Ahhhhhhh....

I"m sitting in the recliner by our front picture window looking out at the "blue moon."  Alida is sacked out on my chest.  Gone are the days when her little body tucked up under my chin and didn't even reach my waist.  But she still fits and so I'm trying to savor it while it lasts.  I'm not sure what was bugging her such that it was hard for her to settle tonight, but I wondered about a tummy ache, possibly spurred on by her and Kali eating close to a quart of frozen blueberries this afternoon?! They are quite the pair these days!  When they tired of shoveling them in their mouths, Kali got paper for them to make "blueberry print" drawings.

Today was my first Friday at home after a somewhat grueling stretch of work, putting in about 35-40 more hours in two weeks than I normally do.  Have I mentioned that I love my days at home?  Today was one of those days where my list of things I wanted to do kept growing and growing and I reassured myself by remembering that it was only Friday and I have the weekend at home yet.  What a fun day it has been!

On the counter is a canner load each of pickles, ratatouille, and green beans.  In the fridge is a large batch of pesto. A double batch of green rolls and a large batch of green pasta were made from lambsquarter, swiss chard and amaranth greens picked from the garden this morning. The large batch of mint tea I made is almost history and the girls enjoyed a bedtime snack of a portion of the triple batch of granola that came out of the oven while we were eating a late, but scrumptious dinner at 9 p.m. or so.   On the stove is several gallons of tomato sauce that will simmer down overnight to be ready to can tomorrow sometime.  The diapers and laundry are clean, while the rest of the house is hoping for a bit more attention tomorrow...

I could wish that these days would end slightly earlier but they just seem to go so fast and before I know it midnight is quickly approaching.  Our eldest is not bothered in the least by this, as she continues to hold fast to her conviction that she does not need sleep.  It seemed that her doctor got a kick out of her at her yearly appointment earlier this week when her main questions for the doctor were about how to be able to drink more, how to not forget things, and how to not have trouble getting her chores done (these are from a chart that she made up but that she is considering modifying when she needs a reprint so that there aren't so many - we could argue about whether it entails much work or not...).  Anyway, I was super thankful that those were the most pressing concerns for her yearly exam - she checked out super healthy growing over 2 inches since last year.

Today wouldn't have been nearly as fun without the girls around to add spunk and laughter to the day, as well as loads of cuteness.  And I wouldn't have gotten near as much done without the help of fellow Tangly Woods women (thanks, Joyce and Rachelle!).  Having folks close by that the girls love to be with continues to be so heartwarming for me.  And having friends to chop veggies with, share food with, and converse with as we work side by side is about as good as it gets for me.

Our dinner: Tomatoes, greens, beans, corn, basil, & garlic from our garden. Cucumbers and dill from neighbors and friends.