So here's the deal, I am still on the outs with social media. It just feels sad to post my little bit of happy or funny where I don't want it to be, amidst a lot of other "stuff". It just doesn't feel like it used to and that makes me sad. I mean, I prefer blogs but I also really have enjoyed having a quick and easy place to put things that might remind me what we were up to, what makes us laugh and what frustrates us. It also really frustrates me because it means that never will there be a tidy little shelf in my family room where all of our dearest family memories are in matching books of consistent size or type....I'm not going to let on how annoying that is to me because you might just realize how crazy I truly am.
I suppose one will just have to go from blog book, to chat book, back to blog book then hologram? Who knows. In any case, I have tried to be a little more consistent with keeping up on our documenting so "blog" has been on my to do list for several weeks.
Imagine my surprise then, when I finally sit down to catch up and realize that in the last three months there is very little to catch up on.
But here's what I can say, Virginia has amazing sunsets. Most of the year when skies are open we get fantastic views in the evening. I love and appreciate how many members of my family are willing to jump up and step outside when someone notices how amazing it is.
Home church. It's a 2020 thing. It's been really good in a lot of ways. It has also made us very lazy in our commitment to dressing up in our "sunday best". Most Sundays it means sweats under our dresses or sweatshirts on top. And forget about hair getting done and shoes are entirely discouraged. We have been back to the church building only a couple of times...is that what it feels like to only go on Easter and Christmas? I do appreciate making our family room into our little sanctum once a week at least, despite the number of bare feet and dogs present. Rocket's spirituality is going to suffer greatly when we go back to church in person.
January had me cleaning out and organizing ALL the things. I had a bee in my bonnet about getting the house in order and by golly, did I ever. I cleaned out and organized every cupboard and closet including unloading a ton of clothes, games and other misc items to goodwill. I had maybe one or two areas left on the list and as soon as February 1st hit, it was like the "gift" was gone. No more motivation or energy to keep it up. Which is tragic because most of those areas, you can't even tell what was done a month ago. It is the weight that a true Type A carries all their life.
We finally got rid of some of the bigger items too, that have been taking up too much space. They were things that were still worth something and so we ended up selling them, including two small birdcages, a bookshelf, the huge sectional couch and the trusty recliner. The recliner was difficult because we have had it since Haley was born. It was purchased for the purpose of rocking my baby and rocking my babies it did, every single one of them. I was so grateful that after a couple of buyers fell through, it ended up going to a single mother expecting her first baby. I may or may not have cried a little driving it to our rendevouz spot.
Even though its not quite fair, I have a bajillion pictures of Ezra on my phone. Mostly because A) he is always lurking somewhere very close by B) he is hilarious and C) teenagers are finicky about their Moms talking about them to the world wide web. The sad thing is, they are ALL super cute and funny and frustrating. Maybe I should start an anonymous account where I post everything and anything I want with their faces blurred to protect the innocent (even though NONE of them are innocent.)
Then it snowed. Just once really. It stayed for a day or two. We have had hardly any snow in the last couple of years. I would be a lot more content with all this cold weather if there was beautiful snow outside and a cozy fire inside.
This is the dirt mountain. It sits on the edge of a huge construction zone just outside of our neighborhood. The boys love to play at the dirt mountain and so we do. We put on our boots and walk to where they can play and jump and get horribly dirty like little kids should. I will be sad when the dirt mountain is gone. Where will we go then?
Ezra found a "dinosaur egg" at the dirt mountain and decided he needed to carry all ten pounds of it home with us. So we wrapped it in Haleys jean jacket and took turns carrying it.
I was caught off guard with Ezra losing his first two teeth. Some of my kids have hung on to their teeth for so long, this kid made it easy. Haley and Jonah will cry and sob and act like I am trying to cut off one of their fingers but Ezra was like "it hurts so just try two more times really hard" and boom, they were out.
I don't have any before and after pictures but Clark and I have been educating ourselves on fruit trees this year. Our own fruit trees are suffering and we are determined to have a thriving orchard in our backyard eventually. The farm has well over 100 blueberry bushes that were badly in need of pruning so pruning we have done. And pruning and pruning and pruning. After several trips out there, we still only accomplished getting about half of them done. They are old and huge and just overwhelming. Also, the weather was so nice I had to wear short sleeves and they tore up my arms. These scratches don't even touch the bruise I have on my hip right now though. I fell playing pickle ball last week and it looks like a sunset of colors. It's so incredible that I have been taking daily pictures and sending them to all who won't be offended by my white stretch-marked thigh.
And more pictures of the small one. He has grown so much this year that nothing fits. I have bought hardly anything for the boys to wear. I took Jonah out in public a few weeks ago to get new glasses and getting him dressed in an actual outfit that wasn't soccer pants and a t shirt, proved to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. It looks like we might need a little shopping spree when the world opens back up again. That is, if we decide to ever venture out to do stuff as often as we used to.
