Category: Family

At the Ball Park

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Last month we spent the evening at a Lancaster Barnstormers game.  We had tickets that allowed us to sit on the bank behind left field.(for $0.00)   We settled down with some of our friends, right next to a couple of Amish families with several 8-12 year old boys.

Anyway, we had a good time, there were activities for the kids, and there was going to be fireworks after the game.  Anyway, the game kept getting longer and longer, and the Amish kids next to us kept getting noisier and noisier.

The jumbotron would flash a phrase like: Cheer and Go Wild.  And those Amish pre-adolescent boys would do just that.  They would roll down the hill, YELL and cheer and shake their bowl haircuts like I have never seen before.

To me, it seemed like everybody on the bank was watching these families out of the corners of their eyes, while we cheered in a more mannerly fashion.  The game drug on, and the neighboring Amish boys got even louder.  Their parents seemed oblivious to how raucously their sons were behaving.  I even noticed one of the Amish moms was cheering along, almost as loudly as the “boo – vah”.

Yeah, it got a bit annoying, I had been looking forward to a relaxing evening with the family, but I ended up getting annoyed at my neighbors.  I was also a little bit embarrassed for them.  Like this is your chance, the one evening that you are off the farm, time to break down the stereotypes about backwards Amish people and yet, you re-enforce them when your kids act like a bunch of wild mongooses. (Do I know how mongooses act? No I don’t)

So on the way home Gene and I were talking about these families.  I was questioning whether or not the parents realized how uncivilized their kids appeared.  Then Gene per usual, made me realize another side to the story.

He said, “I wonder what I’m going to do when my kids are that age and totally embarrass me in public”.

It really wasn’t a question of whether or not they will embarrass us.  If history is any indicator we have a plethora of embarrassments coming our way.  Gene is a strong person in that when his kids do something inappropriate and out of place, he owns them.  As in, he OWNS his kids.  He doesn’t get embarrassed and then try to save face.  He never chastises them in public.  He hates when parents berate their kids in front of other people.

And no, I never saw any of those Amish parents try to rein-in their kids all evening long.  That is what I see myself doing, if I at all feel like I’m being judged.  I do want to become more like that Amish mom and cheer wildly with my kids even if some stuffy up-tight people think they’re too cool to do the same.  Good grief, it was just a ball game.

.Reading time 6 minutes.

***Since it’s been forever since I updated, here is a family update that’s kind of like a Christmas Card.  And I even forgot to do a paragraph on Gene.  Oh well, he deserves a post all of his own. 

Elena has started Kindergarten.  She loves it. She does hate the bus drive though, and puts me on a guilt trip for not picking her up at school. I got to say I love having a school girl.  I love the schedule, the new school books, the learning stuff, and the new friends.  I’m hard pressed to find something I don’t like about it.  Plus, now she is full of wisdom like:  “Mom, I’m learning new things like don’t eat stuff that falls onto the floor.”  Oops, I guess I missed that one, Thanks Miss Peterson for picking up the slack.

                Brandt does not love Elena’s school days.  He has no clue how to entertain himself without his big sister to show him what to do.   He follows me around and whines a lot of the day when she is gone.

Also, he is Brandt.  That means he is kind of a mystery package that I am trying to unravel. (That sounds creepy, please don’t worry)  I did a little self-diagnosis, (don’t write me off) and came up with Sensory Processing Disorder.  Basically his sense of touch is very screwy and hypo-sensitive.  And his hearing and smell are just. a little. odd. It also means he lives a hard life.  So unless I get him evaluated by a professional, the diagnosis stands the same.

For us that means getting him dressed and going away is hard work.  He constantly says: “It doesn’t feel good” and “My pants are going to fall down,” even if the elastic is pulled so tight it leaves marks.  It usually takes about half an hour to get suitable clothes on him, and then we have to pack back-up clothes so we can give him the option of changing, when we go away.  The clothes he likes to wear are basketball shorts and t-shirts.
When we finally have him dressed, he is usually tired and has a little whipped puppy look about him.  I usually let Gene get him ready because he does a way better job of it.  I get frustrated, and feel like the time is ticking, and we need to leave, and just GOSHDANGDARNIT wear these clothes. (See how clean I cuss?)  Gene rolls in the room all fun and games, and basically makes a puppet show out of all the articles of clothing and Ta-da! A boy dressed for church.

Brandt  also likes to rough-house with Madelyn. Grabbing her neck, shaking her like a puppy and making her scream.  She yells and then whops him back.  Such loving offspring I have.

Sometimes I feel like I give so much of my energy to Brandt I don’t have much left over. Sometimes I feel like I’m closer to him because he takes so much of my time.  Funny how that works huh? Enter Mady.

She is sweet and spunky.  She knows that if she wants any attention she needs to demand it.  And demand she does.  She is great. She is super-huggable.  We all love her a lot. And we spoil her a lot.  Do you want to know a secret? She sleeps with us, in our bed. Shh don’t tell.  The goal is to get her into her own bed, we’ve tried, but it hasn’t lasted.  What can I say?  My ideals have dropped significantly the past five years.

Oh yes, and she likes to nibble on puppy biscuits.  Give her one and try to wrench it from her fist. It’s much easier to let her snack on it.

There you have it, a little of the Esh happenings. Here are some pictures, I am incapable of interspersing pictures throughout my post like some others can.  So I’ll have them all at the end.


Endless Summer playtime has come to an end

 


Excited for Day 1 of School

 


Classic: The kids are bathed, squeaky clean with hair washed. I send them outside for a tiny bit so I can finish cleaning up the house. The next time I look outside they are all climbing around on Gene’s dump-trailor of dirt. I need to  give them all baths again.

 

   
I spent way to long trying to get a good one year picture of her. Still don’t have it.

  
The other weekend in Ohio I got this picture of Dad with Madi and her cousin Ava. Love it!


My family in all our glory.

 


Have a good weekend everybody!