Sunday at home

I love Sundays with my precious family.  This morning when we all got up we had breakfast together downstairs. Watermelon, cereal for John, and yogurt parfaits for the rest of us.  Clara has been sick the past few days and her sweet cheeks are chapped and rosy from us wiping her little nose every 5 minutes.  Church was great.  We had a beautiful service on personal revelation and conversing with God and listening after we pray. I needed to hear that message today.  ❤️ When we got home we all shared what we learned in our classes at church. The afternoon consisted of naps (for the parents) mine was riddled with questions from the children and a baby climbing all over me but I got a few good 6 minutes stretches here and there. The sleeping was to the tune if Mandolin Orange and Brandi Carlisle.  Clara was so cute all afternoon.  The noises she makes now with her incoherent babble are heartbreakingly adorable.  The kind where John and I just look at each other and smile without saying a word but we know we are both dying inside with her cuteness.  Those are the kind of looks that are some of my favorite moments in our marriage.  Tonight we did Come Follow Me with the kids followed by a family wrestling match (in which John roughed us all up,yes there were tears) and then we initiated the kids into the Oooga Booga club, Evie had been asking to do it now for many days.  We went around and did family goals like we do every Sunday.  I told everyone that the next two weeks I really need a lot of extra support for all of the work I have going on and everyone agreed to pitch in and help out more.  I love these people.  I can feel our hearts knitting closer together with special simple days like today. ❤️

i love who you are and who you are becoming

Evaleigh,

I love who you are and who you are becoming.  You are everything I ever hoped having a daughter would be like.  You love to exclaim, "I wouldn't ever choose any mommy but you.  You are the best!"  Well I certainly feel the same way about you.  Gosh, you are growing.  Kindergarten this year, really?  I'll miss the heck out of you but oh how you are ready.  Here are a few things about you lately.

Smiling in Daddy's lap at a bonfire at momomee's.  I swear those flames got to be 40 feet high!  Biggest bonfire we've had out there ever!

You appreciate the value of family just like I do.  You love to ask questions about our family ties and who is related to who and how.  I've always done that too.  It is so important to cherish your heritage and from whom you've come.  Thank you for loving Nanny the way you do.  We are so SO lucky to still have her and I am grateful you will have memories of her.  I remember my great-grand mothers and visiting them, it is what binds generations together.  Weeping willow tree in the front yard, Grandmother Curles old weathered skin and the way her eyes reminded me of Papa, and the secret garden across the street from Grandmother Shepphard's.  Grandmother Mallonee's high rise apartment in Asheville.  Always make an effort to see your family.  Always.

You were so good at General Conference this past weekend.  You took it in and were attentive and echoed words and phrases you knew.  

I hope you never stop wanting to get dirty.  Explore, roll in the mud, pick up little critters, be curious about the bird noises you hear, and walk barefoot, make believe.  Those sorts of things were the foundation of my childhood.  It makes me feel so proud to see you do the same.

Oh boy.  This was me asking you about Will.  A boy from school you've come home talking about for months now. The range of your emotions go from joy to embarrassment. But I think its getting serious. He held your hand during quiet time at school today.  Oh my goodness I couldn't figure out how to process my thoughts and emotions as you told me that. I asked you, "Did you think 'what is happening?' or 'huh that's nice.'"  You said, "Huh, that's nice."

A few other things you said to me about him today, "Guess what? Our birds played together.  Mine and Will's.  His bird's nest was like a hot tub because they were all laying down."

"Will got a hair cut today."

"He has brown hair, blue eyes, is taller than me, and was wearing a brown shirt today."

"Guess what? Will knows everything.  Dinosaurs were in the 90's and 80's.  That was a long time ago when dinosaurs were here."

"Will said I could come over to his house."

Ok, I'm going to go put some books on your head now so you stop growing up!  But actually, I love seeing every single stage you go through and THANK YOU for talking to me about it all...please never stop.

Speaking of talking to me, you came home from school Tuesday so chatty and you and I sat on the swing at momomee's house for 10 minutes while I just let you tell me every detail about school.  I couldn't get enough.  It was like I was parched and I just soaked in every word you had to offer.  I love you so much.

Last night while I was doing bedtime solo I asked you to read a book while I put Avett to bed.  I came in and you were reading Madeline, a favorite since Lindsey gave it to you for your 1st birthday.  You started looking for your Madeline doll Grandmaw gave to you for Christmas and then you "read" the whole book from memory and each time Madeline was on the page you had her point to her self.

You are lovely to watch, to take in, to study and cherish.  I'm so glad I am your mom.  Our life is so so good.

bits of life I can't bare to forget

Avett and this frog may be one of my favorite pictures.  He is all boy, interested in creatues and curious and doesnt have a care in the world to get dirty...or peed on.  He discovered this little frog while we were at Herman C. Michael park for a playdate this week.  He was quite gentle and wanted terribly to bring it home as a pet.  The frog looks very unimpressed with the whole idea.

Today was the opening day for the Athens Farmers Market.  I don't know why I feel so fancy walking out of there with fresh pastries and cut flowers.  Today we went home with Poppies and Ranunculus.  I love the sense of community in Athens and it feels good to be apart of it.  

Just a little example of running errands with these two crazy ones.  They were giddy about these tiny carts.  I love that Evie's hair is getting longer.  She is so beautiful.  We bought orange chicken, which Avett thinks is too spicy, and some Indian food, and some cocoa batons which were all gone with in an hour.

This past week we went to my mother's and Evie came in baring this birds nest as a great outdoor prize.  She asked that we put it in a bag for her to bring home.  She copied "birds nest"  and I couldn't be more in love with the fact that some of her letters are backwards.

Playing in the barn, climbing hay bails, getting messy, my allergies are going crazy.

Rode BOB with mom across the street to return a shovel.  We stayed a while to look at the flowers and then rode BOB around with the perfect amount of wind in our hair and faces. I love big tulips.

Avett got the giggles SO hard for a good 10 minutes at Fresh Aire Barbeque when we went with our cousins last week.  I never figured out what it was but I suspect he thought it was funny that Mason was being a little naughty ransacking the restaurant.

Evie has been writing her fairy friend, Ella, through a door on the wall in her room.  They are great friends.  She anticipates every single correspondence.  That last letter she got (which took quite a while to get back to her, apparently fairy mail can take a lot of time)  Ella told her she was sorry it took her a while to respond and that she was busy preparing for a fairy ball!  Well Evie decided that we must make her a dress for the ball so she designed it, picked out the fabric, and then we sewed it right up!  I love her creative soul.

Well I just had no idea she loved this log so very much.  When she found out that part of it was going to be cut and given to a friend of ours to make some things she was devastated.  She went in to full on sobs and went and sat on the log in tears.  After Momomee gave her best shot to comfort her I went down and we hugged and she cried some more.  We decided to take a picture of the log and she took it.  Then we edited a picture where she circled the log, put a heart on it, and then pecked out every little letter to spell "This is Evie's favorite log."  

A very tender hearted soul.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

A horse face out of glass

Evie, we are so proud of our little artist! A few weeks ago you went to your first summer camp! It was for one week 9-12 in the morning.  You had such a hard time with me leaving every single day.  I am grateful for your attachment to me but I am also hopeful for you to have confidence.  Confidence in yourself and confidence to know that I will come back.  Trust me, I don't want to rush you in to growing up too fast but I am also eager to give you experiences to help you grow and see your talents and to recognize your strength. It is in you!! 

I couldn't have been prouder to walk in to your exhibit after you had been creating all week and to see your work displayed. I imagine you will create a lot in your life and whatever it is I know I will beam at it just the way I did your art that day.  I'm so proud of you and you were proud of you too.  

Thank you for being the creative little soul that you are, I love you so! 

1,200 miles

We just got home from a week and a half trip out to Colorado to visit John's family. He was also a groomsmen in one of his best friends weddings. Going to Walsh is always such a unique experience.  For starters there is no phone service, none at all! It's quite refreshing for a change but I do breathe a sigh of relief when we surface and connect to wifi here and there.  

Walsh is still a slow, sleepy, so-very-friendly little town.  It never ceases to amaze me that we can drive from one end to the other on Main Street in about 30 seconds with non traffic stops or lights.  Every one waves to you as you pass them on the street.  I love seeing John's eyes light up with some of that old town glory.  He's told me so many heart warming stories of living there and I love to see him remember those things. The dirt roads are tricky and charming.  We had one particular experience this time where we were trying to get out to Granny's house after leaving the Doner's in a storm. The dirt road was starting to flood and turn straight in to mud. We shouldn't have been traveling that road but I was being piloted by a determined grandson who wanted to see the smile on his grandmothers face. There were so many moments I was sure we were stuck or stranded.  We made it out to her home in 6 miles of prayers and anxiety. At one point john looked to me and said, "there is non reason this can should be making it right now.  Thank you to the Angels pushing us on back covered in mud no doubt."  I second that.

On the 4th of July we drove up to the top of a hill and set off some of our own fireworks we had driven to Springfield earlier that day to get.  The children giggled and squealed and covered their ears and I did most of the clapping and cheering. We took folding chairs and sat and watched towns on the horizon 40-50 miles away shoot off fireworks of their own.  It was quiet and simple and magical.  Evaleigh and Avett and I had some races round the corners back and forth a few times. 

We went out to Minneapolis cemetery and pulled right up to Grover's grave.  We blasted a new Avett Brothers tune, No Hard Feelings, for him as loud as we could, he would have loved that song.  

When my body won't hold me anymore

And it finally lets me free

Will I be ready?

When my feet won't walk another mile

And my lips give their last kiss goodbye

Will my hands be steady?

When I lay down my fears

My hopes and my doubts

The rings on my fingers

And the keys to my house

With no hard feelings

When the sun hangs low in the west

And the light in my chest

Won't be kept held at bay any longer

When the jealousy fades away

And it's ash and dust for cash and lust

And it's just hallelujah

And love in thoughts and love in the words

Love in the songs they sing in the church

And no hard feelings

Lord they knows they haven't done

Much good for anyone

Kept me afraid and cold

With so much to have and hold

When my body won't hold me anymore

And it finally lets me free

Where will I go?

Will the trade winds take me south

Through Georgia grain or tropical rain

Or snow from the heavens?

Will I join with the ocean blue

Or run into the savior true

And shake hands laughing

And walk through the night

Straight to the light

Holding the love I've known in my life

And no hard feelings

Lord they knows they haven't done

Much good for anyone

Kept me afraid and cold

With so much to have and hold

Under the curving sky

I'm finally learning why

It matters for me and you

To say it and mean it to

For life and its loveliness

And all of its ugliness

Good as its been to me

I have no enemies

I have no enemies

I have no enemies

I have no enemies

I love that song. It's how I feel about dying someday.  John and I spoke briefly about being buried there someday.  It would be a beautiful place to be laid to rest.  Wide open skies and earth as far as the eye can see. Not to mention a plot there costs $1.  Sold. 

Walsh has a certain charm but it's a charm that I can soak in for about a week and then I start to get a bit antsy for traffic or crowds or I don't know...a Target. 

Our road trip with the kiddies was quite nice.  They were sick on the way out So a bit fussy but very patient on the way home.  We stopped outside of Memphis on the way back and swam out some wiggles. The little potty came in handy 4 times, good thing we had it.  

When we drove east on 20 and spotted the Atlanta skyline we both look at each other and smiled.  I knew what we were both thinking, "Home."