When he's gotta go, he's gotta go

One of my favorite places in the whole world.

One of my favorite kids.



One of my favorite quotes from him while we were there:

"Mom, I think we have enough now. I gotta go ta the bafroom."




KinderGARDENS week 4

She took her own picture

Photographic Scavenger Hunt at Ashley's!

1. Classic Still Life

Classic, I don't know. Too bad it wasn't "bokeh bonanaza". The Lilac blooms aren't really flowering yet, so I focused just in front of the few that were.



2. Self Portrait

I did take a number of self portraits this week, some that I adore and some that are hilarious, but I have something way better for you.

Let me set the scene:

The day had been much too long and overstimulating, it was way past bedtime, the car ride was nowhere near over... I had exhausted every trick in my bag, including cycling through every ringtone on the phone. I was determined to keep her from going off the deep end. Finally in desperation, I handed her the remote, slapped my big camera into automatic and aimed it in her general direction.

What a mom won't do when the situation requires it...

She fired that thing like it was a machine gun.

And gleefully too.

May I present to you...

The Bean's very first self portraits:

(I swoon)







Her brother's expression pretty much sums up our entire day week.

3. On the Floor

No detail escapes her notice. And she won't stop noticing it until I notice that she noticed it. All you moms know exactly what I mean.



4. Lines

If The Bean's selfies didn't count for item number 2 above, well then, here you go. With a bunch of lines.



5. Fresh

One of you dear readers will notice immediately (you know who you are) that these aren't my tame domesticated baby asparagus. I scored them in my jungle of a swampy backyard, so I had every right to pick them.



One of you will be thrilled (ummm...you also know who you are) that I hid them from my family, so they won't be forced to endure I won't have to share the toe-nail clipping flavor amazing flavor of such a rare delicacy.

Featured (oh dear)

Oh glorious happy day, to have a photo featured at Mortal Muses - Life in B&W.

But guess, my friends, just guess... which one it is.

I'm laughing.

Hysterically.

Because, yeah...

it's that one.



I'm totally a rock star.

A perfect storm

Gardening has always been my escape. My quiet. My time alone after spending a long day kissing owies and tripping over toys, washing dishes and wiping noses and butts. Apparently, that little fact somehow failed to cross my mind when I made the decision to get the kids more involved with the garden this year.

I mean, I know it's the right thing to do. But still...



The Bad: If I were to be completely honest, attempting to "garden" with them this week was beyond frustrating. The carrot seeds blew away. The barn cat sat on the garlic. The boys nearly knocked each other out with their long-handled rakes. The woodticks, fine. I can deal with those. Having to retrieve our runaway Bean from the pasture over and over? That gets old fast.


{for the record, I had no idea the boys were wearing almost-matching shirts}

The Good: The kids Daddy got some of the mud tilled up. We I managed to get carrots, beets and onion sets planted. It's better than nothing, that's what I keep telling myself.



The Truth: We will get the garden in... eventually. Time spent climbing gates and running through the pasture and getting boots muddy isn't time wasted.



Believe me, we had the wood ticks (and a happy barn cat) to prove it.

Linking up with KinderGARDENS week 3

Spring, at last

Imagine this.

An entire week of depressing gloomy weather, with my attitude to match. I blamed the weather and my thyroid, which are both equally good excuses. Finally, after a particularly rough day, I told my husband that once our crazy monkeys were put to bed for the night, I was outta here. By myself.

He didn't argue. Perhaps he was glad to be rid of me for awhile?

But you know... the most amazing thing happened.

The clouds parted.

And the light? Like honey.

Pure sweet thick dripping golden honey.



The deep hum of spring-time life vibrates it's way into my soul. Even half-way through May, it's still a shocking change from our long stark quiet winter.

Somehow, Spring has arrived.



Out here, even if I attempt to, I never go off exploring alone.

God's creatures find me.



And the truth is, I kind of prefer it that way.

KinderGARDEN week 2

The almost-done-with-Kindergarten KinderGARDENer ran out to the old cattle corral with me. It was a special gardening date, just the two of us. We were on a mission. Would there be any un-swamp-like conditions to be found?

Fail.



But the sun was shining, and we have hope that things might dry enough to start planting later this week.

We weeded the asparagus bed.



It's barely a year old. We won't harvest any until next year.

We found the garlic looking very handsome.

Success!



I'm thrilled about this because they were given to me by a fellow gardening fanatic (which makes them immensely more exciting), and I planted them way way too late last fall.

Since our gardening took all of twenty minutes, and most of that was spent stomping through mud, we decided to go exploring. Snails, mosquito larvae, and tadpoles... Oh my!

Us

For Mother's Day, all I wanted was a family photo.

Well... and for my kids to be kind to each other, and that there would be no whining or arguing, and that they would eat their food without complaining, and for the little Bean to take a nice long nap, and for them to pick up their toys without being asked, and go to bed like obedient little lambs.

But with little ones, you take what you can get.

A family photo was a lofty goal. Other than the few times our children's Grandma has forced kindly asked us to sit on the couch and smile for her five minutes before we leave (always when the kids are 78% crabby), I honestly don't think we have any family pictures. Not one. That is a very sad thing.

So I set up the camera and rounded everyone up.

The little people's attitudes were best when one of the boys was in charge of the remote clicker. On a two second timer, I was seriously impressed with how they were able to hide that thing before the shutter clicked.

So technically, I guess some of these aren't self portraits. But I'm gonna say they are.

I wanted us interacting with each other, not looking at the camera saying "cheese".

Not a success. Not a failure either.

Exactly as we are. Some of us wearing mis-matched flannel. Hair uncombed. Socks discarded.

I love these.







Selfie Magic - family portrait

A Kinderwhat?

I promised our kids their very own swamp this year.

Garden. I meant... their own garden. Excuse me.

The kids are old enough.

The boys love everything garden related. I have a slight obsession with growing things, which means they're immersed in it year round. Kids are more willing to try new foods when they've planted the seed, watched it come alive, and harvested it with their own two grubby hands. But it's so much more than that. It's a whole magnificent experience.

The Bean is old enough now to destroy everything help too, which is very exciting.



We have big dreams.

Dreaming is just as important as seeds or healthy soil. I won't let my kids miss out on that.

One of our boys is obsessed with mazes, so we're planning a simple corn maze. When they saw the photos my friend Kirsten posted of her kiddo's bean tunnel, well, it absolutely had to go on the list too.

We have the space.

Last year I had three garden plots. Every Spring we seem to dig up yet another (higher) garden because someone is too impatient for the (lower) swamps gardens to dry out. Every year we have more water than we did the previous year, and... here we are solidly into May and I find myself eyeballing the space between my apple trees.

Everything is still soggy, except the barn, which means three things:

1. Our neighbors (who are real farmers and the kindest people in the world) can't get into their fields, which means my barn is already wearing it's shiny new roof.

2. The jungle is temporarily in the house.



Please notice the very professional use of oatmeal and baking soda in our lighting set up.



We even potted up twenty five strawberry plants because I was unsure how long they could stay refrigerated. I've never ever been unhappy to find a package of plants in the mail, until the day they arrived.



3. The Bean has been busy practicing her "helping" skills.



We're excited to document the journey along with the others at The Inadvertent Farmer. I discovered this project too late last year to join in, and it's been in the back of my mind all winter. Although, while everyone else has KinderGARDENS, we're more likely to have a Kinderswamp. We still have hope!

Right now

The sun was shining. The birds were singing. I was enjoying a peaceful moment hanging clothes on the line when all hell kid choas broke out in the house.



Why is it that things can go from happy calm to complete and utter destruction in 2.5 seconds flat?

Upon questioning the guilty-looking parties, I ended up with conflicting stories involving a whoopee cushion, a little girl who was supposed to be napping, and someone's butt being shoved off a bench onto the floor.

Evidence:


This was immediately followed by a poop explosion (a poopsplosion?) the likes of which I haven't before seen in my six and a half years of being a mother.

Every cloth diapering mom knows the first diaper to go into a squeaky clean pail is a nasty one. Every. Darn. Time.

I guess I forgot. Or something.

You know how you can whip a wet diaper off the kid while slipping a clean one underneath in one swift motion?

It pretty much flew everywhere.

But Right Now?

She's asleep. Sweet victory!

Jump!

I've tried, and failed, to find the words to adequately describe how...



Wait a minute. That's totally not right.

How...



Oh dear. Do you hear my husband laughing?

I should have made him jump with me.

And...



Lord have mercy.

I nearly hurt myself that time.



Yes! YES!

I gotta tell ya. How great it feels to be posting back here again!


Linking up with
You Capture - "Outside" and
Selfie Magic - "Jump"

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