Flowers

This photo taken at 7am, of the girls playing in one of their favorite flower patches, prompted me to grab my camera. 
 I asked for them to take me on a little tour of the three best current flower patches.  
1)

2)

3)

June is a great time of year for barefoot girls fueled by an imagination to play. 

Screen Porch

 We (finally) took our walls and windows down on our old 1880 house's three season porch and put up the floor to ceiling screens. Washed the walls and floors too. (View from outside looking in from last year's shots here.) 

We have some house work that's going to be done so we're only using half the porch to leave room for the contractor.  Everything is more squished together than usual. 

It seems that we prefer it that way! If you want to find us in the near future, we'll likely be parked right here on the porch. After dark when the house is quiet? This is where I'll be.  This porch is one of the very best parts of home sweet home.

Evenings home

 

For an entire decade, my husband and I worked opposite hours from each other.  I'd get up with the kids, wake him just before I left and I'd drive the work car to work. He'd bring the kids to me at the end of my day.  I'd run out in the nick of time and be handed the keys to the mini van with the kids in it.  I'd drive home to finish my paperwork and he'd drive to work in the work car.  Then he'd come home to catch some sleep. Before long I'd be waking him to start the entire ritual over. 

We've gradually changed my schedule so I am working less and now we have changed his schedule so he works days.  We have every evening together now- for meals, for going outside, for playing board games, for reading books.  Sometimes I run errands on my own late afternoon/early evening, which is a luxury that we appreciate. This change has been so nice and were so thankful. 

Carrying on

 

Some days I have things together. 

Up with the sun, lots of boxes checked off the to-do list, connected with each kid, healthy meals made, kitchen upgraded to a moderate instead of a major state of disarray...

Some days I feel like I'm on top of the world. 

And there are other days that I am sure life would be much better in Australia. 

I sit here at my computer, my littles and husband all in bed/asleep, my dogs under my feet, in the midst of a disaster of a kitchen. I find myself with zero energy, zero motivation, already tired of the heat (do we really have 3 more months of heat?!), looking around at the mess and reflecting on all that I didn't do well this afternoon. The opportunities I missed. The episodes that could have been better if I had a re-do. The things I would have gotten done if I was not yanked in so many directions.  

What do we do as mamas? We carry on.  Literally and figuratively. We carry on.

Tomorrow is a new day. 

Lightning Bugs

After I tucked the littles into bed, I went outside to find our whole back field lit up with lightning bugs.  So magical. As I enjoyed the beautiful scene in front of me, I realized that my kids have never seen the lightning bugs in our backyard because they are always asleep when they come out. I knew the girls were asleep, but I suspected my oldest wasn't yet asleep.  I called him down. He was so confused. I assured him he wasn't in trouble, but we were heading outside.  "What?  Why, mama?" he asked. "Just come," I urged.  He came barefoot, in his pjs that are getting a wee bit too small, clutching his favorite stuffed animal, a puppy named Lucky. 

Once he was out there, he quickly realized why I dragged him out of bed. He exclaimed his awe a number of times as the sky lit up hither and thither. We huddled together watching the spectacular nature fireworks show. I am pretty sure he smiled the whole time.  He told me his bucket was full. Mine was overflowing. 

It's hard to believe that he's nearly 11.  Whenever I think that, I automatically start thinking of the newborn bundle who only wanted mama, the two year old who called me 'seet mama' (sweet mama) and wore tails wherever we went, the five year old who was still sobbing when I went to work, but would sit for hours reading books with me when home, the 10 year old collector of John Deere who likes when I hug him until he decides that's enough hugging (minutes can go by).  How is my time with him home more than halfway up? 

I need to shut that voice down and turn that voice into "I get to". "I get to watch the fireflies with him." "I get to help him with what's tricky."  "I get to celebrate with him when things go well."  "I get to coach him when he needs support."  "I get to be the one who he loves most of all." 

I think he'll remember tonight forever.  I suspect I will as well.   

Rhubarb Farmers

 My kids have spent the last two days playing 'rhubarb farmers'.  How does one play this game? Well, they harvest a wagon full of rhubarb, compost the leaves, wash it (and create puddles of water on the kitchen floor in the process), chop it and freeze it.  They have frozen 28 containers of rhubarb frozen (some containers have 8 cups of chopped rhubarb).  Once life goes back to normal, we're inviting you and all your friends and relations over....for something made out of rhubarb.

Watching the storm come in...

When the storm came in last week, I was running around bringing the hammocks in and tidying up a few loose ends.  I looked up to see that I had an audience not only watching me but the impending storm.