Since the cool weather has decided to grace Georgia with it's presence we are embracing every delicious moment, from dawn till dusk! Yesterday we woke to both boys around 7:30 nudging us out of slumber with eager pleas to go outside. It happened so fast that both boys were dressed and outside before the coffee had finished brewing...Adam and I sipped our coffee to the boys roaming the wet grass and trapsing through freshly cleared garden beds which alerted me to quite an oversight-I put us all in sneakers! Lesson learned, rubber boots are a necessity at 8 am on a chilly, wet fall morning. In little over one hour all of us were soaked to our knees with a nice red clay paste glued to our cuffs! Simon was pretty much red all over so he underwent his first change of the day at which point I realized that I had never gotten out of my pajamas, so I changed too and this time both Simon and I were stuffed into our warm rubber boots!
As the boys played I did the go between-helping Adam around the house and tending the children! Always a juggling act! We had planned for a relaxing weekend but Adam doesn't seem quite capable of chilling out on the farm quite yet, he jumped right into finishing the rockery that he had started a couple weekends ago around the back porch. The plan was for an herb garden right off the house, that is what I got with a few add-ons. I had suggested that we create a small bird bath in the bed (I was thinking small concrete puddle). Adam built a small pond. I won't complain though, it is beautiful. We both have been wanting a place to display our rock collection from Ecuador and this little bird fountain is the perfect place. The colors in the rocks just seem so much more brilliant beneath a slow trickle of water! We also decided to move the boys sandbox and integrate the play area into the garden beds. It is much nicer, can hold twice the sand, and looks so much more beautiful. The boys dove right in and played till lunch. We ate lunch outside and took a plunge into a shower before nap time.
Nap time over the boys ran right back outside and proceeded to get even dirtier than before. I finally stripped both boys outside, grabbed each one under an arm and dumped them in the shower at 7:30, twelve hours after it all began. Jammied and exhausted they crashed, along with Mommy and Daddy! So busy days are ahead as the weather continues to invite us back outdoors! Today we took a lovely walk along Line Creek and the boys had a fantastic time playing in the moving water on the shoals. Could Simon possibly look any happier!
I think it was two weekends ago that we finished canning the muscadine jelly. It was quite a process but we do have lots of tasty jelly in the pantry. We are still eating pears off the tree. Adam found one outside his truck the other day with a stripe of tiny bites across it, most definitely a Simon leftover. The boys are really enjoying picking up a pear off the ground and munching to their hearts content. We are also picking up loads of chestnuts. I just don't know what to do with them. I guess turn them into flour since roasting them wasn't the culinary delight I was expecting. As a matter of fact Ben and I pulled the first batch out of the over, let them cool a bit and we were both so excited to try one that we peeled one, cut in in half, eagerly chewed it and we both looked at each other with an expression of confusion "Is this what they are supposed to taste like?" Apparently the flour is very good for cooking so, if we can figure out how to do it maybe we will make a stab at it.
Apart from the beautiful rock work Adam has been doing his creative juices have been flowing again. I suggested a wire project with a huge steel circle that Adam had saved from the recycling pile and the two of us began to work. Luckily Simon had a nap meltdown which took me away from the project, and I say luckily because Adam took the project in a completely different direction than I had imagined and it gave him an uninterrupted hour of creative play and satisfaction that I don't think he would have found had I been there. Ben watched as Adam was building and Adam told me at one point Ben just came up to Adam with a big hug and told him "I Love You." Side note, Ben has not been generous with the I love you's to Adam lately and this was a big breakthrough. Adam is convinced that his artistic segway from the daily grind enlighted Ben to an aspect of his Daddy that was special. I really can't argue with that, I feel the same way about Adam when he is creating. I was pleasantly surprised with the artwork and yesterday we hung in in the carport turned outdoor living room. I am not sure how intentional all of the artifacts were but believe me it says a lot about Adam!
And this I have to say...I thank the universe everyday for growing up with my Dad and my Mom! There are certainly elements that I will never understand about my childhood but one thing is for sure, they managed to instill a work ethic and unbridled creativity in their children. I see this more and more as a luxury as I work every fitful day to educate the masses. It is probably the most frustrating component of my career. I get so gosh darn bored with the curriculum and I want so much to expose the children to different media and ways to express themselves but oh my it is such hard work! And might I add so underappreciated! Not to mention that public education does everything in its power to undermine creativity (not sure if this is intentional or not). I will keep plugging along though and hopefully Adam and I are sharing with our boys the gifts of hard work, personal expression, and problem solving.
I had to add this picture of Simon as I say good-bye, one because he is so cute as he is totally obsessed with wearing his own backpack to and from school and two because his crafty mama made it for him! I also share a wonderful mommy moment...both boys building and playing trains together...PEACEFULLY. Is this a sign of something sweet to come?
