Mountain Climbing

Zacky has been talking about climbing a mountain for several months. So, we took him up Clear Creek. It's a perfect little "climb" for a 5 year old.

We had to stop about half way up because Bailey Boo got tired.

If I hadn't been so afraid of the wild life, I would have taken Boo back down and let Kris and Zack keep going until they reached the top.

Next time, I'm going to let the boys go by themselves.

Kris

The other night I was getting the kiddos ready for bed and I heard Kris in the living room playing his guitar.

This isn't really all that unusual. When has a down time, you can almost always find him sitting around, barefooted, playing his guitar.

But it was a little different this time.

You see, he was playing a new song. My favorite song.

He didn't even mention to me that he was learning it. He didn't say a word about it. When I asked him about it, all he said was "You like it?"

The week before he had given me a beautiful flower. No note. No explanation.

A few mornings later, I found a love note that he had left on the bathroom mirror before he left for work.

Bailey saw me reading the note and asked who it was from. When I told her she said "Daddy is always in love with you."

It's little things like this that remind me of why I married this guy in the first place.

The Honeymoon Is Over

We've lived in the house for 16 months and the honeymoon is coming to an end.

I am very frustrated with the kitchen. The windows are bare. Mini-blinds. That's it. Yuck. And the color scheme? I'm still not sure. This cannot be allowed to continue.

The laundry room. I spend a lot of time in there. Isn't there something I can do to make it more appealing? I mean, no one ever sees it except me, but still . . . . .

And our "school room" is a little too much "school" for my taste. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't have to share my little piece of scrapbooking heaven with our homeschool classroom. But what to do?

The backyard. Augh! I don't even know where to begin. It's just not. Not at all.

I loved this house last year. I think I can love it again. I've just got to get busy and make something happen. I've gotten too comfortable. It's time to make some changes.

Homeschool and A Violin Lesson

What a great week! We started back to school this week and it was so much fun! The new curriculum is incredible and the kids are loving every minute of it.

Monday morning, I went into Zack's room to wake him up for school. He is usually an early riser, but he was still so tired from our trip to the mountains that he slept later than usual. He hopped right out of bed when I reminded him it was the first day of school. Tuesday, he was up at his normal way-to-early-for-me hour. He came bounding into our room and said "Mama! Did you forget we have school today? Get up! Get up!" I am so glad he loves school and he is doing great! He is a super-fast, eager learner. It is so much fun to teach him new things.

My sweet Bailey wants to learn and really enjoys school. She is doing really well, even though it's more of a challenge for her. She had a rough day on Friday. Lots of rocking and buzzing . . . unless you have a spectrum kiddo, it's really had to explain. Nothing seemed to help. We finally got through the school day and we were both exhausted. It was one of those really hard days. We were both in tears.

I had to pull myself together and try to calm her down because we had a violin lesson at 2:45. I really questioned whether or not we should even go, but she desperately wanted to see Molly and Lamb Chop, her violin teacher's 2 dogs.

So, we went.

And it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. She played flawlessly.

The music just flowed from her.

I have never heard her play that way before. It was amazing. Where did this come from?

It was a gift. A gift that may not be there next time, but it was there on that day and it touched me.

Love, Love, Love This . . . . . .

That Kid Makes Me Laugh

I guess he has his daddy's sense of humor - slap-stick, off the wall, sometimes warped, always a tiny bit odd. . . . . Zack is always making us laugh. He is such a silly little kid. From grapes between his toes, to his not-so-subtle life observations, he keeps me smiling.

Candy Land and My Amazing Life

Sometimes is it something tiny that can make me stop in my tracks and thank God for my amazing life.

Like today.

I found two little cards from our Candy Land game under the couch cushion and I just froze. My heart skipped a beat. "Oh my goodness" I thought "there are two little kids living in my house. I can't believe I'm a mom."

I spent so many years dreaming of what life might be like if I were a mommy. You would think that by now, I would be accustomed to two little people sharing my life, but I'm not. I am still amazed that after nine childless years, God blessed me with two beautiful children that I can call my own.

Who would ever dream that Candy Land could make a person teary eyed. . . . .