This Moment

Playing along with Amanda today... in her words: 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Where You'll Find Me

Is it possible to get spring fever in February? Because I think we have it. Lucky for us there's this garden project to keep us all outside. Windwhipped, sandy, a little achy, sure... but outside nonetheless, and glad for it! Oh, how restless we feel when the days start to warm up! How good it is to have a place to sink our shovels when the urge arises.

Our lovely neighbors, who raise race horses, were generous enough to bring over 4 tractor bucket-loads of composted manure to aid us in amending this sandy soil of ours. Yesterday we were out working it around our space, and I had amazing little helpers to boot. The sky was gray, there was a cool misty breeze, there were migrating robins all around, and there was a hint of wood smoke in the air. Our shovels were busy, our faces were a little dirty, and in that moment I was completely happy.

Now if that isn't a cure for spring fever, I don't know what is.

So- sore back, achy arms, tired feet be damned- if you need me, you'll find me out in the garden.

The Lantern Festival

Such a beautiful evening.

Right Now

Right now, I'm one happy gal! This weekend's weather was beau-tee-ful and the troops rallied and made some major progress in the garden department.

When everyone put their heads together and started measuring and taking inventory of supplies (those fence posts and split rails were salvaged from a restaurant construction site- they were waste! Can you believe it?), we ended up figuring out it was best to scrap my original L-shape and make it one big square. So now I have about another 250 fenced-in square feet, most of which will get at least partial sun, to use! I'm thinking maybe a couple fruit trees, or berry bushes....? So exciting.

This morning I'm wind-burned, achy, and tired, and the house has been completely neglected, but boy howdy do I have the makings of an amazing garden space under way!

Side note: shout out to my mother-in-law, who kept the kids entertained, meals on time, and little odds-and-ends under thumb while I helped dig post holes and such... and then when we got down to the wire with daylight and the end of the weekend closing fast, she came right out and helped finish up the work, too! What a family we have!

It looks to me like we get almost an entire week of this beautiful weather before it gets all chilly on us again, so I'm kicking it off with my grid paper, my shovel, and my two little helpers... we're gonna go dig in! Happy Monday!

This Moment

Playing along with Amanda today... in her words: 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Because I Love You.

Dear Henry,

When I announced that my little sticker chart was finally motivating silent nights, I didn't mean for it to be a challenge issued to you to step it up. I didn't realize you read this blog... but if you could just ease up on the 3am-waking-yelling-screaming thing again, I'd be so so glad.

I hope you don't remember all this. I hope I don't remember this- well, not all of it. Not how intensely frustrated I feel. Not how exhausted I am every morning these days. Not how disappointing it is to withhold the stars from this chart I've created that now seems only to serve as a beat-down in the mornings when you've cheated yourself out of success and have to stand by and watch Sister get another and another. Ugh.

Being the one who has to teach you this lesson right now- that you can't yell and scream to get what you want... that you can solve problems for yourself without my intervention every time... that a real emergency is not finding a hole in your blanket, having an itch on your foot, or suddenly realizing you should have picked up your trucks- is hard. It's hard to know which times to respond to your yells and which times to ignore them. It's hard to know what types of consequences are appropriate. It's hard to figure out how to teach you why this isn't OK.

It's hard, but it's important, I know. I also know that some day, you'll be the teacher in a similarly difficult struggle, and I hope in that moment you'll understand that my participation in this struggle of ours is because I love you. I love you so much. I'm fighting this one out with you because I love you, and I know it won't be the last time we clash. We're setting all the ground rules for all the times after this and beyond where you'll learn and grow, and because of that I have to insist that my way is the right way. At least for now.

I have to be consistent. I won't give up, and I won't give in. I can only hope that any mistakes I make along the way are never big enough to overshadow the love I have for you, even in these sleep-deprived, trying nights. I just hope that some day, when this Big Deal has shrunk down to a little blip in your early childhood, we'll forget all the strife and you'll just marvel at how much I love you.

But until then, could you cut the crap, please?

Thanks. Love,
Mama

Corners of Our Home, Part IV

Well, since our last look around the 'finished' spaces in our new home, a lot of time has passed, I know. Unfortunately, there haven't been many spaces added to the list of completely completed rooms since then, as the projects per room are just... well, there is still a lot to do around this place. But hey, we knew we were buying a fixer-upper, so moving on.

This past weekend, we put the finishing touches on some raw spots in the kitchen that have been waiting patiently since around Thanksgiving, and I'm so glad to say that pretty much pushed the kitchen into the 'finished' category. Yesssssssssssssssss.

When we bought this house, the kitchen was the dirtiest room in the house.

It also needed new floors, new back splashes, new paint, a new faucet, new light fixtures, some new cabinet knobs, the sink had to be re-set (it was being held up by the pipes, then later by some 2x4's) and all the counter tops had to be resealed and re-epoxied. Then we installed under- and over-cabinet lighting and filled a weird void in the cabinetry with a custom wine rack (handmade by my father-in-law).

Whew. So now you know why it's taken 6 months for another post showing off the house... and why it may be another little while before there's another finished space to share here. Ah well, no one can say we're slackin'.

Aaaaaaaaaand at least there's the kitchen.

My first ever hand-made Mother's Day gift from Audrey- a tiny
little bowl and plate, which holds my rings when I make bread

You've already met Scarlet

I can't even explain how satisfying it's been these last couple of days to make meals for my family in this space, all the while looking around at what we've done and remembering what it used to be. It's what makes DIY home renovation worth it, and oh mama, is it worth it!