Part II

(This isn't in any kind of chronological order...just went through the pictures on my phone while I listened to John Denver (This Old Guitar is my current obsession) and tried to capture the highlights here.  This life is just way too beautiful and poignant not to document it.)

We made bagels with Aunt Halley.

We deliberated over paint colors and I realized that I'm not as cool of an interior designer as I thought I was.   It was so hard!  And I'm only about 60% satisfied with the choices I made :/

After we moved, the kids quickly got back into their imaginative groove and started playing "adventurers" every afternoon.  The costumes and props looked like this:

Their imaginary play continues to delight me tremendously.  We have a little 'secwet woom' under the stairs and they have cozied it right up with blankets and pillows, games and supplies.  Even two hand-made (cardboard) TV's.  One for each of them so they can watch their preferred shows without any conflict or compromise :)

We discovered that the apple tree in our backyard produces amazing, sweet n tart, crisp, delicious apples!  We have so much to learn about pruning and spraying and making applesauce.  whew, a little dizzying to think of it!

Oh, and there was that one night Henry threatened to run away.  I can't remember now why he was so upset - some great injustice in the household, I'm sure.  He was pretty determined, but thankfully we were able to talk him out of it in the morning ;)
(Translation: To Mom: I love you, but I am leaving to Mimi's tomorrow.  xoxo Henry)

We picked pears. I adore pear picking; I love the pear farm, I love working alongside dear ones.

We made a blanket fort in the front room.  A perfectly cozy place to snuggle up and watch Air Bud Golden Receiver :)

Last night I crawled up on the top bunk with the kids and we chatted about life and decorating their room (Henry has some..."interesting" ideas :) and they made a giggly confession about how they sneaked the playing cards into their room one morning so they could play secret games of Go Fish in bed. They begged me not to confiscate the cards (I didn't, of course! I just smiled at their darlingness and thanked the stars that they are such sweet friends.)  And then we sang two primary songs (it was FHE, the best I could muster last night).  Hearing them sing just melted my heart right down to the bare basics. Before I went to bed, I asked God to help me delight in them more.  Help me know them more truly and know what they truly need from me.  Help me see and do my job more purely.  And not get distracted in the superficial and irrelevant (like how to talk Henry out of those ridiculous posters he wants to hang all over his room.)