girls? ... seriously?

a conversation i had with will today...

Will: what day is it today?

Me: wednesday.

Will: is it a school day?

Me: yes

Will: oh, good. that means I can see Hannah and Livy. and i can play with them at recess.

Me: why don't you play with the boys at recess? why do you like to play with the girls all the time.

Will: because Hannah and Livy are just so beautiful!

.... 5 years old... going on 16....

pumpkinland

Will's first fieldtrip was to Pumpkinland.

He was very excited to be going on his first school bus.

Of course, it was the day that it had to SNOW... so we went to pumpkinland in the midst of a little snowstorm.

They sang Halloween songs all the way there.

The kids were cold and wet, but they had a lot of fun.

Will's friends from Primary....
Caleb, Will, Isaac, and Seth.

Will and Hannah

"The Pumpkin Group"

Livy, Jacque, Will and Modoc

They each got to pick out their own pumpkin to take home. Will was so ready to leave by then.

the humbling perspective...

So the other day I was helping Will practice the piano... and as we are playing the "cup game", where he chooses one of his "crossings" to play from one cup on top of the piano and puts into the other cup, he notices Brent's high school picture...

Will: Mom! LOOK!! There's a picture of Dad when he was THIN!

Me: Yep, that's a picture when he was in High School.

Will: But Mom, he was really thin!

Me: He was.

Will: But he was thin then.... thin like you!

(Of course, at that point, the love for my son exuded forth...)

Me: (smiling) Thanks, Will!

Will: But you're WIDE thin.

Fall has arrived...

To Autumn

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.


2.Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,

Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.


3.Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

-- John Keats

(photos taken in Provo Canyon)

the canning continues

and then there were tomatoes....

... and salsa!
we have been so blessed by our generous neighbors
and all of the free food we are receiving!

unconditional love...

Me: Will, it's time to turn off the tv and get dressed.

Will: I'm watching another show.

Me: I told you it was time to get dressed when the last show was over.

Will: I know, but now I'm watching another show.

Me: You need to turn off the tv and get dressed.

Will: wait until this show is over.

Me: You can either turn off the tv, or I will turn it off for you.

Will: no, you can't.

~CLICK!~ (off goes the tv)

Will: Where's the phone?

Me: Who do you want to call?

Will: Dad.

He gets the phone and dials the number. He's waiting while the phone is ringing...

Me: Why are you calling Dad?

Will: I'm mad with someone. You know who I'm mad with? (and points at me)

Will: He's not answering! Man!

Later that evening, as I'm putting Will to bed and about to leave the room...

Will: Mommy?

Me: Yes?

Will: Even when you annoy me, I still love you.

Me: Thanks Will. I love you, too.

feeling like the domestic goddess...

peaches!

thanks to our wonderful neighbors, we got free peaches from the broadbents, and a free canning lesson from judy nelson...

and lo and behold, brent and i now have canned peaches!