Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Just a few shots to show you our post dinner faces.  All I wanted  was a quick photo to share our day with family but.....well, you can see that was difficult :).   This year is our first year celebrating Turkey Day away from all real family.  And we miss you and love you all. We are so very thankful for our Platt and Lawrence families, all of you.  And our friend family --there's too many  to name you all:).  You all make our lives happy.

Don't think lack of real family kept us from celebrating in true wonderful/wild family style.  Thanks to our awesome WI family we just got done with a seriously delicious dinner, lots of good convo (for mom and dad) and a heavy dose of loud and crazy running, wrestling and general having of fun (for Judd and Wren-a-len.)  There was a beautiful turkey, which tasted as good as it looked.  And SO much food (remind me to post a great stuffing recipe on here....my absolute fave).  It was such a good time we couldn't feel homesick a bit.

We hope you all had a happy day of Thanksgiving.  And in true thanksgiving day style here are just a few of the things we are thankful for.

Judd:  my toys and Starwars legos and legos (different kinds) and Starwars Wii and swordfighting
Wii

Wren: my talking baby I got for my birthday and talking baby and brother's birthday and that I can play with my babies and that I can play with babies today

Loni:  Steve, Judd, Wren, Baby #3, good food, the gospel, missions, bacon, ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips, and friends and family

Steve:  ??  We can guess but he's actually back at work so.....we know he's thankful though:)

New Babies

My little sister is due to have her first baby in just over a week.  I can hardly wait!!!

Just wanted to share the excitement:).

first day of Preschool

Judd's first day of Preschool.  (W had to put on her backpack,too.)

Grandma was visiting and got to make the drop off with us. 

Don't ask J to smile for a picture.....that is the face you'll get.

Our little man is in preschool!  And loving it.  Today he brought home a bat on a stick he had made.....its been the most popular toy at our house since.  It is a pretty neat school, I think.  Every week each child gets a special classroom job.  My favorite is the "journal" job.  The journal child has the job of sitting down with the teacher and explaining exactly what they did that day in their own words.  The teacher writes down exactly what they say and puts the journal where all the parents can see it at pickup time.  Its always a good read.  Judd's teacher sends home a weekly summary of what they are learning and has all kinds of small and large motor activities planned.

I went back and forth on whether this was the right time to start J in a real school. Its only twice a week for 2 1/2 hours and nothing too vigorous.  But I had a little voice in the back of my mind whispering all kinds of little anxious questions.  Is he too young?  Should I just try to do a joy school?  Is homeschooling the better option? (I honestly look up to the parents who homeschool.  I think its awesome but just don't know if I'm personally ready for the job.   There is a little guilt there, though....does anyone else feel the same?)  I went back and forth, even up to the morning I dropped my little man off.  When I got to that point I just couldn't bear to tell my guy that he couldn't go to school after all (he was beyond excited).  So I went home and made cookies (I want our family to have the first day of school tradition of milk and cookies waiting at home :)) We went and picked him up and over cookies he told us he loved his day and his teacher and that he had a special job in his class (he was the plant waterer).    He wasn't unsure or shy, he was so confident and happy.  And that did it for me.

And truly, this school has been a blessing for us.  Judd thinks school is awesome.  He makes all kinds of fun art projects that he brings home (where do I hang all these things.....).  They have taken him (in a real school bus, nonetheless!!) to a pumpkin patch and the fire station.  Wren and I made the trip to the pumpkin patch with him and had a great time.  And you know,  I have loved having a little "mommy school" time with Wren at home.  Its our little one and one time.   Plus we do do little shopping time without an excited/loud 4-year-old.

So, whew, motherhood for me has so many "I hope I'm doing the right thing" moments but I think in this case we did ok.  Anyway, Judd looks so cute in his backpack.

15 minutes and early Halloween kiddos!

Happy early Halloween from Darth Vader and Miss Strawberry!

Last Thursday we had a fun rotating Halloween party in our neighborhood. Each house had a different activity. Our kiddos got to decorated cookies, made magnets, played pumpkin bowling, read spooky stories, put together/just ate fun veggie animals, and, at our house, we got to have a jack-o-lantern scavenger hunt. It was, as Judders said, "The best day ever".

My favorite thing is watching the kiddos get so excited to dress up. I made my boys little cape (photo finish) the afternoon before the party and while I was helping him put it on Sister asked where her cape was. So, this morning, while Brother was at school, the Wrenner-babes and I made a strawberry cape. love it.

One of my favorite mommy blogs to read is 71toes.com. It inspires me to be a more present mother. love it.

So one of her recent posts was about how much time blogging takes. AMEN! I think that may be the main reason I don't do as much as I should.....especially with our family so far away. She decided to limit her blogging to 15 minutes a morning as a way to open up more time to be with her family. I saw that and a little lightbulb went off! Its Genius! Why have I never thought of just limiting the time so I don't spend forever posting and hating it?

So my friends, here we go. Let the 15 min blog experiment begin. or end. My 15 minutes is up :).

Amish friends

So I realize that a month has passed since I dangled that juicy little tidbit about our 'amish friends'. Well, the time has come for the whole fun story.

It starts with Loni wanting to dabble in the world of Community Shared Agriculture (see more on CSA here.) But once upon a time all the CSA boxes she could find cost more than she wanted to spend. Then one Saturday morning, Loni and Co. were wandering around the farmers market (one of Loni's most favorite hangouts) and there she found a golden sign and heard angels singing. Ok, no angels, but there was a handwritten sign on yellow paper that read "Ask about our CSA box." So I did. And the stand/farm owner just happens to be Amish and the CSA boxes they offer just happen to be inexpensive and full of beautiful heritage veggies.

We signed up for a whole year immediately and started getting boxes the first week in August. I love the veggies. We're talking, huge yellow, green, and red heritage tomatoes. Crispy green beans, picked that morning. Delicate little beets with the greens still on them (so yummy just boiled and finished with butter.....beet greens :)......yummmmm) Yukon potatos. Melons that I can't even identify. Brown speckled eggs. Fresh garlic--use with caution--EXTREMELY strong (the pesto we made from this stuff didn't just rock our socks, it blew them straight off and across the room). And most recently? Apples, homemade apple cider and --the very best of all--homemade brown bread and rolls.

All of it is so delicious but the coolest part? We are helping support little families just like ours. Our box comes from 2 farming Amish brothers. The brother we mostly talk to is the father of 6, his youngest was just born the end of August and is truly one of the sweetest people I've ever met. He's sincere and serious with hands stained by hard work and chat sprinkled with old-fashioned sayings. The whole interaction/delicious veggie experience is just delightful. Looking forward each Friday to picking up my CSA box has just made my summer. As it starts to get colder we'll only get our boxes ever 2 weeks but they'll be full of all kinds of root veggies, popcorn, herbs.....I'm so excited.

So the questions on my mind today is 'What will I get in my box?' and 'What kind of yummy things do I get to make this week?'

LOVE IT!

today's lazy goings ons

Don't you just get excited for fall? I do. That little bite in the air is so perfect.

I just spent the whole glorious afternoon outside chatting with good buddies and watching my kiddos play with friends.

I didn't wash my sink of dishes, clean my kitchen windows that bear the evidence of most of last weeks meals on them (thank you, Wrennie-babes), or work on the baby quilt. And I didn't even feel guilty. amazing. Maybe it was the mother's yoga class I went to today. seriously relaxing.

Now if I just had someone to whip up some kind of a dinner with the giant eggplant in my fridge (thank you, my Amish friends! .... more on that later). And, since we're dreaming here, if they could throw together some baked apples with cream for dessert that would be the perfect end to the perfect fall day.

What do you all love about fall? (You can see I'm just assuming everyone loves fall....how can you not?)

the hobstital

Yesterday Wren kept telling me she had ouchie on her foot like brother. After looking over both her feet I told her I couldn't find anything but she just kept insisting.

After looking at Wren's foot for the forth time she said to me "I haffa go a hobsital. See daddy." Ah ha.

So, I should mention that when Judd had his ER trip Stevo came down from his work (he was all caught up) and hung out with Judd and I. He was with us the whole time. When we were finally done we even went to lunch with him at the hospital cafeteria. Wren was staying with a friend of mine and didn't go.

I should also mention that Steve is on a Genereal Medicine rotation at the hospital. General Medicine=Lots of Work=We don't get to see him much.

I guess somebody misses their daddy a bit.

Pictures

Here's the foot injury! Poor guy! But don't feel too bad for him, its kinda exciting to have a big ouchie. Gotta milk it, you know. Lots of movies are being watched, ice cream is on its way and he still won't walk on it. (and no, we are not going to take the wrap off to show you the actual cut. That's gross, folks!)

Wren was loving that Judd was getting pictures taken. She kept saying, "And me, mom! and me, mom!" She's a silly girl but look at those cute pigtails poking out! Ok, She's the cutest.

Frequenting the ER

You know you're at my house if you have to sword fight your way through the front door, dodge flying missiles while trying to have a conversation, and "Hi-yah" is constantly warning you of incoming karate chops.

We have a full-time warriar/fighter-guy at our house. And he's very dedicated--for which we are grateful. We are well protected from poor sweet little girls who just want to play dolls and any of mommy's friends who just find it too hard to talk over constant battle. Thank heavens we don't have to worry about any of those threats.

Our fighter-guy, "Yoga" (as he calls himself if he's playing Star Wars), can take a good hard lightsaber thrust to the head and can wrestle/punch/shove (but NO biting!) with the best of the best but recently he has met his match on 2 different occasions in the last month. (He's pretty much wearing mommy out.) And the worst part? They weren't even when he was fighting.

Our most recent trip to the Emergency Room was yesterday. Judd stepped on something at the beach and now has a good inch and a half long cut on the bottom of his foot. It was cut at the river meaning no stitches because of the risk of infection. Boo.

And our earlier trip was due to the obligatory-childhood-cut-on-the-chin-from-falling-on-a-table injury. That one did get 4 stitches--resulting in some serious emotional scars. :)

I guess we officially have a real boy (or Wisconsin is way more dangerous then we prepared for). And we love every bit of him. Pictures to come!

Residency

We are officially headed to Wisconsin the 1st of July. And I'm currently shopping for some serious winter wear.

Change

I've been thinking a lot lately about improvement. Personal improvement to be exact. Do any of you have things about yourself you would like to change? I do. yes.

But you know what? I believe in change. REAL change.

I remember a conversation I had with my dad about change. The basic summation was that change, REAL change, is possible but not easy. In fact, I think the two main ingredients in real change are time and, because I believe in God, my Heavenly Father's help. It starts with a desire to do something different, usually involves messing up a few (ok, LOTS of) times and having to fight the temptation to just give up, and becomes finally becomes, as all good things do, work. Diligent, enduring work. Consistent work, to be that something different.

So how do you know if the change "took"? I mean, isn't the definition of change that you are in essence different. You no longer do what you did or want to do it. I have decided that only time will tell. And when I say time, i mean a life time. There is something about looking at a long positive tract record that really shows who and what you are.

What prompted all this thought? Well, it started with my reading of Louisa May Alcott's book "Little Men" and ended with me looking at myself (Little Women or really any of the books in that series always has a pretty similar effect on me. Try it--they're better than any self help book) And the result. I want to change. I want to be healthy, happy, rested, and better. Kinder. More thoughtful. I want to slow down and play with my kids. I want to really love them and teach them. I want to improve my little knowledge and talents. I want to be strong and supportive of my dear husband. I want to become the kind of person that is quietly serving and sees what needs to be done (thank you Tara for being such a great example of this to me!)

So, I've started my work and I feel good. Now come the diligence part. And sure, this is just now, the beauty of this life is in time, I will want to be better again. Hopefully,(and I do have hope) at that time, I will be building on the foundation I'm trying to lay now and not rebuilding it.

Well, moral of the story, I love LOVE getting inspired. No, even more specifically, I love encountering that spark of truly divine truth and goodness anywhere and enjoying the desire it gives me to truly change. It feels good.

Happy Valentines Day to you

Judd and Wren's Valentines....and the reason a good picture was impossible

Having so much fun with our toys

Finally got a Horray from Wren.....but Judd is still too into the firefighters.

I'm not that into Valentines day for myself. But I have to tell you, for my little ones we have had not just one day of love celebration but two. It is worth it though.

Judd blessed our lunch for us and included in his prayer, "and fanks for making cookies for our friends and for our sfecial Valentines breakfast and for our new toys." I think that just about covers all our fun things so far.

Tonight we have a Valentines party with some friends and their little ones. I'm hoping it makes it into the bedtime prayer :).

Happy Valentines to everyone! Sending our love to you!

Buzz and Bug

Cordially invite you to a delicious tea of plastic grapes and apples.

On any day of the week and at any moment.

Costumes requested.

my little wise man and angel

I was going through some pictures to make a post today (shocker, I know). This is clear back from Christmas.....(I know, I know. But c'mon. my last post is from Halloween.....)

We all had a fun Christmas Eve at Grandma Barbara's house. Aunt Mel organized a little nativity for the kiddos to act out. Judd and Wren were a wise man and an angel, respectively. I think I might have cried I was so proud. My kids are so sweet and beautiful. And really that's all I have to say about that.