I woke up early on Sunday morning to Jason making a rather loud sound in the kitchen. Of course then I could not go back to sleep as I could not turn off my mind from figuring out that he was making breakfast for me. But I enjoyed snuggling in bed with Alida until he came in with warm apple oatmeal. The food was good but the most special component of the breakfast was the flower bouquet that was made from Nora, Alida and Kali's gardens. It was a very special start to Mother's Day.
We stayed home from church as I wanted to spend as much of the day outdoors as possible. We enjoyed a long hike on the mountain. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful time together. The flowers were beautiful. We hiked a part of the woods we had not been in before and the mountain laurel was exquisite. I'll be completely honest that I've never been as drawn to it as my mother (okay, even thought that sometimes her sheer joy over it and the rhododendron was a bit excessive - sorry mom), but I've changed my mind. I could hardly stop looking at it!Monday Alida enjoyed her first Summer Peacebuilding Institute potluck/dance. Kali loves to go for the dances and Alida shares that opinion. She was so cute wanting to be on the action during the talent show and showing off her little dance moves. She is probably on folks' cameras from from at least a dozen countries. As she danced with a woman from Somaliland, I felt grateful again that my place of employment is one that gives my family the opportunity to be exposed to and interact with beautiful people from many parts of the world. Alida was very fascinated by the interesting clothing, but seemed the most interested in picking up the multi-colored disco ball and trying to throw it (that is what you do with balls after all!).
Yesterday, Tuesday, was our thirteenth wedding anniversary. Jason spent much of the day getting the tomatoes, peppers and basil in the ground and I preparing for our evening (and making more jam!). I've been planning a surprise for weeks now. It is normally pretty easy to surprise Jason but my excitement about the surprise made it hard to hold in for the weeks of thinking about it. I hatched the idea one day on the way back to my office after a meeting and when I was in the middle of reading my old journals of our engagement time. I lived in a community house on campus at the time and so Jason and I spent many hours with my housemates and alone in the various spaces of that house. Well, the house's future is uncertain at this time and so I thought it would be very fun to have an evening together there. Long story short, it is currently abandoned and I was able to acquire the key and after dropping off the girls with friends I blindfolded Jason and drove around until he admitted to being completely lost. I ushered him inside and even after taking off the blindfold it took him a good 30 seconds to figure out where in the world I had taken him. It was, after all, not your typical date location - run down dirty empty house with no running water!Despite worrying about how our littlest was doing, we managed to have a wonderful few hours together. We picnicked and starting learning a new song to sing together. And we reminisced on the role that space played in our relationship, as well as the many meaningful relationships we had with people that year and how many of them continue to be very dear friends. I was surprised at just how comfortable and happy I felt being in that house again. While our year of engagement was tumultuous in some ways, it also was a year of a lot of growth and I think one that laid a foundation that we are enjoying the fruits of now.
When we got back to pick up the girls, Alida let me know the second she saw me that it was not appropriate that I had left her. But after nursing, she perked up and was her happy self. The report was that while she was fragile-spirited for a good part of the evening, she also had some fun too, especially at the playground. It was a memorable evening all around, and I completely forgot to take any pictures!
Then last but not least, Jason and Kali made dinner for me this evening (or part of it any way) - a late Mother's Day treat. Jason may wish to add his own notes on this, but mine will be a more glowing report! Kali made biscuits all by herself and they were very tasty. Jason made soup all by himself and it was not very tasty. It was made with the last butternut of the season and I think that had something to do with it - it had nothing to do with the abilities of the chef, other than him not having time to taste it before putting it on the table to try to troubleshoot the lack of good flavors. Salt, pepper and honey helped and there are chick peas soaking in the remaining broth to cook tomorrow. It was fun and memorable for me though, and it was nice to also feel like Jason thinks I'm pretty amazing right now for being able to get a full meal on the table on a regular basis! We did enjoy freshly picked strawberries and a spinach salad. No one went hungry [even if they might have rather done so...Jason's note]!What I love about many things that have occurred in the last few days is noticing how much we have grown together and as individuals. We laugh at our foibles much more easily than we did a dozen years ago. And we can laugh with each other and not take ourselves quite so seriously. It sure helps life go more smoothly!
We laugh at our littlest gal a lot too. Here she is trying to learn to jump:
News flash - there is peeping coming from the incubator!!
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| And finally, had to include this photo of a cicada recently hatched. We've been enjoying seeing/hearing them all over, but Jason managed to find one just about to emerge. Very cool! |
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