Rescue

The boys and I had just gotten home from dropping the girls off at school.  We didn't even go into the house.  The boys ran straight for the front yard.  I was sitting on the edge of the porch watching them play, when all of a sudden I saw something scurry across the front yard.  It looked like a crab at first, small and fast like that.  Well, I knew that wasn't what it was because hmmmm...  we aren't at the beach.  Well, Molly our dog also spotted it.  I jumped up and ran over and Molly was scratching all around the grass and barking excitedly.  It was a tiny baby turtle.  We see huge turtles a lot, but I had never seen one this little.  Molly gets the turtle and puts it in her mouth.  Has the whole turtle in her mouth!  I'm a little excited by this time.  My mother instincts kick in and I know I need to save this baby creature before Molly has turtle soup for lunch! 

By this time Landon and Sawyer have run over and they are playing off my excitement.  Sawyer is jumping around and making high shrill screams.  Landon is saying, "what are we going to do, mommy?"  I told Landon to run inside and get an apple.  I told him that maybe Molly would trade us the turtle for the apple.  He ran in and came out with an apple and sure enough, Molly dropped that turtle like a hot potato. 

We scooped him up in a bowl.

We got in the car and drove the turtle down to the creek.

Set him free!

And Sawyer drove us home.

Landon's Preschool group

This past school year Landon and I participated in a preschool group with some friends from church.  I always forgot to get my camera out for previous ones that were at my house because I was literally running around like a crazy lady!  But the theme for the last one at my house before summer was bugs!  So we spent the whole time outside taking walks through the woods looking for bugs. 

Looking at ants.

Lily and Sawyer.  Lily was the youngest in the group and SHHH.... don't tell anyone, she was my favorite!  I could gobble her up!

Walking and climbing trees.  Let me just tell you, Landon was kept straight by all these girls.  They did not let him get away with anything.  It was a fun year!  I'm not sure if they learned much.  But they did enjoy playing together.

Tiny Humans

Lisa-Jo Baker, a blogger, took the words right out of my mouth.  I love how she articulates this. 

I am full and fulfilled.
I am older and comfortable in my skin.
I am about the work of raising tiny humans.

 

I am out of my mind and in my calling and desperate for 5 minutes alone and a lifetime together.

I want to stop time, tame my fears, bottle their dreams, live a hundred summers of dripping, sticky, caramel ice cream.

And in between I hang onto my faith, my temper, and my sense of humor with my fingernails.  These are the good days, the glory days, the slow as molasses days.  These are the fast years, the wonder years, the how do -I-find the words years.

But we do.  They usually start with "help" and end with "thank you" and the middle?

 

The middle is a thick layer of one syllable wonder sometimes whispered, often shouted, always answered. 

The middle is me.  The middle is you.  The middle is just, "mom."

 

Wow, don't you love how she said this! These two tiny humans wear me out, exasperate me, make me laugh so hard, scare me to death and bring me more joy than I could ever believe was possible.  I pray everyday that I can raise them right.  I have always been a very girlish, girl.  Sometimes I wonder if I am being a good boy's mom.  Some nights I go to bed feeling like a complete failure, but then in the morning when they both come running with their arms out stretched, I feel renewed. 

 

 

 

 

Fuzzy and Furry

Memories from my childhood, and now theirs:

 

 

The little puff flower that you blow and white fuzzy goes everywhere!  Oh my, we would pick those for hours and sit and blow and watch the wind carry these fuzzies away.  I caught Landon with one and loved the look on his face when he blew it and realized what it did.

Caterpillars

 

Laurel and Savannah love catching caterpillars, just like I did when I was little.

They spend hours in the yard searching for these furry creatures.

And who do we have back here climbing on the rocks?  Sawyer is one adventurous, little boy!

I would make homes for mine too.  It's funny how I didn't even teach them to do this.  It must be something that comes with being a child.

Love the note they wrote:  Please Don't touch Only Laurel and Savannah Can!!! thank you!

Mowing Grass

Spring is here and it is time to cut the front yard.  Daddy had lots of help this year.

Actually, I think daddy can turn it over to the help.  Looks like they are ready!

How do you crack eggs?

Last Sunday morning, Laurel asked if she could cook some eggs for breakfast.  The last time she had tried to cook eggs with me, it ended up being some very crunchy eggs!  Shells were everywhere.
So when she asked, I hesitated.  Then she said, "daddy taught me how to crack the eggs a better way." 
I had no idea that Seth had helped her cook eggs before.  I thought this was the sweetest thing ever.  There is one thing I know for sure, if anything ever happened to me, our children would be taken care of by their daddy.   
I loved how she let me know that her daddy knew how to crack the eggs a better way.  She let me know that she did not get any of the shells in the eggs doing it his way.

He taught her to crack the egg on the side of the pan and open it right on the crack.

I, on the other hand, take the egg and hit it on the counter top.  Then I crack it open.

 

 

Savannah

Savannah lost a tooth.  She pulled it herself.  Savannah and Laurel think they have figured out who the tooth fairy is.
I'm not sure why they believe a bunny can hop in the house, but a fairy can't fly into there room.
I guess they are not ready to give up the Easter Bunny yet.

Savannah loves clothes!  She loves putting outfits together.  She always has her clothes picked out the night before.  There are times when she will let me know on a Friday what she wants to wear to school on Monday.  She loves shoes even more. 

Savannah came home yesterday and said, "mommy, the weirdest thing happened today.  Mrs. Manda was our substitute teacher and do you know when she was our substitute in kindergarten, I had on this same outfit!  She was probably thinking, do you wear that everyday!?  But no, this is my first time wearing this outfit in first grade."

I laughed so hard and could not believe that Savannah could remember what she was wearing last year when Mrs. Manda was her sub.  She is so much like me though.  I always loved my clothes.  I loved working with clothes.  My first job at 16 was in retail.  After my car and insurance were paid, I spent the rest on clothes.  My first major at College was early childhood education, but when I discovered you could get a college degree in Fashion Design, I changed majors.
I thought I was going to move to New York and be a designer or a buyer.  I had some great years working for Parisian, which is now Belk.  I loved taking a messed up department and making it beautiful.  I would dream about how to merchandise a wall with all the inventory that had just arrived on the truck.  I would wake up in the middle of the night and sketch the design out on paper and go in the next morning and get to work.  It was a great job.  I would never want to go back to work in retail now because of the long, crazy hours.  That just wouldn't be fun missing out on Saturdays and holidays with my family.  But I do use the line, "I promise, that matches!"  "Remember, mommy has a Fashion Design degree!"  Works every time! :)