Tiny's version of one of the songs that I sing to them:

"May you be blessed with time to go there."

That might be evidence of our gadding about.  I also have two things to add to my list:
Milk a cow
Pressure can (54 pints of beans!)

More on all that another time.

My dearest tells me that my last post sounds ominous.  It's not meant to be.  It's just  a reminder that between dreams and reality there is work.  Work that isn't always pleasant.    That's true of almost ever dream I've ever had.  Just 7 short years ago it was the dream of a husband and children.  I wouldn't trade that dream that I'm living, but it is work in ways I never fathomed.  I just want to remember that when I feel like I'm fly paper and they're the flies, or I can't keep anything very clean.  Good things.

On a lighter note (truly!) Mowg told me last night: "Mom, you look like a young old lady."  We decided that I was....young for an old lady and old for a young lady.  Made me laugh.  I thought this long hair I'm growing was supposed to make me look younger! :)   I'm really only growing it so I can cut it and donate it (I couldn't stand it otherwise).

I "stole" this quote from Basic Joy

God allows disappointment to occur on the threshold of every human endeavor.  It occurs when the boy who has been enchanted in the nursery by Stories from the Odyssey buckles down to really learning Greek.  It occurs when lovers have got married and begin the real task of learning to live together.  In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.
~C.S. Lewis

So applicable to my life at the moment.  Here's to laborious doing.

Last weekend we attended a Scottish Festival with our Cousins

This picture makes me laugh....doesn't it just feel like this somedays?!

Kids and Dogs

Saw a Double Rainbow

"There are four rainbows, two in the front of the house and two in the back!"

Hello there tree people

And a glorious sunset

When we got home we had to do a little skating

and pinecone kicking.

There are somethings that I just don't

Oh what do you do in the summertime?!

(Adding to my list of things for this year:  20.  Saw Scott MacDonald (Sons of Somerled) live! And got an autograph.  21.  Went swimming with my kids and got to observe Mowg being assisted in becoming a better swimmer (thank you!) and see his improvement:  a lap down and back with only water wings for support!)

Words of a Tiny Girl

Upon observing my Tiny Girl picking silver dandelions the other weekend I asked: 
What are you picking Tiny?  This was her response:
"Wishes!  Here's one for you and one for ya.  There!"

Today we were listening to music and a song with lots of drumming came on.  She started bouncing and then said, "I like this song!  It's a bumpy song."

At bedtime I usually sing a couple of songs to my kids, they are songs my mother sang to me.   The other night as we were going to bed Tiny says to me: "I will sing it for you."  Then she began to sing, "You came from a land.  My mother sang a song to me each night before I went to bed...."  She continued, but I couldn't understand her words.  Those are the beginning lines of two of our nearly nightly repertoire.

Actions of a Little Man

I was a little late coming up to do the final tucking in and singing the other night.  Apparently Mowg was ready to sleep so he sang our "sleepy songs" to Tiny.  It's amazing how well he knows them.

Have you ever had a bookshelf collapse?  I did just as we were getting ready to leave for the weekend.  To be fair it gave us plenty of warning.  It lost half of itself during our move in the fall.  The day before a couple of the shelves had shifted.  I was going to get to it.  It announced its intollerance of waiting one more minute Friday afternoon by catapulting books and sundry other "I've-got-to-put-this-somewhere-out-of-reach-until-I-can-find-it-a-real-home" things.  Do you know how much room three shelves of books takes up on the floor?  Too much, especially in our space.  My kids loved stacking them and sorting through them.  Now for the job of figuring out what to do about it.

The end of June we got the chance to celebrate the birthday of one of my best friends.

We pulled off a pretty good suprise

Marvin Payne was the entertainment of the evening

Unless you count two cousins who loved the cake.

Some got acquainted with a lizard.

Mostly we enjoyed being together

The next day we read The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

It's a great story within a story book. (or out of the story come to think of it)

We had a great time!

Remember my list?  My Mom keeps asking about it so here's a bit of an update:  It's become a bit of a "firsts" and some amazing experiences I've had.  I've learned something about myself in making this list.  I love reading other people's "Bucket Lists" of things they'd like to do.  I have a few things on my own list, but I want to be able to enjoy what comes along.  I don't do that as well when I have grand expectations.  You'll see things on this list that I've experienced that I'd never have imagined wanting to or being able to.  I'm so grateful for that and I want to record them.  So here's what would have been on my bucket list had I any idea at all.  I also have one item on my list and the reason that it's there I hope I've explained.  It's more to me than just a thing.  So I don't know what to call it.  Maybe a Gratitude List.

40 Things I'm Grateful I've Experienced this Year

1. Published an article (It came out this Month!  In The Wyoming Wyoman Summer Edition)

2. Accepted an opportunity to sit on a teacher interview board (even though stepping into a school makes me slightly sick to my stomach).
3. Made a quilt top of my own design that isn't squares.  (This is the ocean quilt for Tiny inspired by The Q and U)
4. Completed a quilt top from a pattern. (this went off with Granny before I remembered to take a picture, but 2 years into it it's done!)
5.  Took a trip to the Northwest to be with my youngest sister on a special day for her and her husband.  As a side (and amazing gift) I got to visit with most of my family.  Thanks Mom, Dad and Om for that gift.  Better than London. :)
6.  On the above trip reconnected with an old friend.  What a wonderful time that was! 
7.  Recieved a silver bracelet as an early birthday present.  This is a carved bracelet that has the two love birds (Eagle and Raven).  I still can't believe that it's mine.  Someone I know carved it and that makes it even more special.  To top it off it came from my folks in a wonderful little ceremony that involved my folks and kids.  Everytime I wear it I think of my Mom.  I see her hands in mine.
8.  Drove a 4 Wheeler for the first time.
9.  Heard a pack of coyotes singing in the night for the first time.  (Even if I mistook them for dogs)
10.  Went camping and fishing as just our family for the first time.  Memories!
11.  Caught a fish and remembered why it was so fun. ("Just one more cast")
12.  Started making vinegar (first time and I'm very excited.)
13.  Made a pair of pants!
14.  Transitioned baby chicks from their box (in the mail) to their new home.
15.  Held a grown up chicken for the first time (not as freaky as I thought it would be)
16.  Bought alcohol for the first time (I know this might not be a steller thing or something that would be a big deal, but it took me a while to get my nerve up so I'm counting it.  Just in case you're worried it's for making something on the below list...can you guess?)
17.  Volunteered at a Co-op once in my own town and once in another one.
18.  Watched the fireworks from a place where I thought for a moment I was celebrating in Alaska with my little family enjoying it too.  (Tiny's "bread" making aside)
19.  Watched two wild mountain lions cross the road and climb a cliff.
Not bad for half a year. 

Coming up (I hope) are:
1.  Make a couple of bucket hats for the kids
2.  Make Vanilla
3.  Make a tie
4.  Make a dress (Yikes!)
5.  And a skirt (for me!)
6.  Learn how to pressure can and can some dried beans.
7.  Start vinegar from Gravenstein apples
8.  Try rhubarb Vinegar
9.  Write a few more articles, maybe a story.
10.  Read the Arabian Nights (1001 Tales)

I'm sure there is more on the list, but I can't think of it at the moment.

Our first family camping trip

Camping it's about:

Chopping Wood

Chillin' and eating

Campfires

Conversations

Water

And oh yes, fishing

Fishing is about:

Casting

Waiting (that's the hard part)

Reeling in

"I catch a fish!  No I didn't"

"I catch a fish!  No I didn't"

(You need in on the repetition a little)

Most importantly it's about CATCHING!

and removing the hook.

"Whose fish is that Tiny?

It's my Fish."

Wait, Wait...another fish, for another fisherman.

There were lots of occupied sites, but not many people around.

Except for the guy driving  road grader (on the right)

Not interested in holding the fish, but willing to pose for the picture.



We had a simply grand time.  Despite the "scattered thunderstorm"  that started the afternoon of our second day and lasted pretty steadily until we were madly packing up to get out before the road was impassable to our wonderful little car.  I also heard coyotes for the first time and mistook them for some "yipper dogs" that one of the trailer campers had brought along.  The stars were lovely and the best thing of all the kids didn't want to leave, even though we left in a downpour.  Another first for me was my first fish from a lake.  I have attempted fishing only twice in the 7 years I've lived down here.  The first time we got skunked.  This time I caught one, by myself.  Then I spent the next 30 minutes explaining to Mowg why I needed to have the fishing pole for "just one more cast".  Then it started to rain (shortly after Mowg had an accident because 1. he didn't know where the biffy was and 2.  Then he'd have to give up the fishing pole to his Mom and who knew when he'd get it back).  It started to blow, but it was that pleasant Southeast Alaska rain that mists in the rain and I wasn't ready to stop fishing.  Tiny was done the moment it began raining, her Dad shortly after that.  Mowg about the time he started getting cold (you know wet pants).  I just needed one more cast.  I predict more fishing in our future.   If only we didn't have so many states to choose from!

We have been doing lots of fun things of late.   I'm going to work backwards

We got to spend some time at my dearest's sisters home over the 4th

We got to see family from Washington, Utah and Idaho

This kids loved feeding the animals and got a ride on the four wheelers.

I thought my tiny girl wouldn't care much for the ride, but she LOVED it.

"Oh we not go home now, please!"  She also fell asleep on the way back.

The camera wasn't around or I would have snapped a picture of the gleeful little face.

Family watching our first round of fireworks

La Familia

The Pretty Cows

We played a little music

Fed the ducks (and chicks, chickens, pigs and turkeys)

Tried skipping rocks in the duck pond.

And took a break in the middle of the floor.

We were walking along and Tiny stopped to pick some silver dandelions. 

Here is the conversation that ensued:

"What are you doing Tiny?"

"I picking wishes.  Here you go one for you."

We couldn't have wished for a greater weekend.