Follow me through pictures

Definetly a Blue Moment below. Elise's Graduation Party! She received her Masters!!!

Brielle, photography:

Civitan Park:

After a hard-working Blastball! practice:

I couldn't wait until daylight was earlier and the kids were out of school so I could start walking/jogging in the mornings again. LOVE meeting the rising sun each morning!

BLASTBALL!

Along with the boys' and Will's help - I'm coaching Brielle's Blastball team. Ha! SEVEN three year-olds! I totally thought I could handle it fine, and God is showing me, "Not in your own strength!" :) Lovely lesson to relearn, of course. The kids are unique little individuals and I love them all. This is a whole new level of patience, however. Go Rockets!

The Flag Guardian and Princess of the Mulch Pile

Well, we braved it - camping in the rain - and I have to say that we survived! The good news is that not ONE child complained or even noticed that the weather was drab - even saying things such as (and I quote) "This is a great place to go camp!" (I'm not sure any adult agreed on that one) and "This weather? What? It's called camping people!" (another actual quote from a second source). The great thing I think we all agreed on was that it was fun to be out there together - far enough removed from our everyday - and to play games like kickball & volleyball. A little competition didn't hurt us (well.........actually, no - never mind).
Behold: The Flag Guardian and Princess of the Mulch Pile

When we returned the boys finished up their last week of the school year. So fast! I know summer is going to fly by too - and I just can't say how excited I am to spend it with them! I feel as if the days, weeks, months, & years are now fleeting - like we are on some kind of downward slope to them flying the nest. Well, probably because it's true. I want to enjoy this summer with my three children still hanging out (in and around) our family nest. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed and frustrated with the chaos, the reminders, the clean ups - that I forget that this is supposed to be enjoyable! This is our family time - a fleeting time - that I hope we all recall with great thoughts,memories, and an overwhelming nostalgia of happiness.
God, help me to remember this throughout each and every day of this summer. Help me to recognize oppurtunities to teach and guide my children and give me the tools and wisdom for each specific moment. I know each child you have given us is uniquely designed by You. Help us to let each be themselves, to encourage them, and to provide them a place where they feel comfortable and can grow.

Over the summer and through our lives

These are photos that tell stories of what we did and what happened over the summer here in our neck of the woods.

For my birthday Will brought me flowers and we LOVED to smell them:

My favorite summer dress for Brielle:

Creative back porch art:

Say cheese:


Well, Shadee lived downstairs and out back for the past 1 1/2 years (she's 9 now) and then I watched Marley & Me http://www.marleyandmemovie.com/ and that was it for me. We gave her two baths and some time getting used to us, but the kids LOVE her being back upstairs.

Brielle and her cousin Archer on Grandma & PopPop's door step:

Say cheese again, Joshua's helping put her shoes on:

More to come! I just have to gather my thoughts!

nos·tal·gia

nos·tal·gia 1. a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)

being in mtn. home makes me feel nostalgic in ways I can’t really understand…so I thought if I typed them out maybe it would make more sense: seeing certain places reminds me of things; things forgotten because maybe they were not so important. going to the park of my childhood for a picnic…to the softball field of my adolescent years. I hear kim nicholson begin the chant, “down by the river.” I see debra harris rushing at me from the pitchers’ mound to get the runner out at home. I feel the exhaustion and exhilaration of playing street basketball on the mini court there. I see the grocery store across the street that I held down my first job at for over a year. I wonder if it still looks the way I remember it inside. I always say maybe one day I’ll go in there and see. but I never do. we wade into the lake. I sit on the front porch. I walk down the dirt road. I listen to the night chirpers. I allow myself to try and picture what my life would look like if I’d have stayed here to live as I drive through town. I really can’t though. It’s been almost thirteen years since I left, pregnant, freshly married, and ignorant of the things that I would quickly learn. I drive around and visit old friends. I wonder if we’d still visit each other if I lived here. I’d like to think so. they have changed, becoming more mature and beautiful. their offspring have grown and reveal so much of what I remember of them in their own childhoods. memories of my youth, reflected among our interactions. and yet, they are their own individuals too. and I am happy and yet saddened. I drive around, some things are new and other things have changed. I meet a new friend at a new coffee shop with our babies, and it goes really well.

small town, growing, staying the same, growing, slowing…I remember what I remember, but see it in a new way too. we go down to the white river and swim in the hole: cold, refreshing, clean, pure spring; nowhere just like it. I look out at the mountains and valleys, the blanket of fog and heat resting upon it all, where sky meets land and hay bales lay in the sun-soaked field beyond the wildflowers and fences down these dirt roads. the air is clean, and yet hot, as I roar my brother’s jimmy around town, grimacing at the other drivers’ lack of my presence or their own unseemliness. slow country. where the tops of trees on the mountains roll like ocean waves along the height of the earth. and I wonder at it all…seeing it all again, new again.

The pool

So far. So good. She likes the pool. But that could change, so I am not thrown for a loop. Because the first time we tried infant cereal mixed with breastmilk, she liked it. Then we tried it mixed with formula. She liked it. Then we tried it with breastmilk (literally the third try), she turns red, screams, and acts like it tastes like sour apples.
One of the best advices on baby's schedules, likes, and dislikes was this: "It will change. Girl, just wait, it will change. It's always changing"

It's been great advice because it's kept me flexible. (thanks, Rachel, who also gave me lots of encouragement on breastfeeding in public)

So, maybe Brielle intends to nurse until she leads herself on into solids someday...whatever. Who cares really? She'll tell me, and I'll listen, and we will hopefully live in happiness and not frustration. I don't think I would have neccessarily pursed Attatchment Parenting...but Brielle forces me into it, and I cannot even tell her how grateful I am for that. Thank you God, for giving me instinct to trust You when I personally do not trust even my own mothering instinct sometimes.

By the way, Brielle fell asleep while IN the pool two days in a row already. That is good. But again, it may change (as things seem to do right after I post a blog about them). I'm just staying hopeful, thankful, and aware!

SUMMER CHOP

Okay, well I had it all chopped off. I went to Eden Day Spa, where a former preschool student’s sweet family had previously graced me with a gift certificate to. What a wonderful experience!!!
First of all Will & the baby went with me, because Will didn’t want to get stuck at the house with the baby for hours upon hours (I had to pick up the boys afterwards, who were spending their morning planting in the community garden). So, I turned on some fun music on my ride there and was excited about it. A nice young girl greeted me and led me to the garden room, where the air felt clean and I enjoyed some relaxing music while I looked out through the glass doors/windows to the garden area which had flowers and water flowing over rocks. She brought me some water with lemon, and I almost believed there was something in that water that totally relaxed every tense nerve in my body! The couch was extremely comfortable and I thought I could just fall asleep. But just as I was considering that thought Jamie came to get me and was very excited about cutting my hair, or giving me a whole new look, as she called it. Everyone in the salon was full of energy, which was a stark contrast to the garden room. That was good, because I needed some excitement about the big CHOP. Jamie sat down and talked with me about what I wanted. She said I would be able to donate it to Locks of LOVE which made it seem all the sweeter. It was motivational that another lady there was donating her hair too, and that everyone was enthusiastic about these makeovers. It was a lot of fun.
I have to get used to my new look (or my new “feel” rather). My long hair had been causing me a lot of headaches, (which made the mint smelling massage that Jamie gave me feel FANTASTIC) and Brielle kept getting caught in it. I actually enjoyed that though, even though it sometimes hurt. I will miss her grabbing hold of it and pulling me close. But even the next day, I can’t say that I’ve regretted it…even if it didn’t style as easily for me as it did for Jamie. That’s how it always works though, doesn’t it?
At least it’s shorter; less for me to worry about for awhile. And, I'm sure there wasn't a better place to go to get a haircut, especially of this drastic nature!