Mulchin’
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Being Thankful 19
Week 19 of my 2013 Thankfulness Project
Day 126
I’m thankful that Levi has had such a positive experience this year in preschool.
Day 127
I’m thankful for our play date at the park with Kelly and Ben.
Day 128
I’m thankful that our family likes to work together.
Day 129
I’m thankful for the trees in our yard.
Day 130
I’m thankful for the kind man at the bike shop who installed a kick stand on Levi’s two wheeler. He talked directly to Levi about the whole process and treated his bike as if it were one of the many fancy ones waiting to be serviced.
Day 131
I’m thankful for getting to start a new project today. More pictures soon.
Day 132
I’m thankful that I am a mom.
Mother’s Day
I had a lovely Mother’s Day and I hope you did, too. I got many treats over the weekend and this morning was served breakfast in bed. Luke came in carrying my oatmeal. He was followed by Milo holding out an apple and then Levi who came bearing fruit snacks.
We visited Luke’s parents this morning and attended their church. In his sermon, my father-in-law referred to mothers as warriors. I loved that- so affirming and apt. The thing that surprised me the most about being a mom is the bravery that is required. That much love and responsibility puts you in a very vulnerable position. You have to be very brave to survive having your heart walk around outside your body for the rest of your life.
Terrarium
Look at my new terrarium. It’s hosting some adorable mini plants and a brass deer my friend Haley gave me.
My terrarium’s former life was that of a lantern-ish light fixture. I picked this up at a huge church rummage sale last week.
I also gave some attention to my other terrariums. Some of the plants had become quite leggy so I re-potted those and as a replacement got a few succulents instead. (someone- a short blonde someone- added a lime-green mini helicopter to the tableau.)
It’s such a low maintainance way to have some green around the house.
Being Thankful 18
Week 18 of my 2013 Thankfulness Project
Day 119
I’m thankful for all the great parks near us.
Day 120
I’m thankful for Anne, the childcare worker at my gym. The boys have a great time with her and when the class room is not being used, she lets them run around in there and sets up all kinds of fun obstacle courses.
Day 121
I’m thankful for the brotherly affection between these two. It’s a really blurry shot, but in it Levi is brushing Milo’s hair after bath-time employing a gentle headlock to keep him still.
Day 122
I’m thankful for our neighborhood hardware store.
Day 123
I’m thankful that my allergies are not bothering me today. Of course, that’s because we had a SNOWSTORM IN MAY.
Day 124
I’m thankful that I got to take a nap today. (In the picture though I’m just pretending to be asleep.)
Day 125
I’m thankful for the fun time Levi had at his friend’s birthday party today.
Dust to Dust
This morning as I was digging in the front landscaping bed, Levi called out to me. I walked around the corner of the house and found him near the front porch, bent at the waist, studying the form of a small bird. It had beautiful blue feathers. It was dead.
There were no apparent injuries but I still got a shiver from the sight. Normally, I would have left it alone and just waited for Lucas to return and take care of it. However, the boys were quite intrigued and the bird was right where I was going to be working next. I screwed up my courage and declared that we would bury it. I suggested that Levi dig the hole. If there are two things Levi loves, it’s digging and being useful. He readily agreed to my idea.
Levi showing off his special tulip. He had found the bulb and unbeknownst to me, planted it.
As I tried my best to keep from appearing squeamish, we used a shovel to nudge the bird into a paper bag. Milo murmured, “Poor Birdie.” Levi buried it and said something about heaven. Milo asked, “Where’s heaven?” Levi answered matter-of-factly, “It’s where you go when you die.” That answer was apparently sufficient. There were no follow-up questions.
He was so excited when it started to come up and then was even more excited when it bloomed.
Later, after washing up and having a snack, we came back outside. Levi said, “Maybe we should put a sign here where we found it so we can remember.” He went on to say, “I feel kind of like we should pray for the bird.” Levi has never been to a funeral so I was surprised that his spontaneous response was to have a graveside service. While I certainly didn’t want a sign that said, “DEAD BIRD” next to our front porch, I was very happy that his first inclination was to pray.
Unfortunately, he had planted it right next to the sidewalk. we convinced him to transplant it to a pot. It seems quite happy there.
After a second spent asking myself, “How, in fact, does one pray for a dead bird?” I fought the urge to overthink it and said, “Dear Jesus, thank you for making such a beautiful bird. Thank you that we got to help take care of it. Amen.” Levi said, “That was a good prayer to say.” What a sweet boy and what a lovely way to say an ‘Amen.’
Part of me was feeling as if I should give a ‘Circle of Life’ lecture of sorts but before I could start one, the boys ran off to get their scooters. I was glad that I had kept my mouth shut. They seemed to have a handle on the situation just fine. Then I congratulated myself for being so incredibly brave as to bury a dead bird and got back to work on the landscaping.
Being Thankful 17
Week 17 of my 2013 Thankfulness Project
Day 112
I’m thankful that the big lump we discovered on Levi’s neck quickly responded to antibiotics. It was a swollen lymph node that was all riled up from a strep infection (which he in turned shared with Milo and me.)
Day 113
I’m thankful for all the kind people at the grocery store who made over my little helpers. Can you blame them? How cute are they?? Milo’s cart philosophy is loosey-goosey while Levi had a tetris-like mindset about the task. After adding each new item to his cart he would rearrange the contents to maximize the space.
Day 114
I’m thankful for sweet little boys who bring me flowers.
Day 115
I’m thankful that we live on a cul-de-sac. Not having any thru traffic is great and the boys can ride around and around in it on their own personal race track.
Day 116
I’m thankful for this afternoon with my boys. After MIlo and I picked up Levi from preschool we stopped to play at the park. Even though it was sunny, we got rained on. Then Levi asked if we could go to ”A State Sale” (estate sale). I happily obliged. The boys were disappointed that there were no toys at this particular one but I was happy to find a cool brass trivet from Israel.
Day 117
I’m thankful for my niece, Alison. We got to celebrate her third birthday today. She is a very smart and special girl. She and Milo were born just six weeks apart and get along quite well.
Day 118
I’m thankful that Lucas takes care of mowing the lawn for us. Also, I’m glad that this year we have grass to mow.
