This and that...

So, there are a lot of spelling errors in this post.  I am using a tablet and I am technically challenged.  I cannot seem to figure out how to see what I am typing...



Our tree is up.  And I am pretty amused by the ridiculousness of the Christmas tree in the house of a toddler.  We had a small reprieve, but we are back now to mostly ornaments on the top.  Also, there are not actually enough branches to hold all of our ornaments.  I like making ornaments...so we may need to focus on giving them away this yezr.

And, on Friday we celebrated Santa Lucia Day, in fairly ridiculous fashion.  We made buns, and Elsa brought them to us in bed.  Then we read a book about Saint Lucy, and Elsa wrote an acostic poem an painted a picture.  The kids also wanted to make costumes, so, crafty mama that I am, I cut a hole in an old curtain for Elsa, and we tied a sash around her waist.  David was a star boy.  The book did not explain the custom, but David was into it.  He made a conical white hat, w(out of construction paper) with penciled stars, and glued a piece of paper with stars on it to a big stick.  Then we went to our neighbors and brought buns and sang Santa Lucia kind of lamely.  David has been pretty insistent about wearing hi starboy costume at all times, which is sweet, although it is a little odd looking and I have to resist explaining the whole thing in detail to everyone we meet, because, well, it might look a little Klan like...  This week we are mostly going to work on finishing up Christmas presents.  Elsa is making a book of poetry.  Also a calendar to give away.  I am not sure what to have David do.

I am feeling, as I often do, to get more Waldorfy in our homeschool, but I keep going off in weird directions.  I tried the Oak Meadow curriculum, but could not seem to stick with it.  Anybody know any good curricula?

I am baaacckkkk!

And I didn't even realize I was gone.  I am not actually talking about this space...Who knows if I will be able to keep up this blog with any routine.  Probably not.  But, last month when I was at my Ob/Gyn yearly, I mentioned that I was kind of stressed out.  Which seemed reasonable.  A mobile baby, homeschooling, small house, ADHD, heavily nursing baby....and she asked me if I wanted some help with that.  Help in terms of medicine.  And at first, I balked, because I didn't think I was depressed, just understandably overwhelmed.  But she pointed out that it was going to be hard to do anything about it in terms of counseling, or even to really lighten my load, and she said, "You want to enjoy your children, don't you?"  And so I took the prescription, and here I am, a month later, feeling myself again....and I guess I hadn't even realized I was depressed.  Instead of just being overwhelmed by my weed covered garden, and totally ignoring it, I have been going out there and just weeding it every day, remembering that actually, I hand dug the whole thing in the first place.  I am less stressed out about the mess--my house is always going to be messy, and it matters not while I am still trying to keep it under control, I am not paralyzed by the mess, as I was before, not allowing myself to do anything because it was too messy.  I am knitting again, and getting excited about projects, and enjoying helping my children make their Halloween costumes.  I have cooked dinner three nights in a row, and it hasn't been popcorn or cheesey noodles.  I have been baking our bread, and making stock, and just doing all the things that I used to like to do.  And I have been enjoying my children, which is pretty great. 

These babes

Sometimes it is only after they are in bed, asleep, and I am thinking back, that I realize how sweet and delightful they really are, and wish I could go back and appreciate it more...even when David was singing lustily about how we needed more penises at the grocery store early this afternoon. 

Just checking in...

I want, to keep up with this just a little, but things are crazy for me of late.  I kind of thought it was manageable until Sammy started crawling, and then I started to lose my mind.  I am encouraging myself that it is not necessarily the number of children that I have, but just ordinary mobile babyhood that is chaotic.  Sammy is crawling and pulling up, and I am sweeping multiple times a day.  (This is abnormal behavior for me.)  He just crawls along, stops, picks up some random thing off the floor, sticks it in his mouth, and keeps going, making weird sucking noises.  Sometimes the weird random thing is one of those incredibly expensive baby puff things that I swore I would never buy, decrying the whole baby product industry, until I had him and could get fifteen minutes to do the dishes by sticking him in his high chair and feeding him those, but some of the weird random things are, well, not.  So, my floors are relatively clean, but the rest of the house isn't really, to some degree because we are having the rainiest summer ever, and to some degree because I feel like I am managing only the bare minimum here.  I have been falling asleep, fully clothed, when I nurse Sammy to sleep at night, and he is a morning nurser, which is really lovely, so I am not getting up early.  Also, I am by no stretch of the imagination a morning person.

Our dishwasher is broken, and I miss it so.  Also, the chickens are going to be penned up in a run very, very soon.  The last straw was when I caught them eating my unripe blackberries.  They already get into the garden regularly, scratch up and "harvest" the potatoes,  make it impossible to plant new lettuce, and such, but I certainly cannot tolerate them eating my blackberries because, well, I am not getting much out of my garden and I want the berries.  So Tara, our awesome cleaning lady who is also a handywoman, is going to come out and help me set it up, and then I will learn how to do it.  Neither Jesse nor I are very handy at all, and I want to become more so, so I am hoping to just work with her and learn things. 

The big kids are both at Farm Camp, which they are both enjoying--and it is from 9-3.  David really wanted to do it, and is doing pretty well for such a long day.  So I have a bit more time.  But I should be putting laundry away while Sammy sleeps.  (He sleeps for so much longer when they are not here....)

Bike success

Oh, by the way, guess what, big milestone over here...Elsa learned how to ride her bike without training wheels.  So, I am wiping the sweat from my brow--a major parenting fail averted.  She can swim, too, so my work is done.   Well, I ought to buy her a helmet that fits.  That might be on the agenda as well. 

And while I don't want to get all deep about it in terms of homeschooling, I did not teach her how.  I made space and encouraged a bit, but she was ready and did it.  (I didn't teach her to swim, either, competitive swimmer that I was...but I did sign her up for lessons.)

Bunny poop tea

I made some bunny poop tea yesterday, while Elsa played endless games with her friend from farm school and David and Sam played with Eemah (Jesse's mom).  I also had to tell Elsa and her friend several times to get out of the bucket that I use to throw the chicken poop that I  scoop from the yard in my occasional  bursts of fear about chicken born illness inspired cleaning frenzies.  (This did not help these fears.)  I told them to get out, and they did, although proceeding to completely cover their six year old selves in mud.  Luckily, said six year olds can also hose themselves off adequately all on their own, leaving me to continue to make bunny poop tea.  As  you may have inferred, it is warm here now.  Today was kind of hot, which is sometimes tough in these mountain days before the trees have leafed out.   And suddenly everything is brilliant and bright.  I am unconcerned with homeschooling...I mean, I am unconcerned with nervously comparing Elsa's progress to her friends who are in public school.  We do what we do, then she goes outside and picks flowers or digs in the garden or wanders a little in the neighborhood (I am trying as hard as I can to allow this--it scares me but I think the benefits outweighs the risks) or we go for a hike or we make plans to get up early to watch some animals.  David has been in seventh heaven with his Eemah here, who is willing to play with him non-stop, running around, pretending to be characters from Pippi Longstocking (those books are lately huge hits around here.)  Jesse has two conferences to go to, so he had his mom stay with us for these weeks.  It is lovely to have her, but I do miss my little husband.

But the bunny poop tea....I don't know if it is a good idea or not.  It sounded like one.  I just put some poop in a bucket and let it sit for a while, then poured it on the strawberries.  There is a guy, belovedly known to most Black Mountainers, as "the strawberry guy," who comes to the parking lot of the gas station near the grocery store, and word gets out and you GO and get some amazing strawberries.  Anyway, my friend told me that he told her that the strawberries were fertilized with liquid turkey poop and that's why they are so delicious.  I don't have any turkeys (nor any plan to raise them), but I do have bunnies.  I have also heard of making bunny poop tea, and compost tea, so I decided to give it a shot.  Lord know, there aren't many strawberries left--the chickens scratched them all to hell.  So, I will keep you updated.  I think I should also probably start consulting books...maybe testing my soil.  I wish I had a garden mentor....

New Workout Craze

Shovel the compost, shovel the compost...
Lift the buckets (because your wheel barrow is broken)...
Walk it out, walk it out....
Heave the buckets over the (inadequate) chicken fence...
Dump, dump..
Whoops, forgot the shovel at the compost heap....walk it out, walk it out....
Mix in that compost....shovel the beds....

Repeat...

I am sore but happy.  Today we are going to plant potatoes and carrots....

I have started **zero** tomato plants.  Excellent work.

I love...

...it when Samuel turns toward me, still asleep, sticking out his pointy litte tongue, to nurse;
...how he smiles first thing in the morning, before he opens his eyes;
...his sweet, milky smell mixed with just a smidge of neck cheese.

This is the spring...

Where I am not going to start fifty tomatoes.  I am not.  I swear.  I promise.  At the most, one row of tomato plants.  Hold me to it. 

Also, I went to church!  Finally.  It's hard with a new baby.  I wept my way through the Palm Sunday service, as I usually do.  The triumph and the perfidy.  This year, Peter's humanity spoke to me.  He must have been so frightened, even though he wanted to be brave.  I can't manage a lot for Lent of late, but Holy Week remains special.  Also, the preacher preached from the pulpit that it is our Christian duty to stand up for the rights of our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender sisters and brothers.  The Episcopal Church: Love God, Love your neighbor, change the world.  I love it.

Jesse stayed home with a recovering but epically cranky David and cleaned house.   I must say, he did a fabulous job, and the house was pretty presentable for a lovely visit with my best friend from high school, her husband and three children.  So, yes, he's kind of a keeper. 

Family and Baby Love

Still no pictures.  This morning, I woke up with Sammy cuddled up close, his hand around my breast.  This last baby is making my heart hurt...I love him so. 

We had sort of a dreadful day yesterday.  David is finally on the mend from a horrible sickness.  It may have been the flu...the day before, I took him to the doctor, promising him ice cream and candy if he would just cooperate.  It was terrible and innapropriate, but I didn't know how else to manage with the baby and him.  He did it, and was remarkably compliant, although chattering nervously the entire time, so that I couldn't discuss anything about Sammy with the doctor.  He did begin to freak out about the otoscope, and so I asked the doctor not to use it.  He didn't have ear pain.

Anyway, we were definitely housebound yesterday.  David still had a bit of a fever, and was incredibly, incredibly cranky.  And I was/am still incredibly tired.  It was back to newborn stage sleepwise with David waking up and really needing to sleep with his mama...and so homeschooling was uninspired, and it was incredibly cold.  I was counting on spring, but we are having below freezing temperatures all day long and it sucks. 

I read aloud a whole bunch of The Tale of Despereaux (it's so great), trading chapters with Elsa for No Fighting, No Biting...that is usually how I get her to read to me, by bribing with my reading something more compelling.  It is hard--the only books that Elsa can read yet are boring for a child who has been hearing complex chapter books since she was four.  Also, I made her do some workbook work which never really feels good.  I just felt uninspired, and well, nervous...am I doing enough? Would she be getting more in school?  I started this with some kind of conclusion in mind, but it got lost in the mess of a baby needing to nurse, and more homeschooling, and floor sweeping and chicken feeding.

Today, however, was awesome.  It was still cold, and we didn't go out, and Sammy is no longer content to stay in his bouncy seat, so Elsa and I are constantly trading off, holding him, playing with him...he is on the cusp of sitting and I think that will make things easier....I have to say that my body is no longer up for wearing a baby all of the time.  I just can't do it.  Anyway, Elsa decided that she wanted to make sculpey clay models of all the gods.  First, we tried to remember them--then counted them...then made a list.  Then she worked for at least two hours...I had to make her stop to go outside for a little bit.  It just felt right.  



Today was better though..

Boston trip

Soon, soon I am going to get it together to take and post pictures again.  Or not.  Right now, Sammy is sleeping in his carseat (the trip out to drop Elsa off at Farm School is usually enough to make him drop off), and Elsa and David are gone.  I have two hours a week like this...alone with only baby.  I should get my knitting.  I should get my coffee.  I should do the breakfast dishes.  I should figure out what to make for dinner.  It is cold and rainy here--come on spring, we are ready.

Anyway, the kids and I took an amazing trip to Boston last week to visit my parents and to do some homeschooling adventuring.  The trip was a spectacular success, although flying alone with three children is not the MOST fun.  The flight up was particularly hard, with a certain four year old becoming intensely upset about having to put his backpack through security, and also about having to ride to his grandparents' house in a flowered carseat.  It was a lot easier (except for my own rather intense anxiety) on the trip back down.

Boston (or Hingham, the town south of Boston where I grew up and where my parents still live) was lots and lots of fun.  The kids got to go sledding, because in the first days, there was snow which we did not get enough of to do.  We checked out the very old graveyard and a house that was built in 1630...especially enjoying the closet behine the fireplace where slaves escaping on the Underground Railway may have hidden.  We went to the beach, where we found lots of shells and other things washed up because of the Northeasters that they had up there, and talked to a guy who was using his metal detector to hunt for treasure on that beach.  We got hot chocolate at the coffee shop (I have to say that the Dripolator is a better coffee shop).  We went to the Boston Science Museum, an enormous museum where David spent pretty much the whole time playing in the model rocket ship.  Elsa say a lightening show and looked at more exhibits.  We also went to see the model train museum.  I have to say, my parents really pulled out all the stops on showing us a wonderful time.

However, if you ask Elsa what she liked best, she will tell you without hesitation that she loved riding the subway.  The activity on Friday was... riding the subway.   We took the train in to South Station, got off, and hung out in the big depot.  Elsa and David had a cupcake, and Elsa bought a Boston Celtics bear with her rabbit hutch cleaning money, I nursed the baby, and we returned.  On the way back, it was rush hour, which was a little tough for David, but thrilling for Elsa as she got to hear people talking in different languages, and tried to stand up, holding the pole.

It was a really nice trip, and I am glad that I did it.  I had been feeling bad about how much we have been staying home lately, It has been a combination of having, you know, a new baby, and David going through a particularly intense phase.  I know his intensity is going to serve him in good stead when he gets older, but it can be hard for all of us to handle when he is still such a little package.  So, I feel good about that huge adventure. 

Yesterday was beautiful...today, not so much.   As soon as it gets nicer, I am going to figure out how to keep the chickens out of the garden so I can plant my peas....it is nice to be home too.

This and that...

There is a sweet little baby boy lying on the bed next to me.  He is so sweet and so chunky and we love him so much.  I have no pictures.  I should start taking them again--Jesse takes them with his phone sometimes, but he isn't, you know, here a lot.

Things are going along.  It has been a kind of cold and wet end of winter here, which is wearing me out a bit.  My children have produced an absolutely enormous pile of drawings.  I am trying to come up with a proper metaphor...mountain is cliche, but they can sit at the table and draw for hours.  Hours.  I have no idea what to do with them, either.  I sort through them, and can occasionally bring myself to throw one away (Elsa, in particular, can draw the same picture over and over again).

I have lots of tidbits.  A possum got into our chicken coop the other night. late.  I think we were saved by our, ummm, falling apart chicken coop.  I heard a big crash...I thought one of the kids had fallen out of bed...and then the sound of some angry hens.  I rushed out, and the big wall of the coop had fallen off, and there was a glittery eyed possum and no hens in the coop.  Goneril was clucking furiously all around the yard, and the rest of the girls were nowhere to be seen.  So the wall falling off allowed them to escape, I think.  Anyway, I chased the possum off and got poor Goneril back in the coop, and hunted around a little bit for the others, then went to bed, thinking we had lost them for sure.  But, lo and behold, there they were, the next morning, pecking at our windows and pooping on our patio. 

In one way, I felt like a real farmer, chasing predators away in the middle of the night.  Mostly, though, I didn't.  I felt like a complete non-farmer, as I fretted all night about our chickens...how frightened they must be, how much I was going to miss them, what a terrible chicken owner I am not to have been able to defend my chickens from all harm. 

Homeschooling is going pretty well, when I am not, again, fretting about whether I am not teaching Elsa enough and causing her to miss learning everything, even though she has the most amazing breadth of knowledge...as far as I can tell, anyway.  And her reading is getting better.  I have completely abandoned the Waldorf style curriculum I was using, and am just making her read to me and do some phonics and handwriting workbooks, and math workbooks too, as well as just kind of talking about math.  Mostly, I think it is fine and she is thriving.  Sam is the sweetest, easiest baby ever, but he still requires a good bit of maintenance (even easy babies need their diaper changed--or to be held over the toilet or however one does Elimination Communication, to be nursed, to take naps and to just not be in their bouncy seats.)  Elsa and David and I did some stuff about constellations and stars--we read a whole bunch of constellation tales, and I just got D'Aulaire's book of Greek Mythology and we are reading through that.  It is a beautiful book.  Anyway, one of the tenets of Project-Based homeschooling (which I am not really doing) is that if the kids are playing about what they are studying, they are really immersed in it.  If that is the case, and I think it is, they are immersed.  David now, much of the time, wants to be referred to as Zeus, the god of "Funder."  Actually, he wants us to say thunder, he just can't manage it.  I bought a whole bunch of peg dolls, and they have been making peg doll gods.

Which brings me to the Nature Table.  We are setting it up for spring, and I am trying to reconcile my ideas to how it should be, with cute little Waldorfian things that I make to Elsa' ideas, which are many peg dolls colored by her to be the various tulip and daffodil family.  Really,  I know it is great that she is taking over that function, but it looks a little different than how I want it.  That does seem to be a theme....

I am getting excited about the garden, although I am not sure how much I am going to be able to get done in there...trying to remind myself that Sam's babyhood is a short season, and it is going to okay if I can't do much.  I do think when he gets bigger,  I may try to get more serious about homesteading.  There are classes that I want to take...I think that is just the way it is going to have to be for this suburban girl.  I would love to be more of a do it yourselfer, but I am clueless and want some support.  And when Sam gets a little bigger, it will be possible. 

Look, here I am.  Sammy is sleeping on my lap and I realized that I haven't written here in a long time.  AND that I have pictures, taken with a phone and sent to me generally, to put up here.  Up top is the sweater that I finally finished for David on Christmas.  It has firemen buttons!  He likes to wear it!  I foolishly started another one for Sammy in matching yarn, in the 3-6 month size.  It's not going to happen.  Sammy is three months and almost out of said clothes.  I have no time to knit.

Then there's all three children.  Aren't they cute?  I think so.  Although Elsa looks fourteen in that picture, which I don't like.  I cut her bangs myself.  Elsa is delightful and funny with Sammy.  "Mama!" she will cry, happily removing all of Sammy's clothes, "Sammy's diaper is SOAKING!  I have GOT to change it."  Unfortunately, she is very good at removing all of his clothing, but less good at managing the rather motely assortment of cloth diapers I am using, so I end up having to redress him.  Generally, the diaper is just mildly damp.

Lu-ly Lu-la

That woe is me,

Poor child for thee!

And ever morn and day,

For thy parting

Neither say nor sing

By by lul-ly lulay!

That is from the Coventry Carol.  I sing it to my children every year at Christmas.  Then I tell them the story of how Herod was so jealous that he ordered all young boys under three to be killed.  And I tell David that I would never allow Herod's soldiers to have killed him.  Or Elsa.  Or Sam.  Which is clearly bullshit.  It is a hard and terrifying fact that we can't always protect our children from madmen.  A madman came into an elementary school and shot 20 first graders, while teachers and the principal died trying to save them.  By by lu-ly lulay, babies.  We are heartsick.

Kids are wicked funny (at least, mine are)

Sammy is sleeping, all by himself, and Elsa is off to Adlebert Farm with David riding along, so here I am.  Also, Tara, are fabulous house cleaner is here.  I don't know how mamas do it without her, in particular.  Anyway, I have a rare moment to sit down-I can read when I nurse, but what to do with hands free...I think I might work on David's sweater--I got these adorable fireman buttons and all I have left are the button bands--but first, I wanted to pop in here.

So, I wanted to announce that, in addition to a doll named Titty (named for a character from the book Swallows and Amazons--apparently it's a nickname for Christina--perhaps out of favor these days), there is a stick named the Vaginator.  This morning, David came charging  in with it, announcing that the Vaginator could cook food for me, nurse the baby, AND reduce bad policemen to dust.  Only bad policemen, of course.  I am thinking that the Vaginator is actually related to a veginator or something like that, also, we are not anti-policeman here, although it may have come up with regard to a discussion about Civil Rights.

Let's see, what else--we had a nice Thanksgiving with our lovely neighbor Amanda and her little girl.  She took some beautiful pictures-she is quite a photographer--that I would like to post here when I am not worried that Sammy is going to wake up. 

Also, our house is covered with duct tape signs, identifying all of the rooms:  there is the the bach room, the lo dree room, the kichen.  I find it totally thrilling that she is venturing into writing without asking for the correct spelling.  She is getting a real sense of how the written word works. 

We also found a new violin teacher for Elsa.  It turns out that I am not at all a Tiger Mother, and Suzuki did not work for me.  I was not interested in a complicated rewards chart to make Elsa practice, and sometimes I was not able to be the one to take Elsa to her lesson, or to do that without a child or two.  So, this is more low key, but I am feeling successful because hey, at least I did it. 

That's all folks.  Hopefully I will get it together to post some Thanksgiving pictures.

And now we are five

Look who's here!  Samuel Thornton Quam was born on October 23rd at 9:45 in the morning.  He was ten pounds even and I can't remember exactly how long--21 inches I think.  I grow them big.  He is sweet and my milk is coming in better than it did with the previous two, which is a relief.   I am definitely attached to nursing.  We are having a lovely baby moon with my wonderful parents here to take care of us--all I am doing is nursing the baby and directing (there are, it seems, a lot of things I am attached to).  As you can see, Elsa loves her baby brother...and thus far, David does too. 

Not only am I loving Samuel's tininess....I am loving how sturdy and big Elsa and David are.  I keep grabbing their arms and shoulders and hands and they are so strong and delicious.  There is plenty of love for all, indeed.

Pulling the Plug

Oh, am I conflicted.  And nervous.  But I did it.  I pulled Elsa out of her school today.  There is a farm/homeschool program twice a week in Fairview, and she went there today and loved it, and we decided that she is going to be homeschooled.  With the caveat that if it isn't working in January, she can go to the Montessorri school in Asheville.   Tomorrow we are going to work on reading word families and form drawing and making a calendar.  I am excited.  I am terrified.  I wish I had the kind of unwavering self confidence that I was on the right path...either way.  But I don't.  I can see both sides of this (and many) issues.  Although at this point in the political game I am pretty confident in my choice of president...but that isn't going against the grain.  Most people I know prefer Obama.

Anyway, I did it...and actually, I am coming back to this a week and a half later, and I am already feeling calmer about this decision.  Elsa is doing great.  We get a lot done.  She is learning to read, and we are hiking and being outside regularly.  I am imagining that after I have had the baby (and gotten through the first few exhausting months) I will have even more energy and we will be able to do more.  I do like it-it is pretty brilliant to see her figuring out how to read, and I do think it is a lot more efficient to do it at home--Elsa's memory and verbal skills had the teacher completely fooled in terms of her reading ability, and I think she was not getting much out of school.  Probably the teacher would have figured it out after a while, but as her mama, I know exactly where she is at as a reader--wonderful comprehension and understanding of story structure, not a whole lot of  decoding skills...which is what we can work on together. 

Okay, so this is even later....October, two weeks before little man is arriving.  Homeschooling seems to be working great...I wish I had more energy.  Anyway, I don't want to completely abandon this blog, but I also don't want to actually write in it, or download pictures or anything, so here it is.

David and Putt-Putt

We are at the beach right now.  When you live in the mountains of North Carolina (or possibly any mountains), this takes on a whole different meaning than it did when I was growing up, and you went to the beach for the afternoon.  What it means is that we are on vacation on Cherry Grove, in North Myrtle Beach.   Usually we go in October, but we figured that we might be a little occupied then, what with having a baby, and so we came in October.  Anyway, it is a lot of fun, and I will have pictures to post after we get back.

Although I would be perfectly content to stay at the beach house (the reason we go to North Myrtle Beach is that we can afford a cottage that is on the beach) the whole time, the other members of my family might get tired of that much beach...so we went to play mini-golf.  I didn't go last time because I was pregnant, but I am so happy that I went today, if only to observe the hilarity of a slightly overstimulated little boy at the mini-golf course where there were dinosaur statues and a multi-story pretend ship that we could actually go on.  David did actually occasionally use his golf club to get his golf ball, field hockey style, into the hole.  (Both kids definitely use the  hockey model, rather than the golf model, kind of dribbling the ball with the golf club until it goes into the hole). 

The minute we entered the course, David was off, dumping his ball down the final, permanent hole, so Jesse had to get him a new one.  Then, off he ran, ducking under rope barrier, to run to the top of the ship.  Jesse told me to follow him, which I did, but would have been wiser to follow him more quickly, as I found him attempting to climb over the "ship's" gate, which was thirty feet up, and climb into a cage with a decorative dinosaur.   He was just so totally thrilled with the whole thing, running, playing on the ship, occasionally putting his ball down randomly on the course to dribble it into the hole.  Sometimes Jesse takes one of the kids to play golf with him, and I am now dying to go, just to watch.

Hickory Nut Gap Farm

We went to this great farm, Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview on Labor Day.  We go every fall, multiple times.  It's a wonderful place, they have chickens, goats, cows, pigs and horses.  All of their animals are grass finished, healthy and, well, delicious.  In the fall, the farm is open to visitors.  They have lots of low spray apples, a corn maze (this year, the corn didn't sprout--not because we were in drought because we weren't--so it was a hay bale maze), animals to look at, a big barn with a rope swing on the hay (this is generally the biggest hit), a trike run in a barn, and a creek to play in.  It was fun, and I am glad we went.  I am still deciding whether to keep Elsa in school or not...if I don't, I anticipate many more visits,  If I do, it may be more difficult.  This whole baby thing is making things challenging.  But great, little unnamed as of yet man.  Complications and chaos are fine.  We love you and want you.

I don't have a lot else to say, but I will put some pictures up.  I don't have any of me, of course, but let me tell you that I am huge and there is no fear, despite my advanced maternal age, that this baby isn't growing.

Elsa and her friend decided that the best way to do the hay bale maze was to leap around on top of them.  They were correct.  David thought it was fun as well, even when he made gross errors about how far he could jump and basically did a belly flop onto the hay and then slid down.

So, I included this picture, complete with chewing hair (as well as adorable gap toothed grin on Elsa's sweet friend) because the thing is that we live here.  It has been hot and humid lately, but my goodness, we live here, and see that stuff every dang day.  And I mean, imagine if I were actually a good photographer.

Yes.  It was a good day.