Outdoors - In

Isabella had to come inside to eat after a long day of playing in the yard. She didn't want to come in and loved the way the grass felt on her toes so this was her solution....



Needless to say I was rather impressed with this solution.

Improv Everywhere.

Check out these fantastically fun group activities that Improv Everywhere puts on.
This would be so much fun to do.







What I love about this is how engaging it is. Everyone starts out as strangers but they all play together. Sort of like when your kid goes to a playground alone but makes friends with all the other kids playing there.

And how great is it that they involve bystanders?

No Mow Yard

Wouldn't you rather have a beautiful meadow instead of a grass and weeds that you have to waste time mowing?
Look at what was done to this yard at maya made
Each time I mow, it's just taking time away from things that I actually care about. I also feel like I am going to have a stroke 20 minutes in.
Just imagine what it would look like if people did this with most of their yard space instead of dull manicured lawns. Each one would be more beautiful than the next! We'd always have bouquets on our tables. There would be plenty of places for creepy critters to live in.
Social conformity is really the only reason not to do this...
and I do hate social conformity.

So true.

I just found this quote on another blog and wanted to share it with you.

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
~Carl Sagan

This is so true.
Last night a young visionary ;) named Sam asked me what the meaning of life was.
I wasn't sure but I do believe this quote could have something to do with it.

Morgantown outing

Remember the fight I had with my cell phone? Well I finally won.
I got all the pictures from our Morgantown outing. I'd say we are due for another :)



First the Agnes and Grace needed a hair cut. While the girls waited for Agnes to finish they played with the hair driers.
Pretty fun.


Even more fun is jumping in all the beanbags at Target.


Isabella having a calm moment with the Columbine and Lemon Balm.


Then the girls found a dirt pile to climb on and a mud puddle to fall in.
What could be more fun than that when your a kid?


Gracie was more sober about the mudpuddling.

...pause...

We've been using any free time to work in the outdoors or deal with the various illnesses floating around our family.

We will be back in business soon.

For now I leave you with a beautiful picture of Isabella taken last Fall while she was playing ballerina/fairy.

Why being four is awesome.

Mother

I will restrain myself from writing a manifesto on motherhood and instead let you enjoy this beautiful (and unfortunately obscure) Sinead O'Connor song.

Consider this an appetizer.

Isa and I have had some fantastic outings in the last several days. Tons of cute pictures are currently stuck on my cell phone and refusing to transfer to the computer.

Consider this post an appetizer because I will win this battle and you will see the adorableness that has been frolicking around this corner of Maryland.

Let's go AT&T! Bring it!

Edit:

I am losing this battle. >:(

BOOO HISSS!

Re-finding

I re-found my pastor friends Carrie and Torin Eikler's sermon blog. 

Our old computer went kaput out of the blue and I was at a loss to remember half the stuff I had bookmarked on there. It's the same annoying phenomenon that happens to me when I go into a music store and am suddenly at a loss to all the music I like. I just stand there...duh........

(Thank goodness this sort of thing never happens at restaurants or grocery stores.)

One of their sermons referenced my favorite scene in the movie Amelie. If you've never seen this it is absolutely beautiful. This is the sort of wonderful stuff we can actually do everyday.

Let's go ahead and start doing it.

Earth Day..snowy, snowy Earth Day.

It's a bit challenging to get into the mood of Earth Day when the daffodils are all covered with snow.

All day long it went: rain, snow, hail, sun...oh good...wait...clouds, snow, snow, hail....WHY!?!?!

My day was only mildly effected by this meteorological bummer because it was filled with:

Agnes

pizza

10 beautiful baby white spruce saplings

pregnant bellies and lime green eyeshadow

and 

Kids Night at church

It was there that I was privileged to watch these fine Brenneman boys show me their moves.

Daniel embraces the traditional Irish jig and Jacob prefers a modern sort of hip-hop expression.

I also enjoy how Jarrod G. runs through midway hollering at the top of his lungs.

Third Sunny Day

*OOps, I posted all these photos backwards BUT cuteness exists outside time and space.* 

What I think is so particularly adorable about these dresses is how ill fitting and goofy they are. It's really sweet. Riley pulls it off better but Isa keeps her shirt, socks and mary janes on. See what I mean about ragamuffin?

Look at those sweet smiles. Cole is camera shy.

Checking out the booty (it was peeps).

Riley showing off her treasures to her sweet mama Melissa.

Agnes hamming it up for the camera. She's also pretty glad about the Popsicle. They were in the shapes of the sun, bunnies, flowers, butterflies. Nice job Leiah.

Saige is tickled to get a peep.

Isa searching for eggs. It was harder than we thought.

Searching for the eggs. Cole decided to just work the grocery cart.

Second Sunny Day

We went to New Germany State Park to buy some plants from in support of Savage River Watershed Association. There weren't many plants left but there were trees and that, I think, may have been better. I got two Fir, one Hazelnut and one Black Chokeberry. 

Everyone who is able. Go plant a tree. They are gifts to us. 

Isa wanted to enjoy the lake and play along the shore. There was a sweet little boy named Caleb who she enjoyed digging in the sand and kicking around in the water with. I was able to have some mama talk time with Caleb's mom. I cannot remember her name because I call her blue mountain mama, her blog's namesake. I could not have been more fortunate to speak with such a neat lady. 

See that speck? It's a good as I could possibly get it. This is a picture of the BALD EAGLE that we saw soaring over the lake! He was probably hunting for some good juicy springtime fish to gobble up. It always feels like a beautiful gift to see one of these beauties.

First Sunny Day

Thursday we went to Cumberland, Md to enjoy their beautiful bike path. Cumberland has a lovely path along the canal and a bunch of restaurants and stores called Canal Place. There is a really nice bike shop called Cumberland Trail Connection where you can rent all sorts of neat bikes and the staff was wonderfully helpful.

We were going to rent some bikes but both children were too small for the tag along kid attachment. The bike rentals didn't work out so we enjoyed a walk in the sun. We really, really needed the sun.

Isabella and Conrad ran up and down the path, jumped in mud puddles and then laid down and snuggled in the grass.

Isa tried to hug Conrad. This was his response. Classic!

Susan Boyle how I love thee.

I first came across Susan Boyle after reading Eugene Cho's blog. (Eugene is the pastor of Quest Church in Seattle, passionate about global poverty and an awesome guy. Go enjoy his blog on a regular basis.) How can you not fall in love with this glorious story? How??

Here is the link to youtube where you can see the full version of Susan in all her glory. All embedding of her performance has been disabled, so you've got to follow the link. Lame, but oh well. It's totally worth it.

Typical that no one can imagine that someone who isn't beautiful by our cultural standards is automatically assumed to be a failure. External physicality has nothing to do with vocal skill or any skill really. I can think of several singers that have totally mediocre voices that have had hit singles all because they are pretty. (must....resist...urge to......name.....names....)

Reason #1643 that we all need to give the middle finger to any force at work that doesn't speak truth about who we are. Beautiful, talented, smart and beloved!

Hopefully Susan will humble everyone like she did at her performance and make us all think of ways we perpetuate prejudices in our world.

Post Edit: I just found out that Susan Boyle has been all over the U. S. media. That is so fantastic.