WayfaringStrangers

Ah, springtime. Windows open, St. Patrick's Day, Easter. Flowers blooming, birds chirping, garden dreaming. My favorite time of year. I do love autumn, too. But spring is just so fresh. It wins. The boys are outside much of the time. We are walking back to the creek, on the lookout for toads and turtles. And they pick me flowers. I love my little, loving boys. We all worked together to dig up some of the garden last weekend. So far we planted spinach and carrots. I bought a bunch of new seeds and am eager to get things going. I told myself not to get too ambitious- I'm about to have a baby! But it's so fun, I can't help myself.  Plus, Behn  is helping and the boys are learning so much. We will see how the garden goes this year. My induction date is in exactly a month. Behn set up the crib, all blankets and tiny clothes are washed. Bag is packed. I'm ready to meet this little guy. The last couple months are the hardest, especially this tim...

The last few weeks, I've been spending more time with my little nephew, Jack. He is 8-9 months old and so cute. I love that age- sitting but not yet crawling, yet very interactive. I was able to babysit him both last week and the week before. Patrick reading to Jack: Being around a baby makes me realize how far we've come. Now, I know my guys are only 5 and 3 (and still a bunch of work), but there is such a big contrast when paired with a baby. I have 2 big boys out of diapers. Talking. Sleeping. In preschool. Riding bikes. Building forts.We just signed Graham up for his 2nd year of t-ball. Graham is also sounding out words and doing math in his head and engineering legos. Patrick counts and sings and plays with puzzles independently. Each stage is so fun and so challenging. When your baby won't nap or sleep at night, that is so hard. When your kid won't potty train, that is so hard. When your 5 year old still won't eat meat (ahem, Graham), that is s...

The wind bore down harshly Friday night. It was the worst kind of wind, strong and from the North, bringing with it frigid temperatures and a loud howl. Our house is on a hill, our road a bit of a valley; the wind pushes hard against both our bedroom and the boys bedroom windows. I'm always awake at night now. I'm uncomfortable most of the time, and every time I use the bathroom, turn over in bed, or wake up to heartburn, I sigh and look at the clock. This time the wind woke me, though. 3:30 a.m. Two minutes later the boys come in. "The wind is scary. Can we sleep with you?" Behn and I divide and conquer. I go in with Graham and Patrick snuggles with Behn in our room. Graham is tired and tries to fall back asleep. We lay in the dark, listening to the wind pound the house. My stomach growls. After 15 minutes, Graham whispers, "Mom, if a billion is bigger than a million, what is bigger than a billion?" "A trillion," I mutter. I'm always s...

November, what a busy but consistent month you've been. Every time I peek out the window, I see another leaf saying its farewell. The air is really getting chilly. I have warm fuzzies thinking about the upcoming holiday, and am really looking forward to spending time with family. Before Patrick becomes the inevitable middle child, I want to write down some things he says and does at age 3. What a funny guys he is! A few random examples of Patrick: Lately Patrick has decided that I am a princess. I'm not complaining. It's nice to be treated like royalty, even if most of the time my role is much more the maidservant. When Patrick wakes up (always early), he comes in bed with us and whispers to me, "good morning, Princess" and gives me a good morning kiss. How does it get better than that?! Of course, soon after, he's begging for waffles. He is doing better with being patient, though. This morning while driving, Patrick decidedly told me, "Mama, I miss...

I'm not sure why a warm stretch in autumn is called "Indian Summer," but I sure am grateful for it this week as we dive into the darkness that is nearing the winter solstice.  Our electric bill will also reflect my gratitude as we've only turned the heat on a handful of times. Autumn seemed to peak last weekend, the foliage in full beauty. The tops of the trees are now beginning to thin. Warm days keep us outside as much as possible but the cool nights are welcome, too. I'm feeling better now that I'm in my 2nd trimester and enjoying cooking and baking again (soup! fresh, warm bread! boxed macaroni n cheese because real life!). Overall, this is a busy season and I do feel weary. The boys are a huge handful of energy, the driving everywhere and working part time and just keeping up with it all seems to have me in a chokehold at moments. Things will settle down, though, or at least shift as winter sets in. I'm already looking forward to the 4 day Thanks...

I'm sitting here with writer's block, thinking about how we are easing into autumn. I really just want to take a nap, but I feel like the blog has become sadly neglected. I love writing. I love going back and looking at the words and pictures I wrote 1, 2, 3, or more years ago. I love watching us grow. And so, even though blogs in general seem to have fallen out of style in place of Instagram, I am here. We enjoyed lots of family time at my sister Olivia's wedding. I have no pictures (pitiful, I know), but it was beautiful. It was really fun having some family in town. Patrick had a birthday this month. The little monkey received no less than 4 new garbage trucks from loving family and friends, which he has been enjoying. Patrick is definitely being a 3 year old...I have to take a lot of deep breaths to get through the day. He's a smart cookie, but all the challenges of a 3 year old are wearing me down. We'll get through it, though! We are so grateful fo...

Hello! Happy Summertime! Another cliche "life is going by and I don't have free time to blog." Ok, now that's out of the way. We are just back from the beach, where we visited with family for 3 days. It was so wonderful. We are supposed to have Victoria right now...but the Ukraine group were not able to get their visas on time, due to circumstances completely out of their control. She will be coming, Lord willing, later this week. It was disappointing, but it also gave us an extra day at the beach and fun memories made. The delay also gives me a few more days to prepare for her, so I will take and post pictures of her adorable  room soon, as well as get ahead on some freezer meals this week. FYI when she does arrive and stay with us, I will not be allowed to post pictures of her on the blog. So, the beach. The whole thing was arranged by my sisters-in-law and all 5 of the T siblings, their spouses, kids, and Mom and Dad T were there. A few of the group had to ...

Oh, little blog. I've missed you. Life has really been going by a mile a minute and my 'free'  time is more limited than ever with these 2 active boys, who rarely nap. But now, tonight, the windows are open and the frogs are singing and the house is finally quiet. Time to take a few minutes to write. Where to start? Nothing really major has happened, just lots of little things. Things like, a new (to us) van. I love it and am so, so grateful that stress is behind us. Things like an old friend visiting (hi, Dee!). Things like this boy finishing up PreK-3: Pretty proud of him. PreK was the right thing for him; at age 4 he needed it. He's become much more confident. As of now, he's enrolled there again for next year for PreK-4. We enjoyed a relaxing Memorial Day. Behn and I took the kids out on a pedal boat at a local park. No one fell in the water, which was the main goal. The boys and I have been outside a lot. Nature walks, park, garden. So hap...

It's May first and it's been a busy spring so far. So much so that I really want to make sure I write down some things about life. The only way I'm able to blog is if the boys nap/I write when they're in bed/someone else watches them. Today that "someone" is my dad, who drove up to bring me lunch and then let me leave the house (!!)  to write for an hour. A gift! First, a few things I sadly do not have photos of. One is that Behn's parents visited a few weeks ago. We enjoyed lots of BBQ, downtime, and chatting. Behn and his dad also painted the little bedroom, which will be Victoria's room. I'm annoyed with myself for forgetting to take photos. The next weekend, my Mom and I and Graham road-tripped north to my sister Hannah's baby shower! Baby boy is due in July (their first) and I had a lot of fun with my mom on the drive. Graham was a good boy, too :) Sadly, I didn't take any pics of that day, either. The bedroom is a pale yellow. ...