Hello dear friends! Just a quick note, using an old photo, to say that my computer is still unfortunately not working. In fact, it still hasn’t made it to the repair center. I miss blogging and will be back at it as soon as possible.

I went strawberry picking on Saturday with Jacob, Ethan, Davy, and Caleb. We picked 30 pounds of berries. I made strawberry shortcake, two batches of freezer jam, and sugared the rest for the freezer. They are deep red, and beautiful. How thankful I am for the blessings God sends our way.

Rich and I took a walk in the woods on Saturday, too, with the children. The lovely mountain laurel ( our state flower) is blooming, and Ethan ( our resident naturalist) showed us a beautiful spot in the woods full of mature shrubs. We saw several frogs, and mushrooms, too. I took my camera so I can share those photos, hopefully soon.

I typed this with my thumbs, on my iphone, sitting on my front steps. It’s a sunny day and I love to hear the birds and crickets singing. I saw some black eyed susans in bloom. It’s the time for wild clover, daisies, roses, and yarrow. Can it be that tomorrow is the first day of summer? Time flies and I’m trying to hold on to these beautiful days, with thanksgiving, the best I can.

Love, Shanda

“The very act of complaining/criticism destroys warm feelings toward the target of that criticism.”

“Elimination/diminution of criticism adds to loving feelings.”

“Complaining doesn’t lead to anything good. No, but appreciation does lead to something good.”

“Do we reward him for going to work, mowing the lawn, fixing the cars? He needs to be rewarded, because you love him.”

Dr. Laura Schlessinger

My laptop broke last night so I will not be blogging like I normally do.

This morning I’m taking Seth and Sarah in for check ups and then going to costco for groceries.

We’ll do schoolwork and later on the older boys have a baseball game.

It’s a beautiful morning and I’m drinking my coffee from a mug that says “every day is a gift.”

How was your weekend, my friends?

Shanda

(today’s post written with my iPhone.)

We saw a tree frog once before, about three years ago.  I had climbed a tree that day, with my camera, to take a picture of a nest full of fat baby robins.  When I started back down the tree, I touched a frog; a gray tree frog.  We held it and studied it and put it back.

I kid you not—-I was thinking about that same story and standing under the very tree, wondering when and if we would ever see another one—-on the very day, the very hour, when Ethan found a second frog, and I was right there with him when he found it!

This is how it happened.  On a very wet and drippy spring day, I had Sethers outside (whenever it’s possible, we are outside so he can get tired out, a rarity in two year old boys.) and we were by the stream watching our Ethan.  Ethan had his long sword and was walking along the edge of the stream, chopping down skunk cabbage.  When he got to where we were sitting (on a big rock) he stopped, bent down, and picked up a gray tree frog, which was scared out of it’s little sticky wits.

I ran to get my camera and also Davy.

We are in constant contact with regular ol’ frogs all the time so it was very exciting to come across one of the very shy types who will not let us see them (they camouflage themselves) or catch them, unless by happenstance.

They have a thin and very sticky skin!  Surprisingly sticky!  And their little hands and feet are so cute.  The front legs are short and stubby, the hands have fingers with little sticky pads at the ends.  Everything is just right for climbing trees and staying attached to them.

They are all over gray, except the back legs, which have yellow on them, a bright and nice color yellow.  See?

They have loose extra skin under their chins (the only comparison I could find, to people).

The only time the female croaks is to tell the male to get off after mating.  Other than that, they are completely silent.  The croaking we have been hearing up in the trees by our pond and stream are the males calling for some female companionship.  I read that the resulting tadpoles are so well hidden that they may as well be completely invisible.

farewell gray tree frog
we hope our dry human hands
did not hurt your skin.

(a haiku, by Yours Truly)

I’m sitting on the couch on this Wednesday morning, after a wild night with poor Seth.  He was fine all day yesterday but woke up about an hour after he fell asleep at bedtime, burning with a fever and crying out “Oh no!” and “Oh my!”.  (I echoed his sentiments.)  It took a long time to settle him down and for the medicine to kick in.  (Also, Rich is away on business).  Thankfully, Seth is still asleep now, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to put up Sarah’s birthday cake pictures.  Caleb is next to me reading Garfield comics, Jake and Grace are watching the History channel and Sarah is crawling around, playing.

We got a pretty paper table cloth and some paper places and napkins at the party store.  I also got some streamers and balloons to decorate the table for Baby’s First Birthday.

We picked up the cake at a bakery; chocolate raspberry.

I like this next picture because of Sarah’s little hands and feet;

She liked the pretty cake and was so funny about getting really close but not touching it. 

Singing the Happy Birthday song.

And she finally gets brave enough to gently touch “whatever it is” (she still had no clue)…..

Daddy put frosting on her finger…

She wasn’t impressed at all.

Wondering.

“Here, try some!”

No.

She makes this funny face whenever she doesn’t want *whatever it is* we are trying to feed her.

She felt much better in her “eating spot” (and probably finally understood that the cake was edible) and I fed her all her cake and ice cream.  She’s had cake before, but never so much in one sitting.  She liked the ice cream much better than the cake.  Delicious!

The guests; Grace, Jacob, Ethan,

(Ethan again), Seth, Caleb, Papa, and Davy.

***************************************************

I took this picture just this morning.  I wanted to show you what Sarah does now.  She gets Very Daring and climbs (slowly and carefully) up on the bricks of the fireplace.  And there she sits until rescued.  Then, back she goes.  It’s her Favorite Spot These Days.

She is not walking yet, and has no teeth.  She is the latest tooth cutter of all seven.  This may be too much information, but I’m really proud of myself because I’m still nursing her…..and the fact that she is toothless definitely has something to do with it. 

One of the many reasons why this last year has been the best in my life is because of this little sweetheart, who was born a year ago today.  She was named for her Great-Grandma, and for the joy in our hearts when we knew she was coming.

God gave her her first breath, and I saw her take it in, a miracle moment.  Babies cry when they breathe for the very first time, and mamas laugh with wonder.  She’s a year down the road of her life and what a special year it has been, full of her bright blue eyes, pretty pink dresses, and smiles all around.

My heart is so full of gratitude, for her.  Soon we will light the candle, sing a song, serve up the cake, and say a prayer of thanksgiving to the great Giver of this beautiful life.

Happy Birthday, Sarah Joy!

We could never have loved the earth
so well if we had had no childhood in it.  ~George Eliot

Children are wonderful.  They are all about exploring, moving, getting into mischief, having fun.  Since I am surrounded by (seven) children I like to get ideas from them for a more cheerful day, because sometimes as an adult, I do forget how to notice the little things…….

Being a child again means innocence and wonder.  Feeling carefree.  Being a child means letting the big world go by as we explore our own little worlds.

It means finding your favorite blanket, and enjoying the feel of it under your cheek so very much, that you put your finger in your mouth and fall asleep.

It means injury, but not letting your boo-boos get you down.

It means finding some water and playing in it.  Splashing your toes, getting a little wet, or throwing rocks to see them splash.

It means dirty feet.

Letting yourself go.

Finding a dead fish and studying it because it’s really cool.

When was the last time you looked at a dirt clump and thought about tasting it?

Sarah did that just the other day.

It makes your mouth feel gritty, doesn’t it?

Caleb just wandered by me.  “Mom?  Look.  I have a bug crawling on my shirt.”  So I looked, and it was pretty neat.

Being surrounded by children helps my soul.  I think it’s my children who inspire me to notice things that most adults would think was absurd.

For instance, pink seeds are falling off some of the trees these days.  They are quite pretty and I noticed the other day I was (get this!) wearing a shirt to match.

(((smiles)))

May your holiday weekend be filled with wonder, as you see and explore the world that is right next to you.  Like, the bugs on your shirt, watching your new flip flops on your feet as you walk along, the birds at the feeder, the bees in your garden.  Or maybe; a good book, bubbles in the bathtub filled to the brim, the middle of a pan of fresh baked brownies, ice cream after lunch, or a favorite cartoon while sipping sweet juice.

As for me, right now I am going to join my little ones as they pick out and eat all the m n ms out of a bag of trail mix. I’m just not gonna fight about it like they are. 

Happy weekend!

xoxo

The morning Elisha, my cousin, was driving three hours to come see me, Seth and Sarah both woke up terribly sick with the stomach bug.  Elisha, because she loves us and we love her, came anyway.  We had been planning on going to the Brimfield Antique show, but with the little ones so sick we didn’t know if it would work out.

However, later that day at about 1pm, as I was giving poor Seth yet another bath, I turned around in the midst of my washing, and found my husband standing in the bathroom watching me.  He came home early from work so we could go!

Despite the worry I had for my babies, Elisha and I had a great time.  We took Ethan and Grace with us, too.

Ethan enjoyed looking at sharp tools (like hatchets) and sharp weapons (like swords).

Grace enjoyed looking at anything that had to do with animals.

Elisha bought a big decorative tin tile mounted on a frame, very “pottery barn”, to use in decorating her home.

And I came away with a shabby chic (a nice way of saying old and grubby, with paint half gone) children’s rocker.

A week later, when the “everlasting” rain stopped for fifteen minutes, and the children were finally healthy again, I took the three of them (rocker, baby, and toddler), outside to take their picture.

And here is Miss Sarah, sitting pretty in her cherry smock, on her new *old* rocking chair.  Spot, the cat, came to investigate but, as he has no interest in photo shoots or very small children, soon turned tail and walked off….

I am happy to report that Sarah only fell off the rocker once during our photo shoot.  No harm done.

“There is so much in the world for us all if we only have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it, and the hand to gather it to ourselves-so much in men and women, so much in art and literature, so much everywhere in which to delight and for which to be thankful.”  Anne of the Island, by L.M. Montgomery (And, thank you to the xanga *kindred spirit* who posted this quote a few years ago, it’s now one of my very favorites.)