Today Nova turned 8. We had the grandparents, one uncle, and a friend (of Nova's choice, of course, I enjoyed them too) with their parents come over to spend our day with us. It was a nice and sunny day outside and Nova woke up with a burst of excited energy. He is so convinced that each year he will have grown a foot taller and he most impresses himself with the thought of soon being taller than his grandma Pam, who is a bit over 5 feet. Eight years ago today my life changed in the most monumental sense. I knew, as I sat up through the night alone in a rocking chair and crying in the room I had made for him while having contractions, that my life would never be the same. I just didn't understand the complexity, the intensity, or the difficulty of the transition. He was, and still is, a bubbly, creative, and intense little boy. He believes in magic. He believes in compassion. He believes in forgiveness. But most of all he believes in me. Happy birthday to my boy who has grown, not only in size, but in spirit and heart!

I've been home a little over three weeks. I immediately fell right back into my old, comfortable routine of hiding out at my house and doing little out in the great wide world. I've ventured out to see a few friends, but have made it a point to enjoy these last schedule free, careless days of summer. When this summer began I had images of myself being so frazzled and angry that I would ruin my relationship with those I care about the most, my husband and children. The exact opposite has occured. I'm not sure how I managed to make it through the entire summer with little to no help, no camps, and no real playdates whatsoever. I will say that the time spent in the South was liberating and peaceful. Life there is so different from here in the North. Parenting isn't really a verb they use. Parents are just people who stumbled into the job of raising kids by passion or marriage. They still maintain some sense of their own identity. Every decision they make isn't the crucial and monumental end or beginning of a new direction for their children. There's a great deal of thought put into being a parent here in the North. We sometimes over educate, over stimulate, over perpetuate our own world views, so much so that at 8 years old we have mini politicians, philosophers, and psychologists. I'm guilty of this myself. I have talked and intellectualized with my child so much that sometimes I see him as a peer. BIG MISTAKE, I know. But, to my credit, I have lived a very home based existence with my children, not over scheduling them with extracurricular activities to lessen the burden upon myself. So, yes, they retain a lot of their child like qualities too, more so than most kids I meet anyway. And, Honestly...I'm in no rush to watch them grow up. The South somehow enabled me to relax and yet to become more confident in what it is that I'm doing as a parent here.

I'm all for technology. I suppose that most people are as long as it stays within each individual's moral and ethical realm of acceptance. I love having any type of information easily accesible with only a few finger strokes. I love being able to shop, communicate, learn, and exchange information quickly and easily. For example, today I went to my local farm to pick up part of my share of fresh veggies. I haven't often prepared swiss chard. When I have, it was simply by sauteing it with butter, salt and pepper. Today I was in the mood to spice things up. So, I jumped right online and within minutes found a recipe for Chard pancakes that sounded not only edible, but delicious enough that my kids might eat it! After all, what kid doesn't like anything with PANCAKE in the title?

I've been neglecting the two people that read my blog. I'm sorry. Having three children is not as easy as I thought it would be. *insert humungous eye roll here* It's always more work than I remember, but with each child, seems a little less stressful. My youngest is an angelic little pixie barely able to raise my dander even when she's at her absolute naughtiest! Here...Look...

Who could possibly get upset with her?! I don't mean to toot my own horn, but she is adorable!!! Since I last posted I've attended a graduation, spent time with old friends, done a bit of needle felting, celebrated Memorial day with family, and FINALLY...after MUCH TOO LONG, spent a whole weekend with my husband! We only had the baby to care for and since her vocabulary is minimal and her few words come out dripping with sugary sweetness, we enjoyed our time together immensely. Looking at her, we both were able to appreciate the life we've created together. Life is exactly what keeps us from appreciating what we've accomplished on most days. There is no room to breathe. No room to converse. No time to just hug and inhale one another deeply and quietly. But this weekend we did. For me, it was exactly what I needed. GramPam ran off with our little munchkins and didn't return them until late Sunday afternoon. Here is an example of what I'm sure their weekend looked like.

This woman will go to any extreme to engage my children in creative and active play! She listens to my children's wildest dreams and then, helps them to bring those dreams into reality. 

  A good game of tag is always fun. In the spirit of fun, I'll participate! Chicken Betty decided that I'm someone she'd care to know more about. So, here it goes....

 1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
Following the remaining members of the Grateful Dead on Further tour, camping, hiking, and reading   LOTs of books. Plus things I can't mention in my blog because there could still be outstanding warrants. Thank God those days are gone...

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

Pack for our mini vacation to BIL's graduation, tidy the house, have my car serviced, 

pick Number one son up from school, and *SHHHH* I'm gonna color my hair!

3) Snacks I enjoy:           

raw milk cheddar cheese with a tasty herb flavored cracker

spinach and cheese jamaican patties from a local coffee shack

spinach salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, and dried cranberries                                                                                                      

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Nova hears with his heart. He speaks my unspoken thoughts, he reads my face like a book, he understands complex problems and always has the simplest compassionate solutions. He is a thinker and a dreamer. Of all three of my children, he has seen me at my worst. He has basically witnessed me growing up. Throughout the years I have become more calm and rational, but on occasion, still tend to lose it. He comforts me and offers me love when I feel at my most unloveable. When I feel everyone else has deserted me, he holds me and tells me things will be alright. He has the spirit and glow of an angel. I have never known one little soul to hold so much love and understanding. The place where these traits hinder him is in the older brother/sibling relationship. He adores his sisters, but strongly wishes that I could be exclusively with him. He enjoys our deep conversations, rocking in the rocking chair, drawing, and making up stories, dancing in my arms, or learning about new things together. His sisters are a blockade. They require a great deal of my attention.

Ayda, my third child, is an easy laid back child. She's rarely bothered. She has this sing songy nature about her. She always hums and babbles. She's the most pleasant baby I've ever had the pleasure to love. As I type this she is sitting in the floor rolling a ball back and forth and clicking her tongue. God knew that third child had to be like this or I would have left long ago.

This is the only thing I have to show for a weekend that swept by way too quickly. Yesterday I felted while my husband took the kids and visited his parents. Today I stayed with the kids and my husband worked. Will there ever be a time when marrying the person you love actually results in spending time with that person?

I've taken two photos of the felting I did. This should help illustrate my point about the work not photographing well. The color is never right. The picture I did is actually a nice combination of the two you will see. Here's one with the flash:

Here's one without the flash:

I very rarely get time to do the things I love to do. Needle felting is one of my all time favorite crafts. I love to watch fluffy, fine, or course, sheep's wool become fantastical creatures, earthy puppets, or humble abodes for forest folk. I know women who are making a good living off of their craft. Myself, I don't have time to perfect my art. For example, I once made a tree stump with a fairy family for a friend's child. I ran out of wool when trying to thicken the stump so it wasn't half as sturdy as I had imagined it when I began. If I had time I wouldn't make those kinds of mistakes. I would know around how much wool I would need when I began. It's very frustrating to really love needle felting and never be able to do it. I rarely keep the things I make as my inspiration usually stems from the thought of the person I'm creating for. Even more interestingly, the work takes its own form as you create. Pictures never do needle felting any justice. The colors look washed out and I find that it often looks simple and cartoonish.

This mushroom house is something I made a couple years back as a Christmas gift for two awesome little boys!

Here is the family of gnomes I made to reside here:

They aren't needle felted. They have wire frames with embroidery floss wrapped bodies. I hand paint their faces with non-toxic paint and then a layer of varnish to preserve them. I love these fairies created from Sally Mavor's Wee Felt Folk. Here is a photo of another family I've made to illustrate that they all turn out different.

Most days as a mom are wonderful and fun filled...Do you hear the sarcasm in my voice? This Spring vacation has been fine with only one day of madness that involved a dental appointment, restraining, and biting. That's all I will say, there's still time for a lawsuit. And let me say now, I don't sue, so let your vivid imagination fill in the details.

My husband decided he would take a day off of work (after I begged and pleaded for a week telling him that a full week alone with three children would surely drive me over the bridge of insanity where I'd then dwell in the desolate land of dirty laundry and more crazy ranting than any human ears have ever heard). I painstakingly researched how to save us some money on this trip, e.g. googled Mystic Aquarium discount tickets. I took the kids to our local library and rented a discounted day pass to the aquarium. It saved us $30 off of the admission price! Then I mapped out our entire day knowing that a crowded aquarium would quickly turn a child into a panicky ball of mush and we'd need an escape plan enticing enough to lure the balls of mush into their carseats in anticipation of the next stop. Luckily, right down the road is Misquamicut Beach. A lovely little strip of ocean reminiscent of all the small rural beach towns on stilts I've ever seen. We spent three hours at the overcrowded aquarium. Here we viewed a playful and agile Beluga whale, terms you don't often hear together when speaking of anything over 1,000 pounds.

The kids were impressed with the enormity of this creature and the rarity of such a sight...for all of five minutes. Thanks goodness for pictures that forever capture their fascination!

Have you ever said something that came out completely wrong to your children and you immediately knew you needed to correct it, but they beat you to the punch?

This afternoon in a frenzy of sandwich preparation, discussion and bartering about what dessert to have, and caring for my half awake but groggy toddler, I did just that. I felt overwhelmed by the amount of conversation and firing of requests in my direction. I had just made each of the three kids a cool glass of rich chocolatey Ovaltine. Ember, Ms. Independent, grabbed herself a crazy straw and top and began to brag to her brother about how "COOL" she was with her added components. Nova wanted to do the same, but unlike his sister began to demand that I fetch all the stuff for him. I was sweeping up the dirt they had tracked in from running around outside when this final request was made of me. I shot a snarly look in his direction and snipped,

"why don't you just drink your milk like a grown up?!"

"But...B-B-But, MOM, I'm not a grown up!" Nova stammered.

"Oh, yes you are, more than they are!"

After I said this I knew I needed to correct myself before he got too big for his britches.

Ember then pipes up with a very adult perspective.

"Mom" she begins, with her hands on her tiny hips, "Nova is not a bedult! He would den haf to be in chawge of da' choiwces and dishijuns!!!"

Well...

Score one for the girl.