Sitting on the Porch During a Sunset

The girls are in bed and i am sitting on a porch as the sun sets over the hill.  There is a cool breeze, but with my pajamas and a pair of socks, the temperature is just perfect.  I feel like i can finally relax now that the girls are down.  Camryn is going on three days with no naps.  We have kept her busy, which means TJ and I haven't had any down time either.  Camryn fell right asleep tonight, as did Jaelynne, but Camryn just awoke with a startle.  She needed some cuddles in order to settle back down.  I love Camryn cuddles.

I have been anticipating bedtime for the girls with great excitement.   I have been loving hanging out with them all day during vacation, seeing their pure joy, excitement and amazement as they have discovered new things, interacted with family, and gotten special treats.  But, we have been going non-stop, pushing them to their limits and they have withstood a great amount with little sleep.  They have been so patient and so kind.  Tomorrow we are going to have to take it easy, as i know Camryn is going to have a rough night.  She often does when she is so sleep deprived.  She will wake up upset.

We took the girls on a pontoon boat all day yesterday.  It was truly amazing to hang out with family on beautiful Torch Lake and giving them experiences that will help shape who they are and will make even more dendrite connect in their brain.  We are making memories, memories of the best kind.

Today we hung out in Traverse City and roamed around downtown, eating good food, and wandering into cute shops.  Jaely walked the entire time, except she rode on her papa's shoulders on the way back to our car.  She was a trooper.  Carmryn got so sick of sitting in the stroller, but didn't seem to mind while she was licking my ice cream.  TJ and i have had many date night/days in Traverse City.  Today was much different in good and bad ways.  Camryn has extend-o arms, which can swing out and grab anything.  She was a little tricky.  Jaely was really good at just pointing and not touching, but she got a little bored.  My favorite bookstore was our last destination, and it didn't go so well.  After putting Jaelynne in time out in the store, she continued to be a handful and Camryn was only happy if you kept moving her stroller, so it wasn't worth it.

Tonight, Angie and Matt made a fiesta dinner.  Jaelynne is discovering that they are "nice"  It is so nice to spend extended time with family, instead of just a few hours here and there.  It was so awesome food!

I love being a mom to our two girls and i love that i have a good team player in this parenting thing, but at times i just get tired.  Vacation is really not about relaxing anymore.  It is just doing the same thing in a different place.  Don't get me wrong, that is a good vacation.  I get tired of going through the motions at home all the time, but it really is evident when you are the only ones with kids.  We have to get four people ready for the beach, or the boat, or a day of shopping.  We can't just leave at a drop of a hat.  Angie and Matt were going for a night swim and invited us.  We have two girls who depend on us who are sleeping in the bedroom that we will also soon sleep in.  It is such a line to cross that no one fully realizes until they cross it.  Camryn still makes poopy diapers, snack still needs to happen, baths need to be given, and sippy cups filled.  But, it is done on gorgeous beaches and with family members or on the covered porch with a beautiful sight or on the sidewalk in downtown Travers City.

And then, after i relax, I can hardly wait to sneak into the bedroom and stare at my beautiful daughters sleeping so peacefully, like little angels.  I love being a mom.

Asking for Help

I am so hoping I get enough donors!  I am excited about the possibilities for my classroom!  Check it out here.

Pink Impatiens

Sometimes carrying on traditions almost seem like an obligation, but most times they feel like a privilege.  This year, we decided not to do hanging baskets this summer.  We are going to be gone a lot this summer, and baskets cannot take the negligence.  We did get a few annuals for some pots that sit out where the rain can at least get them.  I slipped out of the house, got my gardening gloves on and armed myself with a shovel.  I immediately saw Jaely watching me out of the living room window, so i motioned for her to join me.  Her face lit up.  She ran to get her flip flops and showed up in her dress with a smile on her face.

Once she got outside, we got her little gardening kit and put her gloves on.  We could only find one and she was okay with that because it was her left hand that we had.  She picked up her shovel and was ready to help.  She wanted to help get the "sol" out of the giant bag that was as tall as she was.  She learned why we put a wood chip or rock over the hole in the bottom of the pot and why the pots even have holes in the first place.  She learned how to make a little hole in the rich, black "sol" and how to tap the bottom to get the plant out of the plastic holder.  She learned how to pat and gently push and how the smaller plants go in the front and how it is nice to have something to hang off the side.  Jaely really wanted a little pot of pink impatiens that she could call her own, so she got one.  I realized how causally i was able to throw around names of flowers like my mom did- "the Nicotania is taller so we are going to want to put that towards the back."  That means Jaely, too will know names of flowers just by being in the garden with me.  She will pick up on those names.

I remember doing these same things with my mom.  In fact, I am stuck on pink impatiens because of my mother.  Other colors are not even an option.  She (and later, i) would fill her whole center garden with pink impatiens.  They would surround her silver/pink peonies and roses as they filled the whole garden that wrapped around three trees.  They filled in wonderfully as a perfect shady/sunny garden spot.  I weeded with my mom, planted flowers, transplanted, divided, pruned, and watered with and for my mom.  

So, you can understand my delight as my oldest daughter's enthusiasm to come and help her mom plant flowers overflowed from her body.  I have traditions to pass down, like pink impatiens.

Nicotania, potato vine, coleus, pink impatiens, geranium

basil & rosemary

Jaelynne's perfect pot of pink impatiens

no hanging baskets = more annuals in the ground. . . pink impatiens

our boxwood need pruning badly. . . anyone know anything about this?

Day lilies are the perfect maintenance free flower to cover the garage wall.  Getting ready to pop!

LOVE my clematis this year!  It is a thing of beauty!

Bell flowers have started to bloom in the rock garden

Creeping Jenny is doing too much creeping.  Time to pull it back from my peony and mum

Hardy geranium- one of my favorite perennials.  Thanks Kathleen!

Gardening

After the girls went down, i headed out to weed, preen, and water.  I am so at peace in my garden.  I enjoy getting sweaty, seeing immediate results of weeding, and feeling dirt under my nails.  I cannot wait to plant the few flowers that we got at weesies today.  I worked a lot in the front, too.  I needed to weed and rake a bit. 

I would have loved to garden with my mom today like i used to.  She would have liked to visit us and after hugging the girls, i am sure she would head out to check out the garden.  That was the first place she used to show visitors who came to our house.

Happy Birthay, Gail

Gail turned 60. We couldn't let this birthday pass without a big celebration! I often look back and thank God for gail- for so many reasons, but the one that often comes to my mind is that God knew i would still need a mother in my life after he took my own. I need one during pregnancies, births, child rearing, and amazing sales and clearances! He put her in my life for that very reason and although i deeply miss my mom, i couldn't imagine my life without gail. The hole would be much larger and harder to deal with if it wasn't for gail. You don't get to pick your mother-in-law. She just kind of comes with the husband, but i am so blessed that TJ's mom is awesome. It could have been so bad, but instead it was such a good thing!
I LOVE you, gail! And although i don't call you "mom" you are one to me and for that i am so very thankful. After six years of calling you "gail" i just couldn't switch what i called you that easily.
We love you for you and that is why you are so worth celebrating!

Jaelynne was so excited to celebrate Nammy's birthday.







TJ started cooking in the kitchen at 11:30 and didn't stop cooking until 6:30. Then it was clean-up!


The girls had so much fun on lori and trevor's bed.




Such giggling and smiles!


A dress is for twirling!




Jaelynne playing with her uncle Matt.


Camryn loves shoes. She wanted to try them all on.

The food was amazing! Good job, TJ!


Camy was hungry so i got her started right away.







Time to play Bunco. .. gail's request!

Jaelynne getting very sleep, so she went to snuggle on the couch with her uncle trevor





Jaely was really excited to give Nammy her bracelet.