Baseball begins...

His first year of baseball.  His first scrimmage.   His first home run.   

Well. that last one isn't quite entirely true.  He had a decent hit and ran towards first... but never tagged the base.  Continued to second.  Missed that one too.  By now the other team was in shock and frozen.  He rounded third again without making contact.  With a huge smile on his face he came home and finally tagged the plate.  Home run?  Sure why not.  

I wish I could say he learned something important after that play but he did it again... and again.  

And I'm pretty sure while he was in the outfield I saw him pick clover and eat it.  What?

Baseball may not be his thing.  

With five kids it is not unusual for us to spend a couple nights a week at sports, year round.  It starts in the fall with soccer followed by basketball.  Basketball overlaps with indoor soccer  and then indoor soccer overlaps  with baseball.  From baseball a two week break before soccer again.  Not all the kids play each sport, but someone is always going somewhere.   

I have learned that going to practice and games is as much for the kids playing as the siblings being dragged along.  All my kids have basically grown up on the sidelines watching their brothers and sisters play.    I have so many sweet memories of cuddling babies on chilly nights.  

We cheer from the grass or shout from the stands.  We spread out blankets and pack supper.  Iced tea for hot weather and hot chocolate for the cold nights.  Sometimes there are playgrounds for climbing or benches for reading, wooded paths for exploring or grassy fields for playing.  

I have watched the babies cheer for their older brothers as well as seen the older brothers gently coach the younger ones.  Nothing could please a mother more.

I am thankful for these evenings.  These  nights when supper is eaten a bit faster and empty dishes cover the table as we head out the door.  Getting there doesn't go as smoothly as I would like it, but as soon the van unloads at the field everything slows down.  And it is always worth it.  

Sisterly Love

My first daughter will be joining her brothers in the fall on that long daily trek to and from the bus stop.  Could it be that teeniest tiniest of my babies will be in school come this fall?  Just four short months left with my baby girl.  This fact hit hardest last Friday when she got dressed early and went in for her kindergarten assessment.

And I was left with just one bird in the nest.

Boy, her little sister is sure going to miss her. And I will miss capturing sweet little sister moments like these.

Big sister helping little sister.  Makes me want to cuddle a little longer in the morning, make French toast more often (Eden's favorite!), spend more afternoons reading books on the trampoline and in general make this time go by so slow.  What am I going to do without this pair this fall?

Farm Sights

Last weekend we spent an afternoon into evening bailing hay. It is a day I look forward to several times a season living in the country. (Maybe I enjoy it because I'm in charge of counting kids and taking pretty pictures rather than being dressed in long sleeves and pants in 90 degree weather throwing 40lb square bales into an even hotter hay loft. Maybe...) As I was sitting on the wagon behind the baler with a half naked toddler on my lap, I looked north and saw my older children on a tall pile of hay swaying back and forth on another wagon. Further north I saw more family unloading bales into the barn and even further north I saw the cows grazing on a field. It was a magical feeling, seeing all my family actively involved, smelling all the smells in the beautiful late afternoon sun. It can't even be conveyed in words... maybe pictures.

Kids eating unripe (super sour) apples in the orchard

Finding a butterfly in Grandma's herb and flower garden

Rustic farm stuff

All the cut hay raked into rows waiting to be baled

Kids seeking shade

Fresh cut alfalfa hay... wish this was a scratch and sniff

Burdock - nature's velcro

oh no! BURDOCK FIGHT!!!!

Old grainary and a beautiful blue sky!

Most of my memories are recorded in pictures, either mental or with my camera. I literally think in images. Try and get me away from my desk without my camera. I feel naked without its weight slung across my shoulder! This group of pictures (plus the hundreds, thousands you don't see) is how I see life through my eyes. So many good memories and feelings. And I want to remember each moment. Every single one. Therefore, I take pictures of every day life. A life full of simple pleasures and big ideas, dotted with plenty of accomplishments and plenty of setbacks. I feel incredibly lucky to live this life here this way and give my children these experiences, hoping they never take them for granted, which I'm sure they will. Hoping they will always find a sort of peace helping on the farm, perhaps escaping temporarily from a busy life, like I once did. Always seeking peace and finding it in something as simple and family and the land.

Weekend Highlights: The Real Magnificent Monday

Wish list: Clark's of England shoes. I fell in love at first sight. That never happens. Girls night out at the mall (not a normal activity), saw these shoes, and actually actually loved them. Dark brown, size 9, please Santa. It is nice to dream. I really would like some new shoes.

However, I really need new farm boots and while the price tag on these is insane, I would love a pair of Hunter wellies in teal. Honestly, I don't know what has come over me to make a wish list. I have much more pressing and practical things to spend my limited funds on. So here is where the wish list will stay. I will find something more affordable at the thrift store eventually. My feet have decided to stay size 9 after the baby was born so my old boots just don't fit.

Things to come:
Personally, I will be investigating a herd share to support a local farmer. Most of my investigating is done and I am just waiting on the proper time to commit. I look forward to making yogurt, yogurt cheese, and many other things with my share and I will then share with you!

Hubby and I are busy planning a green house build, talking about adding more sheds and barns and planning the garden expansion. There is talk of adding a pig to the mix, refreshing the chickens, and putting up new fences. Trust me, we have to do all of this on a dime and I will share how we do. The rabbit breeding operation will start in a few short months. Seeds have to be ordered and started and I have a special project in mind that I need to finish planning and reveal. I am pretty excited about this project. Let me say it involves community.

Just two weekends from now I will be attending a veggie fermenting "party". The idea is to build up gut health via fermented vegetables. By eating fermented vegetables (which I am sure will be an acquired taste) you eliminate the need for probiotics. It will be a sort of "how to" day and I plan on sharing it all with you.

Not long about I found an exciting local resource, the Local Food Cleveland site as well the City Fresh site. I will be looking into and perhaps even diving into both communities. City Fresh might be a promising way for myself and some others to get locally grown, early season, veggies. We will have to see.

I just finished listening to Novella Carpenter's Farm City book on CD and was inspired more than ever to double my efforts in raising my own food to share and eating meat that I raised. I was already pretty passionate about that before I listened to her book but it was gritty and real. Amusing as well. I am still giggling.

A wood stove is getting added to our garage that my hubby built. We need a few more sections of pipe and to clean out the rest of the garage junk but I will be posting soon about the awesome stove to warm up the animals and humans and green house that will be added to the garage.

Last but not least I have been reading (one of the many books I have been reading) "Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals." by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. I have been touched by Shane and his wild and wonderful way of life and how he is living out his faith in community with others. Check out The Simple Way. It isn't your ordinary community.

This is just the icing on the cake. I can't wait to get to all the stuff this year holds. All the dreaming of green and garden makes this winter lock down much more bearable.

Magnificent Monday... or so I Thought

I had every intentions for a magnificent Monday. My baby was to sleep until his normal time and wake up happy. Then he was to play happily like he normally does while I make his bottle, let the dogs out, and make a morning cup of coffee. I would have started a magnificent blog post right after his bottle as he continued to play happily and finished the post while he took his morning nap.

Well it is 11:30 a.m. and none of that has happened. He woke up early and fussy. He has stayed fussy. I have cleaned up more spit up than I want to touch in a week this morning and he continues to make a constant whine sound that I find immensely annoying. NO toy is fun to play with. Not even the kitchen trash can. No magnificent Monday here let alone post. It has taken me two hours just to write this.

I am currently feeding the baby and hoping this makes him happy. His smile is so cute even while grumpy! At least he is wearing his monster PJs. Perhaps after baby lunch I can get a proper post in. I did have lots to talk about... oh well.

My baby looks tired! He just put his passie in his mouth
while I was trying to feed him.

Chocolate Covered Peppermint Marshmallows

Gosh, hope you weren't expecting this to be a recipe, but look at what I have been indulging with..

Yes, a little bit of Christmas clearance from Target.

And heaven, tastes just like heaven.

So simple too I'm sure its a breeze to duplicate. Just marshmallows, covered in dark chocolate with a bit of crushed peppermint stick on top. With that said, I can honestly say some of you will be receiving some of this goodness next Christmastime!

And they are individually wrapped so i don't feel compelled to eat the whole darn box. These things are as close to magic as afternoon snacks get and may help me get through this today...

I know. This photo should come with a warning. But this is what laundry looks like after two weeks and seven people. The poor dog can't even get to her bed in the corner! Its creeping into the kitchen.... Okay, just one more and then back to laundry...

Enjoy your first day back!

One of those days...

Christmas is barely a week away. I've gotten half (ok, not even half) of my shopping-slash-homemade stuff done. The boys have had two snow days this week which means the house has brief moments of neatness but mostly we are living in one big craft/play area. Laundry is on "bare necessities" mode until the gifts are done. And supper has been either the giant roasted turkey or seemingly bottomless pot of chili in the fridge. To top this off, I have a teething baby. A baby who only wants her mama. Thanks to her and her four older siblings, through teething I have learned to make supper with one hand, to recite a library of children's books by memory and how a warm bath can improve any baby mood.

But I know that soon those teeth will be in.

Soon she'll be too big for baths in the sink.

Soon no one will care that I know "goodnight moon" by heart.

There will always be sinks of dishes and baskets of laundry but my baby will soon no longer be a baby! I want to appreciate her and let her know through my actions that I love her... and her inquisitive-to-the-point-of-annoying sister and so-messy-it-hurts brothers. So I'm sure as you are reading this the girls and I are cuddled on the couch reading the same book for the billionth time... and I'm lovin' every minute!