Momentums

I'll start this post with a little story, that happened years ago, sometime after learning to drive but before being married...

I am one of SIX children and we all lived at home together for a period of time before we began dispersing. Most Saturdays we spent some quality time cleaning the house and preparing for the Sabbath. It was a busy, crazy day as you can imagine with all of us home and working to some degree or another.

One time during the cleaning and organizing, my dad told us to go through stuff and see what we could pass on or get rid of. He said, "just pick out your favorite MOMENTUMS to save." WHAT? Momentums? After a couple of giggles on our part (our duty, as teenagers) we said, "Do you mean MEMENTOS?" Yes, yes he did...

Over the years that has taken on fond memories and as I de-junk and organize my house, I make sure to save my most special MOMENTUMS and I ALWAYS think of that story about my dad.

These shells are "momentums" that we gathered at the Oregon Coast last summer. They sit in my kitchen windowsill and they bring peaceful times to mind. They remind me of hours on the beach with family. They remind me that my kids will have MOMENTUMS too and we are building those MOMENTS right now!

Sam

Sam had his birthday a month ago and I am just now downloading the pics. He loved having family over for his party and eating cake and opening packages.

He had his two year well check up. He is healthy and growing and did quite well at his appointment. He was 36 1/2in. tall which keeps him above the 90% still and the BIG news was that he finally crawled out of the 25% for weight and came in at 29 lbs. which put him all the way in the 50%. He is STILL long and lean!

Also, remember this CRAZY hair? We have loved it all summer and received many comments on how BLONDE he is, some have said it kind of glows (mostly because his skin is so brown and his eyes are so dark). His daddy called him his "surfer dude" but with the change of seasons also came a haircut.

This is Sam sporting his new "do". I cut it (don't look too closely) and I tried to leave it a little longer because it is so cute. It cuts down on the maintenance--it takes a long time to comb "bedhead" out with all that long hair.

If You Give A Mommy A Minute

This photo of me as I approach 34 weeks, is included for a friend, who asked...

If You Give A Mommy A Minute (alone)

If you give a mommy a minute (alone) she might decide to get on the computer and do some exploring on Facebook.

Once the mommy gets on Facebook, she might remember her dear friend Danena, whom she has long since lost contact with but still thinks about.

While she is there in the quiet, she will probably try ONE MORE time to Google her friend and see if she has any more luck than the last few times.

Once she hits enter, a name and address will pop up for her friend and that will make her so excited that she will grab the phone and call her, RIGHT THEN!

While calling, she might be a little nervous, because it has been AT LEAST 8 years since she has talked to her friend.

When Danena answers, the sound of her voice will take the mommy right back in time to when they USED to talk all the time.

During their talk, they will discover all of the NEW things that they have in common, nowadays, such as 4 year olds and 2 year olds and pregnancy.

This talking will then bring back all the fun times that they had together. The shopping, and double dates, movie nights, cookie making, wedding planning etc.

The mommy will feel so happy that she looked up her old friend, that she will decide to pull out some photos and reminisce.

She will decide that these photos and memories deserve a spot on her blog and THAT will lead her RIGHT BACK to her computer during her

NEXT QUIET MOMENT (alone)

School Time

Last week we started Preschool. I say "we" because we are in our second year of doing a Co-Op Preschool. Last year we had 5 kids, including Stella and this year we have grown to 7 kids. Stella has been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks, ever since the neighbor kids started boarding the school bus. She looks forward to the days when she will ride a school bus. From her bedroom window she can watch the busses in the neighborhood come and go and she keeps track of which friends are home from school.
We had school at our house last week. I'm not sure, but I think that I have as much fun as she does! I love to plan and prep for the two days of learning and fun and see the kids smiling little faces when they accomplish their "projects". Of course, we used glitter, because I am such a fan!
They had fun getting to know each other again, and meet new kids and make new friends. It is amazing how much they have grown up since last year.

This is Stella during school, thrilled with the hat that she made and giggling with her friends. You can't beat a happy face like that!

As fun as it is at our house, she has been thrilled this week to go to someone else's house. We look forward to another great Preschool year.

Accomplishment

We have planted a garden that is big enough to feed three families!! We eat all that we can, take it to neighbors and then usually still have produce rotting on the ground. This year I finally followed though on my thoughts to PRESERVE or can some of our goods.

I have done some canning in the past, with my mom to show me how. I have never attempted on my own, at our house, to bottle anything. I learned from an Enrichment class how to bottle tomatoes and so began the process.

I picked a 4 gallon bucket of tomatoes one day and put them in my sink so that I would be forced to do SOMETHING with them. KC was a great sport and we stood together at the sink and peeled tomatoes two different nights after the kids were in bed. As we stood there one night, he said, " It feels like we're in an episode of Frontier House!"

Now, while we don't really expect a filming crew to show up tomorrow and document our back to basic living, I did have to agree with him. Though people have been doing this for decades, and we certainly aren't the only people to be doing this now, we felt rather pioneer-ish. It was pioneering for US.

I feel a good sense of accomplishment as I put those bottles on my storage shelves and know that we did it! Bits of my garden, in bottles, on my shelves for use all winter long. Also, REAL admiration for those before us, who preserved ALL of their food for the winter!

The funniest thing

Today was lawn mowing day. It takes me about an hour to get the job done. Luckily for me, it has cooled down enough that it is not a terrible task. The kids play in the yard while I mow and the dog, Sherman, follows me around hoping I'll stop and play fetch with him.

After the mowing was done. I quickly washed the grass off my shoes and socks and then took them off and left them by the back door. The kids and I went back inside to get some breakfast going. We had been in only a few minutes when I see Sherman bolt across the yard with a white thing in his mouth.

I run out there to stop him, muttering "stupid dog" the whole way. I tell him "NO" and send him to his kennel to be punished and then retrieve my socks and shoes from under the trampoline (his favorite stashing spot).

When I came back inside Stella asked, "What did he get THIS time?"
I said, "Just my socks, and I got them back."
She replied, "Wanna send 'em to Goodwill?'
I said, " What, the socks?"
She looked at me completely serious and said, " NO, SHERMAN!"

I was so startled that laughed and replied, "Sometimes, I want to sweetie!"

Projects

I think it's official... I'm in nesting mode. I've been making list and checking them twice. All the projects that have been in need of doing (or finishing) since Sam was born are coming to the top.

We have moved into new houses during both of my other pregnancies, right around the half way point. It has always given me enough time to unpack the necessary things and hang a few things on the wall (20 weeks, I know, I'm slow). The remainder of the things--probably unnecessary have just gathered in the garage. Now, two years later I am pregnant and we are NOT moving. So, what better to do than take action on the garage. Three car garage, surely we should be able to park at least ONE car in there. I am glad to say we have reduced the amount of boxes by about 20, still a ways to go, but there is a light at the end of our tunnel--Oh wait, maybe it's the day light of the garage door--hmmm, never seen that before!

Also, I've been wanting to paint the family room, I'm tired of the flat paint and it's unwashability! I bought paint and showed it to Dear Hubby and he informed me that painting wasn't really on HIS list of projects and to have fun! Of course, on Saturday when I started painting and pulled out a step ladder, he wasn't about to let me climb on that thing....and he started painting all the edges, high and low. What a guy! He even let Stella have her MUCH desired turn at painting. He has far more patience than mommy does!