Uncovering Dinosaurs @ Danville

Parthenon at Nashville

Visions at Rosedawn

Markie's Moments...

Rosedawn, Part 2

Sharing Thanks on the Farm

The pictures below were taken on my uncles farm in Missouri. His farm was our inspiration for moving our family and home to the Midwest. Thank you Steve, for sharing your love of home and family.

"At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city... of great and small, wise and foolish. The knapsack of custom falls off his back with the first step he takes into these precincts. Here is sanctity which shames our religions, and reality which discredits our heros. Here we find Nature to be the circumstance which dwarfs every other circumstance, and judges like a god all men that come to her. We have crept out of our close and crowded houses into the night and morning, and we see what majestic beauties daily wrap us in their bosom.

The incummunicable trees begin to persuade is to live with them, and quit our lives of solemn trifles. How easily we might walk onward into the opening landscape, absorbed by new pictures and by thoughts fast succeeding each other, until by degrees the recollection of home was crowded out of the mind. All memory obliterated by the tyranny of the present (cares), and we were led in triumph by nature.

These enchantments are medicinal , they sober and heal us. These are plain pleasures, kindly and native to us. We come to our own, and make friends with matter, which the ambitious chatter of the schools would persuade us to despise. We never can part with it..."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sitting pretty...well, pretty handsome

At 7 weeks old, our little man is stealing the stage as the family beauty. I have grown to call him my baby boy with all the sappiness and adornment one mother can muster. It almost seems as though he is trying to talk to us when he uses every bit of energy to make such a small sound. But it truly is the biggest and best sound in the world to his mama. Daddy and Mama, and sisters are so terribly proud of our baby boy!

Sara Kate...blooming before our eyes...

Paul and I took the girls on a walk through the park this evening and we couldn't help but notice that Sara Kate has grown up before our eyes over the past two months. It is easier to see when she has a baby brother to compare her to, but truly she has shot up and bloomed and it wasn't until we saw these pictures that we saw it in our little girl.

Bath Time for Bonzo!

Any excuse to take a picture right?! I really enjoy my many moments of cataloging these memories and unique perspectives of our family. I am amazed that even as a baby, Mark has all the little qualities of a boy. He has round shoulders that will grow to look like his daddy's muscles I am sure. He has that crinkled forehead... well Paul is the only other one in our little family that can master that... so us girls assume it's a boy thing. Well he is hairy too... but we are hopeful it will fade. And his bodily functions... well, there is no point in embarrassing him further... though I think it is safe to say... he has all the earmarks of a boy!

I must also share... after Mark's bath and dinner Friday evening... all of us went to the movies to see Wall-E. Oh my goodness... it was AWE-some! We loved it... though Sara Kate at the age of 3 1/2 wasn't terribly entertained by mid-movie... but it was nothing popcorn and M&M's couldn't fix for her. We really enjoy movies as a family at home and even more especially at the 'BIG' movies, as the girls like to call it. Paul and I saw Hulk a few weeks ago while my mom took care of the chitlins. Now we are looking forward to some more summer movies... like Hancock and Batman for mom and dad, and then Ice Age 3 for the girls. For the last week, after the girls have had swimming lessons, I have picked out movies to watch in the afternoon while Mark does he marathon nursing session. This week I watched The Other Boleyn Girl, Definitely Maybe, Silk, Fool's Gold, Saving Grace, Jane Eyre, and Pride & Prejudice... that last one I watch quite often. I have to say, Fool's Gold was a favorite for me. So until later... maybe there will be some scrapbook pages in the stars for me this week eh?!

Now it's bedtime for this bonzo!

Our Little Mermaid

I had planned for this summer to provide some entertainment and merriment for the girls, since mommy would be performing below par as one of the girls mates. So planned and enacted it has been. Hannah has swim lessons in the mornings for these first two weeks, and while she kicks and paddles, and inhales large amounts of water it seems, Sara Kate, Mark and I play in the wading pool for the morning. To see the gleeful smiles of the girls is what makes the trek out of the house worth the effort. As a bonus, I know Sara Kate will be ready for a nap in record time thereafter. Though after these first few lessons, Sara Kate says she is ready for the big pool. Well La-Te-Daa!

See it is a strange thing... time, really- in the mind of a young child it is intangible. Since Hannah had her birthday (more posting on that soon) this month and turned 7, it has been at the most random moments that Sara Kate comes breathlessly to ask, "Am I 4 yet?", "Am I 4 now?"... oh the pain it causes me to say... no sunshine not until October. Uh, let me explain... uh, many many days... still questioning...many many weeks... becoming frustrated... four more months sweetie... her expression... oh that sounds more doable. And while swimming I see that Sara Kate becomes quickly bored with the level of activity she has been given... hence her happiness with the park and its varied forms of sliding and swinging. She is definitely growing up rapidly and brilliantly before our eyes it seems... though not rapidly enough for her it seems.