to the creek

the beauty of this farm just keeps giving us amazing moments-like our picnic yesterday watching the kids explore the creek.

the first watermelon

i often feel like feeding these kids is my biggest job. i work so i can buy loads of food for them to consume. watermelons will be my friend this summer. ben is already great at carrying around a piece and taking bites as he walks around outside.

 it continues to be a great time watching the girls play on the same team.

and if you eat watermelon you must hose off-that is half the fun.

spring so far-and more easter

we have a new puppy-gerald (as in fitzgerald). our family friend who lives nearby was needing homes for an unplanned litter of puppies. the kids went over to see them when they were about a week old. they couldn't stop talking about getting a puppy-so onto another adventure at the farm. he is a total mix of a dog-and full of energy. the kids take turns taking care of food/water/walking and so far it is working out fine. 

 spring brings lots of sports-soccer, baseball, basketball and track. the girls are playing on the same soccer team this year which has been a welcomed consolidation.

 we have tomatoes ready to go into the ground-but haven't had the time to get that ground ready for them...

 grant wanted to continue with basketball-so his piper coach and bobby created a team of kids that can practice twice and week and enter different leagues for games.

 anneliese's kindergarten year is coming to a close-she got to play a monkey in their class music program. she continues to be a very feisty ball of energy, competitive but still likes to cuddle/wrestle :)

 zach and lexie spent the night after the egg hunt party. we all went to bob and lillian's church service and then headed over to beth's for a yummy lunch and another egg hunt. a full and family filled day!

 egg dying came a few days later-i set all the stuff outside so they could decorate eggs after school. they had fun coloring on the warm eggs and then experimenting with more or less vinegar in the dyes.

easter egg hunt in reverse

the easter egg hunt found a perfect day. a little windy-but sunny and warm. the kids took to the token system very well-getting to exchange them for little toys (thank you to my nephew zach who manned the 'store') 

we moved the searching to the meadow this year-and had fun watching kids run in the greenness. we celebrated ben's birthday as well-he was thrilled with some new tractor toys to push and ride on. 

my system uploaded the collages in reverse order and i am not feeling up to rearranging. 

 these two fuzzy heads will be 2 next week!

 the walk back from the hunt

 family :)

ben-almost 2

so ben is turning 2 in a month! he is a ball of energy and snuggles. he still likes to sit on my lap when he wakes up and have a snack and his drink (baa). he loves to be outside exploring, sitting on the lawn mower (tractor), banging sticks on everything, jumping on the trampoline. he recently perfected his 'seat drop' 

he also loves childcare and talks mostly about PE :) and when we get home he immediately asks grant if he will go play basketball 'shoot'

his ball of fluff air and his dimples still melt me almost all the time-although he has started experimenting with tantrums and is a master at turning himself into a limp noodle.  i am looking forward to warmer weather and more adventures with this little one!

basketball season 2014

2014 basketball had many great moments-so fun to watch them all grow in their skills and understanding of the game. i appreciate bobby's ability to foster every aspect-his energy and his love of teaching them is a gift. 

grant's skiing birthday and time travel

i am hoping this can be a new birthday tradition-skiing at snow creek for grant's birthday. the boys all took a snowboarding lesson inspired by the winter olympics. grant ended up switching to skis-so he could race down the hill like last year but roy and dale kept trudging away with the boards. thank you -to sharon for watching ben for the day (we could not have done it otherwise!)

-my mom who brought the boys up from oklahoma and was a tremendous help with making the weekend a success.

 can you believe he is 10 years old? i don't usually get too sentimental about birthdays-but 10 just seems like such milestone. i was reflecting back on those first days after he was born-the rocking and the feeding and the overwhelming joy i felt. i clearly remember sitting with him, holding him and realizing that this was what i was meant to do. i was meant to be a mama-and rock, and hold and sing and give love. it was a missing piece moment. i was filled up. 10 years of being a mama to such a lovely and wonderful boy. happy birthday grant!


and now to the time traveling reference. bobby and i watched a movie called 'about time' this past weekend. when the opening scene started with 'the luckiest' by ben folds i had a feeling it would have an impact on me-as that is one our songs.

maybe at another time it would come across as sappy, overly dramatic and a bit manipulative to the emotions-but sometimes those movies hit you at the right time and instead they seem to be deep and though provoking.

the take away message for me-
if you could go back in time and relive each day-what would you do differently to make that day better. ordinary days hold all these opportunities for special moments-how can you make those moments happen? how can you alter your attitude to actually be able to see those special moments as they are happening?

also
as our memory locks a moment in place one of the strongest forces that it hangs on is your attitude at the time-
if you can figure out how to place yourself in a positive attitude-then the memory becomes a positive one.

this is a lot from a movie-i think the whole 10th birthday is turning corners in my thinking.

so because i can't go back in time to relive each day-i have to use reflection on each day to change how i live the next one. most of the changes i want to make involve spending more time enjoying-
more time enjoying listening to emily and ben in the bath, more time enjoying watching anneliese teach ben how to jump into puddles.

now i have not been doing this long enough to figure out how i can clean the house, fix food, clean again, fix more food, edit pictures, clean again and enjoy all these moments-but i will start trying a little at a time to figure it out.