Intimidated by Ma Ingalls

We have been reading the Little House series, and I am beginning to seriously develop a complex because of Ma Ingalls.

That woman must have been something else. She not only happily trekked all over the country in a covered wagon, but she was able to keep her family alive throughout the journey. My crew wouldn't be so lucky in that situation. We would be very cold, very grumpy, and very very hungry.

I am not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination.

For years, we happily cultivated weeds and other miscellaneous growing things in an area of the back yard we called our "botanical garden," but really it was just a neglected pile of dirt that was too steep to mow.

I wish I could become a gardener, but truth-be-told, I don't like dirt,

or bugs,

or being too hot,

or tedious labor . . .

which places the whole gardening thing a bit (okay a lot) out of my happiness zone.

Luckily, my husband loves labor and dirt and he has taken the time to not only identify the bounty in our backyard, but to pull it from the trees, separate it from the weeds, and cultivate some wonderful-ness for our family (including self-watering garden beds). The kids seem to be following in his footsteps, and are thrilled to be turned loose every afternoon to pick, eat and enjoy. They love it.

Me? Well,

I'm afraid that if our local grocery store closed, my family would . . . have to drive farther to go to the grocery store. That's the reality of my life. We aren't self sufficient. We aren't even close to it.
But, despite my differences from Ma Ingalls, we are able to grow enough to make these little guys smile.
I guess that's all we need, because I'm not planning on pioneering through the wilderness in a covered wagon any time soon.

Jesus Loves Me

Sometimes the simplest things are my favorite. "Jesus Loves Me" is a great example. It is my all time favorite song.

"Jesus Loves Me" was written as part of a story for children many years ago. It told of a young boy so sick that his doctors could do nothing more to heal him. His teacher, knowing the boy's fate, sings to the child of God's love and heaven's splendor. Simple words with a massive impact.

This song reminds me of VBS and choir when I was a kid. It is the song I sang to myself while in labor for my son (yeah, I sing silently when I'm in pain - weird, I know). It is what I hummed to my babies night after night as I rocked them to sleep. It is the song that my little ones all sang in their tiny 2 year old voices. Is there anything cuter than a sleepy "dis I knowwwww!" coming through the baby monitor?

I guess I have passed on my love for "Jesus Loves Me" to my daughter. When I asked her to write about her favorite song, this is the paper she handed me:
That was the moment that I knew I could believe her passionate request to be baptized. She seemed so young, and her brother even younger, but on their own they had each approached our pastor after church and asked to be baptized. It took me a while to become convinced. We studied together, prayed together, and well...

Wow! I now have two new reasons to love those familiar words.

Baths in the sink

Ahh, so this is why I got that extra-deep sink that I can hardly reach the bottom of.

How to Dance Like a Kid

Step 1 - Get so excited you can hardly stand it.
Step 2 - Lean on your friends for help
Step 3 - Don't loose your place!
Step 4 - All together now . . .

Step 5 - Pose like you mean it

Step 6 - Soak up all the attention!

Bye-Bye Baby

We haven't seen bottles for over a year

or diapers for the last 6 months

but now it is official.

My youngest is out of the

tiny baby stage.

She is a sweet little bundle of 2 year old thumb-sucking cuteness, but she certainly is not a baby anymore.

My little girl is so proud of being able to climb in and out of bed all by herself. Up-down-up-down. All smiles. She even tried the great childhood joy of jumping on the bed - I wasn't so thrilled with that one.

She loves having us climb into her "big bed" with her - Okay, so it is really still her crib with the side off (I can't fathom spending money on a toddler bed that gets used for only a few months) but it works just the same.

My little girl spent all afternoon moving stuffed animals from the bed to her rocking chair and back, gently talking to them and telling them that it was time to go "nite-nite." So sweet!

And yes - her room really does look like this all the time, but the rest of the house doesn't. My youngest is a bit of a neat-nik. She carefully picks up every stray carpet fiber and closes her closet doors whenever I forget. I'm keeping these photos as evidence to prove to her 16 year old self that she was capable of keeping her room clean at 2 - not that it will do me a lick of good at that stage, but a mom can dream.

Bye-bye baby, but let's wait on learning to drive for a few years, okay?

Portraits

Memorial day always brings us to the lake - my favorite place for picture taking. I love the light, I love the relaxed atmosphere that brings out the smiles in my kids, and most of all, I love that I have enough time to actually pick up my camera.

Prairie Girls

Bonnets and aprons are so quaint and adorable on little girls.  

It is enough to make me want to study westward expansion for as long as possible.