Don’t let these sleepy expressions fool you:

These guys are double trouble. What one doesn’t think of, the other one does.
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Don’t let these sleepy expressions fool you:

These guys are double trouble. What one doesn’t think of, the other one does.
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Seymour has given me some lovely gifts in the time that we’ve known each other. This is a detail photo of one of those gifts:

For our second anniversary, he bought me a beautiful glass bowl from a local shop, and its beauty never fails to impress me. The glass contains ash from the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, which appeals to my love of history. It’s just a beautiful bowl, and one of the prettiest pieces of glass I’ve seen outside of a church.
I spent probably a good half hour taking pictures of this bowl back in May as we were packing up to move. I played with angles, lighting, zooming in and out…In short, I spent way too much time photographing this bowl when I should have been packing. Let’s face it – no one likes packing, and taking pretty pictures is much more fun. I love the texture and color of this photograph almost as much as I love the bowl itself, and the thought that Seymour puts into gift-giving (regardless of who the recipient is).
It’s a perfect reminder of the things I treasure in life. Do you have something like that, a reminder of things you hold precious? Tell me all about it in the comments!
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
What do I treasure? Well, I treasure many things, but of all the things I treasure, my family is most important:

This is from our annual summer gathering on my mother-in-law’s side of the family. While this isn’t everyone, it is the picture in which my children were at least all looking in the direction of the camera, even if they weren’t all smiling. I love my family, and am blessed to have married into such a wonderful one.
What do you treasure?
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Well, this post is later than I’d intended. I spent the morning moving a pile of lumber from one outbuilding to another as part of a farm clean-up effort. I had two adorable little helpers, though Thumper petered out after about five minutes.
Cricket, though? He was a fantastic helper. He didn’t quit till the job was done, and what a big job it was.

We were expecting rain this afternoon, but it showed up early, just as we were getting started on our project. By the time we finished, we were all soaked to the bone. But the rain really made our one apple tree stand out, and I couldn’t help taking a picture or four. I love the way the colors pop in this picture, a bit of variety on an otherwise gray and dreary day.
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Because it’s that time of year, and because I can’t find half the kids’ winter things after moving this past spring, we bought the boys some new mittens last week. Thumper’s mittens came with a hat.
He’s the cutest. Reindeer. Ever. And no, I’m not biased. Not in the least. 🙂
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
The first time I met Seymour’s extended family was at his annual family reunion. He has a big family. I know people always think they have a big family (I sure thought so, even though I was including my grandma’s brother’s family in my head count), but Seymour really does – his dad was one of 13 kids. Reunions always used to be held at a nearby state park due to the number of people who’d come and, while it seems like fewer people have come the last couple of years, there’s still quite a crowd.
So we pull into this park and start looking around. There are people everywhere, but he can’t see anyone he recognizes, and the only people there that I know aside from him and our kids are his parents. Finally, he turns to me and says, “Are we in the right place?”
I looked at him like, Really? You’re asking me?
Life is but a series of moments. Each day I find myself recording moments for posterity, though sometimes my recordings are strictly internal (which means they usually disappear within 24 hours, as my memory is terrible). Still, those little moments are what make life worth living, are they not?
These two images are from the first night we spent in our new house. We had no furniture, other than a collapsible picnic table and an air mattress. What we did have were great friends and happy kids, and we made a boatload of memories that night. We’ve made more memories in our new house in the year since these pictures were taken, and the thought of all the memories we’ve yet to make thrills me to pieces.
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
We had our first significant snowfall this weekend, and as a result, we didn’t go anywhere for most of the weekend (the lone exception being a trip to the store this morning for some milk). I was quite happy to stay inside because it was brutally cold outside (though it wasn’t a whole lot better inside), and yesterday the roads were quite slick.
Instead, we stayed inside and played with the newfangled Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots that Bubbles got last year for Christmas. It was certainly an entertaining way to spend the afternoon, and the boys loved watching Bubbles and Miss Tadpole pop each other’s heads off. 🙂
How did you spend your weekend?
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Last night was Miracle on Main, my hometown’s annual Christmas kickoff. Among other activities, they had a whole room set aside for Santa to see visitors:

Thumper didn’t say a whole lot, but that was okay, because Cricket did all the talking for him. 🙂 It was quite possibly the most adorable Santa encounter I’ve ever witnessed (at least with my kids).
Do your kids like going to see Santa? Or do they scream in terror at the sight of him?
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Tiny Bubbles was nothing if not curious.

These days, it’s Cricket and especially Thumper who like to go exploring in places they shouldn’t.
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.