172 days to go!

Yes, that is correct, 172 days of school left. I usually don't start counting the days left yet but my oh my! Since the boys have been back to daycare we already have a cold. Thank goodness Adam was able to take the past two days to stay home with the boys because there is nothing worse than having to miss any moment of the first week with a new class! I certainly love my job but I wouldn't mind taking a break until the kids are older. It is a lot for me to keep track of all of my responsibilities and do any of them well. My goals are to stay as healthy as can be so that I can spread myself as thin as I need to to get the jobs of mommying, wifing, teaching, and existing done! Lucky I am not lazy and like being busy!

This morning we woke up at 7:00 (believe it or not but that was sleeping in for me now that I am up at 5 every morning during the week). Ben came into our room, tried hard to snuggle and go back to sleep, then popped up and said I'm hungry! So we began our day; breakfast, tea, we picked the last of the figs and preserved them. We also pulled out some of the frozen peaches from our orchard visits and made our first ever batch of peach butter. Right now Simon is napping, Ben is chillin with a movie and we are all feeling sick and drained from the change of schedule and introduction of new germs.

We do have exciting news and I should take a picture soon for you. Adam bought his first big machine! He is so excited that he will now have some mechanical help to move the large piles of materials and giant stones around the job sites and to work on preparing our fall beds. We both want so much to get planting but neither of us has the energy to pull out that rototiller and work the hard Georgia clay...Adam has been doing too much digging this summer in god forsaken temps and I perpetually have two little ones tugging on my skirt! So needless to say this is an exciting moment for the farm. We plan on garlic and onions this winter. Two easy crops here that will need little attention with delicious results!

We are also beginning to think about winter which is rather hard to believe since we are still seeing temperatures in the 90's. But this winter we get to go back to our roots and heat this little home with wood! I am so excited about this. For all my years toting wood around at Millwood I never though I would miss it, but I do. The dust, the perpetual sweeping of the floor between door and stove, remembering to keep the kettle filled on the stove, splitting, stacking, worrying about having enough wood. I actually miss it all! I like even better that if I am blessed with a night in which I am not woken by Ben, Simon, Rama, Leo, or Adam that we won't freeze if I can't pull myself out from under the blanket to stoke the fire, we have back-up heat! A little luxury that I wish I could share with my Dad. Anyway, we are thinking about this and beginning to organize our wood, we also need to get a flu for the chimney. I am hoping that Simon is maturing enough that he will understand the danger of the woodstove. Right now he thinks it makes an excellent climbing wall.

Oh yeah, this is big news for me. Ben suprised us by counting to 10. Mothers all around me brag about how smart their kids are, I know Ben is smart but he doesn't show us all in academic ways (which is fine with me, he is so creative and kind!) My colleagues brag that their two year olds know all the letter sounds already...while we are hard pressed for Ben to correctly name a letter! But he does point letters out all the time, and numbers, and as he was putting his trains away he counted each one up to ten followed by non sequential teens! This is a relief to me because of course I am a teacher and my kid is supposed to know stuff right! Really motherhood has taught me to be a better teacher, I certainly appreciate each kids uniqueness a bit more, and as always my heart goes out to the kid who doesn't know their letters but sure can tell me an interesting story that will knock you off your feet with the giggles! All in good time...unfortunately state assessments will argue against that and insist that all children learn everything they need to at the same time etc. Makes me want to puke. Another goal of mine...ditch public school and open an outdoor preschool...one that encourages natural exploration, creativity, and story-telling. We can always dream.

Lots of love.