dogs

I started making chicken and rice for dinner tonight and all was well until I pulled the rice out of the cupboard and realized I didn't have enough and needed to run to the store with the kids. Stinks, right?

I like driving the back roads through farm country to town. It is always so peaceful and we usually share some great belly laughs while driving past the stinky farms. Tonight we passed a car with a dog hanging its head out the window, tongue and ears flapping crazy in the wind. Emerson saw the dog and started asking all sorts of dog questions before arriving to the "what happens to dogs when they get really old? Do they die?" I told him that when they are really, really, really, old, older than grandma and grandpa dogs that they do die. He didn't say much.

On the way home he was quiet and thoughtful. Then in the most sincere voice he whispered, "I don't want you to get old mommy. Then you will be too old and I won't."

How do I talk after a comment like that?

I dug and mustered all the calmness from deep within and said, "Did you know that when I am really old, you will have gotten older too? We will be old together. We are so lucky, Emerson, because we will always be a family, forever, even after we die. We all love each other so much, don't we?"

He was quiet for a few seconds. Then I heard, "Ida, let's pretend we are dogs, okay?" A few seconds later they were panting and letting the wind blow their hair pretending they had ears.

I hope I helped.

fruit

We haven't been up to much.  Just enjoying the last days of summer vacation before the school year gets started.

I got on the mower and tootled around the yard one mellow afternoon.  I found some treasures.

Our land is fruitful.

The peaches surprised me.

I knew we had pears, apples and grapes, but peaches?

They were delicious.

I love our house and our land.  It is so us and we are so blessed.

Already?

Emerson is off to kindergarten in a few weeks........

I am so nervous.

How do other mothers send their firstborns out into the world to be cared for by the hands of another?  I just can't get used to the idea.

I was a teacher in my pre-motherhood years of marriage so I should be at ease knowing the ins and outs of what he will be experiencing at school.  His brain will be SO fascinated.  Right?  Yes, there will be plenty of interesting and challenging activities to help our little man grow his brain, BUT, because I was a first grade teacher I understand EVERYTHING about school.  I know that some kids feel a little out-of-sorts in a big, different, sometimes scary place.  And sometimes sitting in a chair for more than 15 minutes can be overwhelming.  And sometimes the school halls get big and turny when walking to the bathroom which makes going back to class impossible because you just don't know where you are.  And making friends and putting on your boots for recess, and raising your hand, and riding the bus, and....... 

I know, he'll be fine, right?  It is me who will have to fight back the tears as our brave little guy marches into his classroom, full of excitement, feeling like his teacher is the best teacher in the whole school.

He is so excited and I am so proud of him for being so courageous to something so unknown and new. 

Plus, I will have my little honey girl at home with me.  She is my best helper and friend and I do declare that from the time Emerson starts school until the time our new little one arrives it is officially the "Months of Ida."  She has shared everyting with her brother since the time she arrived in the world and it is her....turn.

dirty mirror

This is my 26 week belly.

I promise you I clean this mirror.

sometimes.......

Sometimes I wonder where the aliens came from: rearing their noisy heads just as the phone rings, poking their long, skinny arms into every nook and cranny overturning the house just as it has been turned into something organized, staying up 2 hours past their bedtimes making ever excuse as to why, and crying at the drop of a hat if a Cheerio is floating out of place in their cereal bowls.

Really, sometimes I think I am living on Planet Impatience.   

Then morning comes bringing a new outlook on things and I feel so happy they are my aliens.

Josh always knows

Josh has this way of having fun.

He is so good at it.

And he always knows what we need.

He thought we needed to get away from our house projects for a few days and have one last hurrah before school starts.

At the time I thought I would rather tear down wallpaper, but agreed to go along with the plan.

I am so happy we went.

He always knows.

*******

We spent a few days on the Great Lakes. 

We took a boat to Mackinaw Island.

The kids were terrified that the captain would blow the horn upon departure.

So, now the secret and highlight of the day.

We rented bikes and road around the island.

My pregnant body agreed to ride if the trip would be five miles or less.  Josh thought it was probably about just that.

I pulled Ida in the trailer and Emerson road behind Josh on the tag-along.  It would have been easier for me to ride with Emerson but he was wobbly and my center of gravity is already off. 

I was trying to be a responsible, pregnant bike rider.  Ironic, no? 

I was pretty sweaty and huffy around mile four so we stopped to eat lunch and explore a little.  I am so happy the weather provided perfect riding conditions.  I would have melted otherwise.  Plus, we got the best of both worlds because the clouds cleared up right as we were finishing our ride.

Around mile six I was getting tired so Josh put both kids in the trailer while I road with an empty tag-along.

It was a fun EIGHT mile ride.  Yes.  I said eight.  Eight miles.  Eight. 

You may be asking, why did she ride eight miles on a bike when she is pregnant? 

Well, I didn't know.  And, I'm glad I didn't know because I probably wouldn't have done it if I would have known and I'm glad we did it.  I only lost use of my legs for about 5 minutes the next morning.

***OUCH***

years gone by

Josh and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary this week, though we have known each other for 13 years.  That's a long time. 

When Josh asked me on our second date to Senior prom I wanted to say no.  I don't know why.  I hardly knew him.  We had gone on one other date prior as a "getting-to-know-you-date" before going to prom, but I still felt I hardly knew him.  I didn't want to start dating someone right before going to college, but I reluctantly agreed to go.

Senior Prom

It was fun and he was fun.

I was hesitant and he was persistent, a quality I love now, and we kept going on dates.

Then he had me.

I liked him.

We didn't go to the same college, but continued dating.

We never broke up once or dated another person.

After his sophomore year of college, Josh left to serve a 2 year mission in Las Vegas.  I left after my junior year to serve a mission in Honduras and Belize.  After spending 2 1/2 years apart, we met again for the first time.

I was slightly hestitant and he was perfectly persistent.

It was so easy to fall in love with him for the second time.

We married six months later.

I have never doubted my decision to have him as my companion.

Sometimes things just work.

the tummy tells me

Party I:  When I was pregnant with Emerson I wanted eggs.  I ate them all the time.  Never got sick of them.  Eggs with salsa and cheese were boss.  When I was pregnant with Ida I wanted macaroni salad made with bread and butter pickles, mayo, and macaroni, nothing else.  I ate it ALL the time.  Really, I would wake in the morning and make a big bowl for the day and dig in while Emerson enjoyed his oatmeal cereal.  I think I used 16 jars of pickles in 9 months. 

Part II:  I was in the kitchen minding my own business, poking around in the pantry and fridge looking for the perfect lunch.  Something that would really hit the spot.  I mean I was being snotty, refusing to waste my mysterious craving on almonds or grapes.  I wanted the real Ka-POW.  Something along the lines of a bologna sandwich but we didn't have bologna and hadn't had it in the house since I ate almost a whole package in one sitting the first weeks of my pregnancy.  I mean I needed something with pazazz. This craving was sneaking up on me so quickly I was searching the cupboard like a racoon on the prowl in the moonlight.  While scavagering through every nook and cranny my tastebuds knew exactly what they wanted and Fed-EXed it directly to my brain....

ARTICHOKE.

In all my life, I had never prepared my own choke nor had I ever purchased one outside of a jar. And, because I wasn't going to the store, Josh was flying planes and completely unavailable for me to beg and boss, and my garden is not currently producing such fine arties I decided to ignore my craving and wait for it to go away.  It didn't and it still will not.  The next trip to the store started in the produce section and I have been back several times since. I like them Sam-I-Am, yes I do!

Perparing the best artichoke ever:

1 artichoke

1 clove garlic

1 half lemon

1 bay leaf

melted butter

Fill pot with 2 inches of water.  Throw in garlic, lemon, and bay leaf.  Put steamer in pot.  Place artichoke in steamer.  Cover and steam for 35-45 minutes.  Dip leafs in melted butter.

run around

(Waiting for the fireflies)

Hello world.  You know how sometimes it takes not having something that you once had to realize how much you want and miss it?  It has taken us 6 weeks to get the internet after our move.  Insane!  We went through the run around.  Company after company telling us we live too far out in the boonies to get services and then recanting their original theory with an even later connection date.  After being billed for services we weren't getting, being denied services we could have had and being left with unanswered questions, we negotiated some sweet deals out of the mess.  I think by the time Josh was off the phone we were sitting pretty with a month of free services, previous charges dropped and a few gift certificates.  I terminated the call when negotiation began about some unborn child, seeing as we are having our own soon enough.  (Sense the joke.)  So, I am a happy blogging woman again who enjoyed time away from the computer picking flowers with the kids in the fields for green.  Let the catch-up posts begin.