The Perfect Summer Fruit...

...especially when it brings back such great memories of my childhood days. Back when all watermelons, it seemed, still had black seeds.

I was so delighted when I cut this one open after bringing it home from a roadside stand.

"This is the real thing, kids!" I said.

"Cool! Can we collect the seeds and put them in the garden?!" was their immediate response.

I love how they love the outdoors and how excited they are to watch things grow.

*****

What's your favorite summer fruit? And do you have memories of childhood summers eating them outside, as well?

On a Friday Afternoon

Warm sunshine but then it rains... and rains ... and rains. The boys are wild indoors but then out they go again... muddy boots, then flip-flops, winter clothes and summer clothes... it's just that sort of Spring.

*****

Photo's: Allan and Isaiah looking out at the rain, Isaiah in his first shorts of the year, Isaiah playing peek-a-boo with the curtain, the boys just hanging out in the living-room... a common sight around here.

In the last couple months...

Isaiah has been growing and developing by leaps and bounds. Here are just a few of his firsts.

Grabs his sweet little toes at 5 months.
Sits in his new high chair at 5 months.
Gets up on all fours at 5 1/2 months.
First two teeth at 5 1/2 months.
Sits and crawls at 6 1/2 months.
And for some reason he loves to slap the tops of his hands when he's excited.

All these new things are so precious and such a delight to witness. And even though I'm sad to see him grow up so fast, I am also so grateful that he is so healthy and happy. Each new stage has it's fun things and I really wouldn't want to have to have it any other way.

Skating on the Pond

For Jayden's 9th birthday party he went with his brother, Marcus and three of his friends out to the pond by our house for some ice hockey fun. I walked out their with Allan and Isaiah to capture a few moments on camera. I wasn't planning to but am now so glad I did.

It's not often that they get to experience the outdoors quite like this.

Brings back many great memories of my own childhood... skating on the pond with my siblings. Such delightful times.

Just a few...

...of the many faces of Isaiah at 2 1/2 months.

Big Smiles...

...at 6 weeks.

And he slept through the night for the first time! From 8:30pm to 6:00am.

I'm so pleased.

Hands Full of Sunshine

Gifts from a Small Boy

His small hands overflowing
with sunshine-tinted bloom,
He quietly, half-shyly,
tiptoed into the room;
"These posies are for you, " he said,
then hurrying through the door,
Left me with more than flowering wreath,
so much - O, so much - more!

Katherine Edelman

I've loved this simple poem, found in a little book of poetry that belongs to my mother, for as long as I can remember.

Long before I ever had small boys of my own I was enchanted by this verse.

Maybe it's because I was meant to be the mother of these treasures who think of me when flowers
bloom and bring me these offerings of heavenly scent and color.

Yes, always plucked too short for a normal size vase but perfect for the one I've kept just for this purpose
and which now resides on my dresser in my bedroom.

Photos: Grape Hyacinths plucked by son, Marcus, from amongst my tulips in the backyard garden.

Soccer in the snow.

The boys were able to finally play outside for hours yesterday. The weather was beautiful. Snow in the morning with clear, sunny skies in the afternoon.
They made snow castles with an old bucket and blew bubbles through an old pipe in the big mud puddle which they called their pond, they threw snow balls and made forts, they pulled each other on their sled and made wonderful wandering tracks and trails all about the yard.
I finally ventured out in mid afternoon to capture some pictures and was amazed at the warmth. I love this... gives me hope for spring, it does.

On Raising Boys...

"I'm all new at this business... I'm not so sure how to do it right, see?


(But) Ain't so hard as all that. Mostly it just takes lookin' at a kid right in the eyes when he tells you somethin' he thinks is wonderful but maybe to you it don't amount to a hill of beans. You gotta remember that everything is new to a kid...


I'm gonna put hammers in the hands of my boys. I'm gonna let them help me build up this place again, and they'll feel good about what they done, too.



I think a kid... any kid at all... mostly just wants to do good. Sure, they ain't gonna do everything just right the first time, but that ain't a sin. That's just what learnin' is all about. Make a mistake. Try again. Do it a little better next time- and better yet, the next time.


Everything's new and wonderful to a kid... They think they can sprout wings and fly. They believe everything they imagine is possible... I reckon that's what the Lord meant when He said we ought to be like little children. They have faith still. They still believe they can move mountains.


Maybe their souls remember what it was like to be in heaven where maybe they really could fly. Then we grow up and learn about gravity, and we become grave in our hearts. And then we stop believing.


Well, life will turn out hard for them soon enough. It has a way of doin' that, I reckon. But I do not want to be the one to tell my boys they can't move mountains. No, sir. I look at my sons, and I think... yes, sir, Lord, maybe all things really are possible.

Maybe man was meant to fly. Meant to build great cities. Meant to say to this mountain be moved into the sea... and then find a way to make it happen.


That's what I want to give my boys. If I can do that...

(And) Where do (we) begin?


Right here (with our hearts). Listen to him. Look at him. Teach him what's right, but give him room to make mistakes, just like (we) have made mistakes. Someday he may hurt you. Kids do sometimes. It's part of it, I expect. There will be times when you gotta forgive him, like maybe he has to forgive you.

It ain't easy... but it's worth it.

Live every day like that, and love will just happen."

~Bodie Thoene

(excerpt from "Say to this Mountain", 3rd book in "The Shiloh Legacy" taken from pages 153-155)

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I realize that this conversation is between two fathers speaking about their sons... but it rang so true for me as well that I wanted to record it here to help me remember.

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Photos of my boys... just being boys between 2004 and 2009