A Lot Going On

They were so happy we got to celebrate on his birthday, even though we are having the party later.
See how excited Tyler is for his big brother?

Evan's already got his hands in the frosting, hehe!
I told them they couldn't eat it till after dinner. We had to blow out the candles before Ed left to go watch a basketball game at a friend's place. We ended up eating a piece each before dinner!

The Cookie...writing done by a manager at Food Lion after the bakery closed, hah! Those are Evan's purple markered fingers taking a swipe!

Here's my lettuce. Behind it, is the strawberry and basil, and further back (actually toward the front yard) are sunflowers the boys planted with Ed.

Here's my tomato plant

There's a lot happening here these days. My Wednesday playgroup that I've started is up and running beautifully. I planted a garden a few weeks ago and my basil is ready to let me grab some and make it into pesto! My lettuce looks ready for salad making and I've already pulled a few flowers off my strawberry bush. I have a tomato plant that's doing wonderfully! No tomatoes yet, but it's growing nicely. Tyler has been writing (how do you make a line through a word on this blog??), I mean dictating, a book called "Track Around the Trees," about a bunch of Jedi's with very familiar names that always end up back at a tree, walking around it, in between "defeating" and sometimes "killing" battle droids. The pictures he's drawing to go along with the story are really neat. We got the blank books from this company and we plan to get many more over the years.

My big boy turned 9 this Monday. WOW! You couldn't have convinced me 10 years ago that my life would be the way it is now. I would have argued 'till I had no voice left, and then resorted to writing down on paper my arguments as to why I wouldn't EVER do over half the things I find myself doing these days, from allowing my kids to make up their own bed time half the time, to letting them play with weapons, to extended nursing and homebirthing. I believe I am a completely different person than I was when I got that first positive pregnancy test. And I think that is how it's supposed to be, you just couldn't have convinced me of it way back when, you know? And my big boy, wow. He is amazing. He is very intuitive, inquisitive, positive, kind and gentle. He is a joy to be around. I must say that he is also becoming quite a pre-teen, from insisting on making his own choices about EVERYTHING, to other things he'd be quite upset about if he knew I were sharing, so I won't, OMG! LOL. I am incredibly honored to be his Mom and I hope and pray I am guiding him in the way he needs, to become the Man he'll one day be.

We've had two overnight visits from out of town in the past week, which have been awesome for my lonely heart. The field trips here and the friends we've made here are so great to have, and at the same time, there's nothing like feeling "at home," you know? And we're going to feel quite at home this weekend, when at least 5 families are coming in from Columbia for Philip's birthday gathering. I am so excited to show off our new home and hang out with everyone I've been missing! And then, my kids are going home with their friends Saturday night and I'm following Sunday morning for Evan's best friend's birthday gathering. We'll definitely be filled with love from home when we start our Monday morning. :)