Spring up the well.

 

Tonight of all nights is the epitome of why I do what I do here in Lovin My Peeps.

Even though I don't do it very often,

To remember.

 

Some things are just worth charting down.....

 

 

to give you a fore ward,

I''ll let you know what's been on and off of Claire's mind lately....

 

Death.

 

She has been making random comments lately like

 

"Mommy I love you so much! Your the best mommy ever! Please don't die!"

 

''Would you be sad if I died?''

 

"Are you going to die soon?''

 

All to which I have answered plainly and truthfully

 

"No Mommy probably wont die for a long time but only God knows.

Of course I would be sad if you died!"

 

Sometimes it has been a bit all consuming and heavy for a four year old.

 

 And I distract her into a generally lighter topic.

 

The beauty of being 4 is that distraction comes really easy and doesn't take much thought on my part.

 

I am not anxious or uneasy by these conversations ,

Nor am I surprised by the intelligence and complexity of her question.

 

She has always been sharp-witted,

And around our house, death is matter of factly spoken about.

Not often, but not discouraged.

 

We have had and lost many animals,

 

We have gone as a family to provide comfort to grieving friends with a lost love.

 

 Basically pointedly incorporated little droplets of this reality into some of our exposures.

 

Because Jake and I wholeheartedly embrace that death affects us all repeatedly

throughout life

Until ultimately the passing of ourselves.

 

It's not a subject to be ignored.

 

It is the topic that springs our faith into salvation as we know it.

 

And so respectfully observe from time to time, all that is born, grows, evolves, cycles, then passes.

Leaves, seasons, animals, and so on

Including us. 

 

All that to say that I had a most insightful and intellectual conversation with my

4 year old darling little Peep.

While mopping the kitchen floor,

I tell her

"Take the ball out, and I then we'll play with it together when I'm done."

 

Claire comes up with her usual style:

 

"Mommy I love you so much! Please don't die!'

 

Realizing that right now,

she loves me so much because I am going to be playing ball with her soon and that's just giddy,

I say my usual rhetoric

" Mommy is young and I probably wont die soon."

 

And in my head thinking 'go out child!'

 

"Only God knows Mommy right?"

 

"Yes. Only God knows."

 

So she decides to keep this ball rolling:

"When you die, can you please pray to God?'

 

"Honey I can't pray to God when I Die! I pray to him while I'm alive, then I won't have to pray to him, because I'll be with Jesus! That's why I pray to God now, because I want to be Jesus when I don't live here anymore."

 

still mopping, but wondering where this is going and why.

 

"Then when you die, you get to go to Jesus so you don't have to die forever?"

 

" That's right! He died for me and now I don't have to! You're so smart!"

 

And she is,

 Because I have never given her those lines she just spoke.

Never in that order.

 

"How do you pray to God so you can be with Him Mom?"

She utters and my heart stops,

 

Because one thing I am passionate about,

Is not drilling her with words of conviction.

 

And I have been waiting for the next of my three kids to bring on this subject.

 

SO I thoughtfully scrub the floor and wait a moment

Pondering and ordering my words.

 

And the most curious thing happens:

She waits for an answer.

 

I know the answer, but its a bit unrehearsed and jumbled

 Due to the enormous spotlight I've been thrust under.

 

"Well, you believe in God,

Believe in His son,

Believe He died and died for you,

And you tell Him!"

 

" Do we believe in Jesus Mommy?"

I can tell she means believe like other people believe in Easter Bunnies and Santa Claus

 

"Well, I do"

 I say, casually and frankly, now looking at her.

 

"I do too because I LOVE Jesus!"

Then promptly says

"So what words do we say?"

 

Then again thinking up quick and understandable words

for a very comprehensive four year old,

 

Something very abrupt and typical happened.

 

She bellowed in the loudest groan ever:

 

" Silas, put that ball down!

Mom and Me aw goinna play when she's done moppin!

I Nevew said you could touch it."

 

and I swear she said it like a police officer performing an arrest.

The most demanding and pistol spitting attitude 

That is the usual Claire. 

 

And she was gone..

And despite my desire to sit her down and talk more about it,

I decided to wait.

 

And I was left to finish the 'floow moppin'

And settle in all the wonder that just happened.

 

Because I want this for her,

But I want it for her own,

Not mine.

And I believe in timing that is not my own.

 

Then I mop and marvel at how simple this process is for me,

Because of how complicated HE made it for himself.

 

"Believe On the Lord Jesus Christ and ye will be saved"

 

Not a mystery

 

Simple.

Belief.

It's all she HAS to know right now.

 

It spreads into the wonderful world of knowing and loving,

But ultimately begins with belief.

 

And though we as parents purpose to guide and teach,

Most assuredly continuing this conversation,

 

 the heart of the matter is that the rest is between

 

God her Maker,

 and herself.

The result.

Although we found out this news quite a while ago.

Like more than a month..

(who's counting?)

I still need to staple this to the blogging timeline.

Even if it is out of date.

Finally,

The real results from our ultrasound.

Basically ,

What we came home with was a confusing stack of images.

Before I begin the most hilarious ultrasound story I've ever heard

(I know at least 4 of them)

Lets begin with our pre-doctors appointment discussion on manners:

Mom: "Silas, what are you going to do if the doc says 'It's a girl'?"

Silas: "Oh man, I'm going to be SO angry and scream."

Mom: " Oh no son, you can't do that! You have to control yourself... etc etc."

I bravely decided to bring all the Peeps with me,
a little timid about not having Daddy there- especially after the above conversation.

We all piled into the room, turned out the lights and told the ultrasound tech

"Were dying to know! That's why my kids are all here!"

To which he replied:

"We'll find out at the end. That's how we do things!"
Seriously!?
What kind of nut job says something like that????

So we waited, and waited.
Claire was so worried that it was hurting me.
The most recent doc appointment she had, she got a "poke"
Reassuringly, I told her it was just 'jelly on my belly'.
She later got up the courage to speak up and asked "can we eat it?"

a few minutes into the ultrasound,
I noticed the tech squinting hard. So I started paying real close attention with one eye.
Simultaneously, I tried to keep Peeps wrangled around the bench.
Then the thought came to me: Why can't I have eyes like a bird?
One eye on each side of my head would be SO great right now!

After more observation, squinting,
Then finally bringing his face close enough to touch his nose to the screen,
(Well almost)
I concluded the guy just couldn't see very well,
And this was going to be the longest ultrasound yet to come.

Then someone asked him a question,
To which he adjusted his hearing aid, announced that he was very hard of hearing,
And requested a repeat of the question.
Oh Boy.

Fast forward 20 minutes:
Doc says:
 "99% sure It's a........"

What??

This is the point that I realized and thanked God for our spur of the moment

"What if?" conversation that I had with Silo.

I did feel bad for him.

He just put his head down a little.

My boy has never been one to lash out in screaming anger.

He probably wouldn't have done it-even if we hadn't talked about it.

The doc had a few more measurements to do.

There was some extra work required on his part because I had waited so long to have my ultrasound.

So we continued on, and Silas quickly recovered for some

rock-paper-scissors with his sisters.

Feeling a little sorry for myself, and for my boy,

I casually watched the screen.

Then:

"Wait a minute! What's that?" I yelled while simultaneously sitting up.

Oops.

 Didn't give myself the "What if?" talk.

After returning to the appropriate position, this is what we

found:

Tech says: "99% sure its a......"

BOY!

To which Silas overheard and yelled

"yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!" in the biggest man voice he had.

Forgot to ask him the "What if its a boy?" Question?

Not sure that one would have helped.

After praying for more than a year for a brother,

Finally convincing his parents to actually have another baby,

He finally got his prayer answered in the best kind of way.

Words cannot express how perfect and wonderful this news is to our little clan.

Honestly, this was my plan for my entire life.

Seriously.

I never planned beyond this point.

As a girl,

It was always the plan to have 2 boys, 2 girls, and become a teacher.

Somehow, this plan was PUT in my heart for a reason.

Even down to being a teacher to my most favorite kids in the whole wide world.

My dreams have all come true.

Sure we've added a dog or two,

And basically ended up STUFFING my dreams into one tiny (oh so itsy bitsy) little house,

Its still the plan.

God knew what was going to conspire out of all of this and put this plan in my heart.

I am incredibly honored that this life didn't just happen to me.

It wasn't out of the blue.

The timing maybe, but not the big picture.

Now this is where it gets a little sticky.

I'm not even sure if sticky is the right word.

Interesting maybe?

Or how about unpredictable?

I'm just wondering: "Whats next?''

I'm 28 and my plans are accomplished?

Well, I intend on finding out with no inhibitions.

Do I really have a choice?

I am done dreaming of the future success and failures, accomplished and unfinished.

Everything else is just icing on the cake.

This is just my perspective for this day.
It is currently 6:01 AM

Happy as a lark.

Both of my sons, rockin' the 'love' sign 

Because that's how they roll....

Man Of the Wooded Harp.

One day Silas met a man at the soup kitchen.

His name is Rudi.

Either way, Silas was fascinated.

Seven foot tall bean pole with a heart of gold.

And a jaw harp.

Boy fancied Rudi.

That tall glass of water always had a country hat,

Bandanna, boots, and cowboy shades.

Not to mention, really long mountain man hair.

Trimmed by a raccoon,

Combed by a pine cone.

He was way back woods.

Rudy returned the keen feelings and bought him his very own jaw harp,

Which alone, he learned how to play:

That video is Silas in his classic element these days.

No shirt,

Middle of winter,

Harp in the animal skin bag on his hip.

Then Rudy invited him to a 'jam' session.

It was the

GREATEST.MOMENT.IN.HIS.PAST.SIX.AND.ONE.QUARTER.YEARS.

He was telling everyone that he was in a band.

It was pretty convincing.

Events like these are the kind that you wait to reveal to the child,

Until 15 minutes ahead of time.

Mostly because the awareness of time, slips away.

And every five minutes is five minutes closer to his inauguration.

He had 5 days notice.

His head was the size Texas.

Finally, when the 5 tumultuous days were up,

We headed over to the Senior Center.

Finally.

Without any more talk,

Here's a clip.

Famous song:

"You Get A Line, I'll Get A Pole Honey."

The thing I love about 'back woods' music is that it includes the whole story in it's title.

There were song books and people gathered around singing at the tippy-tops of their rusty-brass lungs.

Then they started taking request from the folks on the outside of the circle of talented people.

It was my turn.

I mistakenly requested John Lennon.

Let It Be.

No really, just leave it alone.

Seriously,

So embarrassing.

But, the day peaked

when I saw my boy pickin'

my absolute favorite song of all times (at the moment).

No more talk.

Just listen:

My boy and John Denver.

That song tied our heart strings

(All Three of Us)

Happier than a hillbilly on a cheese bed.

That's what this Mama was.

Johnny D. would have been proud.

I know I was.

Wild Thing.

Competition.

It eats me up.

Its the reason I've failed so many times at running.

I've been known to blow my knees trying to keep up.

There's always a real cute skinny chick with an inspiring runners outfit

And great hair style.

Her stride is usually twice mine.

I think I can keep up.

But then I can't.

I get an itch that kids aren't productive enough.

Learning enough.

Not up to other standards.

The standards I don't even care much about.

Then one or more gets neglected while the third gets drilled double time.

And then one or more of them engages themselves in whatever activity interests them.

Sasquatch visited my pita dough while Mom was busy helping big kids with school.

How about this one:

Peaceful quiet is never a good thing.

It's never worth a clean house to leave a kid to his own discoveries.

It could mean that there's a man-cub in my house,

slicking his hair with 'sensitive lotion'.

'sensitive' meaning 'expensive'

Why wasn't I there to show him a reasonable alternative and help him?

Because I was doing dishes with Lauren.

Because Mom can't think with a sink full of dishes.

My priorities are in a jumble.

I want a perfect scenario.

Plus I'd appreciate the unlimited time of

family/fun/learning/chill/exploring/basically watching my kids grow.

I don't want to miss them.

Here.

Its impressive how clenched a jaw can be and still say 'cheese'
I love this moment.

She thinks I am crazy.

Balanced uncomfortably on a rock that drops straight into a deep swimming hole.

And on top of it I ask her to

Smile and cheese.

Well,

I guess that I am crazy.

But I love that picture.

"Silas, can you please put some toilet paper in the bathroom?"

The thought never occurred to me that I might need to articulate

exactly how many roles of paper we need in the restroom at one tme.

Where did he find That used roll from anyway ?

Amazingly enough,

Aprons are becoming a heritage in my home.

A tradition in cleaning.

A girl who will do the dishes so Mommy can get done sooner.

What did I do to deserve this?

A boy who mistakenly rocks "I love you" sign.

Love you too boy.

All it takes is a single root beer to make a camping trip really cool.

I am constantly trying to remember a few things.
*Comparing myself to someone else is never productive.
In fact it can be quite depressing.
I will always know happier, wealthier, healthier people.



Instead I am trying to compare myself to myself
6 months ago, two weeks ago,
And on really hairy days, 5 minutes ago.
surprisingly, it makes me pretty happy.

Its a long shot and I keep forgeting.
But I keep trying to remind myself.
To not compare.
Not compare.
Just don't do it.


There are so many things I want to remember.
I am purposing to spend time at the end of the day,
Thinking of all the good that was had.
And really laughing at things like

hand prints in the rising dough,
a whole tub of lotion in my boy's hair.
Wishing I could have laughed at it in the first place.
Enjoyed it.
Instead of letting it ruin the fleeting moment.

Remember,
The days may run long.
But the years whiz by.


Making time for breathing room.
It will always be on my list of to-do's
but I am learning and trying, and slowly getting better.

The one thing that gets me though is the new grace that comes with each new day.
Knowing that given the chance,
we will not only survive, but thrive.
Even when things seem to be falling through the dusty cracks.

Musings of spring.

Please excuse the absent.

This post has taken me days to load the videos and I fear the loading process has cost me my sanity. I have finally loaded them, and am ready for the best part.

The recap, where I get to swing in the hammock alone, and look back on the pictures in amazement at the wonder of these people I get to play with every day. It is bittersweet in a lot of ways. I look back and realize how long Lauren's hair is getting, how much Silas has improved in speech, and the sweet toddle of my 1 year old that I so often take for granted. Then the hard reality tends to come down on me like a guillotine. How much I have lost my temper, or ignored a sweet request for my company-because I only had one more load to fold or a few more dishes to put away.

I realize that they are not mine. I don't own them like a handbag or a toy dog. I can't keep them forever and once I use up this time-no matter how I spend it, its gone.

Mercy.

Silas has been throwing me though surprising loops lately that make me check and re-check my schedule, and the meaning behind some of the plans. His needs are far different than my own. He thrives on being home. The comforts and familiarity of it is a recharge to his fuel levels. He seems to feel safe and calmer. I don't mean calmer in activity, but in spirit...less anxious and worn out.

I am the opposite. I need daily breaks from the home! I load them up and abandon the homestead for a while. Coming home after a break makes my perspective of things more realistic to what they really are. I tend to come home to find the place in better shape than what I had perceived it to be.

Enough.

This is about Silas, Lauren, and the best bug experience ever.

Enjoy:

How bout them apples?

I forgot to fix the "sucking" end of the straw so he wouldn't eat the captor.

Another good reason to keep things a group effort!

I so enjoy sharing these life experiences with an eager and intuitive child.

They are so responsive and bring so much more to me than I could ever bring to him. Their nature is such that if I decided to never teach them a thing, they would (given opportunity and freedom to) still inquire and learn things in a way that my teaching could never enforce. Free unscripted, hard play time is often the best lesson.

This is the first time we tried out our catcher. Man I love when a thought turns to action, and success comes on the first try!

Here's to the school monster not gobbling up any more time than necessary. Planning and executing. following my own scripted lead and no longer winging it. Looking forward to all the unorganized play because of all the organization I am leaning towards. Raise a toast to more time for imagination and creativity.

This is too much to miss!

The kids were wonderful in the auditions Saturday!
Lauren Practiced all week long.

She really had her song and dance memorized!

But then the day came.

She watched intently at the other audtioners and kept telling me

"Mom I won't be shy, Mom, I wont be shy!"

But then her turn came.

She almost didn't make it to the stage!

Luckily the director is super nice, understanding, and is passionate about

getting kids comfortable in theatre.

She allowed me to be up there with Lauren, and she humbly sang her song.
It almost didn't happen folks.

Almost.

As I live and type,

A New little theatre player is in the house.

She will be the cutest little school girl don't you think?

She will have one line, and lots of songs to sing!

What a stretch for her! This is going to be an experience

And so much bravery will be required!

I am thankful to Dori for giving her a chance.




Behold,

Silas:

If that video didn't spell it out clearly enough,

Silas was cast as the little monkey.

All the hard work and his homemade skit
paid off. He got exactly what he wanted.

This play was accepting a very limited amount of boys

hence the name Little Princess,

And my boy made the cut.

Way to work Silas.

Thankful

I am among the many homeschoolers,

Bloggers, and happy housewives,

Who are using the Month of November to

Count all the things they are thankful for.

In our discussions today about Thanksgiving

And my curiosity about what 'thankful' means to the Peeps,

My boy genius said:

"to say thank you"

Correctomundo.

I love this.

It gets better.

We had an impromptu story time breakfast.

I had a book from the library that we hadn't read yet:

Its about a boy named Thomas.

The book never says in print,

But Thomas is blind.

The entire book is black.

The pictures are hard see,

But they are raised.

You can feel them better than view them.

"Thomas says that yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as a baby chick's feathers"

I decided to discuss the fact that some people are unable to see.

The Northern lights,

My newborn Baby,

the color of my girls eyes,

The sight of my strapping groom,

Have you ever seen a really blue sky and had

Your breath taken right out of you?

I thought it was brilliance

When I made Rico close his eyes and try to navigate around the room.

The point was to see how hard it would be to not loose his sight.

It was a huge hit.

It was more fun than it was insightful to him.

P.S. I gave him a really big stick as a walking cane.

I was not anticipating the spasmodic jump-n-spin,
And Claire be given the blow to the head.

Outside next time maybe.

Anyway...

This was my favorite 'feel-istration'

Clever right?

The picture makes it seem more pronounced than it really is..

"Black is the king of all colors. It is soft as silk when his mother hugs him and her hair falls in his face."

Okay, I love my short hair. I love everything about it.

Its cute, functional and incredibly easy to maintain.

It practically maintains itself.

This page made me ache for my long hair again.

I miss tickling my kids with it.

Claire used to bury and twirl

her little plump fingers in it.

She was comforted by it.

*sigh*

I woke up about 2 this Morn.

Not feeling too well.

Unwell enough to steal a precious hour of sleep.

I got to thinking about the here and now,

And how nothing is in the guarantee

as far as life and death and uncertainties of tomorrows to come.
I admit, I shed a tear or two.

I know I am not the only one to ever picture my children's lives without me in it.

Most of us are too uncomfortable to discuss the undesirable possibility.

I think we are hard wired to think ourselves to be immortal,

To not ponder the possibility of death as we go about our every day.

It would drain the spirit and zest out of life

To think of these things day in and out.

I'm just saying,

A sleepless 2 am is some serious pondering time.

And I was thankful to be alive right then.

Don't get me wrong.

I know my fate.

As far as eternity goes,

I am signed, and sealed,

just not yet delivered.

I have four dynamite reasons to enjoy every instant.

Daddy and the Peeps.

Then, I was thankful to hear My toddler-babe cry.

I could have used that cuddle.

By the time I got to her,

She was asleep.

I just stared for a while,

Then all at once,

I was ready for bed.

Another thing I am thankful for.

The few that read and encourage,

helping me want to do what I do

even better.

How to catch a rabbit.....

First you need a domesticated rabbit

(not rabid of course) on the loose.

Perfect opportunity.

Uncle Nick and Lauren on a quest to get that 'waskaly wabbit'

Make sure to wear your boots, and bring your handbag,

just in case its a girl bunny.

We chased the crazed animal all over Grandma's

front yard and part of her back yard.

I think it was a girl bunny,

Because Lauren was the first brave one to make contact this time.

I made Uncle Nick pick it up,

just in case it was a tame looking ferrel rodent ;).

Trying to get in a good pet,

Poor Uncle Nicky's top layer of skin was shredding

In the rabbits talons.

That's sacrifice.
What a good Uncle.

Now theres a life lesson for ya.

Dress cute because you never know when you might need to woo a wabbit.

Bring a man along to take care of the dirty work.

Amen.

Amelia Bedelia and Lemon Meringue.

I have recently found a new love:

Books on tape.

My discovery couldn't have come at a better time

Because I am on my fifth day of the worst sore throat ever.

Five days and counting.

sunshine,

heat,

debilitating head cold.

Don't ask me when I gave a bath last.

I am not to blame for my

irresponsibility

Or my hair.

I am getting it cut on Wednesday.

It's back to

'flowing in the wind'.

When we were at the library going through books

I came across this one:

It instantly reminded me

Of reading the series as a girl,

I snatched it up

Knowing Lauren would be hooked like I was...

In the book Amelia Bedelia made a lemon meringue pie.

It ended up saving her job.

For a more detailed description,

bed time stories are played here at 7:45 pm.

Silas took a keen interest in the pie.

He was especially delighted in the thinking

That there was lemon ice cream in the filling.

I decided we should try making one.

Another baking project that I had yet to try.
So we did it.

Because of the mysterious and unexplained peril

That had recently come upon my throat,

We made the gram cracker crust the first day,

And the pie on the second day.

Squeezing the juice from the lemons.


Baking has become the new math
In the Pieper house.

He turns on the digital oven,
Measures and identifies cup measurements,
sounds out words/ingredients,
Learns to clean up and re-measure spilled milk
etc.
This was a freak Lemon Meringue recipe.

'denture friendly'
Lemon soup
Was more like it.

It came out like a flood when we cut into it.
I had a super sweet
not so healthy
genius idea though.

'Lemon Merengay la Oatsay'
(runny pie on oat meal)
Breakfast here we come!
Whisking the meringue


Pouring:

What a guy.

Not too pretty,

But dancing with flavor.

Really,

That's all that I ask,

That no matter the outcome,

It will be eaten or used to make something else.

Not wasted.

Oh so proud of the outcome.

Even Corn dog joined the party.

And yes he served us up too.

A gentleman in the making.

I could use a little bit of help with a new recipe.

I would love to host a recipe from a family member or fellow blogger.

Send me a picture too if you will.

Huckleberry hunt.

This weekend was a new experience for the Peeps.

All of us.

This year I learned how to identify 2 different plants:

Poison oak,

and

Huckleberries

Its a little ocean breeze hike,
And a photo shoot away.......

The roar of the waves was incredible.

the beach behind the tree

The harvest was few due to the years poor production.

Just enough to throw in some

crock pot apple sauce.

Better for the experience

Rather than the harvest

I suppose.

Tadpoles and suicidal frogs

Back in May,

We went tadpole hunting.

it was muddy, fun , and very muddy.....

This is Janice.

She was the brave one.

She took her flip flops off and went tromping in the mud,

All for the fun of learning.

Way to go Jan.


The kids were so much fun to be with.

Aren't they cute?

They could all pass as siblings!


We went home and drew pictures of frogs,

practiced letters and forming words,

And scrapping papers together for our home school scrapbook.

Silas sounded out and spelled the word 'frog' without any help!

I was a proud mama hen.
Silas' frog is on the right,
Mine is on the left.

Then,
what seemed like months and months and MONTHS went by,
And appendages were forming:

This was exciting for me especially because I thought we chose the ONLY
defective tadpoles in the pond!
We kept feeding them lettuce chunks.
We would roll the lettuce in our hands until it was dark and wilty.
More months..........

We rented and read EVERY tadpole book and pond life DVD's we could he our hands on!

The library was a great recource

Actually our only recource

(Aside from the pond where we caught the little swimming friends!)

Weeks later, and after a little neglect (okay a lot!)

Some dead tadpoles.

We started out with five,

And ended up with one lonely soldier.
The poor guy continued the journey alone

From this, we learned that tadpoles will eat their friends when they're desperate!

The tail phase was especially exciting.

It happened so fast!

The tail grew and shriveled within a week!
We decided on a Friday that the following Satrurday,

We would set it free in the pond where we first caught the original 5 tadpoles.

We learned from the library books that

No matter how far a frog will travel,
It will always make its way back to the pond it hatched from
To lay its own eggs.
Amazing!

Friday came,

Our last lettuce rolling session before we let the little frog go

Free Willy.
No frog in sight.

The guy got jumping fever and took it too far.

We never did find it.

We were so close to the finish line,

And for months, I had the perfect blog post planned

from finish to end.......

Then my plans changed.

While I was disappointed,

I realized that such is life.

I actually thought about homeschooling for a while.

I thought about how much of my "plans" will change.

And how much I want to be open to the learning- even when the situation doesn't go as planned.

This was the first big project gone "awry".

I was still a little disappointed.

I really wanted to have pictures of the great release.

Then I realized

The kids were not NEAR as disappointed as I was.

They let is go

Like water off a ducks back.

And I knew I was making too much of a deal out of it.

Later that week we went to the river again,

much to our surprise,

We found a whole new bath of tadpoles.

These ones are different that the last ones.

They're all black.

I got smart and snagged some algae from the puddle they were in.

No more lettuce rolling

A No fuss do-over!

I love second chances!

Learning life, loving our famliy visit.

I have to say,
My absolute, most favorite thing to catch on photograph:

A new family portrait!

Home-spun, beach-style gymnastics
My Baby, thinking she needs a fuss.

I feel like my kids have experienced such a rich amount of experiences over the past days.

We have family in town, and were diggin' the company.

It gives us a chance to get out there and explore.

We usually do more with visiting family in a four day weekend

than we do in a month.

No complaints,
I don't think I could handle doing all this, all the time.

We made 4 batches of bagels to share with company.
Waiting to taste what his hands helped create.

After much neglect, we found out that our tadpole had undergone the change.

From "Mostly tadpole" to "mostly frog".

Thanks again Daddy, for the camera. Love you.

Making blueberry jam (in preparation for our company).

Silas' Grandpa taught him a little about streams as they worked fervently to

redirect this one.

They were peas in a pod.

Success was had!


Silas got a chance to fish with the big boys.

on the big rocks,

Making my heart beat BIG beats.

Happy to report that he made it out safely with a crazy drive to

FISH SOME MORE!

A word for Silas:

DETAILS
This rock was incredible.
It had undergone so many years of elements,

it broke in pieces into our hands.
He found these details and described them to me.
The lines, the breaks, fragile... etc.

Lauren's very first braid.

Good job little lady.

Here's what I have learned:

The self timer on my camera!

Small things that make memories so much easier to document.

Productive right?