Sunday Stroll...
The house smells like heaven right now. The potato's cooking in the oven are just starting to crisp up and brown around the edges. I can actually smell the Lavender and Rosemary, and thyme from the Herbs de Provence seasoning. We have been eating leftover calzones and Chicken Tortilla soup for the last week, so I'm making Josh something special tonight for dinner. Chicken Cordon bleu. Noah will not touch it, and Liam has been on a chicken boycott for months now. Don't ask - We can't figure it out. What is wrong with these children of mine ? Liam likes cheeseburgers, but other than that, I think the kid could be a vegetarian. He gets that from me. I can never get enough veg.
I finished up on Liam's little "Branch" vest for Halloween. It turned out so cute. Although I may have to have a skin graft from all the hot glue gun burns on my fingers. The things we do for our children ! Once we decided what he was going to be, I started looking online for Troll wigs and costumes. I found them of course on Amazon. But I thought... I want to make the vest and I can improvise everything else. As you know, I waited until the last minute to go "wig" shopping and just as I anticipated, they were all out. So, I decided on this gray Albert Einstein looking wig and some funky ears I was going to try to make into trolls ears. I was not happy, but had only myself to blame. The other night at dinner I told Josh that I was thinking about just returning the "second rate" wig and ears to the Halloween store, and ordering something online and have it shipped priority. He said "Do it ! " . Then he got online, and found the exact costume I was thinking of buying, at the Target here in town. One more left ! He grabbed his keys and flew like the wind. My hero !! He saved the Halloween costume day ! Of course the quality is still crap, but at least Liam will have a proper Troll wig and cute big floppy troll ears. Branch at your service. If you haven't seen the movie Trolls, you should. It is so cute and Liam knows every.single.line to the movie. What movie do you want to watch tonight Liam ? Trolls ! Every time ! It is so much fun to watch him, watch the movie. He pauses every other second to catch the characters in a funny face. He cracks himself up. He sings all the songs and does all the dances. He is my movie buff. Just like mommy. Now... onto making Noah's big green lego ! Shouldn't be too hard, and zero hot glue gun burns ! I hope-
Speaking of Noah... I am in love with that picture of him above. The picture right below the one of him sitting down not looking at me-Although I love that one too. The one of him smiling SO big. Noah is in a, "oh you want me to look at the camera and smile ? Okay, I'll just look the other direction" phase. It is so maddening when we are trying to get a good shot. But, as I was walking down the sidewalk to where he was, I caught him laughing, and just as he looked at me, I clicked the button. I captured that big, beautiful, genuine smile of his. His eyes are lit up and he looks so happy. Noah is going through something. Just an immature phase. Like all boys/men *wink* . He will burst out with a loud voice or noise or say something inappropriate (nothing bad, just more of a where did that come from type thing). Noah and I have a very special relationship. We are so very close. But we also know exactly how to push each others buttons. When I am lacking patience, he knows how to push me over the edge. So we have been struggling a little lately. There are days when I have all the patience in the world and can deal with his moods, and then there are other days, when I turn to Josh with that look of... YOUR son... etc. But... I know it's just a phase. He is so mature in other ways, even emotional. He feels things so deeply. He is a good boy and every day I don't think I can love him any more than I do... and then I realize... Oh yes. I can.
On Sunday, the boys got up early, as usual and headed to Davis Donuts. This has become a Sunday tradition. It started when we first moved to CDA. Josh would, once a month or so, take the boys to get donuts on Sunday morning. Then once a month turned into every Sunday. The boys love it and get so excited on Saturday night because they know they will be going to get donuts with their dad in the morning. The people know them by name at the bakery. I love that ! I rarely go because I sleep in on the weekends (ahhhh...heaven ). But I have gone a few times. It's nice to let the employees see that these boys actually DO have a mother and Josh, a wife. This tradition has become very important to all of my boys. Josh looks forward to it just as much as Noah and Liam. I hope they continue this tradition, even as they grow. And I hope Noah and Liam carry this tradition on with their children. I think it is such a sweet thing for father and sons to do. And... when I got up (not too late I might add ), I suggested we all go for a walk around the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous day and I wanted to breathe in all that fall air. We all got bundled up, I grabbed the camera and we took off to walk around, slowly meandering, up and down the streets. I love our neighborhood. Every street is lined with so many different types of trees. We always say how blessed we are to live in a "forest neighborhood". It has been raining leaves here lately and I can not get enough of it. The weather channel has threatened snow by Thursday. Noooooooooooooooo ! I want fall to last a little longer. The roads all through town and the neighborhoods have sheets of leaves on them. It is so beautiful. Josh raked up the backyard leaves the other day into a small pile. The boys were in heaven. Backing up... getting a running start and then.... launching themselves into the air, landing on the big pile of copper and ruby colored leaves. (pictures will come later ) . I sat on the couch Sunday, reading and drinking my morning coffee, and I couldn't take my eyes off of our front yard tree. It is so big with branches that hang down, almost touching the ground. The leaves were literally falling like rain drops. It was memorizing. What a good morning that was.
As the weather turns colder, I have mixed feelings. My favorite seasons never seem to last long enough. Spring. New life being unearthed. Never seems to be with us long before the summer heat beats down on us. And Fall... crunching leaves and warm drinks and cobblers and beautiful gray foggy days. I could live in a permeant fall ! I would be so happy if it was fall... forever. But at the same time.... as the months pass by, I am so excited for Christmas this year. We are headed to Michigan to see my family. Josh is so blessed to live semi close to his family. We see them more often. That is the way it is...geographically. I have to tell myself this or I will be moping around all the time. I love to see his family, but I miss mine terribly. It hurts my heart. So, every other year, we spend the Christmas holiday with my family. I can not wait to cook, and laugh, and take walks through the woods, and go to the beach, all bundled up, breathing in the lake air. I can't wait to see the cousins play together and hear them all giggle and wrestle on the floor. They get on so well together. In this life we all live, family is everything . Nothing else matters as much as loving each other and taking care of each other. And knowing without a doubt that someone has our back. Always and always !
On Sunday, the boys got up early, as usual and headed to Davis Donuts. This has become a Sunday tradition. It started when we first moved to CDA. Josh would, once a month or so, take the boys to get donuts on Sunday morning. Then once a month turned into every Sunday. The boys love it and get so excited on Saturday night because they know they will be going to get donuts with their dad in the morning. The people know them by name at the bakery. I love that ! I rarely go because I sleep in on the weekends (ahhhh...heaven ). But I have gone a few times. It's nice to let the employees see that these boys actually DO have a mother and Josh, a wife. This tradition has become very important to all of my boys. Josh looks forward to it just as much as Noah and Liam. I hope they continue this tradition, even as they grow. And I hope Noah and Liam carry this tradition on with their children. I think it is such a sweet thing for father and sons to do. And... when I got up (not too late I might add ), I suggested we all go for a walk around the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous day and I wanted to breathe in all that fall air. We all got bundled up, I grabbed the camera and we took off to walk around, slowly meandering, up and down the streets. I love our neighborhood. Every street is lined with so many different types of trees. We always say how blessed we are to live in a "forest neighborhood". It has been raining leaves here lately and I can not get enough of it. The weather channel has threatened snow by Thursday. Noooooooooooooooo ! I want fall to last a little longer. The roads all through town and the neighborhoods have sheets of leaves on them. It is so beautiful. Josh raked up the backyard leaves the other day into a small pile. The boys were in heaven. Backing up... getting a running start and then.... launching themselves into the air, landing on the big pile of copper and ruby colored leaves. (pictures will come later ) . I sat on the couch Sunday, reading and drinking my morning coffee, and I couldn't take my eyes off of our front yard tree. It is so big with branches that hang down, almost touching the ground. The leaves were literally falling like rain drops. It was memorizing. What a good morning that was.
As the weather turns colder, I have mixed feelings. My favorite seasons never seem to last long enough. Spring. New life being unearthed. Never seems to be with us long before the summer heat beats down on us. And Fall... crunching leaves and warm drinks and cobblers and beautiful gray foggy days. I could live in a permeant fall ! I would be so happy if it was fall... forever. But at the same time.... as the months pass by, I am so excited for Christmas this year. We are headed to Michigan to see my family. Josh is so blessed to live semi close to his family. We see them more often. That is the way it is...geographically. I have to tell myself this or I will be moping around all the time. I love to see his family, but I miss mine terribly. It hurts my heart. So, every other year, we spend the Christmas holiday with my family. I can not wait to cook, and laugh, and take walks through the woods, and go to the beach, all bundled up, breathing in the lake air. I can't wait to see the cousins play together and hear them all giggle and wrestle on the floor. They get on so well together. In this life we all live, family is everything . Nothing else matters as much as loving each other and taking care of each other. And knowing without a doubt that someone has our back. Always and always !
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