Isn't she lovely....

Eve has lived and breathed and moved and had her being here on this side of heaven for over 377 days. She is sprouting new feathers of hair on her head, taking 7 steps at a time, clapping, praising herself, shouting "I didit!", laughing, taking interest in baby-dolls and eating cheese stix. She Loooooooves music and dancing and eating legos. (who doesn't!?) jk, mom.

She is also the muse for my attempt to make children's clothing: Eve. In such a short time, you are *so* much to us.

So looooong Suckers!!

So, our oldest son, Jackson- (age 5) started Kindergarten this year. Like any mother I felt a certain level of responsibility to walk him thru all the emotions that might come with such a huge transition. I would find myself probing for emotions leading up to the actual day; I'd say things like :"So, ... how are feeling about school?..." Jack: "Good." Period. The end. Nothing further. And I didn't want to MAKE UP emotions for him to feel, ... I just wanted to help him process them.

Well, the day DID come- and Jackson looked ready: Lunchbox, back-pack, clean outfit, new socks, and some shiney Iron man velcro shoes. (I was pining for the blue canvas LEVI sneakers- but Iron Man won out, ... )

Brian was gearing up the car to take him the 14 minute drive across town, and I wanted one last hug- which Jack obliged. I sat on the couch waving as he walked out the backdoor, ... then in one last swoop - he opened the door, gave an exaggerated-hearty wave and shouted: "SO LOOOOONG SUCKERS!!!" and quickly vanished.

I laughed so hard I almost left a wet spot on the couch. Here I am, prepared to comfort a sullen child- ,... not once did I really prepare myself for the kid who takes it by the horns. That's our Jack- taking life by the horns.

Bigger Pictures

Had the Bigger Munchkins pay us a visit while in town recently. Man, alive. Love those kids- sweet enough to eat!

barrettes

Yep. She's sporting a barrette. How can one little peice of metal transform an infant into a little girl with a peachy face!? Oh, ... eve. Ohhhhhh. Eve.

summer kiddie pics- for grandpa and grandma knapp

The sun found all our kids this summer; Jack and Em running against the wind with moppy, beachy, sun-scorched hair, and Ryland recently shorn (from certain "pedro" syndrome) Eve sported her first barrette, and her first bathingsuit.
Jackson has found his boyancy working to his advantage in the pool as he has learned to swim, dive, float and rage around like a shark in the water. Emerson is well on his way - close behind- ready to take on the world of water.
Ryland now has a healthy fear of water (no holds-bar for him in any type of adventure) but after stepping into the deep end of the pool a couple of times and being snatched out (very immediately) I think he's done the math- and frequents the shallow end now.
Eve is amazing. period.
We had a blast on the river in WV- canoeing , kayaking, swimming, building sandcastles, playing with dogs, throwing sticks, roasting marshmallows, -

Now - just settling in. love you.

Trying our hand at...

So, it's the limbo of spring, when you never know whether to wear longsleeve thermals or flippy-flops, ... so i usually just wear both.

Aside from building our "L" shaped raised bed for our vegetable, herb, and flower garden this year we've been blustering about in our basement, making "stations" for our potting, germination, and irrigation of all the seeds we've taken under wing to nurture and hopefully see grow. Still too cold outside to release them into the wild, but I *have* concocted a "potion" of sorts in preparation for keeping our squirrel friends off our beloved vegggggg.

:1 gal H2O to 6 capfuls of Murphy's wood cleaning solution, to 2 TLBSPN Cayenne pepper. Doesn't hurt the plants and electrocutes the squirrels taste buds long enough to keep them out of the garden. Here's some before pictures (which I'm praying will be followed up with some very green and colorful "after" pictures in 10-12 weeks)

Play Room On-goings

This last week has been a paint swirling whirlwind of room face-lift extravaganza. Dustan and Betsy have thrust their stake in the ground here at our home. (almost quite literally). Sawing, cutting, scraping, gluing, painting, climbing... this may as well have been OUR very own clubhouse. After several nights of working until crazy hours (for this old bag of bones anyway) and going to bed intoxicated by paint vapors, and tripping over ladders to get there- we have nearly finished this fantasy world of a room for our kids!! Just wanted to throw some of our recent pics up on the screen so everyone we ditched to get this done feels a sense of "at least it wasn't for nothin' ..."

And now, ... everyone can come and PLAY!!!

And if you're wondering if my kids are in their underwear.... well, yes, - they are. But it's actually their costume of choice as of late if that makes it any better. You can't show off all your bulging muscles in a shirt, and apparently you are not a true warrior unless you have bum-hugging shorts to wear while practicing moves. So- don't let the white, pastey, lanky legs and barely-there chests subtract from the world we created for these little muscles to live in. Look at the walls! Look at the TREEHOUSE!! Look at the stage!!! (complete with chalkboard paint for drawing their own backgrounds....)

Spit up on my sweatshirt

I get spit up on,... every day. Not just once a day, ... consecutively and consistently through out the day. So, I dress accordingly. I live most of my day in the scrub-dubbiest of clothes that I own, hair slung back in a ponytail, and layered shirts, so I can peel one off after it's been marked with cottage-cheese chunks. I really despise the stereo-type of "mother of four"- but I can't get around it. There's no point buying great clothes only to ruin them. So, I'm just embracing this season of bodily functions and fluids and not even glancing in the rear view mirror of trendy-days. My day will come, and a few days inbetween where I clean up real nice-like. But, ... just putting it out there; it's a pointless pressure for me to look great all the time. Blah. And if you're reading this and you have kids, ... you shouldn't either. Your day will come. Until then, enjoy all the messiness that life offers you in this season: baking with your kids, eating what you bake with your kids, painting projects, offering a hand to your teething baby- ... just let the drool coat your arm (it's probably as good for your skin as aloe)...