gratitude

I am grateful for extremely local (like out my back door), tender and tasty organic kale with only a few aphids! 

I'm joining Lisa for her gratitude Monday post.  What are you grateful for??

in the garden

Finally, the weather has been nice enough to get outside and work in the garden.  I've been lagging there a bit but I feel that desire to get out there now!  I don't know about you but every spring I look at my garden with such optimism.  I think about the possibilities.  The kids start expanding their own areas for growing what they'd like and making lists of seeds and things we need to make it happen.  I dream about the jungle of edibles that I'll cook with this summer.  I'm hoping for lots of tomatoes (for salsa, sauce and ketchup), cucumbers (for pickles and relish) and some pretty heirloom winter squash.  I've also gotten lots of Asian greens to try this summer and fall.

There were a few things that just kept on growing from last years' garden in spite of winter. We've been eating our kale, parsley, arugula, onions and leeks in everything this spring.  I plan on eating all that kale until it bolts sometime soon.  I'm not so comforted by this but I'll take advantage of it.

I'm always surprised by our asparagus that bolts up (it seems) overnight. We've been nibbling on fresh stalks of asparagus that's so much better than anything I can get in the store.  I think that's why I love growing a garden.  There's just no comparison.

I think and hope that I'll be in flip flops and shorts from now on!  And of course my hair up in a bun!

spring light

I love that spring light coming through my window!

You know, with a gazillion things to do, all I really want to do lately is knit and read.  So, I thought I would join Ginny with her yarn along this week.

This sweater, I'm still plugging along with it.  I just started the decreases and it's really looking pretty I think.  I'm proud of myself!  The other knitting project I'm working on is a Milo vest for my boy.  Eli picked out the yarn.  We went to Jimmy Beans and he liked the blues in the Madelinetosh Sea Wash.  So beautiful.  I just have to get the right needles and I'm starting that one!

As far as reading, I've been making it a priority lately.  I've been reading so much. But, what we've been studying in history has inspired me to learn more about WWII and in particular Anne Frank's life in The Diary of a Young Girl.  It's so heartbreaking.  It's also made me grateful.  Not that I'm ungrateful but, it makes me keenly aware of how easy my life is!  I wouldn't want to live in Europe in the 40's.

Happy knitting and reading!

birthday hike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another weekend, another birthday!  Solomon is now in the double digits.  The big 1-0.

It's actually left me a bit melancholic.  I look into his bright blue eyes and try to comprehend how 10 years has gone by that I gave birth to him. Time goes by so quickly.

I wish I could hold him as a baby again but that's okay because he's still a sweet love bug.  It's just that I can't scoop him up and hold him the way I used to.  It's different but just as good.

Happy Birthday Solomon!! ♥

happy birthday and all that other stuff!

This weekend was a whirlwind.  I have to admit that I don't like being busy.  I know the kids don't either.

My husband just left for work, he kissed me goodbye and sighed, "Thank goodness the weekend is over!"

Nothing's ever cut and dry.  I struggle with obligations and doing things out of guilt.  I'm struggling with one thing in particular.   It's funny how you see something coming for years that you're kids are involved with and don't do anything about it because you're "comfortable" essentially.  Even though you've talked about it with your kids before, they don't want to do anything about it either. And the deeper you get into the activity, the deeper and more complicated those feelings twist and get tangled inside of you and your kids.

I had a talk with my daughter last night, just the two of us cuddled on the bed and we got some good things out.  There were tears...happy tears of just finally coming to a resolution.  She was scared that she would be ridiculed.  I told her that hard as it may seem, we have to do what's right for ourselves.  We have to be respectful to others but ultimately, I'm trying to teach my girl that she's strong and no one has the right to take advantage of the love she has for herself.

Having a teenager is different.  If I thought that giving birth and raising small children would make me stretch and grow as a human being, all I had to do was wait to have a teenager.  There's so much more each day to learn about ourselves and so many teaching moments that are painful and healing at the same time. 

Now, on to some purely happy things.  Amelia worked so hard on a history project with a friend for National History Day.  This was completely on her own, this project.  She loved it, which is all I wish for with my kids that they are seeking out learning experiences on their own and loving them.  She and her friend won a special award for the best project on western history.

Also, another happy thing this weekend was that my baby turned 6!  This guy of mine is the bomb.  He makes my heart sing.  I hate to clump all the other stuff in with this birthday post but then again, life isn't so clean and neat.  If you saw us this weekend, it wasn't all about him unfortunately.  He did have a crazy, jumping around, candy filled sleep-over with a friend.  And then when the dust settled, we sat down as a family and had a fabulous dinner and sang happy birthday and ate cake!  Happy Birthday Eli!!! ♥