Any Similar Revival

I think this is the first time I’ve ever gardened in February. Monday was warm and sunny, and I cleaned out my front bed. Tuesday was winter again. Then spring came back on Wednesday afternoon, and I finished the front bed and started digging out the purple cone flowers and black-eyed Susans that have seeded themselves all over the place and are taking over. And today, it is winter again. I have all sorts of grand schemes for the garden this year, as usual. My biggest scheme is the one where I plan to keep up with everything through the whole summer instead of throwing in the towel in early July and letting the jungle take over. I am full of good intentions in early March, sitting at my computer with tea and a lap quilt. Garden brain. Sigh.

And since posts without pictures are kind of sad, here are some recent pages.

Or trying to be, at least. The impulse comes and goes, and sometimes, the creative juice I need doesn’t coincide with the desire. But I get some done, nonetheless.

Ha, I guess I’ve really been loving that marker-stroke alphabet!

Not a whole lot going on around here in the way of outings and events and big deals. Just playing and tea parties and baking and puttering about the house and yard. Wanna see?

Here are some recent pages, since I’m the worst blogger in the world.

We found Ada 13 years ago, abandoned at a gas station in the middle of the night. She was a sweet, affectionate cat. Always looking for a lap to snuggle on, a chin to head-butt, a dog to rub her face on. We were never sure exactly how old she was, but always figured she was around the same age as Emma, who is 14. I think she was probably much older, though. We loved her, and we’ll miss her.

Happy New Year! I love January and the feeling of a fresh start that comes with it. We’ve had a full week of people we love and fun things to do, a great way to start 2012!

First, Chad’s parents were here for a few days, and Aiden had fun bossing Grandpa and Grandma around.

We also had our first big snow of the winter, of which we took full advantage. First, we put the kid to work with his new shovel:

And then we went sledding:

He is trying to push me around on the sled here:

Then we had “The Lotion Incident”

Yeah, the lotion is off-limits now. (“but Mommy, I only used as much as my thumb, like Auntie told me!” Hmmm, some miscommunication there.)

Yesterday, we had fun hanging out with some friends, and I got to take pictures of beautiful baby M on a furry pillow.

Hello, Gorgeous!

A good week to start the year! It’s been sunny here for the past few days, which does wonders for my spirits. I’m thinking I have a bit of Seasonal Affective Disorder, because I get quite cast-downish when it’s grey for too many days in a row.

How did your first week of 2012 go?

That is Aiden’s favorite line in his favorite Christmas carol.  He is quite enamored of carols this year, and has several memorized. He bursts into them frequently, at full volume, with great gusto. He totally charmed the lady at the grocery store by singing (after a fun rendition of Rudolph) “Hark the Herald” and “Away in a Manger.” She was a bit misty-eyed afterwards. Anyways, I know it’s been quiet around here on the old blog lately, but I have a few pictures to share. Merry Christmas! I wish you all a bit of Christmas magic this year.

Yes, that is s’more trail on his face. Homemade marshmallows make AWESOME s’mores!

Still recovering from the feast last night. (And the late night Wal-mart fiasco for Legos. But that’s another post altogether.)

It was cold, but beautiful. Winnie-ther-Pooh was hot the whole time, of course. (Don’t you know what ther means?)

It’s been a good month, albeit a very rainy one! We’ve had lots of trips to the county parks this month, going on nature hikes and riding a big-boy bike for miles on end. We’ve had a lot of fun inside too, playing and learning with friends, enjoying the first fireplace blaze of the season, reading books, and baking lots of goodies. I never want October to end.

to finally get my nose pierced. Dad, I’m sorry if you’re freaking out.

But I LOVE it.

Click on a pic to view larger.

Sometimes, preschool is more fun for the mommies than for the kids. Sarabeth and I laugh about this all the time as we’re painting salt dough pumpkins and throwing leaves at each other while our children play with toys or watch us with bemused expressions. We went to the pumpkin patch last week, to Ramseyer Farm. The mamas were all really happy to be at this farm, because they have acres of pumpkin fields, dotted orange and green, and it’s just really cool and fun! ALL of our children, however, had taken crabby pills that morning, so it was kind of a struggle to convince them that this was supposed to be, um, FUN. I only took pics of the happy parts.

That really BIG pumpkin? That’s mine. (Nobody is surprised by this). It weighs 47.5 lbs, and I lifted it all by myself. At $0.25/ lb, it cost me $11.75. Which isn’t a bad deal for a monster pumpkin that is almost as tall as me when I am sitting down. I also hefted a 50 lb bag of potatoes into my trunk. The bag is also as big as my pumpkin.