A Beautiful Afternoon

Our beautiful day turned into a beautiful afternoon in the great outdoors. We did many things...

Sliding
Bike riding

Pondered a question or two..."I don't know."

Kite flying

Buddy time

Wagon rides

"I still don't know."

Sandbox fun

Butterfly chasing

Tree climbing

"Anything you can do, I can do better."

Blog reading (picture taken by Stephen)

Walking with Mom

We had lots of fun and burned lots of energy. We heard an owl, saw 2 eagles flying overhead and marvelled at the moon. It was a beautiful afternoon. From the sound of the kids running and screaming - we didn't burn enough energy!!! Time to settle in for a beautiful night full of prayers, hugs and kisses, sweet good nights and "God bless you" on the forehead. Its a beautiful life...

Its a beautiful day

Rex and I have this special thing we do in the mornings. I say "Its a beautiful day." and then he says it to me. My dad started this by saying it to us last time we were at their house. My dad says it everyday to just about everyone. So far just Rex and I say it here at our house. A new tradition.

I stumbled across a perfect song for Rex and I called Beautiful Life by Fisher (thanks to Elizabeth Foss for sharing that song on her blog). It truly is a beautiful life on this beautiful day.

What is a beautiful day??

Its playing in our pajamas first thing in the morning.
Its dancing to fun music and being goofy.
Its prayers for family and friends.
Its eating Cookie Crisp and Trix cereal in a cup while watching a movie.
Its building towers and buildings out of Lego's.
Its the sun shining, the birds singing, the grass growing.
Its just being us...doing our thing...together.

Up close and personal

This morning Darren found a female yellow-bellied sapsucker on the concrete in front of the garage. She appeared to be hurt, maybe she hit the garage door? We aren't sure what happened, but decided to take some pictures. She had flown to a nearby tree when I finally found the camera. I probably could have caught her as close as she was. As I tried to take a picture of her, she kept creeping around the tree. I must have been a sight to see chasing a bird around a tree trying to take its picture. I finally caught up and got this close up.

Happily Hidden

Have you ever thought it might be nice to be an expert at something? Maybe you know how to sew or garden or homeschool well enough, but imagine taking it to the next level. Could you handle it? I'm talking about the pressure of everyone seeing YOU, everyone listening to YOU, everyone modeling themselves after YOU. I have been thinking about that lately. I read lots of blogs and listen to lots of talks from people I consider my experts. They are everyday people who have done the extraordinary with what God has given them. I can tell that most, if not all, are humble and do not look upon themselves as extraordinary in any way.

There was a time when I thought I could handle being an "expert". I think that was 3 kids ago and not so many years of learning under my belt. I am finding that I enjoy being happily hidden in the world. Some of you may know I am writing a book for mothers with young children. Its a lives of the saints geared for very little kids (say preschool). It takes one aspect of the saint's life and applies it to an everyday grace or work of mercy. It isn't anything fancy, trust me. I don't intend for it to be a "New York Best Seller" type of work. If all goes as planned some people will know my name because of the book. I am not sure I could handle that. Maybe its the fact that I have normal kids who aren't saints (do I have a right to write a book that is suppose to help model our children after the saints??). Maybe its the fact that I am not a saint. I feel that God is calling me to write this book or something like it. What I'm not sure is if it is for my own family or for the general public.

My goal: write a book; stay happily hidden. Pondering the possibilities....

Beautiful sight

Isn't this a wonderful sight?? They are the first loads of laundry on the line for the year. I love the smell of clothes after they've been on the line. Darren modified our tennis court into a clothesline for me last year. I love it!!

This morning when I hung the first load out there was not a cloud in the sky. I even posted on Facebook that it probably would rain and it did. I was pleased that 4 of the 5 loads were dried before the rain came so I only had one load to toss in the dryer. I almost wished I had more laundry do to until I spent a few minutes just smelling the rain. I can't decide what smells better - fresh laundry or clean rain?

Its Christmas...

I received a copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day in the mail yesterday. It feels like Christmas for me. Instead of "What do I play with first?" its more like "What do I make today!!???" AHhhh!!! I'm so excited about trying some of these new recipes. I'll try to remember to take pictures and post my successful loaves (and maybe a few failures).

Supper menu tonight includes Sweet and Tangy Cabbage Rolls that have to be slow cooked for 7 hours. I'm already hungry for them. I don't have enough cabbage leaves, so we will have leftover meat to use another time. I hope it lasts in the freezer.

New plants

I started some marigolds today and transplanted the sunflowers. I accidentally left them out in the rain for WAY too long (like overnight) and they were soaked. I am hoping the new dry soil will help them survive my mistake. The tomatoes are doing great, but the broccoli needs some help. The kids are excited about their cactus plants. I need to get pictures of them. They are still very tiny so I have time.

I have made some decisions on my flower gardens and now have to actually do the work. Darren needs till some areas for me and install a border around two of the plots. I want to plant yellow roses, but Darren claims if I do that we will have to move. It never fails that if I plant flowers, we end up moving before we can really enjoy them.

Darren tilled our garden a couple times last weekend. He also prepared the ground to plant grass. Its still too cold to plant grass. I can't wait for it to warm up and STAYED warm. Overall I think we are ready for the planting season to begin. I can already taste the tomatoes and fresh peas.