It's a beautiful day and Happy Mother's Day

It's a good day so far today!

It's 1:15 pm and
 - The kids are done with their virtual school homework.

 - We ate a healthy soup and salad lunch, and everything is cleaned up.
 - I scored a free long plastic pipe from a neighbor that Scott can use to channel water drainage for his trail.
 - I found LAMBY in a basket in the nook!  (Cora's been devastated for over a week that he's missing)
 - I washed and sorted all the winter gear yesterday and put it away in totes. Feels so good to have some room in the wash area now and everything handy we need for summer.

Melissa, do you remember these baby "Moleskin" winter gloves?

Christa, the baby wetsuit?

 - I eliminated all the expired/expiring canned food and have it out to eat up, so all the food in the pantry and fridge is fresh.
- Yesterday I did a huge grocery run, so we are all stocked up.
 - The weather is beautiful and the bugs aren't bad yet, so nothing else in the way of enjoying the rest of the day outside! 

Superman playing watersquirters

Cora at the rope swing

It's easy to overlook all these things that I spend my time on and think "Did I accomplish anything today?" because all the things I do to maintain a create a home are pretty much invisible.  You don't notice unless they don't get done.  When they don't get done, life is so messy and overrun and just stressful.  When the home is in order, I feel so grateful, and fortunate and lucky.

We really have such a nice home, family and neighborhood and we are very grateful.

I feel like we always have SO much going on and "fires" needing to be put out, so suddenly when there is a moment to breathe (and it's not 10:00 at night) that is a nice feeling!

This social distancing time has been really nice to take a step back from the running around to and from different social activities and meet ups, and just be home and be together.   There's still so much to do and having 4 kids home all day is draining sometimes, but it's also nice to have every day all together.   I think someday I will look back on this time and long for it.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to our moms!

Each year that goes by I am more and more grateful for what my mother and Scott's mother did for us to raise us and help us learn all the many things we needed to to be independent and resourceful people.

My mom and me at 8 months

Some of the distinct memories I have of my mom were her patiently teaching me how to tie my shoes, how to tell which shoe was right and left by the curve of the shoe, what division is (over and over again! .... this was a tough concept for me in 2nd grade), how to do chores with "Pixie Cards" and how to "save up" for a big reward, how to sing and memorize (I still remember all my articles of faith by heart), how important it is to look for the needs of others before your own.  She was great at correcting grammar and teaching vocabulary due to her love of reading and English studies at the U.  Before the time of autocorrect and grammerly, my mom was my excellent school paper editor. 

She also taught me that conflicts with others are not because something is wrong with the other person, but because it reveals faults in yourself too.  After a huge fight with my best friend, my mom calmly sat me down and said "the problem is that you and Cami are both bossy, and that causes conflict.  You will have to learn to compromise."  I was shocked that she would call me bossy, but appreciated the gentle nudge to be a better person.   Cami and I worked out that I would get to choose what I wanted to do one day (biking and hop scotch) and she would get to choose what she wanted the next day (Boardgames and TV).  She taught me how to work things out and both Cami and I remember that compromise very well today. :)

I remember when my friend Michelle broke her arm my mom said "And did you calmly tell her everything would be OK and that the doctors could fix it?"
"No!" I said "I screamed and screamed!  We all did!"   (I didn't know the doctors could fix something like that!)
I have never forgotten that foible of mine, and when there is an emergency now, I always try to  respond how mom would,  with reassuring words, "Everything will be OK.  The doctors can fix this."

around 1983-84

Mom has been such a wonderful support to me as a mother, understanding and validating.  She is always so understanding and quick to praise and validate others feelings.  I've never known her to say anything negative about anyone in the family.  I only hear her praise the talent and work of her daughters and daughters-in-law and consistently talk about how lucky her sons have been to marry such wonderful women.  She seems to always express her amazement at what good mothers we are.  That confidence has meant a lot to me.

Mom with Mr. Seffy

After becoming a mother and parent myself, and each year that goes by, I learn more and more what being a parent entails, and it makes me more and more grateful for all that our parents have done for us.    Each little step takes so much concerted effort.   Learning to use the potty, learning to read and ride a bike, learning to share, to say thank you and ask nicely, to clean up, to be inclusive, to pray, to use a quiet voice, to take ownership of ones actions and to take on responsibilities.    Some things just come with age, but there is so much that comes only from very explicit learning and patience.

Scott's mother helped him to learn to read and sound out before he started Kindergarten. She emphasized independence, teaching him how to take care of himself and be responsible at school, home and church.  She taught him how to ski, rock climb and pack a backpack for overnight camping properly, giving him a great sense of confidence in his ability.  She supported him in his soccer and academics and attended his games and many activities.

  

She's been a great Macha (grandmother) to our children, taught them much about different kinds of rocks (geology) and rock climbing, being prepared when you hike, and manners (says Aaron :).  

We've had many wonderful adventures together in many countries!  

I can't possibly list all that our mothers have done for us, but I hope our moms know that they are loved and cherished and appreciated.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

(Again...a few days later :)

What to do in social distancing?

Had amazing large flakes of snow this morning coming down steadily.  

For May 9th, that was pretty amazing.

Cora's morning face.  She looks like a little doll.

It was a fun moment when Cora broke out the tutu to dance.  It's been a while!

After 5 hours of cleaning, we rewarded ourselves with an exploratory adventure that has been on my bucketlist for over a year.  We went to find one remains of one of the very first homes built in Windham, which was built by Thomas Dinsmore back in 1730. Back then the area was known as "Nuttfield" and we just celebrated the 300th anniversary of Nuttfield in 2019.   

This was the Dinsmore-Hopkins Cellar Hole.  You can also see the stone foundations of a house and barn.  The stone "pass through" chamber was for farm animals to pass from the barn to the pasture.  There is also a tunnel under the old railroad bed.

We ate at Domino's for our first time eating out in weeks

It was nice to grab n' go and not cook for one meal!

Based on the number of Galoshes/Wellies/Rainboots that we own, 

one might assume that I have 10 children, not 4.

Our most exciting fun this month has been the receipt of our Rad Runner e-bike.

This has been so much fun!  The boys have printed maps of the neighborhood and mark each street 

that they have explored on the bike.  They are getting to know our neighborhood so much better and are having a lot of fun.  With everything closed, it's been a lifesaver to have something new to look forward to

Home schooling continues!

 Hmm.....who is hiding here?

This was an experiment in taking the Radrunner on a nearby hiking trail.

The day the kids made an "ultimate fort"

 

The day that Scott took a half day of work so Tim and I could hike 

Mount Monadnock!

 It was very cold at the top.  We felt very proud that we had all the gear.

More Homeschooling ...learning shapes

and writing....

and art....with recycling

Spheres and Cubes

The day we went rock climbing at Dear Leap, and only Scott had the skills to bring it....but we still enjoyed the hike very much

This has been pretty much every day for me......Ollie bringing me toys that need new batteries.

Our huge pile of homework to turn in

What Ollie might look like with curls

A rare photo of the boy asleep

Scott prepping his blackberry patch

Lamby....before he got lost and Cora cried every day.  I really hope we find this lamb.

Happy siblings!

Aaron has taken to the woods finally.

In his own words "I didn't used to be into the woods.  Now I'm totally into the woods and mountain biking"

I've baked and cooked a ton the past 6 weeks.  It's nice to feel like I have more control of what the kids are eating. We've been doing really well eating homemade food and lots of fruits and veggies, but it's also a lot of work.

Cora got a long overdue new bed several weeks ago.  This is when we were putting it together.  We went with a full sized futon.  She loves it.  Huge upgrade from the toddler bed she was sleeping in!