March 11

Bed at 10:30?  On the weekends?  Totally not happening. :)

Especially tonight, as we spring forward... sleeping in til 8/9 then having coffee after dinner then having it feel like only 9:30 leads to a pretty perky Amanda.  Which is good as we just finished dishes from Sceond Sunday Soup and I have LOTS of pictures to download and kiddo blog to update (check in soon for details of our fabulous weekend...)

Tomorrow Nat and I start what seems to be now an annual tradition of dieting.  It's going to be a good thing, it really is, but the next 4 days are going to be rough.  If anything, I will need even more to stick to this "early to bed" resolution.  So, the blog may go quiet for a while....

Oh, and as an aside, we also got rid of a few toys, some mismatched markers, and quite a few books from Jack's room (which is an ongoing project, it seems).  I still do like my plan of purging my life of all that is neither beautiful nor useful, whether it makes for interesting writing or not.

On that note, let me wax poetic for a moment about gratitude.  There is much to be grateful for this weekend.

I am grateful for sublime sunshiney days in March, warmth and breezes and not a bug in sight.  I am grateful for our open back door and 26 people wandering in and out and gathering on the deck, eating soup and playing with children and the sun shining through it all.

I am grateful for  curly blonde pigtails, for the cutest 3 word sentences and crinkly nose smiles and hugs and "Hi Mommy" said in that soft sweet voice.

I am grateful for my big boy, my hiking buddy, fearless climber and deep thinker and lover of chocolate and light sabers.

I am grateful for woods and streams and the smell of wet earth and memories of the places we've lived that have shaped us like the shale hills in the Bedford reservation.