Trip Time

Tomorrow we leave on a new adventure.

This southern bunch will be flying out of Atlanta heading to Vermont. The owner of the property we are renting even included a parenthetical y'all, to replace her original you all, in an e-mail she sent me last night!

This will be our first, and likely only, visit to the state.

Why Vermont?

I have no idea. It just seems somewhere great to go.

I'm not sure what to expect other than we'll probably be spending as much time as possible outdoors, and we'll likely eat at a good many diners (from what I've read it looks like every Vermont town is packed full of them).

I'll share as I can; I don't know if I'll be blogging a lot from there or if I'll be writing about our trip more once we return.

Happy Travels!

CSA Wednesday and A Run Through the Sprinkler

It was a great day to bring out the sprinkler and let the kids play, play, play.

This shark-loving boy of mine was outfitted in his shark swimsuit to match the sprinkler he got a few years back.

Mattie was unsure at first.

When she reached out to touch the water the first few times, it splashed in her face. She almost cried, but I kept telling her it was ok, and before I knew it she was laughing and running back and forth from the sprinkler to me repeating: "It's ok, it's ok mommy."

It was too cute listening to her sweet voice say it again and again. If she said it once, she said it a hundred times!

As soon as her brother took off running through the sprinkler, she quickly followed suit.

After coming in and drying off, we headed to a local farm to pick up produce as part of a weekly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Here's what we got today:



Don't let the carton fool you - these truly are farm-fresh eggs

I'm loving all the lettuce because I've been in the mood for salads lately

Tomorrow will be my first-ever attempt at pickling beets

The Lilies of the Field

I met a little elfman once,
Down where the lilies blow.
I asked him why he was so small,
And why he didn't grow.

He slightly frowned, and with his eye
He looked me through and through -
"I'm just as big for me," said he,
"As you are big for you!"
                     -The Little Elfman by John Kendrick Bangs

We didn't find tiny elf men meandering through the grass that day, but the children did have a great time running through this field of wild lilies.

I've updated their pictures on the side with some of what was captured that sunny morning in Newnan, Ga. I thought I'd share a few more of my growing twosome as well!

 

I'll Love You Forever

I can't get through the book without sobbing. Sometimes I make it to the third page before it starts. Mostly, the tears begin on page one.

If you are a boy mom, this book is a must.

My grandmother gave it to me when Jack was an infant.

Seeing as I can barely make it through the book, I attempt reading it aloud only once or twice a year.

When Jack was a baby, it was the many new emotions that come with being a mom - the deepest and most pure love a person can ever know - that got me. As he gets older, it's knowing how fast time has passed. It's as if the turning of each page makes the boy in the story grow quicker and that this rapid pace mimics time passing as my own son grows.

Even as I type this I can't keep my eyes from welling with tears. It's a beautiful story of a mother's unending love for her child that is as heartfelt as love itself.

The writer eloquently captures a mother's heart and feelings. Feelings that during the daytime range from confusion and exhaustion to frustration and moments of perplexity. Yet at night, when a mother looks upon her children as they sleep, those emotions associated with her love for them flood the heart.

It's an almost angelic-like state in those moments.

For me, that's when the guilt and regret from the things that went wrong that day begin to build. Yet it's also the time when the promise of tomorrow being a new day and another chance to get it right ring so true.

CSA Wednesday - A Day Late

It's finals week around here, which means I've been doing a lot of proctoring at odd hours.

Because of this, we weren't able to get our weekly goodies from a local farm until today - a day later than usual for the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) pick up.

Here's what we got:

Farm-Fresh Eggs

I'm about to google "how to make strawberry jam"

Lettuce

Little People

Lest I forget what they are like at this age - because it's such a blur most days - here's a snapshot of life in this house with an almost two year old and an almost six year old.

I love how her hair swings when she runs.

I love listening to him converse with others.

She likes to pretend she's reading.

He likes to do anything but try to read on his own.

She is already saying most of her ABCs; something her brother would never do.

He likes to get in her face way too much; something his sister finds aggravating.

She screams, he screams. He screams, she screams.

They release mass quantities of crayons, legos, books and clothes all over their mother's floor.

They are her loves, her sidekicks, her traveling companions who make it all worthwhile.

An Evening of Golf

When a week is so frustrating and stressful it leaves knots in your shoulders, it's good to end it outside on an evening where the smell of freshly mown crash and the sound of water rushing through nearby streams forces you to exhale.

When a little girl decides by the sixth hole that going "super fast" in a golf cart with the wind blowing in her hair and the tress rushing by is a thrill.

When a boy swings and putts and realizes there's a whole lot of fun in spending time with his daddy playing a game of golf.

When the birds, in red and brown and blue, sing their melodies that make you wonder why you don't do this every night of the week.

And when you get home there's an unexpected turn.

A husband realizes he doesn't have his key and a wife, only because it's Friday and she's so ready for a break from it all, sees a grand adventure for the weekend. That is until the husband makes it in through an unlocked window and opens the door for the rest to come in.

Then it's back to the unanswered e-mails and the unreasonable demands coming from the outside world and that grand adventure is put off for another time.