WayfaringStrangers

Graham's vocabulary and conversations are really taking off, and that has made us really enjoy his being 3 1/2. He's always saying things like, "We're on a space rocket right now!" I love the funny things he pretends. Yesterday he asked "Please teach me to catch the baseball," which is so innocent and cute. Here's some tidbits of things he's said: "That way is East," he said, pointing West. "No, that's West. East is where the sun rises, over this way," I corrected him. "Oh, that's East," he said, pointing in the correct direction, "just like eggs." "Eggs? Oh, like Easter eggs. I get you," I laughed. In the car Graham was trying to convince Patrick that I am not an ogre. Patrick: "No Mama!!" (this was random, by the way) Graham: "Don't say 'no mama,' Patrick." Patrick: "NO MAMA!" Graham: "Stop saying 'no mama,' Patrick! M...

Spring means everything is growing. That includes my 2 wild boys. They both are taller and have bigger feet every day. I'm so glad and thankful that they are healthy. I don't take it for granted. Discussing something Everyday, they run and fall, eat strawberries and peanut butter, wrestle and fight, jump and skin knees. Every day, they wake at dawn (which right now is, like 6) and begin the day with relentless energy. There's little to no sweet morning snuggles- it's like "I'm awake! Aren't you glad?? I need breakfast NOW because I'm growing and haven't eaten in 10 hours!" I'd compare morning wakeups in this house to something like waking up and realizing your house is on fire. Occasionally we can combat this with a short Netflix to keep someone still for an extra 20 minutes, though I don't prefer to start our day with screen time. Sometimes, though, it's a sweet mercy from heaven. Inspecting a little snake If they na...

We've lived in our house for one year now. Thankfully, things are good- nothing major has broken, leaked, or needed to be replaced. Thank you, Lord. We've done lots of minor projects, like paint the living room and bathroom and add a storm door, but nothing major inside the house. We've been much more focused on the yard. We have 1/2 acre, and I am grateful for lots of space. Unfortunately, it's almost all hill and has very poor soil quality. Still, we are doing to the best we can with what we have, and even better, we are enjoying it! So, here's an update on our yard, as of this spring. First of all, Behn is continuing the fence. We chose a split rail fence (2 rail posts) and he is also putting in a nice wire mesh to keep the boys in the yard. This is a huge project.  We had estimates done to have the fence completed for us, but quickly knew that it would be something we had to do on our own. He's probably about 1/8 of the way done. Due to the mag...

I have a very distinct memory, for some weird reason or another, of my mother driving a van full of 7 of us kids to a dodgy side of town because she could get cheaper milk there. (Mom, it was the Cumberland Farm near the old Caldor, remember? On the edge of the city and you'd lock us in the car and tell us not to open the door. I so wish it was still legal to do this. ) This blows my mind. Not the 'getting cheaper milk' part. I totally understand that. I remember her saying, with a hint of worry in her voice, "Milk is really expensive- $1.59 a gallon! And you all go through a lot of it." Ever the fixer of problems- hello, young social worker Megan- I chimed in, "Well, one day when I'm grown I'm going to have a farm and a cow and you'll never  have to buy milk again!" We're still waiting on that one. I'm still going to try, Mom. Maybe we'll get chickens this year and be your personal egg provider. But let's think about t...

I feel a little bad about not writing about Easter yet. I will, eventually. The thing is, sometimes I get tired of my blog being "and then we did this and then we did that and life is grand!" But Easter was great and I totally need to write something about it because I'm beginning to realize I don't remember things.  The everyday tasks seem to take my brain space up and I have to seriously stop and think 'what did we do for Thanksgiving? Easter? Were we in town? Did we go away?' I love going back to old posts and seeing how life has happened, so I will write it down. I'm on a reading binge again. Big time. I just put a bunch of books on hold at the library, so I wanted to update my "Off the Bookshelf." You may not give 2 cents about all this, but if you like reading, here are some suggestions. First of all: Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham Yes, the Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood. Ya'll, I loved this book. It...