There’s an old Cosby show line that my family likes to quote to eachother whenever the first snow falls.  We call someone up on the phone and say, “It’s snowing outside my window, is it snowing outside your window?”  It’s cute.  Unless it’s October.  
I certainly did not expect to see those white fluttery things while colorful leaves still hung on to their branches with all their might.  It was determined, that fall foliage!  The orange wasn’t quite ready to let go quite yet.  The green, not yet even having a chance to show off, clung with hearty strength through the entire day of snowfall.  
In our household, the bins in the basement that were not on the agenda to be surfaced and dumped and dug through in order to find gloves and hats and snowsuits to fit growing children… were indeed brought upstairs.  The snow was softly falling, but loudly called them outside to play.  
It teased the kids into thinking, winter is here!  
This mama was not fooled, however.  I, who think two months of cold is plenty enough cold, am not about to embrace even one more month of winter than what is on my calendar.  I was just starting to give fall a gentle hug hello, tentatively yet, as summer crocs and colorful flowers are still within sight of my reluctant wave goodbye. 
But there is no way that I will skip the glorious hues of fall just because one tricky snowfall tried to cover them all up in its white blanket.  Nope.  We have survived the blizzard of October and are on to a fall-ish November.  The winter bins went back down to the basement and will have their proper ceremony of unveiling when I’m ready.  It’s fall outside my window.  Is it fall outside yours?

So for about two hours this morning I sipped tea and did a puzzle with Elsie at the kitchen table.  Every time she would finish she yelled, “YEAH!”  Then said, “Let’s do it ONE more time!”  In addition to that, she said a great many funny things.  She has a dry sense of humor and I just love to see it developing naturally more and more.  As you read her quotes, try to read them in a little high-pitched cute voice.  Just imagine Cinderella’s mice and she sounds so much like one of them.

When we walked into the kitchen to do the puzzle she breathed deeply and said,  “It smells like a birthday party!”  I realized that I had just lit a scented candle, so she must have picked up on the lingering smoke smell of the match.  I love how strong our sense of smell is, and how that tiny scent conjured up an entire birthday party in her mind.

As she ate grapes, she would take a bite, and start to move all around.  “I’m shaking my food,” she said.  “Why?”  I asked.  “So it stays in.”  Of course.  We should all shake our food.

When I asked her what she wanted to do on our date next month she said, “Get a shot.”  I made sure I understood her correctly.  “I wish you could be a doctor and give me a shot.  I wish you could be a doctor with pretty shoes.”  It was said so mournfully.  I must have missed my calling… in both departments!  Career and style.

She looked out of the window and sighed, shaking her head.  “Nope, it’s not Christmas yet.  It has to snow tomorrow.”  Christmas is on the brain, folks.  I’m barely ready for the leaves to fall, let alone snowflakes to fall!

On about her seventh time around on the puzzle, she was chuckling to herself.  I said what a great job she was doing and she said, “It’s because I’m a good girl.”  She kept chuckling then said to herself, “Ok.  Ok.  Stop laughing.”  She had me busting out laughing!

I love the creativity of this outfit.  A puffy tutu is underneath the dress.  

On maybe the tenth time of doing the puzzle she suddenly realized that the buckle to the booster on her chair wasn’t buckled.  “I have to put my buckle on so the policemen won’t get me!”  Yes, we have this struggle in the car.  Never in the kitchen, however.

During all of this massive puzzle-making, Jack & Nadine were busy little beavers.  As Jack sat down to get a drink of water he checked off his list like this:  “Well, we shutted the door (aka: shut the door.  Very important around here when the weather dips below 70 degrees), raked the leaves, brought down our laundry, and now we’re filling the water bottles.  Then we’ll clean up the bathroom and make it sparkly!”  They really did!  I was so impressed.  They used every single washcloth in my closet, but the bathroom was sparkly!  I wasn’t allowed in until it was finished.

This morning, Elijah was whisked away by Grandma Weldon for a day and night away, so he wasn’t around for all the humdiggity cleaning and puzzle-building.

Let me go on the record to say that yesterday was nothing like today.  It’s so refreshing, though, when they take the initiative to do something they’re not asked to do… just because.  I gave them a quarter for raking the leaves, but the rest was just thank-you’s from a happy mommy.  Our kids are just kids.  They might not see the gigantic mess on the livingroom floor at the same time or in the same way that I do.  Ninety percent of the time I still need to ask them to pitch in and help.  It’s in those ten percent moments that I am encouraged that they are growing, learning, and showing responsibility.  Because believe me, some days I wonder!

So, I think that since our house smells like a birthday party today, we will have to celebrate with something special tonight!  Happy Day!

Yesterday we did one of those “I’ve always wanted to do this” kind of things.  There is a farm we’ve driven past hundreds of times.  Literally.  On our way to the library, on our way to the post office, on our way to this place or that.  It’s on our way to everything popular.  So we pulled in to buy some local “real cow milk” (that’s what my kids call it).   What a pleasant surprise to find an absolutely gorgeous farm, complete with free petting zoo, fun signs, a flower patch, a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, and just what we needed: milk, eggs, and fruit!  Loved the sign that met us where we pulled up to the barn to get the milk:

The kids had an absolute blast and declared that they want to live there, or at least go there every single day.

   

     

   

 

The duck-staring contest  between Jack and the duck cracked me up.  I named her Jemima.

   

  

Rarely do I get a picture of all five kids at once.  Their clothes don’t necessarily match, but I love how each outfit matches their personalities.  I do not dress my kids (except Betty).  Once in a while I will veto a certain combination, but generally speaking we go out in public in whatever they happened to pick that day.

I love spontaneous afternoons with my kids.  Can I get a honk?

I raced outside during one of this week’s afternoon thunderstorms to this delightful sight… where troubles melt like lemon drops high above the chimney tops…

A few weeks ago we trash-picked this sandbox, which turned into a wading pool for our water-loving children.

I had a hard time holding it together when Elsie came outside dressed like this:

When the sun is shining, the sky has been brilliant.  The kind of blue that makes your eyes hurt.  This sky reminds me of Africa.

I think I could sit on the steps all day and watch these characters ride up and down the sidewalk.  Helmets tipping, legs spinning so fast because they’ve long out-grown the bike.  I love that 99% of everything they play with is free and used.  One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!  I’m a big fan of this method.  However, once in awhile they will buy something “new”.  Today we went to the thrift store and I told them they could each spend one dollar.  It was so fun to see what each child picked.

Elsie picked this helmet and proceeded to wear it around the store, the grocery store, and then the rest of the day at home:

Yes, she wore that pig around her neck too!  I love her sweet innocence that thinks wearing a wooden pig sewing toy like a necklace is beautiful and the height of fashion.

Nadine picked out these magnetic “paper dolls”.

Betty didn’t get anything, but she’s been so sweet!  She loves this necklace that Nadine made…and that I always borrow.

I took an older onsie of hers and sewed a bit of tulle around the waist, because I’m really into tulle.  Next time I will add more, but I love the look!

Jack chose a “treasure box” and a “spy thingy”.  The box is a wicker basket about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide.  He is going to keep his “shiny things” in it!

All day he and Elijah have been switching between being spies, cowboys, and pirates.  Elijah is into the old cartoon “inspector gadget” so I let him buy the movie since it was cheaper than renting at redbox.

I love how they dug an old rocking chair out of the trashcan and repurposed it into a pistol!  Not shown in the picture is a long rifle.

Of course there are moments throughout the day when play turns to silliness to the extent that toilet-paper gets thrown onto the roof outside the bathroom window, or every single pair of pajamas is layered on thickly and little boys are transformed into ninjas.  There are times when scissors become an obsession and mommy finds little pieces of shoelaces on the floor, or the handle of a bag cut from its source.  There are times when warriors sense an enemy in the rose-bushes or petunias and all that is left are flowers strewn across the ground.  These are the times when I vigorously comb my fingers through my hair or the volume goes up in my head and sometimes my mouth and I turn and say, “WHY?!!  What were you thinking??”  I love how Jack answered me.  “Mom,” he said, with his lip trembling.  “A switch just went off in my head and I turned and I made a bad choice!”  Then I wrap my arms around him and hold my strong warrior ninja.  Flowers grow back.  Mud washes out.   My little boys are growing up before my eyes and I don’t want to miss out on the adventures they bring me each day!

Betty, how did you grow up so fast?

Today she wore the traditional overalls that every baby of mine has worn.  When Nadine was born, Matthew’s mom gave them to me and told me that Matthew used to wear them.  Everyone has worn them since!  I should get some sort of plug from Osh Kosh for their amazing quality.  Why, next year they’ll be 30 years old!

I’m not sure which picture I like best.  It’s somewhere between the wrinkly-nose smudge-mouth and the one where I can hear her saying, “Da, da, da, da, da,”  Oh, and the one where she’s glancing over her shoulder to make sure I haven’t left her.  She has been starting to have mommy-anxiety when I step out of the room, which is something new for me.

One thing is for sure, she sure can sport those overalls and fills them with a lot of cuteness!

In my hunt, I found one shot of Nadine in the same overalls:

Elijah wearing them:

 

Yesterday we found these long lost red shoes.  Unfortunately they are too small for Jack now, so Elsie happily added them to her collection.  Jack now fits into his new white ones, so they both laced up with this warning: “Watch out, mom,” Jack said.  “These shoes make you extra fast!”  They proceeded to show me how they made them run faster and jump higher.  They even have the ability to “Triple Jump!”  

I love triple-jumping kids and sneaks with so many miles on them that the shoelaces are tied together in knots to keep from breaking.  I love how their imaginations work, and how shoes become rockets that propel ordinary walking into great feats of extraordinary speed.  Next time I lace up, I’m going to try it!

 

Yeah, so who knew that freak-falling mahogany lamps shaped like a pineapple could be so painful?  I know now.  Last night when I was at my in-laws we were looking at pictures on their computer.  All of a sudden it felt like someone had come up behind me and swung something extremely hard over the top of my head.  I screamed.  I thought something crashed through the window and was attacking me!  It was a lamp.  Not just any ordinary lamp, mind you.  A heavy wooden lamp.  I felt the poky “skin” indent my head and my brain felt rattled.  My head hurt so much, and yet we were laughing.  Laughing at the craziness of such a strange mishap, and at the probability of a pineapple lamp falling on one’s head.  I did worry that I had a concussion when I started getting tired, and my left ear was ringing, but didn’t know whether that was because it was approaching 10pm.  I had to drive home and thankfully talked to Matthew on the phone the whole way.  I feel fine this morning.  We’ll laugh about it soon!

In other news, we recently had a fun family gathering.  Here’s just a nugget of the cuteness that afternoon!

            

Then, earlier this week we went creek rambling with my sister and friend and all our kids for a grand total count of 13 children.

 I made enough pasta salad for a small army.  Unfortunately the small army never showed, and the salad is still in my fridge!

 

 We found an amazingly fun spot to play for a couple hours.  The rocks became ships, the woods great lands undiscovered.

     Elsie- before and after!  From eeeew to swimming on her belly across the mud!

Baseball is a favorite activity in the Weldon circle.  For Heidi’s birthday party, we met at this park to play!  We play it a little differently than the major league.   It’s the sort of game where everyone is a winner, and homeruns abound.

Where the pitcher is the cutest birthday girl with hot yellow sunglasses.

Sometimes the game must be stopped because of fans running onto the field.

Sometimes you get the chance to wear war paint and be cool.

      

Sometimes you pass the slower runner to get to the next base.

       

        

Sometimes you get to be catcher and batter within the same inning!

Sometimes you get to snuggle up to your cousin and share your toys.

Sometimes you get to be surprised and showered with presents.

But all the time you are always, always, loved!

“Mom!  Lerk!”  Those are words I will always cherish.  Elsie still adds a stray “r” sound to the word “look” that is so endearing.  Tonight as we drove home from doing some errands, it was sunset.  The sky was turning pink and Elsie seemed to notice for the first time ever that the sky, which is either blue or black, can actually become her favorite color.  “Mom!  Lerk!  It’s so pink!”  I told her that God did that.  “Elsie, God painted the sky pink tonight just for you!  Do you like it?”  “Jesus?  God painted the sky?”  She nodded that she liked it.  “It’s so pink.”

Thanks, God, for making the sky tonight… so… pink.

Recently I’ve been struck with the conviction of doing things in the NOW.  So, since google hasn’t figured out how to transcribe thoughts into writing, it’s on to the real deal.