Category Archives: Around Town

Running around … & just running

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So, guess who has been training for a 5k? This 44-year-old, 25-pound-overweight, slow-as-molasses mama, that’s who! Pretty astonishing considering that at one time (due to my past left hip/lumbar/pelvis injuries), I was fairly certain I would never even be able to run around the block. Thank God for modern medicine and improved health!

“Running slow isn’t a character flaw. Quitting is.” — Jacqueline Gunderson

It’ll be interesting to see if I can actually complete a 3.1-mile race, considering that my longest run to date probably maxed out at just over 2.5 miles. But Tricia, who I’ll be running the Color Vibe 5k with on 8/27, promises me that my adrenaline will help push me through to the finish line.

Just like old times: Beck-Nut & Laura Anne on the tandem bike!

I’m fairly confident that I can complete the course, as long as we don’t start off too fast. I really don’t mind running so slowly that little old ladies with walkers are speed-walking passed me; I just don’t want to wuss out and walk. Wish me luck!

Got another one for ya: Guess who took on the 76-foot water shoot at Wet n’ Wild known as the Daredevil Drop? Yep, yours truly. In an effort to prove to the boys that super-scary rides aren’t really all that scary, I nearly had a heart attack! But I survived and was thrilled to bits that I actually had the cojones to go through with the steep plunge.

Third time’s the charm

So, it turns out that this old cliché proved true for us at Wet n’ Wild. The dudes and I ventured over again on 8/10, and I was kinda dreading it due to our first two stress-inducing trips to the waterpark. But this outing proved to be way more fun.

The 3 Amigos having fun @ my old stomping grounds in Deltaville, Va.

There were barely any visitors there on this Wednesday afternoon, so the wait times were short to nonexistent. Moreover, we all had way more realistic expectations about who would participate in what slides, and how we would handle scaredy-cats not willing to do a particular ride. It worked out quite splendidly!

Return to the rivah

After probably more than 25 years, my old friend, Laura Anne, and I reconnected on Facebook. She had been one of my besties growing up because our families had cottages right beside one another along the Rappahannock River, where we spent most every weekend of summer, from before I was born till our place was sold in ’81.

Needless to say, we have many incredible memories from our summers in Deltaville, like crabbing, fishing, boating, and swimming on the river; and riding bikes (and sometimes even motorcycles) all around North End Shores and up to Snake Road.

Check out the underside of this sailboat I made Kara & the boys pose in front of @ the Deltaville Marina? Isn’t it neat looking?

While Mom drank her Tab and Dad his cheap canned beer, we kids had bonfires, made s’mores, and set off dangerous (by today’s standards) fireworks at night on the beach; we frogged, fished, and hunted for sassafras at the pond; and we all ate fresh-caught fish and crabs on our screened-in front porch.

Basically, it was a childhood of exploration, adventure, and freedom. Such was growing up in the unencumbered and relaxed 1970s, and that kind of free-range living always seemed amplified at the river. In fact, my long-lived nickname “Beck-Nut” was coined by Laura Anne’s older brother, Eric, during those wild Deltaville days.

Dina, who is as nostalgic about the river as am I, enjoyed a few fleeting moments when dropping off Kara and Sara. Although it was a whirlwind visit from July 20-22, this blast from the past gave us an opportunity to catch up with Laura Anne and her mom, and meet two of her five kids, as well as offer our kids a glimpse into the early Quate years.

Three generations of sassy ladies gather for Dina’s 50th birthday crab-feast party on 8/6!

Other notables

  • Dina and I took the kids to play miniature golf at the putt-putt in Richmond where we used to play. Not much has changed, just good, clean fun.
  • I had a girls-night out with my good friend, Penny. We ate Scottish eggs, drank craft beer, and loved having some kid-free time together.
  • We also had Penny, Jim, and Tyrnan over for dinner. They are in the midst of church-shopping, too, so we had plenty of things to chat about, faith-wise and otherwise.
  • We visited Tricia and Jeremy’s church. Jeremy actually preached, which was super cool. And then after church, they took us out to lunch … on them. Super-duper cool.
  • Adair had our family over for a pool date, which had been rain-checked three times. Stephen and Eric discussed theology and politics, Adair, Christina, and I chatted about homeschooling and mama things, and our total of 10 kids had a blast swimming.
  • Houston attended a weeklong half-day baseball camp at the local high school as a belated birthday gift. He got to hang out with pals Nick and Carter, and said he learned a lot from the coaches and teenagers.

Stephen, Greg, Meredith, & I went to see the Tedeschi-Trucks Band, Los Lobos, & North Mississippi All-Stars in Charlotte on 7/24. It was a hot, humid evening filled w/ kickin’ tunes!

  • The 3 Amigos wrapped up their summer piano lessons with a party on 7/29. We have the month of August off, before starting back to fall lessons, which will entail Houston having an extra 15 minutes each week per Miss Julie’s request!
  • Gabe and Zeke spent the night with their buddy, Josh. This was a sleepover that had been months in the making, which made it extra-special sweet for the twins.
  • Houston spent the night with “Nick 2,” who is now called “Nick O,” even though his middle name doesn’t start with said letter. Weird, I know.
  • Miss Jessica and I had a long overdue “mama booze date” at her community pool. I hope to have more of these bonding sessions with my sweet neighbor this fall.
  • Last night, Dan treated us to a “braai, which is just a fancy Afrikans word for a grilling out. Chillin’ with our favorite South African and his kid, Brendan, is always proves to be a good time.
  • Interestingly, I modeled a shawl for Greg. See, he’s a very talented knitter and has created his own pattern, which he wants to sell online. Once the pics are available to view, I’ll be sure to share.

Keep calm, it’s summer

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This is a mantra I keep telling myself. But when you just finished up your math curriculum from last “school year” this past week, well, one can understand why calm has been an elusive thing around the Dillingham household for much of the summer.

Clan Dillingham on the stern of the U.S.S. North Carolina in Wilmington, NC. Now there’s a nice looking crew!

Many friends that are normally at school during the day are now home while the 3 Amigos and I do lessons, so it has been a bit challenging. Even though we’ve summer-schooled in year’s past, the dudes didn’t have as many solid boy friendships in the neighborhood back then, so there simply weren’t as many distractions.

But that has all changed, which is a blessing, of course. It can just sometimes make the logistics and implementation of educating year-round a tad arduous. Not mention, all of our sleeping-in late hasn’t helped … then again, that’s part of the “calm” of summer, right?!

And now that we finally wrapped up the Saxon math curriculum, I feel like I have broken free of the chains. See, Saxon is very teacher-centered and time-intensive, so it was taking virtually all morning for me to complete a lesson with Houston and then one with Gabriel and Zeke.

Gabriel “steers” the battleship from the bridge. He sure makes one cute & confident captain!

This obviously left sparse time to do other necessary school, catch-up work, supplementary learning activities, and other fun projects I have been putting on hold till what I hoped would be a big, fat swath of seasonal spare time. I guess the laugh’s on me.

Good news is now that Saxon is finally complete, we will never again use that curriculum. I am in search of a more student-centered math that frees up the parent significantly while also fostering independent learning for the child.

I think I’ve decided on Teaching Textbooks, which comes highly recommended by other friends and is fairly cost-effective, considering that I’ll eventually be using Houston’s curriculum for the twins. Plus, it’s pretty popular among home-educators, so it shouldn’t be a problem to resell a level once we’ve completed it.

A contemplative Zeke looks out a porthole from the bridge. Maybe being a helmsman is what it’s going to take to calm down this wild child.

Another rough spot of the summer has been dealing with our exit from Mercy Hill. I wrote about our reasons in the three previous blogs, but it was still a hard decision. I mean, two of my kids made their professions of faith in Jesus in the baptismal waters at that church, so yeah, it’s sad.

And right now, we’re taking a church hiatus, just trying to get our muddled heads and broken hearts in order before “church shopping” later in the summer. There are two in particular that I think may meet our theological and non-social gospel needs, but we shall see. Please be praying for us that we find a church home. Thanks.

Of course, there’s seemingly always some behavioral bone of contention that decreases the calm around the homestead. It has been a mostly twin thing for most of the summer, sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometimes both (a la the “freight train.”)

A view of the battleship bow from the bridge. Can you imagine actually steering this behemoth?!

As of late, Gabriel has been showing a much greater deal of self-control and maturation, though. Thank the Lord! You can tell he’s really trying and liking the results of being a bigger boy. Fewer punishments. More rewards. Greater freedom and independence.

Zeke, on the other hand, well … let’s just say that he has always been our most stubborn, quick-tempered, prone-to-a-meltdown child. We’ve made a tiny bit of progress over the last few days, but geez, can that kid wear a person out! Prayers on that front would be sincerely appreciated, as well.

Despite these hurdles, we’ve actually had a great many adventures this summer … yet they’re ostensibly peppered with a dash of stress here and a sprinkle of anxiety there. I suppose that’s parenthood, but for the love of Pete, let’s relax and have some fun, people. There are too many cool things to do and see to be sitting around, crying about nothing!

Inside the battleship, we found Uncle Bill’s name on the Roll of Honor wall commemorating all North Carolinians (listed by country) who fought in WWII. Bill Houston was Stephen’s grandmother’s brother on Granny’s side. He was a pilot in the war & died in action when he was shot down over India.

Oak Island

We went to this wonderful destination June 18-25. It’s a quaint, low-key little island, about an hour south of Wilmington. Not too fancy and commercial, just the perfect mix of down-home beach town but with a few nearby conveniences.

The interesting thing is that we went with extended Biddix family, including Granny and Cathy; Kelly, Rusty, and cousin Ella; Dale and Teresa; Tiffany and cousins, Grace and Faith; Dustin and his girlfiend, Anna; Christy and cousins Marley and Sofie; Tee, Morgan, and cousins Rawley and Sloane; and Mike and Diane.

It was a raucous week of drinking too much, eating yummy homemade food, and having many loud, boisterous, and often profanity-laden conversations. The swimming was excellent because it never really got that deep, so you could walk way out onto what I guess was a sandbar to catch waves, while never having to tread water.

Granny & Houston hang out @ Oak Island Point, right where the Intracoastal Waterway, the Eastern Channel, and the Atlantic Ocean meet … very cool.

The weather was incredible, even kinda chilly in the evenings, because there was an ever-blowing ultra-force wind. I mean, it was powerful. It even blew over Mike’s canopy, which hit a guy, so there was never any shade to be had while on the beach. Too dangerous.

On the flip side, I never broke a sweat, despite the heat and humidity, so it was always temperate and nice. Most nights featured exquisite moon shows, including a Blood Moon, and a billion perpetual stars dancing on the ocean that we viewed from the front-row seats of our ocean-front house.

Now, there was one particularly stressful time when Stephen and Houston took our new inflatable raft into the Eastern Channel from Oak Island Point. This is where the channel meets up with the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic, causing a huge suction toward the ocean, unbeknownst us.

During our camping trip to Peaks of Otter, here are the boys, precariously balanced on a cliff face & ready to conquer the world during our hike to Harkening Hill, a 3.3 mile loop with an altitude of 3,364 feet.

At first, I thought I could swim out, and help them get back shore. Certainly my kicking at the back of the raft and Stephen’s paddling would create enough force to actually move through the water. Well, as confident of a swimmer as I am, I was scared to even get out to them.

Luckily, Uncle Mike had his boat and proved his nautical skills by rescuing my dudes, even navigating through 2-3 feet of water without getting stuck or ruining his engine. Of course, holding on to the rope that pulled them back to safety almost broke my hand and Stephen’s finger, but eh, that’s the stuff of which memories are made.

And even after all that, awesome Uncle Mike still took Clan Dillingham for an amazing sightseeing ride along the Intracoastal Waterway. Thanks, Mike!

U.S.S. North Carolina

On the way home from the beach, we took a detour to Wilmington to visit this battleship, which was part of the American fleet during WWII.

Enjoying a break @ the summit of Harkening Hill. Sure, you couldn’t see the mountainous view from this high vantage point because stupid nature was in the way, but @ least the national park rangers made up for their lack of stewardship by sorta helping us out when Rick & the boys went “missing.”

According to the battleship tourism pamphlet, “She steamed over 300,000 miles. Although Japanese radio announcements claimed six times that the North Carolina had been sunk, she survived many close calls, near misses, and one hit when a Japanese torpedo slammed into the battleship’s hull” on Sept. 15, 1942.

The boys learned about all that history, and got to check out the ship up close and personal, from the gun mounts and gun turrets, to the Kingfisher scout plane and the plotting and coding rooms, to radio central and the bridge, to the engine room and the powder magazine and projectile storage, to the chapel, galley, and barber shop. Neat.

Houston’s 9th birthday

Santa gave the boys season passes to Wet n’ Wild, and we finally put them to use on July 2, as a belated celebration for Houston’s 9th birthday. Yeah, I knew a Saturday on a holiday weekend was going to be a bit chaotic, but it was even crazier than I had imagined.

Gabriel, Jackson, & Piper do their best “Atlas Shrugged imitation during our hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The additional stress began when I was prohibited from using my two free friend passes, even though my official paperwork didn’t specify any such a restriction. Then we were forced to pay adult prices for Nick and Bret, who are 8 and 11, because they exceeded some arbitrary height rule. What a ripoff.

Despite all this and the very long and tedious lines, I think the boys had fun. Good thing kids are so resilient because I was exhausted by the end of the outing. I think the pizza, chocolate cake, ice cream served at the house and enjoyed with all their neighborhood pals, and a sleepover helped to create some fond birthday memories.

Independence Day

4th of July really wasn’t that notable. We did school that morning, since we were still in hardcore Saxon mode then, but that evening entailed yummy burgers and other delicious edibles grilled by Daddy, and then fireworks and sparklers at Matthew’s house.

This pic was taken literally moments after we returned home from Oak Island. Other than Houston’s pretend angry face, you can tell how happy the hood crew is to be reunited after a week apart. So sweet.

Grasshoppers game

We went to see a minor-league baseball game on July 7 with our neighborhood posse. It was a Thirsty Thursday event, which meant the yummy local microbrews were flowing for only $2 a pop. Now, there’s a bargain!

The kids had half a row of seats along the first baseline all to themselves, and then the parents sat staggered behind them, with the moms first, followed by the dads. I got the tix this way as to foster greater conversation, and I think my plan was a hit. Good times at the ballpark for sure!

There was a rain delay, so the game didn’t end till quite late. And by the time we were leaving, there was a Black Lives Matter protest going on right in front of the stadium. Now the city cops had things well under control, but it was still disconcerting when the 3 Amigos and Matthew started chanting, “Trump! Trump! Trump!”

The boys @ Wet n’ Wild for Houston’s 9th birthday outing. With a buy-one-get-one-free discount, those Icees were about the only thing affordable @ at the waterpark. Highway-robbery prices, I tell ya!

I mean, you know I’m a firm believer in free speech, but when I’m prohibited from carrying my weapon into a baseball game and I’m put in a defenseless position, the last thing I wanna do is tee off a bunch of young, angry black people. Luckily, we made it to the van and home safely. Thanks for driving, Miss Stacey!

Peaks of Otter

From July 8-10, we went camping with the J-Crew and cousin Rick at this national park in Bedford, Va. Camping always provides for many entertaining moments, and this time was no exception.

Some highlights included:

  • a freak storm that blew in just as we were about to finish setting up the tents … classic Dillingham;
  • Houston and Zeke going in circles, like a dog chasing its tail, trying to walk the tent up the steep hill toward the van;
  • watching the twins “fall over rocks, sticks, and thin air,” as Christie described it, and out of chairs constantly around our rugged campsite;
  • an inebriated Christie (a rare occasion in and of itself) laughing hysterically at the reflectors on my tennis shoes and then me laughing hysterically at her;
  • our camping neighbor yelling, “Shut up!” at said mirthful ladies;
  • and the boys following Rick around like he was the Pied Piper.

From L to R: Yours truly, Shannon, Jessica, Stacey, & Joanne representing the hood @ the Thirsty Thursday Hoppers game. Looking good, chicas!

The last item led to our most disturbing memory, however. On our hike down from Harkening Hill summit, the boys took off with Rick ahead the rest of us. By the time Stephen, Christie, Piper, and I slowly meandered down to the visitor center, where the 3.3-mile loop began,there were no dudes were to be seen.

We sat calmly for a while, thinking that they had probably taken a detour to Johnson Farm, a 1930s-era working farm that offers a glimpse of what mountain life was like back in the day. But then an hour passed, and then another, until I started for freak. With no cell coverage up yonder, what’s a worried mama to do?

See, if I had known for a fact that they were all with Rick, I wouldn’t have been so concerned. But he’s such a fast hiker, and the boys are sometimes slow or get off trail or get separated into splinter groups, etc., that my biggest concern was that all kids were not actually with the one adult in the group.

This is what I get when I ask all the kiddos to “act silly” for the shot.

Christie drove to our nearby campground and then to a lodge that was across the parkway, thinking that perhaps in a daze of selfishness, they had completed the hike and set off on a new adventure. But again, no boys were to be found.

Stephen talked to the park ranger inside the visitor center. He apathetically radioed the farm, but got no answer. Then we considered having one person stay at at the center, one hike back up to the summit, and the other do the farm loop.

Then we surmised that that plan would take too long, pushing us way too close to sunset. And did I mention that there had been lots of black bear sightings in that part of the forest?! Yep, that’s always a good thing.

I even went back inside the center to see if the dispassionate ranger would try again to contact the farm. He did so in uncaring, post-office-like fashion, but somehow forgetting to mention to the farm rangers the most distinctive aspects of the missing crew: that Rick has bright green hair and all the missing kids are only ages 6 to 9.

Stephen & neighbors Bill & Heather attended Trump’s rally in Greensboro back on June 14. He was a little apprehensive about going to an event where he’s prohibited from carrying a firearm, even when the protesters are known to turn into a riotous mob. But the rally went off without a hitch, thank God.

As we discussed this tense predicament, a friendly ranger happened to hear our anxious conversations and queried as to what was wrong. After I, in my “Libertarians plotting to take over the world and leave you alone” t-shirt, explained our worries, the ranger commented, “Oh, you’re a librarian? My mom was a home ec teacher!”

After a quick chuckle over the libertarian-librarian misreading, we took the ranger’s advice and walked to a nearby police van. The cop was very nice and told us to head back to the center, so we could discuss the game plan, which he said would most likely entail a couple of us hiking back in and him taking a vehicle up to the farm via maintenance road.

But right as we reconvened, the green-haired leader and his minions came waltzing out of the woods. After we hugged all our beloved boys and thanked the good Lord for their return, we pieced together that Rick had confused the “.8 mile” sign pointing back down to the center with “8 miles.”

Doing sparklers on Independence Day w/ some of my favorite mamas, Stacey & Shannon. Happy b-day, ‘Murica!

In his defense, the engraved decimal was not filled in with paint. And the poor dude had tried his best to get those kids back down the hill safely, scouring the farm in pursuit of us, and even hiking back up to the summit solo (while the boys rested at a the farm-hill crossroads) to try to figure out his directional mishap.

So, all’s well that ends well. And the final humorous clincher was that the listless visitor-center ranger emerged from his governmental cave to ask me what had happened. Then he went on to compliment my shirt and admit that he, in fact, was a libertarian, too, making him the Ron Swanson of the federal parks. Classic.

Wet n’ Wild … again

On July 13, we did a waterpark redo with Jessica and Jacob. It was a Wednesday, so there were much shorter lines. We packed food and got our hands stamps, so we could eat outside and didn’t have to buy the overpriced junk food inside.

It wasn’t only the nights that put on grand displays for us while @ Oak Island, but the sunsets were pretty impressive, as well. God is everywhere, watching over us, reminding us to keep calm, it’s summer.

I bought a $4 waterproof bag that hung from my neck beforehand, so all I brought in was our season passes and my car key. When we got thirsty, we drank from the water fountains, and we reapplied sunscreen during our picnic lunch. We also got to use one of our friend passes for Jacob. I was determined not to be taken advantage this time ’round.

Well, the only thing I couldn’t foresee was that the twins were being total scaredy cats about the rides (even ones they had ridden previously), and Houston was being picky. Therefore, I got dissed on much of the fun because of that and our spending a large amount of time contemplating who was willing to ride what and how we would play that out.

I told Jessica I was “wangry and wild,” and that Santa was a fool for buying these season passes. Oh well, live and learn.

Twitchy mama & the time thieves

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Being a mom can be so doggone hard sometimes, and walking that line between disciplinarian and grace-giver is a bumpy and imperfect ride. We must nurture, but not shelter. Kiss boo-boos, but not coddle. Give consequences, but not forget second chances. Teach, but not demand.

Miss Stacey snaps this pic when she took Gabriel, Gavan, Zeke, Matthew, & Nick2 to the park for sunny-day shenanigans. (Houston missed out because he & Daddy were @ baseball practice.) She also treated the crew to hotdogs @ Mount Gethsemane Church & fro-yo @ Coolie’s. Thanks, neighbor!

And I’m supposed to do all this while dealing with my own inadequacies and depravations. Sheesh. A recent Desiring God blog said it this way: “Being a parent doesn’t mean I’ve graduated from His school, but that now I am in one of the most intensive courses.”

Ain’t that the truth?! And we Christians and a lovers of liberty often feel like we’re in the the trenches of raising up the next generation of warriors in this topsy-turvy world. This post-modern world is the devil’s playground. People are no longer just moral relativists or deniers of objective truth: the mobs have actually become repudiators of reality.

But I know Christ has already won the war. And I know that God will equip and strengthen me for all battles, big and small. Still, all that daily disciplining, all that minutiae can really suck the life right out of you, if you let it.

Houston might have had to miss out on a few fun Saturday outings due to baseball practice, but he did get to the walk the field @ the Grasshoppers game.

Fortunately, I’m not a safety zealot. I slather (supposedly) carcinogenic sunscreen on my kids. I let them occasionally pig out on candy, processed food, and soda. We don’t eat a diet free of gluten, red dye, trans fats, or GMOs. I sometimes let them watch too much TV. We often stay up too late and almost always sleep in. And that’s all okay by me.

I’d rather lead a more chill life than kill myself trying to meet all these modern expectations. We’re all on that reluctant, yet inevitable march to death anyway. What does irk me, though, is people intentionally wasting my time. I’ve mentioned our slow-schooling ways before and our struggles with that.

And I’m sure I’ve written about the trials the boys (but mostly Gabriel and Zeke, admittedly) have with time management. I told them the other day that I’d rather have spare time more than be a millionaire, although the latter could buy me a personal assistant, a chef, and a chauffeur; that’d be nice.

Karaoke night @ the local sports bar: After Nick2 & Gabriel sang an impressive rendition of “Uptown Funk” (who knew there were so many naughty words in that song?!), all the dudes + Stephen perform “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.” We don’t need no education …

Point is I spend so much reinforcing the little stuff, like “wash your hands, brush your teeth, wipe your butt, shut the door, don’t talk with your mouth full, don’t interrupt, don’t hang on the towel rack, don’t run in the house, keep your hand out of your pants, don’t throw boogers on the floor,” etc., that I’m often too worn out to handle the big stuff with any aplomb, grace, or even maturity. It’s exhausting.

Moreover, all that reminding and reinforcing (I like to call this having to “cattle-prod the kids”) of three separate people forces me to have to multi-task my thoughts and tasks — something that even a youthful Rebecca with her much healthier brain would have trouble accomplishing.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that los gemelos still have tantrums on occasion?! Sure, the episodes aren’t as lengthy or as often as those of the toddler years, but they are intense nonetheless. More importantly, tantrums should really be a rare-to-nonexistent occurrence by the time you’re 7 and a half. I mean, c’mon!

Batter up! Summerfield baseball has been a serious time commitment for the family … & that’s just for one kid! But it has been a wonderful experience for Houston, who has come amazingly far w/ his skills. I’ve also learned way more “inside baseball” than I was ever aware existed. Seriously, who knew there were so many rules?!

Although Houston usually has stellar time-management skills and doesn’t typically have major meltdowns, he is known to pick relentlessly on his little bros, if the mood strikes. Frustrating thing is it always seems that this happens when Gabe and Zeke are exhibiting calm or good behavior. What’s up with that?

I know it’s probably some kinda “I’m exerting my power of these dudes just ’cause I can” sibling thing, but it is so lame! And so unnecessary. I mean, c’mon!

All this, of course, makes for one twitchy Rebecca. My nature already tends toward the high-strung, so this is not a good place to be: more scatter-brained, more frazzled, and twitchier than ever. Breathe deeply, mama … you got this.

The other day, Stephen was bummed out about a minor inconvenience while running an errand with Zeke, and I offered him some sage advice: make the best of it, and enjoy the one-on-one time with your son.

And here I have endless time with my kids, getting to witness their youth up close, personal, and daily, so I know I need to lighten up and appreciate the greatest show on earth, even if our days are peppered with unnecessary annoyances. After all, I do have the best seat in the house.

Gabriel reads to Piper during our camping excursion to Spout Spring, Virginia. You gotta do something on those slow-poke mornings when it’s chilly willy & taking forever to get the water boiling for coffee. Thanks for entertaining the crew, G-man!

So yes, I must remain sternly vigilant in my parenting or else the freight train that is the 3 Amigos will run me over flat. But I also must not forget to handle this in a more consistently compassionate and patient way, with way more humor, and way less bitterness. That will lead to a more reliably calm and peaceful home.

James 3:18 says, “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” But man oh man, does that reaping seem like such a distant thing. It sometimes even feels like an impossibility. But I know I need to just keep pouring in the love and encouraging wisdom and know that the only thing I can control is me. The rest is up to God.

Granny inspired the boys to write me a Mother’s Day note by explaining “Why we love Mommy.” Zeke wrote, “You are nice. She helps me when I’m stuck.” Houston said,”She’s generous and a good teacher.” Gabriel wrote, “I love everything about you. You are silly.” And then they all concluded, “She loves Jesus.”

Piper stores bread in her hood (which was Miss Christie’s ingenious idea), so we can use it as bait to fish in Paradise Lake. Zeke will go on to catch a few sticks & other odds & ends, but man, does that kid have the vigilant, yet patient persona needed to be a good angler.

Turns out that I’m doing okay after all. Thank you, Lord, for covering my kids from all my inadequacies and giving me the heart to know and do what’s right in your eyes … well, at least, some of the time.

I’m still trying my best to create more simplicity in our busy schedule, but that can obviously be a hard thing to do with three kids. I mean, just getting them all to church in one piece and on time can be a major undertaking.

We are considering not doing Awana next school year. Even though it is an incredible Bible study and has been a true blessing for the kids over the past three years, I think nixing it from the calendar may be one of the things required to achieve that peace and ease I’m striving for.

Together again. Funny how all my pics of “Big Hashy” are blurry & amped up beyond belief. See, Piper back there? She knows my judgment of these two hooligans is spot on.

Plus, I would love to have more free time to do whatever the heck we want, perhaps not having so many things on our schedule to begin with, so that we don’t feel like we have to squeeze in a spot for relaxation or random fun, or push to some later time spur-of-the-moment discussions on silly or deep topics. Having time for going off on tangents is a good thing.

Moreover, there’s talk of the twins playing competitive baseball this fall. And that means a doubling of practices and games if they’re on the same team, and a tripling if they end up making separate teams. And being that Zeke has gotten pretty skilled by practicing with Houston, I think the latter is more likely.

That’s a whole lotta baseball. So I told my little “time thieves” that unless they become more considerate of the family schedule and better managers of their own time, their baseball dreams ain’t gonna happen. I really hope and pray that they pull it together this summer.

Mr. Dan, our favorite South African, teaches Gabriel about proper casting technique. Of course, catching an actual fish is an elusive thing, but it sure is neat to try.

Speaking of baseball, Houston’s team is in the midst of playoffs. With only one loss in the regular season, they started things off in first place, lost a game by just a few points on Wednesday, but then demolished their opponents on Friday. Fingers crossed for a happy end to a really awesome season. Go, Tigers!

Houston also got selected by his coaches to represent his team in something called the Coaches’ Select Tournament. Extra teams are made up of a few players from each team and from each league. This will entail a few practices and then 3 to 4 games in mid-June. It’s no cost, so it’s really just extra baseball for the love of the game.

Houston’s rec league got to walk the perimeter of the Grasshoppers’ field before a game — kind of a big deal for an 8-year-old baseball fan. Funny thing is we arrived at the stadium at 5:15, but the game didn’t start till … 8:10 (gasp!) due to rain delay. “Classic Dillingham,” as Stephen would say.

Logan, Dan, & Stephen pose (hesitantly, of course) for a dad-only shot while @ Paradise. Thanks for always cooking such delicious eats for everyone during our camping exploits!

There were plenty of friends for the kids hang with while we bided our time, but we all had low blood sugar ’cause were hungry. If the game got cancelled, we wanted to go out to eat downtown and not pay for overpriced ballpark food.

There was also some intermittent kid whining and maybe even a dash of mommy complaining (since you know how protective I am of my scarce spare time). But despite the l-o-n-g waiting game, it turned out to be a nice family outing, and the Hoppers won!

Odd thing about our lifestyle is that uninformed people always comment that kids need to go traditional school in order to be properly socialized. Yet, our social calendar is always jam-packed with a myriad of outings, hangouts, and travels.

See, even a twitchy mama can have some fun! I always tell the boys, the more efficiently we manage our tasks, the more spare time we’ll have to experience adventures, like plunging into an icy cold lake in rural Virginia.

Like as I write this part of the blog, I’m at the park with Matthew (who’s not even my child) while my kids are around the corner at Miss Julie’s for a piano party. We have an hour to kill before Houston’s tournament games, so the five us plan to grab a pre-baseball dinner en route to the fields.

And this all come at the tail-end of a full day on home education, complete with two meals, chores, and one kid tantrum. No wonder I’m so twitchy. At least I’m getting to blog while poor Matthew plays by himself. Oh well, that was the the deal, and we’re sticking to it … ain’t nobody messing with my prized free time!

We hosted a Memorial Day party in which Stephen cooked all the food, and I did all the cleaning. He wanted to make brisket for a few of his favorite co-workers, but ended up doing a spread of different other meats, since the store was out of brisket. (That was the “minor inconvenience” mentioned earlier.)

If it wasn’t for this guy, Adam — as well as his two bros, Mike & Steven — my Stephen & I never would have met! So glad to reconnect w/ one of my oldest & dearest buds @ Mike’s 40th birthday bash. (P.S. Yeah, I know I gotta work on having a steadier selfie hand.)

The backyard bash was a great success, of course, ’cause that man can cook! He’s so serious about his food that he had to start grilling at midnight before the party to make sure everything was done to perfection. Yummy!

We also invited our friends, Jim, Penny, and Tyrnan, as well as a slew of our awesome neighbors. It was a shindig of international proportions, since Penny’s from Australia, and Stephen’s work pals, Dan and Gabriel, are from South Africa and Romania, respectively. We joked about having people where flags of their home country, but that might’ve been weird.

Our clan had a much-needed low-key camping excursion with the J-Crew, and Dan and his son, Brendan. It was a weekend thing up in Spout Spring, Virginia, at a chill campground called Paradise Lake.

Highlights were fishing, some light hiking, swimming in the frigid lake and taking on the steep sliding board out in its depths, and waxing philosophical and political around the the fire — a perennial camping favorite of ours.

The 3 Amigos & their beloved piano teacher, Miss Julie, @ today’s recital, which was Gabriel & Zeke’s first! Great performances, fellas … also proof that all my boys can indeed exhibit boat loads of self-control, maturity, class, & style.

Tricia and Jeremy had the family over for a nice meal. While the 3 Amigos played video games and Apples to Apples, and watched “The Office” with Bret and Bella, the adults smoked cigars and discussed spiritual and political topics. I love having good friends with whom we can engage in these types of conversations.

And just today, we returned from Mike’s 40th birthday celebration in Hickory. It was a cowboy-themed soirée complete with the honky-tonk music of Mike & the Moonpies. The boys swam (while paid babysitters kept an eye all the kiddos!) as Stephen and I danced, feasted on margaritas, Texas-flavored fare, and cigars, and just relaxed … twitch-free!

It was Mike and his bros, Adam and Steven, who introduced Stephen and me, so this bash was also a reunion of sorts. Adam was visiting from his home base of Austin, and Mike and his wife, Anah, just recently moved to Hickory. We had hung with the Steven, Paige, and Owen in the fall, but we hadn’t seen the rest of the gang in many years.

The 3 Amigso were the first in the pool & the last out @ Mike’s party, which also featured piñatas, an inflatable waterslide, sweet treats galore, & tons of new friends! They had a blast swimming, even though I forgot their goggles. I explained that if their packing had been a calmer, more focused endeavor (not requiring parental cattle-prodding), Mommy would’ve had the brain power to remember their beloved eye wear.

We talked old times, caught up on new times, even got a late-summer camping trip in the works, and simply enjoyed watching all our offspring play. It was truly a grand ol’ time!

Last but certainly not least, Houston had his two-year eye checkup. When we last saw the ophthalmologist, he had explained that it’s common for kids with Horner’s Syndrome to eventually need glasses.

Well, amazingly, Houston has 20/20 vision! And the doc even said that he doesn’t have to come back EVER, unless, of course, there’s some reason we think Houston’s vision is worsening. Nothing like yet another one of my kids bucking the medical stats. God is good.