Easter

Confetti eggs. Friends. Terrific food. Overcast morning with light rain. Labyrinths egg hunts. Warm cake and deviled eggs. Confetti found on pillows later the next morning.
























Oh. And Zachary might have some competition with his dear girl friend if you take Caleb's smile into account.

Things that make me giddy

I have said it before, but I'll say it again. Clean laundry taken down from the clothesline, crisp and white from the sun and fresh air, make me happy. I don't have a clothesline at the moment, but outdoor chairs and fence sufficed. My napkins are sun bleached white again and crisp. Diapers are currently staged in the yard for maximum sun and replacment clotheslines have been googled and oogled from the kitchen table while watching the laundry out the window.

Other happiness inspirations. Caleb grins. So. so.sweet. And the sweet words that flow from Zachary when his cup is filled, emotionally and physically and the "I love you's" flow freely. I adore the "have you met my brother, Caleb?" and him introducing and reintroducing him to everyone and him eating swiss chard from the plant (however never from his plate).

And my personal grins that make me smile and giggle. Like Joyce introducing me to her neighbor as "this is Kate. She's studying to be a midwife" paired with Greg telling me his coworkers response to my newest career calling, "Oh, that'll be great because she'll be a midwife about the same time we're thinking of having our next kid!"... Now I'm not an official student yet, but serious giddiness. I am amazed how excited I am and I hope that it keeps up as I move forward.....

But for now, back to that laundry in the sun.

Month in review

What have we been up to this month. We have been enjoying the warm spring days. The rockin' pool here at Mueller opened and we've frozen our tushes off a few times. Greg and I have tried to swim a few laps as well. We've walked our trails, enjoyed the wildflowers, built two benches on our porch, I uprooted plants, put down new ones and am putting vegetables in the front yard.

There has been bike riding, Caleb busted out tooth number 7 and 8 last week. On Easter morning he started crawling. Watch out!

We celebrated Easter with friends; an egg hunt on the greenway, a friends house for brunch, visiting Greg's Aunt in Austin.

Happy Spring.

sons

I have two sons. That means there are three boys who live in my house. sBecause I have suddenly become outnumbered when it comes to gender, I've been spending some time thinking about what this means. First, I think it takes a special kinda woman to be a mama to boys, especially more than one boy. And after watching my sweet big boy run around the house with his favorite small boy friend, I remembered how we mama's of two boys deserve a special place in heaven (or wherever you want to go). Really Joyce, we do.

I also am amazed at how you can spend the day filling the cup of an almost 4 year old boy and how at the end of the day it can all spill out. everywhere. all over. I spend my day helping create wonderful moments and then feel like it all crashes down so suddenly. I want to take it all personal. It stings to have such a small person who I love so immensely yelling and using his voice to tell me to go away, refuse kisses, and strike out. I want to hold a grudge and get mad back and do my share of verbal backlash. But then, I'm the grownup. I'm the mommy. I stand there, take it, redirect it, reflect it and then kiss the salty tears from his small face when he stops and comes to me with his arms stretched out looking for my love.

I can't take it personally. He's only almost 4. At least I got a chance to have a good time with him. that's what I'll keep telling myself as I create fun filled days full of childhood memories.