meow

the boys discovered a litter of kittens hidden in our barn this weekend.

 maxer was fearless when it came to extracting the kittens from their protective shelter and their hissing mama.

bear was a little more cautious in the kittens retrieval, but very aggressive in his love.
 
allow me to introduce jo, jerry, angelcake, weenie and brad alan. brad felt incredibley honored to be the namesake of a barn kitten.  these names change every time i ask the boys.  for a consdierable amount of time, bear called one kitten ass-ey.  i almost peed my pants.  he was really trying to say mazie, the name of his cousins' new kitten, but it always came out ass-ey. 

 the timing was impeccable for this joyous occasion as we were working hard to get the old garage down and burned.  the kittens provided an amazing distraction for the babes. 

 our intention is to try to keep them tame ish so they stay around the farm and become effective mousers.  so during the day we keep them in this humble home and then bring them back to their mom in the evenings.  the mama is named thumbs, a donation from the boeskool fam years ago.  we renamed her thumbs due to her extra paw finger.  now all the kittens have one.  which is kinda gross.

despite how presh my adorables are in loving and holding and caring for the kittens, they will under no circumstances be allowed in our house.  because they really gross me out.  they are super cute and i keep trying to say that sweet three little kittens who lost their mittens nursery rhyme, i just keep thinking of kitty germs and shudder.

so they play and i disinfect and everyone is happy.  except the kittens mostly.  good thing they have nine lives.

ayla jo is not exactly gentle in her cuddles. but she is enthusiastic. and beautiful in her joy. 

the water park

we had rains this week.  crazy rains.

the wet weather resulted in a wet park.

so wet, our park became a water park.  the fun started innocently enough, the boys tip toeing in the water, trying to swing without splashing.  then i offered to retrieve some bathing suits and i came back to this:

naked boys.

we soon remedied that issue. 

and then the boys dove on in.  maxer instantly became one of the swamp people we occasionally watch on tv. 

bear could hardly believe the state of affairs happening at his park.

fear not, we took good soaking baths after playing in this.

my boys are totes wild things. when it comes to waterparking.

it is a beautiful reminder when your kids demonstrate the considerable blessing involved in turning the disappoint of not being able to build a sandcastle into the joy of splashing in your sandbox. to often i will see the unexpected puddle and mourn the loss of the sand instead of donning my suit and swimming.  and self pity and focus on the negative can really absorb all your attention so you miss out on the positive and goodness that may be waiting for you. 

i am committed to finding the fun and the joy where it might be missed.  i am determined not to let even a single blessing slip through my grasp because i was to focused on the wrong things.  i am holding to tightly things that keep me from receiving better blessing the lord is just waiting to give me.  and i am sorry, but praise his name his mercies are new every morning.  and this morning, i am opening my clenched fists and rejoicing that they are overflowing with his goodness.

thank you jesus, for your blessings, in your time, and in your way.  for you lord are perfect in your love.

drama mama

this morning i almost ate my cinnamin roll off a plate previously given to harv to lick clean.  then i about gagged and passed out with grossness.  but the title refers to my daughter, not me.  here is why,

yesterday while we were playing/working, ayla jo got an injury.

she did not even notice said knee scrape until she and i were whipping together dinner instead of getting pizza and captain sunday as i had so wisely suggested.


notice aylaroo's sneak peeking between her fingers to make sure i was watching her struggle through her owee



as i was stirring the chicken and rice concoction, i noted the owee and said, "on no baby blue, did you get a little boo boo?"

that was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.  because right then and there cupcake demonstrated the closest example of a baby panic attack i have ever seen.  she was beside herself.  screaming in terror and pain, pointing to the injury with tears streaming down her face.  we bandaged the knee, cleaned the wound, and still she was wild with sorrow and pain.

i was able to distract the darling invalid quite easily by asking her to blow out a candle or stir the fruit salad.  but soon after she would flip out all over again.  during dinner she could not see the band aid from her high chair vantage point so that went quite well, but upon release from her seat it was the same story.

playing outside again seemed to be exciting enough that aylaroo was able to find happiness once more.

she also found lots of mud.

this little fox is not really all that into being dirty.  she shows me her hands and says "all dirda".  also, she lifts her shirt up while splashing in mud puddles so as not to soil it.

bear is really enjoying the big bro role some days.  he likes to be able to show baby girl new things or help her with things he can do that she cannot.  so sweet to witness. 

and another thing that is not really dramatic, but practically beyond presh; max told me he was going cricket on the swing earlier.  that means crooked.  that child is adorable.  just signed him up for golf lessons this morning.  o will that be a sight of cute to behold!!

garage

remember when laura ingalls wilder and her fam would have barn raisings?  the whole like community would gather together and whip up a huge barn while ma and pa and their 32 kids cooked and ate well and probs played games and sewed.  well, that is not really happening here at all.





but, we are taking the old garage behind the house down and plan to build another.  and by plan to build another i mean to say that other people, builders in fact, will be building another in its place. 

this is a big deal over here.



we are currently in the tearing down, burning, and getting rid of some random stuff stage. 

but the building part is really monumental.  this is the first addition/replacement to the farm brad has made since his own farming career began.  he is continuing the legacy in his own way and that is to be celebrated. 

lest you think it is all work and no play at the meiste's:

we took time to go to the park after school while brad brought some scrap steel away.  cupcake demands to be pushed from the back.  just ask auntie beans who dared give her a frontal push only to be gestured at and told back repeatedly.




while playing at the park, a strange boy found my boys' intriguing and ran up to them saying "hola amigos!  that means hi friends in spanish!" to which my boys only stared.  when the other boy gave up communicating in either language, bear whispers to maxer " did you see that boy?" we then had a lovely discussion about being kind to others.



in other news, ayla jo is obsessed with shoes.  she wakes up looking for them and attempting to put them on.  this morning she literally spent 20 minutes screaming in her own baby blue high pitched way because her flip flops did not stay on well.  then i hid them while distracting her with some pink jellies i found. 

april showers bring

a new blog post!  at long last, here it is.  after several not so subtle hints from grandmas and aunties alike, i give to you a may day blog.

fyi, the reason this one was so long in the making is that i recently committed to only going online when the adorables were sleeping.  well, that was a very noble thought.  to spend each and every moment the cuties are awake being present in their lives is a consdierabley wise move.  but i never went online unless for emergency recipe situations becuase the babes do not nap except for ayla jo and at the end of the day i am just plain spent.  so i am therefore online while my children are awake, and not even feeling guilty.  moderation.  all about moderation.

what i was going to write before i got all defensive about my lack of blogging was that april showers bring

mud!

the darlings did their part to add water to the previously muddy driveway.

they were making a river.

obviously

using water from the pump remaining after the demolition of some pig coops years ago all three of my kids worked together to muddy the driveway and themselves.  i am quite certain this was exactly what brad had in mind when he kept this water source.

the work was difficult.  ayla jo had an especially trying moment whilst attempting to empty her bucket.  it had all splashed out on her way to the site.  but she kept after it.  tipping and tipping that green bucket until she assumed that was all that happened and ran back to join her bro's at the spigot.

they were so successful, that our neighbor showed me proof on her van from a quick ride through the mud. an entire day later.

bear is smiling at his worthwhile efforts.  truly.  this is not his angry face.  it happens whenever you ask for a smile.  it looks painful, but really he is happy.  and it makes me laugh.  wes proclaimed he loved mud, brad said that is because you are a boy son. 

baby blue has the smiles down!  she is seriously beyond presh.  and talking like there is no tomorrow.  cupcake loves "ousiiide".

please do not ask the eldest to stop working.  the child is so like bradley, focused and hard working.

i am still doing the laundry from this exciting day of mud. 

bark

spring brings with it some outdoor beautification, namely the need to put down fresh bark.





baby blue is quite alarmed at the dirty involved in making things pretty



this opportunity comes every year, and though i am not real great at outdoors or hard work, i resolve to do better this time and enthusiastically grab a shovel.

the kids and i find motivation in food

spreading bark reveals a lot about me and brad and our marriage. how different we are, how well we compliment one another.

cupcake is really not enjoying this process

while i am chatting to him about how adorable ayla jo looked bundled this morning when we went to meet the schoonvelds at lawrence street park, how bear , how maxer got stuck on top of the dog house outside. on the inside i am thinking, wow, i just broke a nail, i am getting hot and sweaty, what time can i sneak inside to start making dinner. i start trying to get compliments and affirmation from brad. how does this look? is this thickness allright babe?



much like his daddy.  maxer is very dedicated and hardworking



brad responds only in grunts. he is whistling bark in the wheelbarrow faster than i can finish explaining how spring makes me feel. he stomps to the area requiring bark flings it down and is back to the pile while i trudge after him, and awkwardly weild the wheelbarrow when requested.

 

he is focused while i am chasing down kids and snapping pics. there is dissonance.

when we get inside, i am a little chapped at how brad did not embrace my conversation attemtps or encourage my hard work. brad is finally at ease at having completed the project. it took a bit to land at the same place together. i appreciate brad's practical thinking, get the job done then relate to one another, though it drastically differs from my experiential thinking- getting all involved, discussing the project and some hopes and dreams.

 we recently took time to recall that we got engaged on good friday 7 years ago. it seems as if we have always been united, and it seems that we have known one another only a short time.

teamwork, auntie beans' pup and bear

we compliment one another in beautiful ways. it is such a delight to see parts of us in our kids.

 

 

what a blessing it is to have my best friend as my mate, my husband, my baby daddy, and my landscaper :)



happy april

we have spent the last week reminiscing about our cadillacian vacation, beginning conversations with "last week at this time"...

to the best that i can ascertain, i do believe we have successfully embedded those memories and emotions and bonding into our current existence, moving forward in our days closer and more content with our bountiful blessings.

so here we are, at the beginning of april, welcoming in spring and preparing for easter. we have started using the resurrection eggs process in our family devotions. every night the kids open an egg that containing an item that corresponds with a bible verse to tell the story of easter. i think giving the boys something to tangible to touch and hold is really helping them to own the easter story. teaching the glory of jesus' resurrection to my kids is an incredible experience for me because the gift of grace never lessens in its astounding nature. what love!

during this evenings devotions, we talked and read about judas' betrayal. therefore the boys found pennies in their eggs. after really trying to discuss judas and jesus and how unimportant money really is, the boys had their own conversation about what they were going to spend their money on. bear gave brad one of his three pennies to buy a racecar, and another one to maxer to buy a remote control helicopter. so giving. he quietly savored the praise we gave him.

while working at teermans on saturday, one of my coworkers offered to purchase all ayla jo's baby clothes for her granddaughter. what a perfect solution to my over stuffed storage room upstairs! i have been gathering and sorting baby blue's clothes ever since and this amazing opportunity to trade to small clothes for money to purchase clothes that actually fit is giving me a tension headache. they are all so cute. and so tiny. and so full of memories of my infant daughter who is now a darling toddler!

i am beyond grateful for a growing and developing and healthy ayalroo.

perhaps it is the knowledge she is my baby, my last time to cuddle and snuggle and carry before all my fabulous kids are grown. maybe baby girl attire is just so cute this sort of reluctance is to be expected when passing it down. giving the boys things to baby easton klein is a welcome and joyful experience. and i will not get the pleasure of seeing my little love's clothes on another babe i know and love, so maybe that is causing my procrastination and stress.

regardless, i am packing them up and shipping them out. i am slathering on the peppermint essential oil, a new technique i am trying to assist my bod in beating tension headaches. i am savoring the time right here and now with my munchkins.

i gathered all the peanuts up and hit the road for the second time today as my first attempt was cut short after a rather demanding aldi trip during which the boys begged and pleaded for orange pop. i bought some only because the boys were both obnoxiously persistent in convincing me it was cheezy pop, not orange. so i clearly had to prove them wrong. and i did.

a short visit to the odc in 60 degree sun and the tension left.

we returned home to find brad mowing. while i continued on the clothes project, daddy and the rest completed this contraption.

scary.

and presh. until the mower ran out of gas.