the dream swing

Isn't that swing divine?!  I could sit there all day long.  On the drive to that swing (and the homeowners' blueberry bushes), there are lots of gardens along the road.  You pass this certain sweet little white house and behind it is this huge plot and my heart sighs a little each time I've gone by since springtime.  But on the blueberry morning, I was pointing it out to my mom and in the shade of their garage, we could see an older couple sitting on two folding lawn chairs.  The woman had her straw hat off and was fanning the man while he had a drink.  It was the sweetest, loveliest thing I had seen in a long while.

It wouldn't have done the moment justice, but I do wish I'd had my camera with me.

cold feet

Paige has been making the grocery list.  Noah embellishes.  It's been raining here (rain! for days!) this past week.  A slight sort of drizzle that completely reminds me of Oregon in the Spring.  Dustin and I like it.  The children do not.

Dustin has poison ivy.  He has no idea where it came from but it keeps spreading and is starting to really annoy him.  He leaves it alone but he's a sweaty guy and it seems to be a losing battle right now.  I gave him the tea tree oil and told him he needs to stop getting sweaty.  Then I woke up this morning and my feet were cold - cold feet! in Tennessee! in July! - and I checked the thermostat and he had turned it down 6 degrees last night.  Dream on, buddy.  Walking upstairs felt like going into a sauna.  Maybe he can sleep with ice packs tucked in around him, like a big fish.

I sold our smallest cloth diapers a few weeks ago, for just $20 less than I paid for them (yes, I found them for a deal).  Those things saved us gobs of money, and we used their proceeds to buy a few trees.  Dustin dug great big holes and I slosh 5gal buckets over to them each morning.  Dustin wanted fruit trees (he's crazy) but I picked out oak and maple.  Happiness is more trees in your yard.

bugs

I have been taking the kids around White Oak Mountain (via Southern's biology trails) every week or so lately.  Last time we came across wild blueberries.  Seth and I gathered enough to make muffins while Paige very industriously used the empty pretzel bag to stalk and catch a butterfly - her heart's desire.  She got to keep him until she showed Dustin.  The poor thing was probably very thirsty after bouncing around in that salty sanctuary.  Thankfully, he landed on her hand before flitting off - so she got to touch him and bonus! he didn't die.

She caught herself a caterpillar at the park last week.  Her name is Sally Crawly and Seth promptly scampered upstairs to outfit our guest with her very own car and casa.  She enjoyed the house immensely (it had a climbing wall inside with handholds, so accommodating), but perhaps the car - being driven by Adam - was a little too much.  We agreed she would stay with us for 2 days before being set free.  She unfortunately left with a less fuzzy back (Noah is not so good with caterpillars yet) but whew, was also still alive.  Right after we delivered her out of doors, we saw this very happy bee bopping around in the garden.  Oh, they loved watching him dance in the squash blossoms.

And the photo above the bee is a total time suck.  I *ahem* somehow went from 41-sized squares to 40.  Do you know what happens when your blocks are all off by one row?!  Nothing good, let me tell you.  I  have spent the last two weeks ripping it out, counting it out, basting it out, and correcting it all.  Always good to have a work in progress.  Even if the progress is absurdly slow due to user error.

stack it tall

Star Wars, towers, sandbox.  Play, play, play.  Doesn't Noah fit that cape nicely now?

swing swing swing

Noah likes to swing on things.  Anything that he can hold on to and lift his feet up - it has made for some poor balancing acts and tears.  But while the top mattress is out of the bunkbed, he is all about hanging about.  He probably has stronger core muscles than I do!  Sheesh.  His grin of accomplishment is pretty hard to resist.

We've been swimming a lot.  Dustin thinks no one should ever have to share french fries, computers, or goggles.  He went and picked me out some and now I get to spend time at the bottom of the pool hunting torpedos, coins, and rings - and bonus! I don't have to worry about losing my contacts.

Noah has had croup recently so we kept everyone home from church Sunday and I took Paige to pick blackberries.  She spent most of her time looking for a bug to take home and keep in her room for a pet.  What.  Thankfully she considers ants a pedestrian insect and would only settle for something exotic.  We nabbed a shield bug and he entertained her for a while - until he fell out of the box and back into his thicket.