21 pails and counting

I have now collected 21 heaping pails of acorns from our backyard. I think there are a couple hundred or so more to go if I want to get them all - that is from the back yard and two oak trees! (Apparently it was an "acorn year") Why you ask? Because otherwise next summer there will be hundreds of baby oak trees growing in our yard and they don't feel good on bare feet! (By the way, I do know all about what the squirrels are going to do but I can try can't I?) H has been saying that he hasn't gotten any money in a while (as if we give him $ all the time!) so I think I'll offer him a nickel for every bucket that he collects. I hope the neighbors don't mind the forest we're planting on their side of the fence.

Thinking & Knowing

We spent a good portion of our day today playing with some cousins out at Grandma and Grandpas. My boys really enjoyed playing with the "big" cousins and h especially wanted to know when the oldest (who was out helping Grandpa with some landscaping) was going to be done being a grown up. I think he was trying to figure out what it meant to have a grown up cousin. Kinda cute.

On the way home he was busy rambling on about this and that (honestly he talks so quietly I don't know what he's saying half the time) when I heard him say "I need to think about that." then about four seconds later, "Okay that was enough, that was too much excitement." No kidding - his words!

At times H and E find themselves in the middle of a scuffle (imagine that!). On the occasion that I don't see what has happened H has been very creative with his excuses as to why E is crying. Usually his answer is "he pinched his fingers in the drawer!" Today, knowing that there was a drawer NO where near the incident, I called him on his reply. "That's not what happened H, tell me what YOU did." To which he shockingly exclaimed "Who told you!?" I was able to come back with the all authoritative mom voice "I just know!" I think we'll be reading about George Washington and the Cherry Tree sometime soon.

Annual check-up/tune-up

I took the boys in for their annual/well baby checks today. As we pulled into the parking lot it dawned on H "Hey I know this place!" He thinks his chiropractor is his doctor and with good reason since he is the one we go to for common colds and ailments.

H passed his vision and hearing tests easy cheesy. He weighted in at 36 pounds and measured up to be a whopping 3 feet, 3 inches (okay so maybe not so whopping but don't tell him that!) He's somewhere in the 25-50th percentile

E hopped and pranced after his brother trying to show the doc that he could do everything his big brother could do. His mass came to just over 29 pounds and nearly 34 inches. Clearly in the 80-90 % for his age group.

We had a new doctor who was a little more direct in her disapproval over our choice not to vaccinate. Or maybe it was her heavy German accent that made it seem more threatening. All in all, the boys checked out and are good to go back on the road.

A taste of childhood

A taste of the northern woods and of childhood tantalized my tastebuds this week. My folks found themselves unexpectedly loaded with buckets of chokecherries that they had collected from their property. Soon my mom was busy simmering the berries into her family famous chokecherry sauce. Smoother a pile of dad's pancakes with this stuff and I am reminded of Sunday morning breakfasts growing up - not complete without a halved grapefruit. I'm in my PJs, Mom's in her robe and I'm surrounded by brothers. Actually I think one brother is missing and dad has gone down for his 12th wake up call (I could insert "s" here for an indication as to which brother I'm talking about but in a house with 5 "s" named children it's not going to help much!). I have found myself in possession of a jar of this sauce and I plan to make it last until the next berry season (three years I think I heard!). Okay not really.

Ewoks & Darth Vader

Still bubbling with excitement from spending the previous evening playing Star Wars with papa, H declares "Ewoks are really good mom! They must love Jesus." Hmmmm. Then comes Darth Vader. I'm not sure how closely the game they play follows the story-line (or even what the real story line is since I think it was a good 8 years ago when EH and a buddy tried to get me to watch the trilogy with them - I'm pretty sure I spend a good portion of it sleeping), anyway H told me that Darth Vader realized he had made a bad choice in being bad and he wanted to be good. "He asked God to forgive him and God did!". I'm not so sure Steve what's-his-name wrote that into the script but maybe H is onto a good thing. Everyone has a choice.

Falling on my head

Acorns keep falling on our heads around here. If you stop by and see us wearing fire fighter, astronaut, and football helmets it's for protection. At any moment there could be a downpour from one of our mighty oaks. So much for running barefoot through the grass . . . it's more like crunch, crunch in your shoes. I've been dreaming of a yard vacuum cleaner for a few seasons now. Each early summer our yard looks like an oak nursery. The leaves are already starting to fall as well. I love the crisp feeling that is slipping in between the hot days that says autumn is around the corner. It feels fresh and I'm dreaming of jeans, sweaters, fresh notebooks and hot chocolate.

Bloggers

I have been exclusively reading one person's blog for about two years (?) now, EH's sister, and loving it. Then last year I jumped on the blog wagon and started my own. That was my small little blog world. Then in the past two months I stumbled across another blog site, then another, and another. I had no idea there's an entire world of bloggers out there journaling to huge audiences. There's even an entire conference dedicated to women bloggers. So someday when I figure out a few of my favorites and how to edit my blog template, I'm going to post a few in case you might get a kick out of them too.

Anyone else?

Since this week's bridge collapse is anyone else obsessively contemplating how to escape (with small children) from a car submerged in water ? Or does your stomach go to mush as you drive over any bridge with water under it? I was going over my escape plan with EH tonight. (I said obsessive didn't I?) It started with "get a window open so that you're not stuck in the car" (it happens in ALL the movies!). Anyway, EH said that Myth-Busters proved that you can open your electric car windows under water without any problems. Good to know. I'll focus on undoing the seat belts from upside down cause I now understand that most cars will do a nosedive once they hit the water, following the weight of the engine. Yes this fear will pass but just FYI, I will not willingly cross that dang long bridge in Duluth that takes you to Superior. I didn't want to cross it before and now I really don't want to.

P.S. Fear is not trusting in God. . . right? It is so hard to trust that God will love and protect my children better than my very best efforts. But He tells us that He will so I'd better spend some time focusing on that.