bits of sunshine

sometimes i have plans to write a post . . .

and then the sun goes down on my intentions . . .

i do think about being in this space . . . 

i just heard isaac say:  "i need to think really fast, cause i have this turn-y thing in my head and it gives me ideas."  this was in response to maddie saying:  "are we just going to argue and argue or are we actually going to play?" 

i'm visitng around on the internet a bit while drinking apple cider vinegar with lots of honey in hot water.  my throat is so thick and sore today.  and my shoulders and neck are so achy.  oh the joys of having cared for sick kiddos at the end of last week.  why is it that it's so snuggley and lovey to hold a very sick, warm baby, but that means that you are breathing in all their germs over and over . . . blah.

in a few minutes i'm going to take a hot shower and then see if i can muster myself to teach some math.  we really should accomplish something today.  we read yesterday and the kids had their piano lessons.  they are both doing so well.  i'm really proud of them, and i enjoy listening to them practice.

ben got me a bird-feeder for christmas.  it's really pretty.  but no birds have found it yet . . .

i've been reading in the old testament.  good grief.  i hope i'm not like those ancient isrealites.  they'd learn a lesson and then within a few short days/months/years they were right back at what had gotten them in trouble in the first place.  makes me think about striving to grow and move forward and not just sit stagnant, or worse, revert to old habits and ways of thinking.

i have a few projects that i'm working on (of the sewing variety) but i have to wait to show them to you . . . hopefully i will finish them up within the next few days even and get to start some show-and-tell here.

i hope you all have a peaceful tuesday, my friends.

love, ~e

just part of my day yesterday . . .

i was smiling.

my heart was proud. 

i still am.

it still is.

that's all for now.

love, ~e

hello from snowy minnesota!

i went down the hill, too - i LOVE sledding, even when there's barely enough snow.  we went twice today - for about an hour this morning and then with friends for another hour this afternoon.  it is so fun to go flying down the hill!  if i leaned right, at the bottom, i could follow the wood-line around the corner, and my sled would come to rest here:

what a funny winter.  we probably have one more day of this snow, then it's supposed to warm up again.  it's been wonderful for ben.  working outside is a whole lot easier when there's not a lot of snow to fight with and when it's only really cold for one or two days out of every eight or nine.  i keep thinking that we're just going to get dumped on, but it keeps not happening.  we shall see.  we shall see.

and that's what i know right now. i hope you all are having a lovely evening.

love, ~e

sometime last week . . .

i was playing with the effects on the camera on my phone . . .

solarize is pretty funky.

and i was enjoying the coziness of home . . .

i can't even begin to tell you how grateful i am for our home.  to live in the house that ben and i built together . . . . to have realized our dream of living in our forever home by the time we were both 30 . . . to be collecting memories and treasures that make our home a reflection of us . . . i am so very blessed.

i am sitting in the break room at work right now.  i worked 15 hours - last night overnight into this afternoon, went home to sleep about six and a half hours, then came back tonight for a regular overnight shift.  i am very much looking forward to heading home in the morning, sleeping for a few hours and then spending time with my rockin' awesome family

while i was sleeping this afternoon and evening, ben took the kiddos to barnes and noble.  they had never been to a big bookstore before.  wow, were they excited to tell me about all the books they looked at while they were there!  ben said they would have stayed all night if he would have let them.  maddie told me that she really missed me, especially when dad told her that he and i used to go to barnes and noble for dates before we were married and when we were first married.  isaac wished i could have seen all the cool lego books.

i painted isaac's room on friday before i headed to work.  so tomorrow i should put his furniture back, hang some things on his wall and get him all settled in his new mossy, olive-y green room. 

i get to keep babysitting our two little buddies for the next few months!!!  i just found out tonight.  i am so happy and relieved!  maddie and isaac will be happy, too.  and so will ben.  having the little kiddos around is so fun.  and me not having to pick up a bunch more night shifts is awesome, too.  (if you were praying about this for me, thank you.  you are good friends and our God is good.) 

so, i guess this could have been bullet points again . . . 

i hope you all have a wonderful sunday.  love, ~e

7 years ago today . . .

there was a little guy making his way into this world.  a little guy who couldn't wait another month before making his appearance.  you can read a bit about his birth and see baby pictures of him here and some another birthday post here.  he still moves through life on fast forward.  except when he sits down to play legos or when he stands careful and still aiming at a target or when he is listening to a book or song that he loves.  he's a boy of sharp contrasts.  speed and slowness.  loud crazy, goofiness and quiet contemplation.  contagious, sparkling cheerfulness and a sharp, quick temper.  he loves a wild wrestling match with his dad just as much as he loves to sit quietly and drink a cup of coffee. i am amazed by him every day.

happy birthday, dear isaac.  happy birthday, to you.

this is a good evening for some bullet points . . .

• we love fiercely in this house.  that means that if you even think about messing with my kids or the sanctuary that is our home you will not be welcome here.  and in no uncertain terms will ben and i let you know that.

• obviously, isaac feels the same way - these bionicles are all facing the front door.

• we now have, not only a what-to-do-in-case-of-fire plan, we also have a what-to-do-in-case-of-unknown-vehicles-driving-up-our-road plan.  we aren't afraid.  we are just aware and prepared.

• holy, moly was the wind cold today!  i had to figure out some strategic fan placement to keep the warm air from our fireplace moving through our house.  (was it really two days ago that we were jumping on the trampoline in our socks?!?!?!)

• yesterday, my friend jeannine commented on how many things i did, but i only got to cross two or three off my "list" - funny, isn't it.  you all know how that goes.  i know you do.  i guess today was about the same.  and i'm good with that.

• last night, ben called me just as i was going to pop potatoes in the oven and said that he'd like to make eggs and hashbrowns when he got home.  he makes the most rockin' awesome, from scratch, hash browns.  so i turned the oven off and let him.  :)

• tonight i did bake potatoes.  i had a small pork roast in the crock pot all day with some italian seasoning that we shredded up and put on top of our potatoes with peas and cheese and sour cream and ranch.  mmmmm.

• last night two of our favorite people stopped by and came in for coffee and visiting.  somehow we balance being hospitable with holding down the fort.  :)  and there's almost always coffee to share.  if you stop by and there isn't any made, i'll gladly make some.  (as long as you aren't one of the people the bionicles are set up to protect us from . . . )

• tomorrow is friday!  and we have some pretty awesome plans for the evening.  isaac will turn 7 on wednesday, so we are starting the celebrating tomorrow night.  we're going to our favorite restaurant (for sweetpotato fries and a huge plate of icecream - the birthday boy's favorite) and then we are going to pick up his present.  that way, he can use it on saturday, if the weather isn't too crummy - i think it's supposed to be nicer out again.  we shall see.

• seven.  yes.  seven.  the closest thing to a baby i got (as my dad would say) is going to be seven on wednesday.  pretty crazy.  but also pretty cool.  (more thoughts on this in the next few days.  right now, i need to go tuck that guy and his sister in for the night.)

• sweet dreams, my friends.  love, ~e

yesterday and today

yesterday it was so warm out (over 50 degrees!) that we packed up the rest of the christmas decorations out on the picnic table! and played catch and the kids played in the sandbox and we ate our lunch outside.  the air felt like springtime.

later we saw huge plumes of smoke rising to the west, so we hopped in the car, with the windows down, and went to check it out.  we found the minnesota dnr out doing some prescribed burning around a little pond at a wpa. 

now in the spring, all the burned area will grow in lush and green.  and there is no danger that this slough will catch fire and burn out of control later in a dry stormy season.

we ended the day with a most beautiful sky

and as the sun went down, the temperature dropped and the wind kicked up and rain and snow blew in.

today we have 30 mph winds, 14 degrees straight temperature, and a bit of snow covering the ice on the ground.  it's pretty crazy out, even for big people, and our little buddies are here today.  so, we are inside doing (not in the order they appear here) school-work, reading, a movie (all about legos), fresh bread, fresh chocolate chip cookies, laundry, scrapbooking, lego building, tickling, a living-room dance party, some quilt lay-out, vacuuming, naps for two littles, more music, keeping the fire stoked, leaving the twinkle lights plugged in all day and crossing two more things off my list (i'm going for a third here in just a bit . . . ) and pretty soon it's time to pop some potatoes in the oven and set out a topping bar and make a pot of coffee.  the sky is pretty tonight, too.  steel grey with the dark silhouettes of trees against it.  we'll see what tomorrow brings . . .

i have been enjoying documenting our days here this week and checking in on some of my favorite blogs.  it's a nice start to a new year.

we were going to skate yesterday . . .

but it was 50 degrees F

and the pond was too slushy

so, after a moment or two of sadness, we headed back up to the house

and jumped on the trampoline and watched geese fly over

and i played around with the setting sun and the camera on my phone

and here we are - another january day with the sun rising and promises of another almost 50 degree day.  and another day where i shall cross a thing or two off that list . . . i think that if it's all done by friday, i will treat myself to something . . . i'll have to think about this . . . even grown-ups should have incentives - right?  ;)

this weather we are having is not regular january in minnesota . . .

so, on saturday afternoon, after ben did a bunch of yard-work and brush-clearing, and the kids played baseball and soccer and in the sandbox, and we piled up a big burn pile, and hiked all over our property and found a beaver trail and a coyote bed, ben got the jeep out, and we went for a ride - in the open air - on january 7 - under the rising, almost full, moon.

i must say that this year i do not miss the snow.  we've got ice for skating and fishing on.  and the sun has been shining and shining and shining.  it's like the best parts of fall decided to stay on for a long, long time this year.  it's wonderful!

i wrote myself a to-do list for this week.  but it was written with sunlight pouring through my window and a lot of things on the list are actually fun - i just need to remember to do them.  

i must jaunt off to take maddie to her piano lesson and run an errand that will allow me to cross something off my list.  :)  i hope that your monday is going along nicely, my friends.  mine sure is.

you all are some very wonderful friends.

thank you for hearing me yesterday 
and getting it,
that sometimes a change is sad, even if it is good

 
yesterday morning i was taken by surprise 
the babysitting job
that the kids and i have grown to love in this very short amount of time
is going to end at the end of this month . . .

part of my sadness yesterday
was over how we'll miss these two little buddies
and part of it was over absolutely not wanting
to go back to working more overnights
(which ben assured me won't happen)

so, right now, i am ...

:: listening to the sound of some weird singing toy that came to my house with the little guy today    

:: enjoying the sunshine, the little bits of kid stuff in my living room and the smell of coffee brewing (i'm going to have some soon . . . )

:: marveling at the wonder of all of you dear friends who send me encouraging words and thoughts and call me and just wrap me up with kindness

:: loving my husband.  i can't even begin to explain how he quiets my heart

:: feeling like maybe i was a bit melodramatic yesterday . . . but, well, that's how i was feeling . . .

:: watching four happy kiddos bump around in my house, and knowing that i better go join them soon . . . and probably read another story . . . 

thank you, for reading, for encouraging, for being my friends.
love,~e