Nina's tulip patch

Nina's hard work paid off this weekend as her little patch of tulips and daffodils unfolded. She was so pleased to see all the flowers come to life! The beauty of the natural world is such a powerful reminder that God is involved in the details, both great and small, of our lives. If so much care and thought is given to even the tiniest flower, how much must he care about the concerns of my heart? More than I can comprehend I am certain.

NOVEMBER 2008

APRIL 2009

First tulips

It's quite remarkable to see how much change can take place in a week. The red and yellow tulips Zig planted in front of the chicken coop just unfolded overnight. It's such a cheery sight. I can't really capture the beauty until I learn to use my camera better, but I tried.

I remember when he planted these at the end of long day of working in the yard this past November. He had a spotlight out there by the coop until about midnight. Everyday it was getting colder and we just had tons of bulbs to get in the ground. But the rest of us had called it a day hours before, and while he planted, we were all snuggled up warm in our beds.

Just an ordinary day

Zig came home around noon today which was unexpected. It's always a great suprise when he walks in the door in the middle of the afternoon. I only slept four hours last night so I was very tired and dragging by mid-morning. I spent the day in slow motion it seemed. Everywhere I looked I was reminded of things I needed to do, but I was incredibly unproductive and walked around in a daze most of the day.

When Sela came home from school, she and Nina and the neighbors played outside until dusk. They started working on their dog sitting business posters for the summer. All the girls want more dogs than they currently have and Sela says she wants to get to know many breeds for her future plan of having a dog rescue operation along with being an artist. So "Maple Springs Farm Dog Walkers/Sitters" was born. They are collaborating with Sophia on this venture. Their target market is toy dogs and small dogs. It's so fun to see the creative wheels spinning. I think they just want to get their hands on a chihuahua since both their families won't entertain the idea of acquiring one!

I walked around the yard and played with my camera a little bit. And I enjoyed watching Rollin and Zig. I wanted to freeze time today seeing those two together on their knees digging in the dirt. Such good times. They worked together planting more strawberries. Rollin just loves a task and even more he loves to be helpful and work alongside Zig. He only likes the real tools and he is pretty good at using them. He is such a fun little boy.

Too tired to cook tonight, we headed out fairly late for dinner but it was a nice break and the kids were excited since we don't eat out too often together in the evenings.





Nina made a little treasure box with felt and an altoid container. I hid a little chocolate in it and you should have seen her eyes light up!

It's almost tulip time!





This is our yellow plum tree.

The countdown....oh boy.

I was doing some scheduling yesterday and I had a little panic attack. The baby will likely be here in a little less than 3 weeks. I have an appointment tomorrow and will probably see if anything labor related has begun. I also have to decide by then if I am going to have a homebirth rather than deliver at the birth center. I am leaning towards home.

With Sela I was walking around oblivious and 6 or 7 centimeters dilated several days before she was born. I don't know how I would feel about this baby coming early. I'm not really ready, but then again, I never get totally ready for my babies. And really, what is there that is so urgent? My bed, my body, some itty bitty diapers and blankets. A few little sleep sacs. I think I will make a diaper run today. Someone asked me yesterday if I had the crib ready. Ha ha, maybe in a few months. The irony is Rollin has decided he wants to sleep in the crib again. And when he does, it means he sleeps till 9 rather than 7:30. It's all yours, my little buddy!

I only slept four hours last night and my sleep is getting so light that I'm pretty exhausted. I'm just hoping to make it through the day today and to be kind to my family until I can get to bed early. And hopefully find a way to take a nap in the hammock, the most comfortable sleeping spot right now.

Some good news is we are finally, finally entering a long dry, sunny spell. The forecast said Spring is here. By the looks of yesterday, it seems that this is so. We've had plenty of fake-out beginnings to Spring where we have some gorgeous days, and then a snowstorm. It's been so odd and unpredictable this year. But the all knowing weatherman (ha!), said this is it, the real deal. There is sun in the forecast for as far out as they predict weather patterns. I couldn't be more thrilled.

Easter

Easter was a wonderful ending to a nice, long, and very much needed Spring Break.

We enjoyed making little bouquets with some of the first flowers from our yard.


And there was a bit more egg dyeing.


And some resurrection cookies were made. The ingredients (broken nuts, vinegar, salt, egg whites, sugar, etc all tell a little part of the Easter story. The cookies sit overnight and are hollow in the morning like the tomb after Jesus was resurrected. )




A highly anticipated photo scavenger hunt for the Easter baskets. Rollin really got into it this year!









Sela's Easter dress didn't fit quite right this year (surprise!), so we made a little change to everyone's outfits at the last minute to keep the peace. Only Rollin wore his Easter clothes to church, but everyone was happy and Nina is excited to wear her real Easter dress when it warms up a bit.







We waited most of the day for the rain to let up for the official egg hunt, but the kids could only wait so long. I finally tired of Nina asking me every five minutes if it was time so off they went in the pouring rain. A true Pacific Northwest Easter!



About fifteen minutes after dinner, the rain stopped and the sun made a brief appearance. We headed to the pipeline trail for a leisurely walk and then early to bed to begin a new week.

Easter Menu

I love Easter. Without a doubt, this is my favorite time of the year and my favorite holiday by far. Easter, like all holidays, has become fairly commercialized, but I find much of it quite easy to ignore. The kids don't hope for big bounty from the Easter bunny and they find joy in all the simple activities of egg decorating, baking, celebrating with friends, and learning more about the real reason we celebrate Easter. In other words, there aren't huge expectations with Easter, and I feel like that gives me the freedom to make it what I want. And ultimately to enjoy it more.

The symbolism of a new beginning, a fresh start gives me hope to improve my own life, especially this year as it comes on the heels of a truly inspirational general conference. There are signs of new life everywhere from the budding flowers, to the baby animals, the air so sweet you can almost taste it, and in our own family the anticipation of a new little life we are anxious to embrace in just a few weeks.

I really love coming up with an Easter menu. Someday I may settle on one traditional menu we go back to every year, but for now I love to come up something new and different each year. I had lots of ideas but finally solidified the menu on Friday night. I had just received a wonderful CSA box so that provided lots of inspiration. I did as much prep as I possibly could on Saturday so Sunday would be relaxing.

And it was, for the most part. Everything was wonderful, especially dinner, which included all new recipes I had been eyeing but never tried. The salmon was incredibly moist and flavorful. The carrot soup was AMAZING. Everyone loved it and Rollin had several servings. I will have to post that recipe soon. It's definitely a keeper. And I'm glad because I had a total kitchen disaster on Saturday evening as I was preparing it. I poured everything in the blender to puree and put the lid on. I didn't hold the lid down and there was so much steam that it blew off and spewed carrot stuff all over the kitchen in lots of hard to reach places (Vita-Mixes are some powerful machines!). Not fun clean-up! And then later while I was simmering it, my shirt caught on fire. I guess I am still rather unaware of my belly! It was worth it though. I now have my "go-to" carrot soup and I've tried several. Twas a small price to pay.

Breakfast: Zucchini Ginger Muffins, greek yogurt, mangos


















Lunch: Curried Egg Salad on Croissants, strawberries


















Dinner: Carrot Soup with Ginger and Lemon, Spring Panzanella, Slow Roasted Salmon with Spring Herb Sauce

Regrouping

I've really enjoyed having the kids home this week. Nina isn't on Spring break because her break was last week (different school district), but she skipped 2 of the 3 days anyway.

Just a couple weeks ago, it felt like the girls were really at each other more than normal and it was very upsetting to me. Sela had very little patience when she came home from school and it broke my heart because I knew how much Nina looks forward to her arrival. Nina is so excited to see her that she wants to tell her everything and just overwhelms her right from the start. Sela often asks for "peace and quiet" and Nina gets her feelings hurt. Then Nina becomes short with Rollin and it's all just a big downer. I know I didn't handle it well because nothing gets me more upset than when the kids are mean to each other. I need to show more patience, but really, sometimes I'm at a loss of how to help everyone get along.

But this week, everything is back to normal, actually much better. I think what Sela really needed was some downtime. She and Nina are total best buddies again. I have just loved watching them this week. They have spent every minute together and are treating each other like best friends. Laughing, playing, creating, and just enjoying one another.
























I talked to Sela today about how wonderful the week has been and how much I love the way she and Nina have been acting towards one another. She said she noticed a big difference too and said she was just so tired lately when she came home from school.

We also resolved, at least for now, the clothing issue that has been causing much unnecessary drama and tears in the mornings. Sela had narrowed her clothing choices down to two pairs of pants (one with holes), and old t-shirts with tourist type prints on them. Some mornings when she walks out I just cringe. She is so much about comfort. We went through her closet and put away things she won't wear and I decided to give up trying to convince her to. I took her shopping and we talked through every single purchase. The fabric. Is it comfortable? Soft enough? And she found some cute things for the warmer weather. I was able to steer her clear of decal t-shirts with sayings, thankfully. She still wants the sweatshirt that says "GAP" on the front, but I told her to wait till it goes on sale (hoping she'll forget).

This morning she woke up with a big smile on her face and said "Mom, it's easy to pick my clothes out now." She was a happy girl so the shopping trip with Rollin laying on the floor, kicking the dressing room doors, throwing down stacks of folded clothes, freaking out because I wouldn't buy him a dolphin sweatshirt, and trying to escape from every store we went to was worth it. He is never a great shopper, but man was he a gem on Tuesday! I kept trying to change his demeanor with hugs and snuggles to no avail. You know it's bad when even "lovey" can't mellow him out.

We tried taking a picture of "nice Rollin" but it didn't last. You can see it in his eyes!























In his defense, he was in desperate need of a nap and crashed as soon as we got home. He awoke a new little cheery man and Sela and I just couldn't help but laugh at the incredible transformation!

Tomorrow is Friday, and what looks to be our last nice day for the weekend. I think Easter is going to be wet. But the good weather this week has been a blessing. We've had fun being home and just taking it easy.

Now, how many weeks till summer break? I can't wait!