hold the sun in the sky for me

We had a wonderful weekend.  Lots of sun and playing outside.  My boys just don't want the day to end!  They are pushing bed times back later and later (easy to do - it's light outside now until far after 8pm)

Yesterday in the car on the way home from a soccer game:

Eli: "Momma, can you make the day longer today?"

Me: "Like keep the sun from setting?  Momma can't do things like that!"  

Eli: "Yes you can!"

Me: "Tell me how."

Eli: "Well, just get a long rope and hold the sun in the sky for me until I am ready to go to bed.  Or maybe a hose would work, too."

The garden is 90% in.  It's quite a process to till, get the fence up and get the black plastic mulch down. The black plastic mulch was a tradition in my Dad's garden - helped warm up the soil for the tomato, pepper and eggplants.  Our growing season is so darned short - we've got to do what we can to maximize our time! Fence?  Oh yes.  The alternative would be feeding a family (or two) of deer.

In other news, Noah has been visiting several doctors lately.  We have fondly named Dr. Nadeau "the wart doctor".  Noah has been cultivating a large Plantar's Wart on his "next to the thumb toe" toe. Have you ever heard of the thumb toe?  Yah, me neither, but I totally knew what he was talking about when he said thumb toe.  Warts aren't a huge deal, but this little sucker has been pretty painful to walk on at times. Next week will be his 3rd or 4th visit - seems that this wart is especially tough. Dr. Nadeau delights Noah with his fun tricks with frozen nitrogen.  He's instructed him to bring a marshmallow to his next appointment.  

Look, Mom.  A wart.  Looks pretty good now, actually. 

In addition, Noah took his 5th rapid strep test of the season a couple days ago and for the fifth time it came back positive.  Goodness gracious, we are tired of strep throat!  Noah has moved up to a "third level" antibiotic that has been a challenge for him to take.  Amoxicillin was actually quite tasty mixed into the pharmacist-mixed cherry stuff.  But this is yucky.  No way around it.  The best way to take it is to throw it back like a shot of tequila with a milk chaser.  So what happens when you have strep throat 5 times in 4 months?  You get a date to get your tonsils out - July 2, in Noah's case.  

OK, enough with gross pictures of warts and strep throat!  

It's our tradition to open up camp on Memorial Day weekend, and that's just what we did.  Despite a particularly pessimistic forecast, the weather wasn't too bad.  I got a chance to do some cleaning, fly a kite, pick up sticks from the yard, help with a bonfire AND get our first lobster of the season.

We are so lucky to have this place.  I love that I can pack up the car and be there in one hour.  I don't work in July, so I am planning on spending as much time as possible hanging out in Belfast.  I've got a list started of the things that I'd like us to do this summer.  Seems like if you don't make a plan for things, the days sort of melt away and all of a sudden it's September again.

Gene was working, but Mark and Lisa joined the boys and me.  It's nice to be back, Oak Cliff.

Bedtime stories with Auntie Lisa

We love Belfast City Park!

Waving hello to Mark and Lisa.  Our camp is across the bay from City Park. 

AND (drum roll) we have a new member of the family.  Say hello to Coco:

The Bangor Humane Society was overrun with kittens, so we decided that Fluff needed a friend.  Coco is part way cute, and part scruffy.  So far, he's a pretty cool little guy.  

Finally, today is Mark's birthday so I have to send out a happy birthday to my little brother.  I dug around hoping to find a really dorky picture of Mark and I when we were young.  I had great success! 

Yes, my hair is feathered.  Yes, I have ruffles on my shirt.  Love the fence.

We will go to the Bangor Waterfront tonight with a bunch of friends to see Dave Matthews Band.  A nice way to celebrate 40+ years of Mark Erhardt!  :)  Now, if only it would warm up a little bit.  I put on sandals this morning, but I'm going to run home and put on socks and shoes.  And a raincoat.

A year later...

...I am resurrecting the blog.  Unbelievable how quickly the months fly by.  To my credit, there have been some changes.  I have a new job - again - and therefore had another year of learning the ropes. I've had enough time to do the regular day to day stuff and not much else.

Fortunately, I found myself another bunch of fantastic professionals to work with and a place that is exciting to come to each morning.  I am now a Student Support Specialist at The College of Education and Human Development here at UMaine.  I get to meet with students every day, teach a little bit, and support young men and women as they prepare to be teachers.

Now this is a pretty cozy office, isn't it?  Thankful for former students and Noah and Eli for great art. 

So, yeah, I've been busy but posting every once in a while is something that is important to me. I'm going to be setting myself reminders on my phone so that I have a more disciplined approach to putting some words and pictures down on the page.  Or the screen.  On the web.  Well, you know.

Dilemma #2.  Do I try to catch up or just travel along like I have been here for the past year?  I've thought and I will probably do a little bit of both.  But for now, the news of the day.

As expected, Noah and Eli are growing smarter and stronger every day.  Some photographic proof:

Eli is telling fantastic stories to anyone who will listen

Noah hard at work

On the way to work/school.  Notice Noah's teeth - he lost almost all of the front ones at once.  

Noah's spelling words this week

We are settled into our (fairly) new home and actually finally sold 10 Old Mill Road in April.  It made me sad to finally say goodbye to our home in Old Town, but the couple who bought it are thrilled and will take very good care of the land and the house.  I will never have a back yard like this again.  Sigh.

On the flip side, though, I will no longer be paying (gulp) two mortgages, two oil bills, two insurance bills, two sewer, water, electricity.  That allows us to feel more joyful in our new home.  

This is a pretty awesome backyard, too.  We are in the process of planting for this season! 

Noah is crazy about soccer and baseball right now.  It was a lonnng winter around these parts (more about that later) so I am thrilled that he is spending more and more time outside.  A good story:  It was threatening rain this past Sunday, and I warned Noah that that his soccer game may be canceled.  He was super concerned, and kept asking me what he could DO to make the soccer game happen.  I explained that there really wasn't anything we can do about the weather; we need to just wait and see. This wasn't a good enough answer.  Noah needed to DO something.  He asked me, "Momma, is this the kind of thing I can pray for?"  I said, "yes, for sure.  Praying is great that way."  Then we talked a little bit about how prayer works in ways that we don't understand the whole way, and sometimes when it seems like a prayer hasn't been answered for YOU, God has a different plan that we just don't know about.  (See, I say this because my iPhone said there was a 95% chance of rain, right?)

Well, that kid prayed.  And he DID play soccer on Sunday.  It didn't start raining until 1/2 way through the game. So right now, he's a believer.

Noah and his buddy Nicholas after a very rainy soccer game

Noah making a play at first base (thanks, Aunt Lisa, for the great photos!)

Ready to root on the Bruins in a playoff game!  

Here's to Spring!  This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend, so we are eager to get down to camp and open the place up.  The weather has been iffy, so we are crossing our fingers and toes that it clears up enough to get out and see how the beach has changed over the winter.  

And next on the to-do list is planing the garden.  It's time to do it, but it's been really rainy for the past week.  I'm not sure if it's going to dry up enough for us to swing it this weekend.  Our growing season is really too short.  

Ok, I'm setting the reminder on my phone right now to check back in and write next week.