Catching up....catching up....catching.............up...............

Like the title of this post, my writing is a little........lagging.

When did writing become so hard? I have never been successful at writing daily. Not for a journal. Not for school. Definitely not the old blog. But February? Seriously. Michael was 5 months old the last time I posted. Ouch. He's almost ten months. Time is flying by like a hurricane. But I am missing all the beautiful details because I am not recording them. Writing helps clear the debris from that raging storm and shows the secure life, still plodding on. So I'm stepping inside from the storm, shaking off the rain, cozying up with a snuggly sweater and catching ya'll up on life with the Shades.

First things first, HELLO SUMMER!!! I am in heaven with warm sun, cool breezes and, wait for it, g.r.a.s.s. Yep, the Shades finally have a lawn! 1/3 of it, that is. The rest is on it's way, lagging like this post. Right now, Hannah and I are digging - literally if we're not careful - our new sod. It is so refreshing for my eyes to see green next to our brown dirt, brown house with brown trim, brown mountains. Especially after a sweet trip back East, which brings me to my second update:

Family Vacation! We made our yearly pilgrimage to Delaware to see the Shades out there (Paul's mom and sibs, Drew and Michelle and their girls and Jason and Tenelle who live here but flew out for the week). It was long, memorable, and humid. Actually, really not that bad. And considering they have a beach. Aaaaaah, a beach...... OK, back to reality. Yeah, I could live with the humidity in exchange for a beach. Hannah and Michael feel pretty much the same way about the beach as I do. They loved it. And I wish we could have spent every single day there. But we were a good hour and a half from the nice beaches and we basically went to see family, not the beach. Besides which we were car-less. Otherwise I would have insisted on more beach time. It was magical for the kids. They just fell into a beachy trance, digging in sand, eating sand, playing in water, napping in tents, playing with sandy toys, eating sandy food and essentially becoming sugared from the neck down with soft fine sand. And loving it. I just might cry right now.

I. miss. the. beach.

But as I said, we went to see family. This was the first time in 5 years that all six of the Shade children were together. Well, Sharla showed her face a few times but she was there for pictures. And watching slides. She has a boyfriend. And she works 3 jobs so.....the rest of us hung out and had fun. Drew and Michelle are moving this month to Ohio for Drew's new professorship at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash so it may be a while yet before we're all together again. Their girls have grown so much and it was the first time they all met Michael. Seeing the five cousins together for a whole week was a lot of fun. We are going to miss everyone like crazy. Especially those girls. Luckily, they are still within somewhat-reasonable-driving-distance to DE so hopefully next time we plan a trip out they can be there too. Someday we'll probably attempt a road trip out to see them in Ohio. That would be fun.

There's obviously a LOT more that has happened since February namely Easter and several other holidays, etc., but I've just about blown a circuit just catching up with all this. So, I commit to write again soon. It was nice to have a brief reprieve. For now, I'll don my hat and boots and back into the whirlwind of life I go!

[I don't mind editing/altering posts post-publishing. So, this isn't a promise, but if I manage to find another window of solitude, I may add pictures to my update.... ;)]

thoughts on paper

Blogging is a cathartic activity for me. It helps to heal my wounds, settles the dust and reveals the subtle beauties in my life. I've come to realize that I'm a much more committed reader than writer, but seeing how rewarding writing can be, I am determined to improve this aspect of my life.

Now, as to what to write about...  I don't want to set a standard that will be limiting or unrealistic. That will discourage rather than encourage writing and I need encouragement right now. So my standard? Whatever feels good, for starters. Writing should feel good, at least, for the purpose I have here. So, here's to writing a lot about my feelings, reflections, observations and so forth!

Today's simple joys:

• Giving in to buy bright yellow primroses at Walmart because this was the THIRD time they begged me to take them and I could no longer drown them out with excuses... 
• Eating delicious salmon with my family (cooked perfectly with lots of lemon)
• Sitting on the edge of the sandbox watching Hannah play
• Hot sun through cool breezes in February 
• Flying down the metal slide with Hannah when she wanted to go "both"
• The way Michael and Hannah giggled together when she happened on something that made him laugh 
• Michael's cuddly jamied body sleeping heavily on my chest 
• pouring over pictures of delicious foods while studying principles of superfood nutrition 
• the brief rainbow that flickered on the wall when I went to put Hannah down for her nap
• funny phrases from my linguistic two-year-old 
• A comfortable bed waiting for me when I finish this post.... 

Goodnight! 

Michael's Blessing

One week ago today, Michael received a name and a blessing from Paul. We blessed him at home because we had family in town that wouldn't be here over Sunday. I also broke tradition and had him blessed in blue. Unlike baptism, the color the baby is wearing is insignificant and white is popularly used to reflect an infant's purity. Michael was purely blue. I loved it.

This girl loves her brother.