“Mom? I was dreaming about that day.”
“Yesterday?”
“mmm-hmmm”
(conversation with Davy-do, just a minute ago)
From my journal, yesterday:
“Day outside with children, for the day. Caleb is probably going to be sick from all the pickles we are eating. He has helped himself until I am amazed. I noticed Patches enjoying the warm sun, rolling back and forth and losing her balance in the dry grass on a hill. Grace is busy making herself a bracelet with wrong side out duct tape wrapped around her wrist. She is pressing small leaves, twigs, and berries onto the sticky tape. I tore a piece from my journal, a tiny piece, and wrote “love” on it to add to her bracelet, too. Ethan is in the stream, pursuing his latest passion–finding beautiful rocks. He bends down and scoops them out with his hand, like he’s searching for gold. Every once in a while he brings one to me. “I think I found an amethyst”, he said yesterday, when he showed me a find. Caleb fell and got his hands dirty and when I sent him to the pond to wash, he forgot about his dirty hands and said, “Fishes! I see Fishes!” After watching them for a few moments, he turned tail and said dramatically, “I scared! I scared!” He made Jacob and I laugh. David is happy, then mad, happy, then mad. Jacob is the most restless about having to stay outside for so long. . . .but he did play his fiddlin’ song for us, took some pictures with my camera, and jumped on the trampoline. Now he is reading his new book in the tent. Yes, we put up the tent first thing. . .and filled it with pillows, blankets, books, and I even brought down my sewing things so that I could repair a pillow that I had made. It’s nice and warm here on my blanket. I think I’ll close my eyes for a few minutes . . . .”
We didn’t end up staying out ALL day. Just ’til 2. We were all tired of fresh air by that point. Too much wind and sun for us . . .after being sheltered in the house all winter long. When we came inside, I put Caleb to bed and I think he would have slept all night because he did NOT want to wake up after 2 hours. David’s skin is ashy and I need to get him some good lotion (he has sensitive skin and has already gotten a mild sunburn since spring has arrived).
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I made this pillow last spring and was so proud of it (I rarely sew anything). I had put some buttons on it, which David promptly pulled off during a “nap” on my bed one day. It’s been an irritation to me all this time. . .finally, I patched the hole he made, and sewed on a new button. Good as new!
Our snack table. At first it was just cookies and ice water. But then, as we were all zippered up in the tent, I got a craving for pickles (and no, I am not pregnant, no teasing!). I made the kids play “20 questions” to find out what I wanted to eat. Jacob finally guessed it. “Now you made me want to eat one!” he said.
Later on, I brought down things for PB+J.
Caleb and me, in the hammock. Grace is cutting down briars. You should have seen her enthusiasm when I said, “You are such a hard worker, Grace, just like your Grandma!” She visibly puffed up and put in a good solid 15 minutes or so, until Jacob took the pruners from her so he could have a turn.
Me and my shadow. If he’s not near me, I get nervous. (because of the ponds) I think today I will make him walk around with a life jacket on, “just in case”.
Our musician:
It’s hard to look up and smile in the middle of a song. He wants you to know he was playing a “professional song, and not a baby one.” Is he sweet, or what?
Inside the tent. The kids strung buttons. We had a conversation about my mom. Jacob thought the buttons were from her and I said, “No, I bought these at an antique store. Grandma would NEVER give me her buttons. You just ask her the next time we visit. She’ll say, ‘NO'” Jacob said, “That sounded just like Grandma, that’s just how she says it. It’s not as hard to bear when she says it that way“.
The basket has my sewing things in it, and my journal. And lots of sharpened pencils.
See our crayons? I am constantly refreshing our crayon supply. I love to color with the kids.
The children carry around a pack of stuffed animals constantly these days. They all have names. Last week I had to wash them all, because they were floating them in small boats (snow sleds, really) on the pond!
Parker and his new doghouse. I kept Caleb busy and free from danger for a while, by giving him a piece of chalk and telling him to go decorate the doghouse. The kids love to sit on top of the roof and think about stuff.
The amazing pickle-eater.
(“That’s mine pickle!!!”, he just said (he’s standing by me as I type, eating raisins))
What bliss! To have a small boy sitting by my side, leaning on my knee.
It was a lovely time. I needed it for myself. I read the book my friend Hannah lent to me, and that is where I got the idea for the duct-tape bracelet. The link for the book is at the end of this post. I enjoyed being outside, away from the house, listening to birds (woodpeckers, chickadees, robins) and the water. I wore my shawl all day, and felt so cozy in it.
There are a couple of things that I must do this year outside. One is put up an old mailbox just inside the woods. I think it would be so fun for the kids to find mail in it (from their stuffed animals?). And the other thing I want to do is make little signs and put them up on stakes or trees. . .painted ones, with quotes or verses. I will paint them in natural colors, not loud garish ones. I just need to figure out how to do it so that they are weatherproof.
I also want to plant a couple small gardens, and put them in unexpected places.
Okay, I really must begin the day. I do so love to sit and write, first thing in the morning. Now comes the real fun!
Good to be Home 