I know I am long overdue for a post.

There is no way these ads are ever going to pay for anything if I don’t get my behind in gear. The truth is that I hate the pressure of the ads so I usually try to ignore them and pretend they aren’t there. The problem is… the longer I put off posting … the easier it is not to do. The unfavorable result is that posting constantly haunts me in the back of my head. “You need to post, you need to post something, anything… write about how big and fat your belly is getting… anything.” 

So tonight I am caving in (not about the big fat belly though, that will come at a later date.)

Jer came home from work and expressed his desire to see some fall colors up in the mountains. I had thought of this also during the day and upon seeing a friends blog that had recently posted on a colorful expedition to the hills, I thought that we, as well, would be rewarded adequately.

We loaded up the kids and as we drove up the canyon soon found that we were a little premature in our hopes of seeing fall colors. The leaves are barely starting to change and there were but few spots of red and hints of yellow but nothing worth grabbing the camera for. We parked and leisurely walked to our special little haunt along the river. We threw rocks into the water until the darkness that was creeping around Emma began to make her uneasy.

As we headed back to the car, I had a moment of deep appreciation when I saw a picture of us in my head. Isaac was up on Jeremy’s shoulders and Emma and I were hand in hand. Walking along the side of each other, Jeremy and Emma began a most interesting conversation about grasshoppers and of the possibility that there was a grashopper family out there that was just like us; a mother, father, medium sized daughter and a small son. I couldn’t help smiling to myself about it all. Emma was greatly enjoying this exchange and had forgotten her fears of the dark forest around us. I was caught up in the moment of how darling and sweet my little family was there, together in the beauty of the great hills. I felt that these cherished moments were the exact ones of which I had longed for so long ago. I had great gratitude for this sweetness and hoped that I could remember it when times were less… desirable.

Upon arriving home, the reality of the daily grind came back to me as we prepared for bed.

Yawn!

No, I haven’t found my camera. I’ve borrowed my mom’s.

We went to the farm the other day to enjoy the pleasant weather we’ve been having. We captured some cute photos of the kids so I thought I’d share since it’s been so long.

Her smile says it all! She was in Pony Heaven when she had seen that there were pony ride. She ran over to me and said “Oh, mom, you just gotta let me ride the pony. You, just gotta! It’s only two dollars.” After seeing her excitement there was no way I could turn her down.

Isaac was much less interested in the pony’s and spent his time obsessing over the hundreds of tractors that were scattered around. Unfortunately they all had signs on them that said “Please do not climb on the equipment.” We all know Isaac could have spent hours sitting on a tractor so I had to spend some energy keeping him off of them. Here in this picture he wont look at the camera for a wagon ride shot… it’s all about the tractor that is pulling us. Vrooomm!

Here is one of my latest projects… probably a good explanation for why I haven’t been on the computer as much this week. One of my best girlie friends had a birthday and I wanted to make something special for her… this cute apron is the result. My momma helped me with it because I had never done lining and some of the complicated stitches it required. But it was super fun to make and I learned a lot. I got the pattern from More Retro Aprons by Cindy Taylor Oates. The fabric is by Moda.

Last of all, I just love this messy ice cream face. He has tears in his eyes because Chopper Dog was trying to steal his ice cream cone. Luckily mommy came to the rescue. Way to go Super MOM!

If I had it…

I would take a picture of the gorgeous tree down the street that I watched change color last week. It is the most earliest tree of all. I have no idea why it is already solid red because no others are. It is a brilliant fire red and I want to stare at it every time I drive down that road.

I would take a picture of Isaac riding his hand-me-down pink bike “no hands” around the circle. It’s his favorite past time as of late and he just looks so stinkin cute cruising around like a big boy when he really is just so small.

I would take a picture of the canyon where Jer and I went climbing today. The bright blue sky was accompanied by the warm sun and a cool breeze. The perfect combination for a day on the rock. I could close my eyes and feel the beauty of the mountain towering up around me. The wind would swirl around my body, cool me off and then continue up the cliffs that I wish I could scale with such ease.  A picture would never capture that perfectly but maybe help me remember the feeling and beauty in the canyon today.

I would take a picture of Jeremy pulling the wickedly huge roof that I couldn’t manage to get my sorry 11 weeks and 4 day fanny over. I felt so utterly wimpy and opted out for the less-overhanging climb.  I was happy to make it to the top to catch the view and feel some sense of accomplishment. I will surely feel it in my muscles tomorrow.

In general, I’m feeling a bit better. My “sickness” seems to be getting a lot better.

In general, Emma still is liking kindergarten. It’s not too bad of a fight to get her up and going in the morning. It’s not to bad of a fight to get her to do her one page of homework in the afternoon.

In general, I am loving spending time with just Isaac in the morning. We usually go on a walk or a bike ride for a little exercise because the weather has been soooo lovely. If I’m feeling like a more leisurely walk I’ll let Isaac ride his own bike. The first time he rode he did pretty good. We covered almost 2 miles that day. But lately he’s been way too distracted. He’ll stop at each lawn and say “mow mow ut gass!” (the lawn mower cut the grass!) or “boo boa” (blue boat!) or “boo arbabge!” (blue garbage can.) He wont move on until I’ve commented on what he’s seen. “Cool, the lawn mower cut the grass.” Then he’ll say “Uuhun!” with a lot of enthusiasm and move on to the next lawn we come across with small grass flecks laying on the side walk.

In general, I’m lacking my blogging mojo. My camera is still missing. It’s hard to blog without it because I love to share pictures. I have a faint memory of Isaac playing with it. I think I took it from him and stashed it up high somewhere… the only problem is that it isn’t in all the usual high places.

Sigh! Have a lovely day.