Sibling Stoop Talk

They're ready to walk Burl to school. I need to do a couple more things before we leave, so I send them to sit on the front stoop. That stoop is small, but in terms of porches-it's all we have so we make it work. I head to the door and I catch them talking. They ask questions back and forth, and Burl takes the lead on explaining important life things to Fern, "That's not a horse, it's just a mailbox." I stay quiet and reach for my phone to record some of it to show John later. 

The conversations that they have when they're with each other is one of my absolute favorite things about siblings. 

This Week's Menu

John and I are swinging on the healthy side these weeks. What that means for us, which is different for all of us, is that we are pushing ourselves to eat more salads and stop snacking at night. We're laying off sweets. We feel so much better. I'm still struggling to find a healthy place with food, so I welcome advice and words of wisdom. For this week, here's what we're eating:

Black beans & rice with all the fun toppings
Bean & bacon soup, salad
Fettuccine bolognese, salad, bread (making this for a crowd coming for dinner)
Pinto beans, sweet potato, sauteed squash, steamed broccoli
Tostadas, kidney bean/avocado salad

{Right Now, In Our Home}

Right now, in our home I am...

...bringing hydrangeas inside and spreading them around the house.

...giving the rest of them away this week to a friend's wedding.

...laughing at my attempts at family pictures.
...pretending my purple monkey grass things are lavender I collected when horseback riding in the countryside, as if.

...taping bubble bottles to anything to prevent spills.

...giving the credit for that tip to Instagram.

...finding forts and campsites all over the house in the smallest of places.

...making fruit and spinach smoothies daily.

...freezing the leftovers for ice cream snacks.

...reading fiction for the first time in too long.

...enjoying the break from the seriousness that nonfiction brings.

...looking forward to more of Summer and big and little adventures.

Renaissance Park Picnic

Today the kids and I enjoyed a picnic at a new park in Chattanooga.
Since I'm still learning where all its paths lead, it's new to me. 

Our picnic was a normal, fairly typical picnic. We went back and forth from eating and playing. There were gripes about "there are no toys here" that turned into digging in the dirt, climbing trees, and playing with bugs. We explored a few little places that seemed insignificant to me, but played a large role in the children's adventures. We were having such a good time, that I did what I always do-I pushed the kids past their nap times. They were excited about each little extra thing I mentioned, but things fell apart when I announced those three daunting words: time.to.go. On the way home we stopped to see John and the kids were so happy to tell him that "we had fun. went on an adventure." Indeed.