Day of Thanks

We spent the holiday in Indiana at sweet baby Kai's house.

Well - it is my sister and brother-in-law's house too - but priorities, People!

A holiday of small and big miracles....

a safe drive through the night in thick fog.  Ryan is superman.
that baby bump on Talashia's belly is getting bigger!
boys wrestled and ran nonstop and no one and no thing was broken
delicious Ikea mashed potatoes and gravy for thanksgiving dinner
I spent 5 hours in Ikea and only spent $168
I did not, in fact, fall over dead in Ikea  - although there were a few delicate moments here and there
Eva didn't eat any gluten - no small feat when away from home
a 15 hour drive home through the day with no DVD player and only 4 punches thrown

(creamy apple pastry - check the Recipes page)

So thankful.  So very very thankful.

blacklight

Number 927th thing I love about fall......it gets dark early enough to bring out the black light at our nightly dance party.

Rock.  Party.  On, People.  Rock party on.

first compost heap

"My whole life has been spent waiting for an epiphany, a manifestation of God's presence, the kind of transcendent, magical experience that lets you see your place in the big picture.  And that is what I had with my first compost heap." - Bette Midler

Who knew compost could be magical?!  Not to mention transcendent.  And a manifestation of God's presence.  Well, actually I guess her dad did.  Sage McCage spent 2 hours on Saturday afternoon working on hers.

You know, it really is God and good and beauty and dirt and just plain magical, isn't it?

River's 1st Geocache

Ryan and the kids have been into geocaching for awhile now. They have already found every single one in town (which seems to me like a good reason for a roadtrip - don't you think?!).

I've never been along for the fun, but here's what happens...
Ryan looks up something on his phone.
He tells the kids they are going geocaching.
Everyone gets all excited, runs to get their shoes, and races around the house to find the treasure they'll exchange for the one they find.
They stay gone for a good hour.
I drink wine/read/clean the house/call my friends/take a bath/shop/sleep/bake/all of the above.
They come home with a new treasure and ready for a nap.
Win-win-win-win-win.  Just wins all around.  For all.  Winning.

Ryan has started the tradition of taking them out to establish and hide a cache for their birthday.  Today was Buzz's big day....

Before leaving home, he determined that the clue should be "duck down".  After much searching, he found the perfect tree.

He put his favorite red matchbox car inside for the finder to keep.  That's love, my friends, love.

I bet you Hesstonites can figure out where this is....
If not, you can go online or get an app or talk to someone about some coordinates or something and figure it out.

I will admit to being a bit cynical about just how cool this can really be.  This whole "coordinates" thing is confusing because it has numbers and degrees - you know, things they taught in math when I was preoccupied with passing notes.  But we were on a hike once when they found a cache, and I nearly peed my pants in excitement.  Its so unexpected and exotic to find such random secret treasure!

4

My little man is 4.  

Four. 

Such a big kid now.

We had a dinosaur-themed party with grandparents and our super-nanny JoJo and her super-nanny-husband.

Bugles to put on our fingers as dinoclaws.  

Poprocks because they are our new favorite thing.  And there were lots of rocks when there were dinosaurs, right?  

And JoJo made fossils with the Buzz earlier in the week.

We found an awesome gluten-free cupcake recipe!  Thanks, Holli!

This is for all you GFers out there.....

1 1/2 c. rice flour

3/4 c. tapioca flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. xanthum gum

1 1/4 c. sugar

4 eggs

2/3 c. mayonnaise

1 c. milk (I used whole)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

If you're a dairy-free or egg-free family, you could use substitutes for the milk, eggs, and mayo.  The original recipe was written with substitutes.

Whisk together the dry ingredients.  In a mixer, beat the eggs, sugar and mayo.  Add the milk and vanilla.  Pour in the dry ingredients and beat well.  Pour into cupcake wrappers in muffin tins.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  It made 18 cupcakes.

 

The youngest AND the oldest at the party loved the poprocks.  

I'm telling you, people, poprocks are the fun candy that will unite generations, bring world peace, save the planet, and turn your dreams into plans.

Remote control cars.....making a 4 year olds dreams come true!

I'm realizing now that his shirt has a big 3 on it instead of a 4.  

These are the things you never allow to happen when you have only one child.  When you have three kiddos, you celebrate that they are just plain wearing a shirt.

JoJo made him a cape!  He is absolutely unstoppable now.

River Deacon, you are such a special man.  I love the way you talk.  And the way you listen intently.  And how you get shy when new people look you in the eye.  I don't love it that you copy, but I do love it that you pay attention.  Always.  I've been thinking about how we nearly lost you when I was 12 weeks pregnant and you were the size of a peanut.  I saw you kicking on the sono and fell in love with you, so I went on bedrest for awhile until my belly was safe for you again.  You grew and you grew and you grew.  And you're still growing in front of our eyes.  We are so extremely lucky that you are part of our family!!  

meet in the middle

Colby, Kansas is not exactly a happening town.  Understatement of the decade.

But I met my two cousin-sister-soulmates there last weekend for some much needed R&R.  

4 hours in for each of us....we met in the middle.

Hot tub til our toes were raisins.  Then hydrate.  Then more hot tub.

Kara is a famous novelist, and she let us write together on her latest work.  A total privilege.

A communion of sorts.  Aged cheese, crispy crackers, wine in plastic cups.

Such was our diet when we weren't at Village Inn.  

Speaking of Village Inn, did you know that they are totally changing their "look"?  They are all mod-slash-thrifty-slash-home cooked goodness-slash-spendy now. They are even called "vi" instead of Village Inn.

Best omelets ever.  Probably not the best Mediterranean salad.  But good omelets.

New shoes.  That town has nothing.  No-to-the-thing.  But it does have a random Famous Footwear.

Thank you Ryan for the weekend.

Thank you, my dear friends, for the rest!

grace

"I do not understand the mystery of grace - - - only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us." 

- Anne Lamott (who else?!)

The Buzz decided that our dinner should be candlelit "because I'm about to turn 4, so we should have all candles and no lights tonight."

Anna, who the kids adore, was here doing laundry and stayed.

Chachi Band got Sage all set up in a booster seat and sitting at the table like a big girl for the first time.

We had delicious left-overs from our church meal last night.

Absolutely everyone minded their manners.

I cannot put to words how happy it makes me that Grace continually steps in and warms up my broken down soul.  These precious simple moments collaborate and collect themselves into one big ball of gratitude for this incredible life I live and this enormously gifted skin I'm in.

My cup runneth over.

Super Tuesday

Which really was JUST SO SUPER!!!!  That's all I'm going to say about how elated I am with the results.  I pinky swear.

We started by going to the polls at 7:30 am.  Eva insisted on dressing up for the day, jewelry and all.  I was absolutely beside myself giddy to take her along with me to vote for the first time.  She took it all super-serious, and wanted most of the ballot read aloud.  The night before there were discussions about how only white rich men could vote years ago.  And how fortunate we are.  And what a responsibility we have.  I miiiiiight get this excited when she gets her period, but I'm not making any promises.  Other than that, it probably can't be topped.

 That night we had an Election Party....

I found it within myself to buy this...

30-plus people thrown together - to eat, drink, be merry, and watch the returns.  Most didn't know one another, but we all came together - like the nation, right?! - to watch and participate in our awesome democracy.

When the grownups are distracted by tv and good conversation, this little lady wisely takes advantage of the opportunity to get her mits on whatever is available and get it in her mouth...

I left the red eyes in because this picture is something to celebrate.  Because of her Marcus-Gunn, we watch her eyes in photos - to check if the red is equal in size and in the same spot in her eye - if it weren't, we would be talking vision issues.  Praise God, it is!! 

someone's tshirt...

Even the littles had their "voices" heard...

11:30 pm....results are in...and we are all partied out...