My babies.

 

Baby

Introducing baby brother Mathias. We love him. 💚

We have had a lovely summer so far, gardening, a visiting sister and family. Lots of evenings just spent outside enjoying the sun and warmth. also, I just love my boys. They are my favorites. 

5.16.2017

Yesterday was a drizzly day, but in the evening it cleared up and we decided to spend some time outside.  I weeded out the sandbox, which was very fun, actually. I've read that cinnamon keeps cats from using it as a little box, so I will put a some in it. We shall see if it works. 

Benjamin cleaned out some tires for planting watermelon in and Ephraim found the puddles. Which is fine by me. I am so happy to have a yard and dirt and flowers and all sorts of springy things for my boy to play with. 

I planted daffodil bulbs last fall, and I am so glad I did. I want to plant a ton more this fall. 

It's looking like it will be another gray day again today, so I suppose I should get some sewing done that I have been putting off. It is something I enjoy, but for some reason getting the sewing machine out is hard to do, I guess. :) 

Visiting cousins.

Ephraim always enjoys when his cousins walk over to say "Hi". I do too!

Springtime

The greening up of our landscape is one of the most inspiring and refreshing times of year.
Windows open, flowers blooming, leaves opening.
We have planted trees and lilacs, prepared our garden, planted seeds (inside for now),
raked grass, cut wood, and collected too many ticks to count.
It is especially exciting since this is our first spring on our new land. Benjamin has discovered a number a fruit bearing trees and bushes that we were unaware of last year. Since we were so late in the summer moving here we didn't have a garden last year. Not so this year. So exciting!

Hepatica- one of the first blooms in our woods.

My handsome husband planting lilacs. 

Ephraim was a faithful water-er.

Work hard, sleep hard. 

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He really loved rocking in the hammock. I was singing rock-a-bye baby in the treetop while swinging him and it was great fun. :) 

We had a lovely day for a parade yesterday. 

And today we went to a friend's birthday party at Itasca state park. Ephraim got to stick his toes in the headwaters of the Mississippi. 

Dreaming... :)

We are in the process of buying a house and I have been having fun dreaming of how to make it our own. Currently we are in a smallish one bedroom apartment and the house we are purchasing has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and much larger living spaces. It is a older mobile home with an addition, just fine for our first time buying. The golden part of the deal is that it is on 20 acres of lovely wooded land, and is half a mile away from my sister and family. Since we don't exactly need 4 bedrooms at this point I have plans for a craft room. A yellow one. So I painted this. It's not done yet. :) 

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Just goodness me. This baby. 

He isn't quite sitting by himself yet, but if I set him up he can balance for a little while. But if you distract him with a toy or something he falls over. :) No multitasking for this boy. 

Last night at church he got to sit with his sweet cousins and grandma. 

And a little throwback to March 1st- it's amazing how much a guy grows in such a short time. ❤️

Today's workout...

Very simple: 

2 1/2 gallons milk

1 watermelon 

5 lbs frozen meat

Multiple tuna cans

Various fresh produce 

Various refrigerated items

Diaper bag

16 lb baby 

Load arms and lock car

Walk to door, adjust items while unlocking, and not waking baby

Carry up 22 step flight of stairs

Carry down hallway

Unlock second door without waking baby

Set down on living room floor. 

Success! 

(Put away items as needed then sit for awhile, when baby wakes up put in carrier and repeat process but with dry groceries) 

...

This weekend we are house sitting for my sister Abbi's family. They are off backpacking on the north shore and needed someone to take care of their chickens, ducks, and a bunny. We are always happy to do it. It doesn't hurt that they live in a lovely new house right on the Mississippi River. So it is basically a mini vacation for us with free laundry. :) 

Ephraim woke up to say goodbye to daddy who still had to work today. He then went back to sleep for another almost three hours. (I may have snoozed a bit too) 

I moved his bassinet down to the living room so I could hear him better while I was in the kitchen. He didn't take much of a nap there, but woke up and was pretty happy just looking out of the window. 

Today is sunshiny with a nice breeze so I hung my laundry on the line. I love hanging laundry out. This dragonfly came to visit as I was taking things off. 

Frustrations

Sometimes all you want to do is move forward, but somehow all you are doing is going backwards. 

We've all been there buddy. 

An evening walk in downtown Bemidji.

Sun shining through the big oak tree. 

Ephraim hasn't quite gotten the concept of selfies down. That's ok with me. 

But he sure is a cute little lumberjack. 

❤️❤️❤️

Beautiful lake Bemidji shoreline. 

Walks are pretty tiring when you're only 5 months old. 

I sure love my boys. 

Springtime reflection.

Lake Irvine is happy with spring I believe. The trees are all turning hazy green and it makes me happy. :)