome his first of two little sisters. And so, Grandma Prince made this "big boy" bedding just for him when we lived in Toledo, Ohio. This collection is definitely going into a space bag (we're experts at using them!) and into storage, teddy bear and all!
As I was going through his bin of odds and ends, these are some of the things that I found: a Dave Ramsey book (smart kid!), a old baseball inscribed with "Avery's game ball", a Kirby Puckett bobblehead (definitely going to Swaziland with us -- we love you, Fliceks), his favorite stuffed dinosaur, an "Eastern Standard" CD (Ave's your biggest fan, Scott Shull!), a little stuffed tiger from the dollar store, a watch, a River Valley Church pen, his 2010 baseball trophy, his shark-tooth necklace from Underwater Adventures (purchased with his own money), and a "100 Wheat" card from the game "Pit." We love Pit (fond memories of our Kliner fam!). The rest is already packed for Swaziland, so we'll have to figure out a way to remember to reunite this card with its game on the other side.
And then, I ran across this -- a schedule that he made up for himself on January 6th. I had a knitting morning with some of my girlies, so Steph had planned on taking the kiddies to the Mall of America and Nick Universe. Well, Avery got wind of it, and decided to do a little planning.
The schedule reads:
Alarm, 6:30
Reading, 6:40 to 7:00
Kutel (cuddle) with Mom, 7:00 to 7:30
Watch TV, 8:00 to 8:30
Breakfast, 8:30 to 9:00
Get Ready, 9:00 to 10:00
Rides, 10:30 to 12:00
Get Home, 12:00
Eat Lunch, 12:30 to 1:00
Play, 1:00 to 1:30, Maybe DS
Skate, 2:00 to 2:30
Rock Out, 3:00 to 3:30
Watch TV, 3:30 to 4:00
Play, 4:00 to 4:30, Maybe DS
Eat Dinner, 5:00 to 5:30
Maybe Life (the Discovery Channel documentary), 5:30 to 6:30
Play, 6:30 to 7:30
Go to Bed, 7:30
What a joy it is to be this little boy's mommy. May he absolutely always follow God's leading and plans for him -- and may he always schedule rocking out and cuddle time into his days. Love you, buddy. :)
