“A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.”    ~inspired by soulemama

We weren’t planning on it, but when Seth brought me his shoes this morning, I asked Grace to go with us and we went on a walk in the woods.  I had baby Sarah in the Ergo.  We wore sweatshirts but it was chilly at times because of the wind.  We walked up to the field in the woods. 

This tree caught our eye.  Some of the bark had been pecked off, we think from a woodpecker because of the holes.  We just didn’t understand why the bark was gone all the way down to the ground.  Would a woodpecker do all that? 

The delightful sound of peepers (peepers are tiny tree frogs that sing in the early spring) called us and we knew from past experience where to go.  There is an old beaver pond in the woods near the field.  Tall grass grows there during the summer but it is dry and dead now.  Shallow water stands in a small marshy pond area at the edge of the dry grass and that is where all the action takes place. 

The Evidence of Action:

Spring peepers are almost impossible to see and we did not see any of them today.  They are very small (about an inch long), and blend in to their surroundings amazingly well (they can change color).  However, peepers aren’t the only frogs using this pond…..I don’t know the names of the other ones but they are average sized dark green/brown frogs.  The females are a red color.  Grace and I were standing around, observing them for about 10 minutes before we noticed The Nursery.  All the eggs are being laid by multiple sets of parents in the same location, which we thought was interesting.

The eggs are tiny black unmoving dots surrounded by thick jelly.  Here is a picture of Grace lifting a clump of them up, with a male frog watching.  The water is cold, but when the sun is shining it warms up slightly. 

Here is a very short video clip of sweet Seth.  He is cheering because he had JUST thrown a clump of grass into the water………you can hear the constant singing of frogs in the background…..

I didn’t really talk to Seth about what was going on.  So I was proud of him at the end of our visit, when I said, “Seth are you ready to go home?”  He said, “Yes!  Bye, frogs!”  I knew when he said that, that he had caught on to what we were doing. Children are so perceptive and soak everything up like little sponges.  The sounds, the excitement of Mama, the feel of the wind, and the grass underfoot.  He also found and threw little rocks, got hurt by a briar (he says OUCH in such a cute way), discovered his shoe untied (“SHOE!  MOM, SHOE!”), and saw a plane way up in the sky.

All tired out, we took the little ones back home.  However, the two of us hadn’t seen enough yet, so after some lunch, we put them to bed and then Grace and I went back out alone.  We took blankets, paper, pencils, a book, and a journal.

I discovered a frog couple in The Nursery.  I took this picture so the boys could see that the female frog is a red color.  I tried looking it up in my nature handbook but haven’t discovered what species it is yet.  As you can see, when the eggs are first laid they aren’t surrounded by the jelly…it must develop somehow in the water.  So interesting!

Grace and I arranged our blankets by the edge of the water.  When we first approached, the sounds stopped because the frogs are shy, but we waited and kept very still and after a while the frogs all began their singing again.  I took this video (it’s very short) in which you can hear the two different calls; the spring peepers are higher notes, the frogs are a lower sounding croaking.  And it NEVER stops unless they get spooked!

Oh, and you can’t see any frogs in the video, they are off in the distance and in the water.

While Grace wrote in her journal, I put my head down on my blanket and listened to the sounds.  Before I knew it I was fast asleep there in the woods, to the lullaby of frogs.  Grace got restless waiting for me to wake up and wandered around exploring.  She told me later that when I was snoring softly some male frogs came to investigate.  Ha!

When I woke up, Grace was back by me playing with the grass.   I remembered that I had brought chocolates in my pockets for us and so we sat there together and ate them.  We were getting tired of all the incredible frog noise so we got up laughing, and walked back home. 

Now I’m here tucking the event away, as a favorite memory.

When I was getting ready to leave for the weekend, I went out on the porch and heard quacking coming from the stream down below our property.  Ethan ran down to look, and took the camera with him.

He took this picture for me and I think it’s lovely.  Apparently the quacking was coming from the female duck.  She wasn’t too happy with her mate, who had left her on one side of a log while she was on the other.  When they were back together again, they swam away, up the flowing stream, under snow covered pine branches.

I hope you are having a peace-full and beauty-full day today. 

Guess what?  I was away all weekend!  Rich stayed with the children so that Sarah and I could go visit my parents and some of my family back home.

My first stop was at Aunt Colleen’s house.  The two of us grew up together and we are very close in age and in friendship.  Always and forever.  She and Uncle Roger have four beautiful girls and it was such a wonderful treat to visit and laugh and talk.  I love them all so much.  So it was a much-enjoyed reunion for us, but also a *very first time meeting* because the aunt and cousins all got to meet my newest little one, baby Sarah Joy.

Colleen’s house is definately one of my “homes away from home.”  It has that comfortable feel to it.

After that visit, I continued on in my drive to my parent’s house……..what a happy moment to finally pull in the driveway at that familiar and much loved place.  Mom got home from work and hugged us, right before vacuuming (Sarah just CAN’T crawl on this “dirty” rug!) and *of course* making lots of yummy food for dinner.  Dad was at work, so the three of us, Mom, Sarah and I, ate together.

Chicken, sweet potatoes with butter, garden beans, and homemade biscuits with local raw honey.

Served upon Peacock Fiestaware.

What a lovely day Saturday was.  Dad was home and we spent the time before he had to go to work talking and visiting and playing with the baby.

We also went on a walk.  It was chilly but sunny and spring was for-certain in the air~

We talked of old schoolhouses, old maps, old memories, all with a joyful spirit.  It felt so good to be moving and breathing in big lung-fulls of mountain air.

(I want to go on lots of family walks and hikes this spring, summer, and fall.  Mom said her parents did that with them when she was growing up….long long walks together.  Doesn’t that sound nice?)

W I L D   P U S S Y   W I L L O W

“Inhospitable or not, it is precisely during the latter part of winter that I will most object to skipping my daily walk….for soon it will be time to start keeping an eye out for the first pussy willows, harbingers of spring.” ~~ D. Beaulieu

I think it was when Mom and I slowed down to take the pussy willow’s picture that Dad got way ahead of us.

So I got this picture of my dear and much-beloved DAD walking our very old family dog, on a road which has been part of countless other walks throughout the years.  For several generations this land has been a part of our family history. 

Dear little Sarah held on to her small toy during the whole walk, and we didn’t know until we were in the midst of it.  We laughed to discover it in her little hand.~

Walking in chilly early spring air means little ones need warming afterwards.

Sarah snuggled up on Grandma.  She has taken to sucking on her index finger.

After we waved good-bye to Dad, who had to go to work, Mom and I went out shopping.

Well, would you believe in this small town antique store I discovered one of my most exciting fiestaware finds?  After browsing the whole store I was starting to think I was going to leave empty handed when, to my great joy, I discovered four Sapphire tumblers!  Sapphire fiesta was only produced for 180 days in the mid-90’s and was only sold through Bloomingdale’s.  It is prized by collectors for those reasons and until Saturday I had not been able to purchase any to add to my collection. 

I took this picture this morning, with my iphone.  The tumbler on the far left is Peacock, the one next to it is Cobalt (dark blue), the others are Sapphire and now live in my house. 

I also got a large white fiesta flower vase.

Great souveniers of a very happy weekend!

Well, after the antique shop and after dinner at a local Italian place, Mom and I visit more family;  My aunt (mom and Colleen’s sister) Mary, my cousin Erika, and Erika’s two beautiful little children.

I love this picture of the three little cousins, Sarah and Jack & Jyllian.  Smiles all around.

Aunt Mary’s house is another “home away from home”, full of warmth, laughter, and creativity.  Inspiration in every corner; projects made and completed, plants growing, paintings, baking, and homemade soap ((I was given some of it!))……we loved catching up with each other. 

My camera battery gave out on me so this was the extent of the photography for the weekend.  On Sunday I went to church with my parents.  One of the highlights of the trip back home was taking communion (with my Dad, as an elder in the church, passing out the elements),  and listening to the Word of God preached, sitting side by side in the family pew, with a sleeping Sarah in my arms.

Sarah was such a good girl, and a happy traveler.

We arrived home yesterday evening.  The family missed us but they had a wonderful time together.  Rich enjoyed his children and the children just soaked up all the time with their Dad.

I’m so thankful. 

I’m thankful for your love, for your strength, a beautiful shared life, our bed, our home, our seven children.  I’m thankful for sitting in the front seat with you on long car rides, singing to the radio, being *stuck like glue*.  I’m thankful for walks in the woods, for being here when you come home, smiles, laughter, whistling, and pasta dinners.  I’m thankful for your crazy bonfires, the coffee you make me, the love notes you write, pizza and wings, peanut m n m’s, vacations, and your leadership and authority in our home. 

You are a very treasured gift from God.  I love you more than words can say.  Happy Birthday!

This blog entry was written by Jacob, age 14.  *with inspiration and typing skills by MOM*

This past Saturday my parents decided that Ethan and I could each get a BB gun, as payment for babysitting.  Our whole family went to the sporting goods store.  While Mom (with the little ones) ran around looking at all the clearance deals, Dad, Ethan, and I went to the guns.  I knew just I wanted; a M16 assault rifle, not a real one of course, but the BB gun version.  Ethan picked out a Pumpmaster 760, brown and black with a sight.  Dad really wanted a gun, too, so when Mom joined us, she smiled and said “Go ahead, honey, it will be for your birthday.”  Dad said ever since he was a boy, he’s wanted a pistol, so that’s what he picked out.

(Mom got Grace a pink Columbia winter coat for only 19 dollars.  It was 75 percent off the clearance price.)

We couldn’t wait to go home to try out our guns.

My gun was not satisfactory.  When I shot at the target, the bullet shot out and then curved up.  The velocity wasn’t what I wanted, either.  So the next day we returned my gun and I got one similar to Ethan’s only black.

After adjusting his sight, Ethan’s gun shot really good.  He hit the target more than any of us.

We shot at plain old soda cans that we stuck into a tree.

Dad taught us that when we shoot, we have to make sure that our siblings are behind us or next to us.  Or, better yet, in the house.  We have to be careful to never shoot in the direction of the house, or at rocks. We also wear safety glasses.

Along with the cans, we now also have a board set up with a paper target nailed to it, to practice our aim.  We shoot our guns every day and it’s tremendous fun.

Inspired by all the “Garfield” comic books, Davy decided to write his own.  He’s been working on it “for a year” but just recently showed it to me.  It’s pages and pages of drawings and dialogue.  I loved it from first glance.  I’m a proud Mama.

I’ve had a very busy Monday morning and just took an hour doze on the couch with Sarah playing on the floor nearby.  I’m painfully sleepy!  Guess what put me over the edge?  Reading Curious George Rides a Bike to a warm and snuggly Caleb.  I yawned all the way through it.  I’m sure other mamas can relate. 

In a few hours the children have their singing classes and then Jacob and Ethan have baseball practice.

Hope your day is going well.  (hugs)  You are loved. 

When we were experiencing our first taste of spring last week, Grace started vanishing. 

She loves going into the woods….she has been working on a little fort for herself (and any cats that might come around *because she is dreaming of a new cat these days*.)  The first couple of times she vanished I got worried, so now I ask that she stay within shouting distance.  That way I know for sure that she isn’t G O N E and we can still call for her.

I took a little walk to see what she was doing.  We prowled around together, splashing in the stream with satisfaction…..thankful to have our new waterproof boots.

She likes climbing trees.  This girl can climb!

Here is her special work-in-progress.  A peaceful spot tucked away under some curved branches.  She has been very industrious about collecting soft moss to spread underneath.  All the moss in the photo was added by her.

These are such glorious carefree days for my sweet Grace.  It makes me happy to see her enjoy God’s beautiful world.