Wordless wednesday (and sort of a Make it Count Tuesday)

I can't help myself:  this is Mariam, making chocolate chip mini-muffins.  Love it! :)

It's What We Do

First post in a series I will call "It's What We Do"....particularly thinking of things that seem uniquely "ours" to our family.  Things we do.  Silly or not.  Maybe bad habits.  Or not.  Like for instance, we sing a lot. LOL  In the car, on long or short trips, in the shower, in the house, in the kitchen, ...anywhere.... catchy tunes, broadway tunes, annoying tunes lol, hymns, praise and worship....and sometimes, just to play our little "game", where we TRY to get an annoying chorus or tune in each others' head.  You know, kinda like George described in Seinfeld,  "Co-stanza!" ("By Mennen!") LOL  (couldn't find the link I wanted, where he tries to get "inside" the head of a girl he likes by saying his name like the "By Mennen!" commerials of the 70's and 80's...."You know they way I work, I'm like a commercial jingle. First its a little irritating, then you hear it a few times, you hum it in the shower, by the third date its 'By Mennen'"! LOL)   Maybe a commercial's famous tune, like "Delta...we loooove to flyyy and it shows". Ok I am aging myself here...but anyhoo, the latest tunes stuck in our collective heads are the VBS songs :)  "I will SOARRRR, I will FLyyyy...NOthing IS IMpossiBLE with Godddd" and "I'll Fly Away Old Glory...I'll Fly Away..." over and over and over again, sometimes with hand gestures and dance :)  Or and oldie between Doug and me is any tune from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  :)  It's fun.  We don't care how silly we sound or look.   Does your family do that?  As an aside but related, when Mariam was a baby, sometimes, especially on car rides, singing songs was the only thing that would calm her or help her go to sleep :)  She was very attuned to music from a very young age.  And she has such a natural feel for the beat.  I have got to get her in dance and gymnastics ASAP!  Anyhoo....long car ride tomorrow, what will we sing? Hmmm.... :)

h3 vol. 4

h³

Heart-attack
Literally.  Sunday we had our first summer visit to the water park, after our family reunion.  We mainly just all stay in the wave pool, which makes me nervous anyway.  But we love it when it's calm...it can host all of us...from the shallow end to the deep.  Mom and Dad can take turns hanging out w/ Mariam, then taking laps in the deep end with the older two.  But when the horn goes off signalling  wave-time, we make sure we have Mariam right by us or in arms, depending on how deep it is.  And I do a scan to locate the other two, just to make sure.  But what you never want to hear is the whistle and a sudden cessation of waves.  In the past 6 years living here and going each summer, we've only heard it a few times and it was never really serious.  But on Sunday, a little girl was caught in the deep end, pulling under.  Things happened fast.  Thank goodness for those quick, powerful-swimming lifeguards.  But before one could reach the little girl and pull her out, a man who looked to be in his mid-50s and possibly her grandfather, had been trying to save her...probably did save her.  He then swam to where he could stand and was breathing heavy and looked pale, and several us were asking him if he was okay.  He couldn't answer, but someone gave him a tube float to rest on until he could walk to the chairs.  The paramedics were called.  He had chest pain.  Turned out, someone said he'd already had heart surgery to put stents in.  They took him off to the hospital.  The little girl was fine, just shaken up.  And I haven't heard what happened to the man, but we said a prayer or two for him.  Just a stark reminder of water safety and how diligent we have to be.  Things can happen quickly in the water.  Be safe this summer!


Heart-cation :)
Yes, we are on vacation....or as I like to say "vacation" LOL What that means is that besides going to visit my family (bi-annual 10 hour drive) we will mostly be having a "staycation."  And even then we will somewhat be "on call."  And even more, ...we will be doing some major projects when we get back home (and aren't having 4th or family celebrations)....phew!  I'm tired from this vacation already lol. BUT......what makes it really a "heart-cation" is this:  hanging out with my sweet little family.  Daddy is with us each day, we're doing some fun stuff, the kids (granted, when not fighting lol) are fun and happy :) 

Heart check
At my parents' there is a closet known for one thing:  toys.  And not just any toys but a large stash of my old toys (which are intermingled w/ some of my brothers' toys because I played with them also lol, so we're talking 60's, 70's, and 80's here lol)  Hot Wheels cars, a pull-string Bugs Bunny, a few of my old dolls, and so much more.  But I loved most when Mariam discovered how to use the stethescope in my old Fisher Price doctor kit.  When she actually did hear a heart beat, she was amazed :)  I loved her expression.  Sorry, no pics!  But maybe I can search and find a play "midwife kit" somewhere? :P lol  Perhaps, besides being a dancing and singing star, Mariam has her career picked out already ;)  (by all of her moms...her adoptive, her bio, her ICAN mommies LOL etc...)  Anyhoo...

What's on  your heart? :)

Here's How to Play h³:

1) Choose 3 adjectives beginning with "heart".

(Here's a partial list to get you started: heartbreaking, heartburning, heartening, heartfelt, heartless, heartpounding, heartrending, heartwarming, heartsick, heartstopping. I strongly encourage made up words, too.)

2) Tell a little about how each one is "on your heart" this week.

3) Link it back to my blog.

(You: Wait, what's a link up? Me: Jinx, you owe me a Coke!)

4) Create me a beautiful "button" which I can then place on my blog. You will receive heartfelt gratitude and a cyber high five. (Seriously, though, this one is optional. For all I know "creating buttons" consists of quantum physics.)

5) Enjoy all the love.