brothers

Makes me think of you...dear Lily

This is not the post I was going to write. The one about our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Because when I look at my folder of pictures the only thing that comes to my mind is the marvel that is my 3 year old girl. Marvel I tell you. As soon as we were inside, she was off. And never looked back. Not once. If you wanted to see her feed a goat, pedal a mini tractor, ride a horse swing, go down a two-story slide, or navigate a corn maze, you had better be running behind her. I love Lily with a fierce motherly love. But some days, like pumpkin patch days, I wish I could just be her friend. She enchants me with her blazing independence. And I am so not that girl. Surely she would teach me a thing or two. Of course her choice in pumpkin is an easy example...

wait for it...

wait for it...

It was love at first sight. Totally her pumpkin. And what about a sweet photo with mom to commemorate the day?

not a chance.

Lily, maybe you'll read this one day.

I love you. Oh my gosh, I love you.

thoughts...motherhood and love

Roman James Painter, 6 months old. Just started baby food. He loves it. I'm feeling a little more reflective about the whole thing. I can't believe it's here already.
**
Yesterday I took my kids to the grocery store. I pushed the monstrosity of a cart that is required. Zach and Lily sat in their seats, beeped the horns of their steering wheels and said "Happy Halloween!" to every shopper we passed. As I tucked a package of bacon in the space of the cart that remained, a lady touched my elbow and said, "You must be an angel." And then at the checkout, unloading groceries (uncovering Roman's car seat from a pile of produce) the cashier exclaimed, "WHOA, there's another one under there!" And I remembered back to when I was young, and my family of seven took bike rides together. Strangers used to honk and wave at us. It was funny to see such a long line of (mostly little) bikes.


We're finally using hand-me-downs. And boy oh boy do they transport me back in time. I put a blue bib on Roman and thought of the days when it was just me and another little boy together in a quiet house. I sort of romanticised a bit about how sweet those days were. How I used to turn on soft music just to have some background noise.
**
I love every single stage. Mainly, I am grateful to be participating in the heritage of motherhood. I know that my experiences and emotions are not especially unique, and that kind of astounds me. That there are millions of people who love so deeply.

what a great weekend

We checked out a bazillion books on Fall/Autumn/Harvesting at the library. We had been reading them all week. Zach and Lily were feeling pretty confident that they could identify fall paraphernalia if they ran into it. Saturday evening, they grabbed little plastic bags and off we went to gather pine cones, acorns, leaves of many colors and seed pods. Seed pods were their favorite. new word I think. So this is Lily, the following day at Grandma's house, with another SEED POD she found!

Sunday morning we went on a nostalgic walk with my parents. Nostalgic because we walked this trail all.the.time. when I was younger. It's a nature sanctuary behind Park University. Park was established in 1875 and part of the original concept was that students received free tuition and boarding in exchange for working half their day at the college's farm, electrical shop or printing plant. On the trails, you can still visit the old root cellar where students stored their harvest.

We also learned the meaning behind the 'Old Kate' trail. Old Kate was the college's faithful donkey that hauled water to the buildings every day. She served 12 years. On the day that the university first pumped water using their new pipe system, Old Kate, who was 32 years old, laid down and died. I guess she knew the students would be ok. I love stories like that. I love places with lots of history.

To me, these woods are magical. Waterfalls, beaver dams, butterfly meadows. It's very common to run into deer, wild turkey and other wildlife. But, not this day. My kids found it enchanting too. And they made sure to exclaim it as they raced up and down the hills yelling at the top of their lungs. I'm pretty sure any animals within a mile radius knew we were coming.

Maybe next time we'll work on the concept of being quiet in the woods. This was not that day. There were simply too many things to be exuberant about.

1 o'clock church

This is what they look like afterward each week. out cold.