Hunkerin' Down

Blizzard...the end of March? Seriously? With the snow that came the first weekend of Spring Break, I was sure we were finished. With the way that the weather people are here, I figured there was no way. Other people believed it -- enough to cancel school the day before with nothing on the ground. This school district NEVER cancels school. So, we called my sister, and she came over to "hunker down" with us. The last time I had to hunker down was during the hurricanes in Orlando back in 2004. Hunkering down is definitely something to do with people you like. The first hurricane, Jesus, my dog and I hung out under my flipped over couch. The second and third hurricanes I spent with awesome friends Joy and Suzanne -- cards, Monk, food...good times. The Blizzard came, and notice, it's with a capital "B!" The snow started in the middle of the night and didn't really stop until 36 or so hours later. The wind howled, the snow pummeled, visibility was LIMITED, and the drifts grew and grew and grew. I haven't been in snow like this since I was a kid. It was soooo beautiful! We had a great time "hunkerin' down" -- hot chocolate, homemade pancake breakfast, homemade chocolate chip cookies...movies, playing with the baby...aaaahh...good times. :-)

Spring Break

Spring Break is awesome! I personally think it should be two weeks long as opposed to one. It has been so nice to have snow and balmy sunshine all in the same place just a matter of hours apart. :-) This week I have enjoyed having my husband home so very much. We had a wonderful time during our first year of marriage that we were able to live on our savings (PTL!) for about six months and just be together. Any time he's home more than a weekend brings that time back to life. Awww...I know. Most of my seeds have been started, and Andrew has built the frame for my raised bed garden. This is more than we've done before, so I feel like we're being quite ambitious. Drew keeps saying, "What about doing this, too?" Nope. This project feels pretty mongo on its own, AND we're getting chickens within the next week. Whew! It's all about springtime, baby! Lest anyone be too impressed, spring cleaning has not happened at my house, and I'm not even sure we're going to get to that deep cleaning thing. I do have the preggers excuse, and there's many cleaners I just can't use. Darn. hee hee hee Can I post without telling a Will story? Highly unlikely. He's now using "please" consistently and pointing and shaking his head for "no." "Mama" and Dad-dee" are pretty consistent in his vocabulary, but any other words /phrases are at his whim like the "What is that?" clear as a bell at the greenhouse the other day when we were looking at a seed bin. Where did this child come from??? He is an amazing walking conundrum that I absolutely adore. :-)

Oops!

Well, as you can see, I've signed up as a follower of my own blog! Ugh. I was trying to follow someone else's and ended up following my own. How the heck do I get rid of the obvious stupidity with my face nicely plastered in with my sweet followers? And, how do I follow y'all??? I've tried to find it on your blogs to no avail. "Help me! Help me! Please!" she said.

Gray Days

It's gray today...again. Sigh. I hate gray days. No, let me rephrase that. I seriously miss the sun on gray days. I'm thankful for each day and the mercies that are new to me each morning. It just seems that on gray days I find it harder to be motivated. My whole body feels weighed down with the seeming heaviness of the clouds. Yuck. I think the worst part of it is that my husband (who is secretly a troll, I believe -- fair complection, needs a cave, loves to be in dim lighting, etc., etc.) revels in these days. They are sooo very good for him. As giddy as I get on sunshiny days, he is as close to that on gray days as he can be. Who says opposites don't attract? So what am I to do? I can turn on every light in the house, make myself get dressed, and fake it til I make it. Or, I can sit here on the computer in my fuzzy robe (don't even look at the time stamp!) and commiserate with myself and my heavy eyelids. Hmmm...what to do? what to do???

My Own Little Genius...

*Warning -- this posting contains a mother's proud, gushing remarks. Proceed with caution! My mother became a grandmother relatively early in life at the hip young age of 51. She had older friends who had plenty of granchildren themselves and one quipped to her, "Now you have your own little genius!" Too true. Ok, so I'm forever away from being a grandmother, but I certainly feel like Will is my "little genius," "little comedian," "little sweetheart," and "all boy!" all rolled into one. To demonstrate the first...we've been trying to teach Will bits of sign language -- bottle, drink, hungry, more, please, and thank you. The first four he caught onto pretty well. The last two I guess are pretty abstract. He did sign "please" at my parents in November, but that's been it. Yesterday, however, he proved without a shadow of a doubt that he was able...when he wanted to be. I had a Braum's sack with a few brightly colored business cards in the bottom. Will could see the cards, but he's just too short to reach all the way into the bag with it standing up or laying down without crawling into the bag. This, he was not into. So, he crawled up into Mommy's lap -- not a bad place to be. His daddy came over and tried to entice him to pull out what was in the bag. Will, first child that he is, pointed to his daddy and then pointed to the bag. Daddy said, "Say please." That little Bugger signed for please without being shown the sign or anything! To demonstrate the second...he loves playing "Simon Says" when HE's Simon. The other night my sister was over for dinner. We sat on the couches in the living room and Will was in his highchair eating. He put his hand on his head, then looked very pointedly at me. When I followed his instruction, he looked pointedly at Rachel and then at Andrew. When we were all doing what he wanted, he laughed hysterically and gave us something new to do. To demonstrate the third...he did something I didn't even expect with him just having turned one. We stopped at Braum's one morning this week after we took Andrew to work. I had two heavy bags -- two gallons of milk, 14 yogurts, and some bananas. Unfortunately, my ability to judge distance is a little off, and when I opened the screen door, I ripped one of the bags I had set on the porch . All was good, I could still carry the bags in after I put Will down. One yogurt fell out on the living room floor. Out of curiosity, I asked Will if he could help Mommy and pick up the yogurt and bring it to the kitchen. He toddled back into the living room and after half a dozen or so attempts, he picked up the yogurt! He very determinedly, very seriously brought it to me in the kitchen...dropping it four or five times on the way. We were both so very proud of him!!! To demonstrate the last...we have a stump in the backyard that is the perfect height for him to sit on, and Andrew had placed him out there a time before. This day, however, was different. Will was not content to just sit on the stump and play with grass. He sat there for a moment, pondering, then he got up and surveyed the stump. Very intentionally, he leaned over the stump and placed his hands on the far side. One foot up, the other foot up...Andrew and I held our breath. Gingerly, he moved his feet to the center of the stump and stood up! Andrew and I didn't say anything for fear of startling him and causing him to fall. Will just stood there, checking out his kingdom. Then he put out his arms, hands opened, and he beat his chest! He was king of the world! He looked at us and did it again. With that, we had permission to holler and praise and make all kinds of commotion for his great accomplishment. Wow. Could he be anymore amazing?

It Walks!!!

As of Tuesday, February 17, my just turned 1 son has decided that walking's a pretty cool thing. Of course, if we tinted his skin a ghastly green...stuck a few bolts to his head...he'd give Frankenstein a run for his money! Stand up. Steady. Arms out and forward. Right leg up...out...waiver & correct...foot down. Whew! Left leg up...out...waiver & correct...foot down. Whew! Repeat...and then fall on your seat. Good thing that's padded! He's really doing so well. Yesterday he made it most of the way across the church foyer, intrigued with the grouting between the tiles. It took him a little extra time, though, because he kept doing circles around groups of people! But then he heard the music and made a beeline for it. Toddle, toddle, toddle... He's so proud of himself! The grin that's spread across his face; the giggle as he takes each step. How can so much joy be right in that moment? I can't answer it. All I can do is revel in it each time I see it and remember it. It brings a smile to my face even now. :-) Could it be any bigger???

So I fall...at least I do it gracefully!

Yes, I confess -- I am a klutz, and I fall. Could it be my eyesight? just not paying attention? weak ankles? The reasoning is somewhat clouded, regardless, I fall. Thankfully, I tend not to do it in large groups of people. Usually, I'm alone or with only a few people in eyeshot -- at least that's a mercy! I would say that it all began when I was seven. Hmmm, if I say that, then I guess I could say the trend is all my mother's fault??? I would never do that! hee hee. So, at seven, I'm upstairs holding my 2 month old sister as my mom's hanging wallpaper by herself -- seriously NOT recommended, particularly due to the fact that it started to fall over her head. She yelled for me to run get Daddy. (Ok, I must note here, she didn't know I was holding the baby.) Being the good child that I was, I ran down the stairs. I almost made it, but my feet all tangled up on the 5th one from the bottom, and I slid down the last four stairs on my knees -- still holding the baby, thank you very much. As I hit the floor, the swaddled baby rolled out of my arms onto the floor. I was screaming, my other sister (already downstairs) was screaming, my mother (who had come running with the ruckus) was screaming, and the baby didn't seem to be breathing. Great. I had killed my sister. Nope. All of a sudden, the baby was screaming. God bless my dad in the middle of this estrogen screamfest. Whew! All was well aside from scraped & bruised knees. So fast forward to Christmas Eve, 2008. I am now an adult with a baby of my own. (Yes, there have been many falls in the interim, and I have the scars & casts to prove them.) I desperately wanted to go to a Christmas Eve service. For some reason, this season just didn't feel like Christmas, and it made me sad. Where could we go? Thank God for signs in front of churches! The Lutheran church was having one at the perfect time. So we went, and it was just what I was hoping for -- Scripture, carol, Scripture, carol, etc., etc. It was perfect. Being there with Andrew & Will was wonderful! Will "flirted" with one of the ushers most of the way through. He's such a joyful boy! Anyway, it finished, and we got out the door at the front of the crowd. It was cold, so I was bundled up and had a blanket around Will -- not so good for being able to see where I was going. There was a curb. I didn't see the curb. Not good. (Side note: since I have a knack for falling, I figured there would come a time that I would fall while holding Will. At least I had thought this through a bit. Whew!) The toe of my boot caught the curb and down I went -- left knee, roll to the side, left elbow, roll to the back. Ouch. Physical pain, minor humiliation, but great pride that my son had only lost a hat and thought it was a great game! So, yes, I fall. But, I have fallen gracefully. Hmmm...good analogy for my relationship with Christ. Yes, I fall, but thankfully, I fall on His grace every time. Now that makes me smile. :-)