love

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.
~ Louis De Bernieres

Nine years ago today I experienced a "temporary madness" of being totally and completely in love with a man who happens to look like Mr. Incredible, and married him. Nine years later, that "earthquake" has subsided and I have made a decision to love this man no matter what happens...and one heckuva lot has happened. In nine years we have renovated an entire 1930s house, moved twice, Mr. Incredible has endured 3 different corporate environments, which were largely unpleasant, 2 bosses who were, in a word, horrid, a few others who weren't, but were all too temporary, he has lost both of his parents, sold the home and farm he grew up on, and, of course, what made all of this tolerable, we had 4 children who neither one of us thought we would, or could, have. And now, last but not least, we are both experiencing a loss of a job for the very first time. Yes, he has joined the unemployment statistics and has been laid off.

So....the fortunate accident is that we found each other and our roots have grown together. We are one tree. And everyone knows that if you have good roots, anything can grow. We are excited, nervous, anxious, and worried, about the next few (hopefully "few"!) months of growth. I hope, pray, wish and beg that it is a really, really good blossom of a job for Mr. Incredible.

Happy 9th Anniversary to my farm boy (hence the tractor that took us from the chapel to our reception)! It feels like a lot more than 9 years...in a good way...I think.....

the boys

I took these pictures of "the boys" a couple weeks ago and just had to share...since we are still in their birthday month 'n all....

 I love his curly hair. People ask me all the time(!) if I style their hair different so I can tell them apart. Whuh????? No, seriously....what the...are you serious????? Yes. Yes they are. (And can you believe it's more than one person who has asked??!!) Niels is actually my first babe with bone straight hair. It feels and looks like silk. But I do love the curls!

 The boys love the fishies.

 And they love the pup.

She is SO incredibly patient. She's such a good lil pup...who will be 13 this August.

And, of course, they REALLY love to eat....

It's very difficult to get a good smiley picture of Anders. These are some of my very favorites of him...if only his face were clean...although his handsome-ness does shine through!

 And then there's my always on-the-alert Niels. This is his most common expression.

 When he's not laughing.....

Ok mommy. That's enough. Let's get in the bath.

2 turn 2

My boys turned two on Mother's Day this year. Other than the countless pictures and cards that my two older ones made for me, Mother's Day was truly all about my boys. And that was just fine with me.

I made them oreo cakes.... I was going to make one big, double layer one and my wonderful mom, who happened to be in town for just a bit of the weekend, suggested I make two with the two layers. Why not?

The charmer. He loves to laugh and his bright face could light up a room.

He still loves to suck on his two fingers. He is not as quick to smile as Niels, but he has an old soul quality similar to his older bro.

 

These growing boys do love to eat!!

Happy birthday to my two big bundles of joy!

spring is springing

Mr. Incredible is again in his element and creating beauty all around our home....

He was NOT happy when he discovered a deer had invaded his precious tulip display he was so looking forward to. He had planted them with Anna Clara last fall and he was very excited about them as he had proudly told me, "we're going to have a looooot of tulips out front this year!"

But, unfortunately one morning he walked into the kitchen extremely dejected and angry and said the deer had eaten all the tulips. I couldn't believe it...but, alas, it was true.... They ate them all up before we could even get a glimpse of their glorious spring beauty. The distinct hoof prints gave them away. Dang deer.

The other smaller circle with daffodils fared a bit better....

I never took a picture with all the daffodils in full bloom, but you get the idea.

A few tulips did escape the deer's destruction.

The deer never made it over to the mailbox, so those tulips were untouched and our mailwoman must love all of their welcoming bright petals.

Every year, my farm boy simply must add to the garden...whether it's more space to grow more food, another type of food (a couple years ago he planted 900 mushrooms...long story....but it was QUITE the ordeal to plant them, lemme tell you) or, like this year, a new home for the wildlife. He bought himself a big ole Purple Martin treehouse. I had never heard of such a thing, but my farm boy got it in his head to have one, so, well, now we do. And I absolutely love seeing it right outside my kitchen window. Now we just have to hope some Martins choose it for their home.

 The house has to be a minimum of 10-15 feet high and 40 feet from the house and trees.

Have a happy spring everyone!

time flies...am I having fun?

I would just like to share that sometimes, yes, sometimes, being home all day, listening to whining, fighting, crying, toddlers and cleaning up mess after mess gets, well, a bit old. Some days I just want to throw a punch at the gazillion people who have said to me, while gazing wistfully at my young children, "It goes by so fast...enjoy them now...."

As you know from reading this blog, I DO enjoy them. I appreciate them, I lap up every little funny, adorable, delicious bit of them. I feel lucky every day. Even on the bad days.

But.

There are days.

Ok, maybe weeks.

When this time of "going by so fast" doesn't feel fast enough.

I get sick and tired of cleaning up the messes.

Soooooo tired of those constant, never-ending, non-stop, every second messes I am cleaning up.

Day after day.

In the midst of preparing for birthday parties, preparing meals, or maybe just trying desperately to do something creative and fun - for myself.

peek-a-boo!!

I am constantly tiptoeing around messes as I make dinner.

And then there's the constant, never-ending, non-stop, every second crying, whining and/or fighting. Sucha lotta crying, whining and fighting.

Buuuut.......then there are the times I know, without a doubt, I will some day think about as I wistfully say to a mom with young kidlets how fast it goes....

Anna Clara had some fun playing dress-up with the boys....

The boys plopped themselves down and did their thang.

 






































I was taking pictures of the mess in the kitchen and Anders went up to Niels and hugged him for the camera. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to get a picture of them hugging. Every time, by the time I get the camera, they break apart and move on to something else. But this time they shared plenty of hugs for the camera. 

And yes, these are the moments, and all the many good moments I record on this blog, that make all the messes, the crying, the whining, the daily grind....worth it.