flower child...

It has recently been brought to my attention that I am a weedy neurotic mess. Is there any hope for such a case? Please someone pull the weeds out of my heart and water my brain.

making a way...

You know what takes so long about blogging...pictures, but they're my favorite part, and grammar- that's my other favorite part. My grammar may not be great, but it has to make sense to me, which means lots of proof reading and tweaking. My sister-in-law blogs for about 5 minutes every day. Me- if I blog it takes about an hour, and I don't have an hour to spare. So, I almost want to give it up, but I won't. I just need to type faster. =) This week we're doing a little unschooling. For us that means from 9-5 we'll be focused on learning, but not doing our usual SCHEDULE. I purposely made that word look big and dark and scary, because that's how I feel about schedules. I will not be intimidated by them. I don't need a routine. What I need is to be led by my heart.

for the chicken lady...

because you're so special =)

someone to play with...

Are moms allowed to get bored? I have 5 million things that I need to be doing and I'm sitting in complete denial, bored out of my mind. I just want to play hooky and get out and enjoy some sunshine, but there's none to be had. If only I had someone to play with and a place to play. I think I'm going to load the kids in the car in the rain and go get some ice cream.

little beauties...

I love Easter eggs! They are always so beautiful! I'm not big on bright colors, but we dye brown eggs, so they come out in earth tones. They seriously are amazing. Has anyone ever been so fascinated by something so simple?! This year we tried using melted wax on the eggs and I gave away my prettiest egg without taking a picture first. =( Also, we hollowed out the eggs this year. We don't usually do that. It was a nasty job! But now I think we will use the little containers to plant seeds in. That way we can enjoy them a little longer and finally give them a proper burial.

first game...

Daniel had his first soccer game today and I was super camera happy! Unfortunately I had the camera on a wrong setting or something, because there were only a few pictures that really turned out. Anyway, he looked so cute in his soccer uniform. (He probably wouldn't like to hear me say that.) This was his first time playing on a team and he missed the first practice this week because he was sick, so he was sort of thrown into the game. Towards the end, he was doing great though, and he even blocked the other teams final goal. His coach told him if it hadn't been for that, they would have tied, so Daniel was happy to hear that. I was really proud of the way he jumped right in and eagerly obeyed all the directions being yelled to him from the sidelines. You were awesome, Daniel! Love you!

in the woods...

Ever notice how slowly time passes when you're

in the woods?

silly monkey...

Sometimes I feel a little insecure because I have a tendency to change my mind about things. I'm not very graceful, in that it often takes all sorts of contortions for me to get something the way I want it. But I recently had a revelation. I realized that in nature I find beauty in things that curl and twist and turn in on themselves. Gnarled trees and spiraling fiddlehead ferns, wild vines that coil in and out and through and take every imaginable turn, sometimes winding themselves into knots, I find these things compelling. So next time I become entangled, I hope I can remember this and appreciate the intricacies of me.

little visitor...

This is so cute... Yesterday I told the kids that I had good news and bad news. I told the good news, which was that Grandma & Grandpa's dog, Missy, is going to come stay with us for a week. Then I told the bad news, which was that they will have to take Missy for a walk everyday and pick up her poop. =) Those are my conditions. =) So back to the point, which is that Emmeli heard the whole thing and apparently liked the news so much that she needed to hear it a second time. She jumped on my lap and said, "Tell me the good news again." So I told her again. Then she said, "And what's the other good news." Since there was no other good news, I assumed that what she meant was, "And what's the bad news." So I started to tell her, "The bad news is...." And she stopped me. "No. Just tell me the good news."