In Search of the Super Moon

In the cool of the evening, we decided to go for a walk around Willow Lake. The mosquitoes are hungry so we covered ourselves in an all-natural repellent and were on our way.

Our Pup always joins us. We were alone on the 2 mile hike around the lake. The fireflies were not out yet, so our children chased dragonflies instead.
Wildflowers were found. Charlotte found a wild iris too.

The boys found sticks for poking in the mud and water. As I got lost in the field of daisies.

We spotted deer prints and felled trees (from the recent storm).

We have fallen back into those familiar and comfortable rhythms of a family being together. It feels good to be "home" again.

Willow Lake is peaceful. Even though it is close to a major highway near St. Paul, we felt like we were in our own special place. We had the woods and pathways and lake to ourselves. 

The old walkway that crosses over the lake was tilting and yet, still very sturdy. Water lilies are abundant. We know there are many different types of fishes in this lake, but we didn't see any and weren't there to fish, but rather wander.

Waiting for the "Super Moon" to appear...

As our children are in their own imaginary adventures as knights, ninjas or superheros.

And then we waited. A lone swan floated across the lake from where we were. The fireflies emerged and flashed their love light songs. The natural mosquito repellent began to wear off and it was past bedtime. And then, a hint of orange appeared on the horizon.

There it was! The "Super Moon" and then...clouds.

As we walked on in the darkness of the woods, with the fireflies flickering along the path, we held hands and were thankful for moments like this. Sometimes things don't go the way we plan; clouds get in the way.
We did see a most beautiful sunset ~ created by the Master. He makes a different one every night and the clouds make it spectacular.

Hello again

Hello again my friends. I apologize for not blogging recently. So much has taken my time and attention elsewhere. 

My Beloved flew home for five days a few weeks ago and we spent those five days as best we could. He has been with his company for a year now and got a good review. He really likes what he does and the people he works with. They are salt of the earth people. What a blessing ~ both work and good people. We are thankful. We are also thankful that he got to come and spend part of winter break with us.

That means we spent time together as a family doing what our family loves the most. Going somewhere and doing something together.

The first full day with David, we went to Gloucester ~ to the sea. Cape Ann this winter is different. It's cold but, we had no snow yet and our children explored the rocks and trees right next to the sea. I will post photos of that in my next post. Our second day together we went here north of where we live. 

Because our weather had been so mild, no snow yet then, the woods gifted us with unique mushrooms and fungus. We hiked on fallen leaves and our children poked sticks into the icy edges of the river. We wandered holding hands again. We wandered watching our children play out imaginative games. We wandered as our dog would run off and back to us again. We breathed in the crisp, winter air and held tight to the warm hand in ours. It was timeless and lovely to be together as a family again. Priceless really.

Our friends offered to watch our children one night and David and I were able to have a quiet supper out together. Of course I wore heels! David dressed up too. What did we talk about besides the food? Our kids. We got to spend time with some of our friends at an evening Bible study in their home. They prayed for us and the sale of our home. We felt loved and loved in return.

David had one on one time with our oldest. They went to see the Star Wars movie in 3D. I had one on one time with one of my dearest friends. Even though it was raining cats and dogs, Miss Caragh and I talked until the Japanese restaurant closed. 

We went to our favorite used book store and our favorite second-hand store too. We had family meals together. We prayed together. We played together. We just were ~ together.

David fixed a leak under the kitchen sink. The dog got to sleep on our bed. Pup usually sleeps on the sofa in the living room. Life felt a little normal again. 

Our kids showed him their artwork, Lego creations, played baseball in our yard with Daddy, got piggy-back rides upstairs to bed each night. We caught up on bill paying and phone calls and grocery shopping. Five days fly by quickly. Too quickly. We signed our kids out of school early and drove David to the airport and prayed he have a safe journey back to Minnesota and that we will be together as a family soon. 

I remind myself that each day is one day closer to us being together again. 

Reading In The Dark

Our triplets are in first grade and have begun to read books on their own. All four of our children have discovered the Diary of the Wimpy Kid series.

They all love to read. They love to be read to as well.
Recently I found these wonderful Coleman LED mini headlamps at our local Walmart store. They had them in four colors. Perfect. 

Pink for Charlotte, blue for Benjamin, green for Max and black for Grant.
Grant is sick. On Wednesday the school nurse called and said she thought he had an ear infection. I drove over with the pup and picked him up. He did not look well. Dark circles under his eyes and a little green in the face. I called his pediatrician right away and thankfully they could get us right in.
On the way, he threw up in the van. We had an airsickness bag from Grandpa and Grandma so he used that for the next few times.
Poor guy, we walked into the doctor's office with him holding the partially full bag. 
We didn't wait long in the waiting room but, then we waited forever in the examining room. I finally stuck my head out the door and mentioned that I would need to leave soon to be home in time to get our triplets off the school bus.
I could hear a doctor chit-chatting away in the room right next to ours. Sure enough, it was the doctor who was scheduled to see Grant. I started feeling frustrated because we had been scheduled to be seen at 2:10 and now it was 2:40!
I think the gal at the front desk said something to the doctor because she came in soon after I said I was going to have to leave.
Grant has a bad ear infection and possibly pneumonia too. 
We got him on an antibiotic and thankfully he's kept the medicine down. He's been sleeping and hanging out on the sofa since Wednesday afternoon.
While we were in the doctor's office, the dog must have eaten the vomit because the van smelled a little better when we got back. Dogs are good for many reasons.
We made it home just in time for the trio to get off the bus.

Grant has been reading this book every night. You can find it here.
Here is another book worth reading! 

our family photographer

 Every year since I was pregnant with our triplets, we've had our family photos taken by a wonderful gal named Susan.

 She will bring her studio to our home and photograph us.

 Susan has a way of making us feel at ease. It's sometimes difficult to get all eyes open at the same time or faces pointed towards the camera but, she takes her time with us and we are never disappointed.

Soon after we moved to New England, I was in a local, natural food store and found Susan's business card on the counter. I was compelled to pick it up and stare at what I thought was an oil painting on her card.

 It looked like a Rembrandt. It was not, however it was the most charming photo of a young boy holding a birds nest. I called and she became our family photographer for the next 7 years.

 Unemployment prevented us from having our family photos taken these past two years but, because my husband now has a job and we are leaving New England, we asked Susan to take our photos one last time.

If you live in Massachusetts and are looking for a family friendly photographer, you can find Susan Stewart's website here.
Blessings to you and your family.

Winter happenings

I love the art projects our kids make during the winter months. The trio's kindergarten teacher gets creative with paper, paint, clothespins, pipe cleaners, glue, glitter, googly eyes, cotton balls...

Here we are enjoying our turkey dinner compliments of our local food bank (we are in our 16th month of unemployment). The kids love our "formal" sit down suppers and the conversations with them are priceless. They enjoyed drinking apple cider and toasting one another. "Chink-chink". My Beloved had an interview today with a company up the road from us. He has had more interest recently and we are really hopeful in this new year. He has an interview in Ohio next week. 

Our three cats come out of hiding around 8 PM.
That is when the decibel level in our home goes back to a normal range because the kids are sleeping quietly in bed. Our fireplace is in use. I sit in front of it with our feline companions and blog.

Here's our "Cha-Cha Dove" enjoying the delicious turkey supper.

Grant has become an avid reader and he will read aloud to his younger brothers and sister. The Magic Tree House Series has become his favorite. If he's not reading, he's playing with Lego's or Wii. Also, he has become a Star Wars expert. I think he's getting most of his information from classmates at school. I know very little about Star Wars.

Grandpa Tom is healing after his open heart surgery. Grandma Sonnie and Grandpa Tom usually head out from California to visit every four months or so. They were here in Summer. Hopefully we will be able to see them again in the Spring. Grandpa Tom hasn't been given the okay to fly yet. So, Skype is a wonderful way to keep in touch. They also call us each Sunday night. They've been faithful to call us each week since we married back in 1991. 

Here's a quirky Skype photo of them talking to us.

We are due for more snow tomorrow night. We'll stay warm and cozy inside. What are you and yours doing this winter? Send me a note :) I'd love to hear from you. Yes, you!