A little taste of Rachel singing the old standby Jesus Loves Me

a tree, a repost

The beginnings of fall. . .

Well, Aunt Sue asked for more. . so I'll give you some backstory. First of all, pinterest has renewed my interest in paper towel rolls & toilet paper rolls. Do you know how many cool things you can do with them? I have made a neat numbers learning craft for Rachel, & had some extra tubes lying around, so I thought Kate and I could make a tree. Well, you know how those things go. At first it was going to be just the tubes with some green tissue paper stuffed into the ends of the tubes. Then, I thought maybe we could glue some sticks to the tubes. . .then Kate suggested collecting the leaves. My real brainwave came when I was looking for the hot glue gun & found the green fabric & assorted "fall" fabrics. We decided to cover our trees base with the green for the grass, and I had Kate cut out some "leaves" that had fallen to scatter around the tree. We created our bark with sticks from the yard, and we found some really pretty leaves that had recently fallen to flesh out our fall tree. The cream was Kate remembering the nest she's had in her room all summer. We found it in our blueberry bush after the bird family had left it behind. Best of all, our project tied in pretty great with this new book I'm reading with Kate, Among the Forest People, by Clara Dillingham Pearson. It's a delightful book full of tales about owls, squirrels, crows, and all of the "people" within the forest. Each tale is chock-full of information about the habits of each animal, and contains a good deal of wisdom about real people as well. Kate has really enjoyed them, and we're both learning a lot!

Rachel

She's two and a half, and her nickname ought to be "Sunshine" but she most often called "Little Boo," "Little One," "Little Buns" or something extremely affectionate like that. She is such a cheerful girl, and being two years old agrees with her so very well. Her language is exploding rapidly, every time I turn around she knows a new sentence structure or word. These days she's taken to imitating big sis a lot, so I get questions like, "What does 'believe' mean?" or "How do you spell 'cat'?" Things she thinks Kate would like to know. She can say just about anything that she wants to say, but still has very adorable style of talking. She loves to double words -- like "let's take a walkie-walk" or "bathie-bath." She calls her favorite story (which has a character named Bobby) Bobby Pin because she fuses the character's name with the thing I use in my hair. She has a few other little enjambments like that, I just can't remember them right now. She sometimes flips words around; my favorite is "stipstack" which she uses interchangeably with "chapstick" -- it's as though her tongue just can't get it out correctly if she tries to say it more than once in the space of a sentence or two. "Moo-cow" is her official name for cows, and she's especially scared of the Chick-fil-a moo cow.

She soaks up things just like a sponge. As Kate has been working on her memory verses, I noticed that Rachel has about half of Psalm 1 memorized. It's just heart melting to hear her lisp out "and on HIS law he meditates day and night." She and Kate get along very well most of the time, and now that they can both play pretend, the fun has just doubled. I hear "I'm Jane," or "I'm Webekah," or "I'm da momma" pretty frequently.

She is just getting into sitting still for a longer book to be read to her, and these days "If You Give A. . ." books are her #1 on her list. She also continues to chose her Eloise Wilkin's favorites like We Help Mommy and Baby Dear. She also loves to sing & can sing many favorite hymns and bedtime songs. At family worship times, her top pick is the song about David & Goliath. She knows which songs I typically sing & which ones Josh typically sings. One evening as I put her to bed, I began It is Well with My Soul, and she felt compelled to mention that I was singing daddy's song. She even tried to sing the men's response in her lowest possible tone of voice. Soo cute!

She is a daddy's girl, and isn't afraid to be around him when he's working out in the yard. Not even around the loud lawn machinery! Saturday she sat out watching & playing next to him while he trimmed the bushes on the entire side of our house! She's much more intrepid than her sister ever was (or is!), and it is fun to see that character trait maturing with her.

Last of all, she loves her family. She says "LiLaw-en" as one name. Lydia's name just gets smooshed in there at the beginning. And she always pays special attention to little Lukey. She adds a smile to Gagi's face every time she sees her, and really loves to be with all of her grandparents. I love to hear her have a little chat with my parents on Skype. She loves for mom to tickle her 'neck' and doesn't see a lot of barriers to a thriving relationship in the fact that they live thousands of miles away from her! And that makes me smile.

a map

Our activity from today -- making a map of our community (with Mommy's help). We read the book Lost, by David McPhail about a bear who gets lost in the city, befriends a boy, finds his way home with the help of his new friend, who realizes that now HE is lost. :-) Cute book. We decided to make a map because that's how Bear knows how to get back to his home. I loved seeing Kate's fun ideas, although you can tell she doesn't have a very good idea of scale. Our house is bigger than the either grocery store. And the rocky beach and dock are much bigger than the small lake that they surround. My other favorite is the horse in the pasture, with a girl who is taking care of the horse.

Kate, her artwork and drawings

Okay, so, the plan changed & I am including some pics I have taken of her recent handiwork to give you a flavor of what's on her mind these days.

This one may be hard to read: My name is Frederick and I don't need a Governess. 

Who told you that? Fraulein Josephine, four governesses ago. 

Science Journal after reading about Frogs

Typical drawing from her imagination -- two of her favorite things. 
Girls with long hair & houses. She even included a mail box!

Experimenting with water colors -- this is also supposed to be a girl, 
and I have never seen her draw a rectangular dress, but it's quite an interesting image. 
And, she chose all of the colors and mixed all of them on her own. 

 Dear Mima, I love you so much, I think you sh (she abandons this) would 
like to come to my house. . and on the side you have the word "Johnson."

Our address -- at least the street name.

Maybe my favorite one -- wwwcom -- the mouth trumpet 

Kate

So, what are my kids up to these days? And who are they? They are my everyday challenge to speak the truth, ask God for wisdom, laugh, sit down and read, and read, and read some more.

Kate -- She's four. People can't decide whether she looks more like Josh or me. Well, people can decide, they just don't agree with one another. I can even see that her hair is much like mine and our eyes peas are in a pod. But others won't be dissuaded and think she is the spitting image of Josh. She still loves many girly things, but has started to experiment with favorite colors other than pink. She recently chose light blue, and was thrilled to know that it could be called "robin's egg blue." Her day starts with breakfast, morning chores, and sometimes a few errands with mom. She buckles herself in her booster seat, unbuckles herself and can unbuckle little 'sis, too. Talk about helpful. I don't think I've pushed her helpfulness to its true limits yet -- yesterday she, of her own accord, gave Rachel a bath, and got her dressed (with a diaper on!). She isn't a big eater, but eats a good variety of foods. Loves shrimp, steak, salad, sprite, and anything sweet. After lunch, where she most often chooses meat sandwich over peanut butter & you name it, she normally spends a little time with me doing school. We started talking about sounds and letters earlier this year, and she just ate it up. She still loves us to read to her a lot, but she's learning it can be fun to do on her own, too. I overheard her reading out loud to herself this afternoon through a crack in the door. But, one of my favorite bonuses to her reading is her SINGING with us at church more, even when she hasn't memorized the particular hymn or all of its verses. I just love singing along with my family and praising Jesus together in a different way than before. We try to read a non-fiction "science" book during our school time, and do a bit of handwriting practice as well. Lately we've talked about frogs, butterflies, Antarctica, snow leopards, fables, fairy tales, and have really enjoyed that video buzzing around about the octopus in camouflage. She just recently began taking violin lessons from her Auntie Jen -- and she so excited, although you wouldn't know it to see her during her lessons. She is very serious and soaks it all in. This is how she moves through much of life -- with her eyes wide open, and pretty quiet in "new settings." An analytic mind accompanies those observant eyes, and so I get some real doozies from her! "Why is it okay for people to lie about where David's friends were? Is that okay?" Umm, really? I have to get into the ethics of Rahab's lie with my four year old? Between school and dinner time, she spends her free time dressing up and pretending to be Jane, Beauty, Rapunzel, Susan, Laura or Marta. Most of these dress-ups involve a pair of my shoes, a scarf or two arranged artfully as either long hair, a bonnet, or a baby carrier. By the time dinner comes around, she is really ready for Dad to get home. She is loves to recount the day sometimes in extreme detail and sometimes she just glosses over the highlights. Nighttime has developed into a better routine of late. One story, one song, and prayer. And a kiss. The hardest part is figuring out which book to choose! 

Well, so much for part 1. . .part 2 will focus on the cutie pie two year old!!

A tour of the grounds

This year, I embarked on a new gardening venture. We've had a few plants in the ground each season pretty much every year we've lived here. And before that, I had a patio garden which was pretty successful. . but I was single. :-) Somehow with the intervening years of pregnancy, nursing, napping baby, it always seemed that I couldn't persevere from planting to harvest with equal intensity. After reading a bit about square foot gardening, a few factors made me very excited about this method. One, I could fit a very large variety of plants in a smaller space than I had previously been tending (or not tending). Also, I could rectify my hugely sloped yard with terraced boxes. So, after a bit of a late start, my handy husband built my boxes & I started a few plants from seeds, and some from the greenhouse

First fruits

Next door neighbor to the garden -- our blueberry patch.

The yard has seen some nice additions of color this year.

I have one more surprise in the garden that I can't wait to discover -- I have a volunteer vegetable vine growing under my porch. Can't wait to see what it is!

and if you want to go explore, the number you should have is four!

This last weekend, my family went on a little trip -- our very first camping trip. It was really great, not perfect, but still great! We had initially planned a two day, one night trip, but were pleased with how well things were going and stayed an extra night. In fact, it was Kate's eloquent pleading that tipped the scale for me. I think she really loved the family time -- you know, no distractions for mom or dad. And finally, all of this camping and outdoor gear that Josh has accumulated over the years (some for his Boundary Waters trips & some forward thinking about the family) was used & enjoyed by the family. So, our recipe for fun family camping?

1. Great location -- Lake Conasauga, the highest lake in Georgia. It has a looooooooooong gravel drive up the mountain. Let's say that the drive back was more pleasant for many reasons -- one, we weren't nervous about having to turn around & drive right back the hour long trek over the bumpity road because all of the campsites were full, and two, the camp host gave us a hint about a slightly shorter way (saved us about 20 mins of gravel). 

2. Fishing -- Josh & Kate got to do some fishing and Josh caught quite a few bluegill -- perfect "kid" fishing as he put it. Lots of action, easy to reel in -- this became Kate's job. Kate wasn't quite deemed hook-worthy, and didn't get why she wasn't catching any fish. :-)

first fish caught off the shore

little sis just enjoying splashing around

let me show you how it's done

3. A great tent! We had lots of space in our REI Kingdom6 -- and the girls LOVED it. The jumped on the airmattress, slide down the sleeping bags, and generally wreaked havoc in mom's well-organized tent. But it served us very well. Spacious and comfortable! And w/ room to grow. ;-)

4. A fire. Let's say that we arrived at our campsite the day after a HUGE storm and all of the wood was soaked. Josh should win an Eagle Scout for his fire starting abilities, I am pretty sure. Let's say we ended up using some vegetable oil improvisationally.

roasting marshmallows (I tried not to count how many she had)

5. Trails and paths yet to be discovered. Both Kate & Rachel did a lot of running through the campground. Rachel uttering, "I a Big Person. I running."

6. Games -- Kate played a good game of Pooh Sticks (renamed Pooh Marks because it was played with rocks, not sticks). We might be a few summers away from skipping rocks, but it was pretty fun. She stopped and picked up rocks from the gravel path and then ran up to the lake & dumped them into a "parking lot" for her waiting rocks. Rachel was also a great rock collector on this trip and kept stuffing them into her pockets as though they were gold.

Chief Rock Collector w/ her daddy

 7. The best part was just being together -- so I quote a little bit of Sandra Boynton: "And if you want to go explore, the number you should have is four!"

A Getaway

I'm pretty ashamed to admit that I read Bridget Jones' Dairy (and saw the movies). In the second one she spends all this time obsessing about a holiday, or some British version of a getaway. Well, I don't spend much time obsessing about them, but here in This Suburban Life, they are few and far between. I am not entirely sure that This Suburban Life is the right name for the television show of my life, but you get the picture.

Two weeks ago, Josh and I were able to "get away" and drive up into the mountains, leaving our two beautiful children in the capable hands of their grandma. We only spent one night away, but it was completely lovely. In fact, for this momma, it was just the right amount of time. Long enough to resist calling said Grandma and asking, "How are they?"-- but short enough that I only had to resist once.

Josh spent the morning doing this:

While I curled up with my book on the front porch & looked out on this:

The amazing thing was that we did all of that relaxing before 9:30, at which time we decided we wanted to grab breakfast in town -- so at 9:32 we were in the car and on our way. Now, THAT'S something you can't do with children. :-)

We explored two little mountain towns in North Carolina: Sylva & Highlands. Sylva actually won my heart with the really amazing Annie's Bakery, and a Friend of the Library Bookstore. Highlands looked quite beautiful, but was way too boutique for us.

We also saw a few natural wonders in the mountains, such as the not-so-Dry Falls.

Blue Valley Overlook

and most beautiful of all, Tallulah Gorge. Some of you may remember it from the day after our wedding hike... that we did NOT attend. Consequently, this was the first time either of us had visited it. Hands down, this has to be the most beautiful spot in Georgia. Too bad you reach most of the gorgeous views on a really unromantic trail of a man-made staircase zigging and zagging down into the gorge. We arrived too late to apply for a permit all the into the gorge, so we only hiked down to the suspension bridge. We then walked back up and along some of the rim trail as well.

Josh on the suspension bridge.

We finally meandered our way back home. The girls pretended not to know us. :-) Isn't that how it always is. You wonder how they are doing and if they will survive without you. They say, "Parents, who?"

Josh & I had a great time--it's a good reminder of both the times of yore and hopefully the times ahead. That at the core of our family of four is really a family of two -- a couple -- two people who love to spend time with each other (really). 

A matter of Perspective

A long, long time ago, 

I lived in Texas.

In Texas, it snows um, NEVER.

That is until the Great Blizzard of 2004. 

Well after my days in my hometown were done with. In fact, at the time, my parents had even moved away from the state.

My current hometown has a little bit better track record on snow. It is typical in my area of Georgia to get perhaps one or two snow showers per winter. Most of the time, the accumulation is pretty chinsy -- 1 to 2 inches. And playing in it is comprised mostly of ruining any snow you had by walking through it. In fact, you had better get out of doors while it's falling, because it just might now stick around. Anytime the weather man says SNOW you say I DON'T BELIEVE IT. But, anytime you actually see snow, you run outside and spin around and delight in the 1 or 2 flakes you can see falling from the sky.  It's main function, at least with our younger kids, was a photo op!

2008

2009

2010

You may notice the longevity of a certain brown coat, which she now has passed on to sister. Well, fast forward to the winter of 2011. Not only has it snowed three times, including on early snow ON CHRISTMAS DAY (can it get any better than that, I ask?), but we even had a real blizzard in January. Six inches, icy roads, and four days later, we crazy Georgians knew a little more about snow.  

2011

So, the light sprinkling we got a few days before my birthday? Back to the good old days of 1 inch accumulation. Somehow, though, my perspective had changed. Now, the definition of a SNOWFALL is changed. This beautiful dusting of snow is just that -- a mere dusting, a photo op, not a playground. 

                                                  2010                                                2011

Hmm, should I?

Why  yes, I think I shall.

                                 2011 Snow Monster                                 2011 Snack-size Snowman