A Ballerina in the Garden

There are days when I want to freeze a moment in time.  I never want to forget the pure joy that I see on the faces of my little ones, or a hysterical laugh, or a look of utter amazement at something they have never seen before.  I want to catch it in a bottle and save it.  I want to soak it in. 

I want to freeze a moment like this one.  A sweet almost six year old in a pink tutu at sunset, walking through the grass and picking wildflowers. 

A pink ballerina, with sparkly pink shoes, is the perfect addition to a garden - just in case you didn't know.

For what better way to spend an evening? 

Because these moments are fleeting, and my little ballerina will not be little for long. 

How Can It Be?

Four years ago tomorrow, our little Owen was born.  As cliche as it may be to say, it just doesn't seem possible that our middle child is 4 years old. 

The lover of all things transportation, who only wants "a Lego rescue aerial ladder fire truck with stabilizer legs and a boom with a basket", is about to finally have his 4th birthday.  He has been working on the "th" sound so that he can say June 13th properly when he talks to others and has been looking forward to this day for months.  He is over-the-top excited for tomorrow. 

Owen is wild and quirky.  He loves to wrestle with his Dad and can frequently be found playing in the mud.  He runs circles around the house in the afternoon so that his baby brother can chase him.  There is just so much energy there to come out. 

His favorite game on road trips is "compliment Mommy and she will throw a cracker at you".  I came up with this one out of desperation - to prevent him from screaming when he was bored on long drives.  It is pretty hilarious to hear him say things like, "I love your earrings, Mom." or "Your hair is so nice, Mom".  

When he does something he knows isn't right, he will say later, "Remember when I [whatever it was]?  We should pray about that".  He has a really good heart. 

He loves it when we tickle his back and that is the only time he sits still most days. We have to do it every night before bed and sing I Love You Lord at the same time. 

He loves to sing.  Last night he was already tucked in to bed and I could hear him bellowing his own medley of worship and Christmas songs from church.  "And I....I....I...I'm desperate for you......to worship you, oh my soul....Gloooooooria...."   It was awesome. 

Happy Birthday, Owen Jacob.  We love you, especially your "eighty-one-hundred kisses" that you give us.  You are so great. 

Pinch Me

We have been in our new home for 11 nights now.  Two of those nights were spent at Life Change Camp in Missouri - which was wonderful and I will blog about another time.  Only 9 sleeps in our new rooms and we all feel like this is home.  Pictures will come soon....

Each day, usually as the sun is low, the kiddos can be found exploring the land.  Ella is cruising on her bike over the dirt road (she was afraid she wouldn't be able to bike here due to the ruff terrain, but that hasn't hindered her one bit).  Owen is wearing his camo "mud boots", picking up sticks and playing in the mud.  They both find toads and chase them until they run into the weeds.  Sam picks up the rocks from the road and says something very profound in his words....then picks up more rocks and points at the multitude of birds overhead.  All he can hear are the sounds of the cardinals, orioles, blue birds, barn swallows and scissor tailed fly-catchers. 

Pinch me, because I must be dreaming. 

The house is simple.  No frills or fancy fixtures to be had.  Just a nice open layout that makes life simple.  I love the mud room/laundry room because it is always filled with both of those things!  Jason has spent the last 3 nights mowing.  Yes, 3 nights of mowing since he bought a used riding mower on Monday.  He is sure that once the grass is not as high as the mower, it won't take so long.  Hope he is right on that one.  There are potential projects everywhere we look.

It isn't the dream of many.  But it is ours.  

There is a huge learning curve, as well as fears of living outside of the city that we need to overcome.  The coyotes howling after sunset last night made me a little nervous.  We really don't know if the vegetable garden we planted will grow or what to do with it now that it exists.  The spiders I have found in and around the house are not my favorite neighbors.  But we will figure all those things out with time.  

We are happy we are awake and breathing it all in.

More to come on this adventure......