Things that Make Me Smile

While there are lots of things in my yard that I would like to do differently, I'm taking joy in the fact that some of the flowers make my heart go pitter-patter every single time I see them.

And these...oh they make me so happy. I bought them at the Et Cetera Shop for $1 each and I just love them. They are a bit worn, but they're old! I don't think these photos quite capture it, but in person it makes me feel like this one corner of my living room is actually quite nice. It feels like me, which is nice for a change (that room has been an ongoing challenge for me).

Harvest: Come and Gone

Wheat harvest was quick this year - in just one week it was done. Some farmers here had a one-day harvest and others didn't have a wheat harvest at all. It was weird. A very wet fall last year left little time to sew wheat and what did get planted had to fight through a lot of standing water to make it. Dad said he felt cranky about this harvest since he planted it in the ground in the fall.

Our boys, though, had no idea. They couldn't care less if some of the wheat was thin or if there were a lot of weeds (especially in the drowned out spots). It was HARVEST!

Ben drove truck several afternoon/evenings for dad.

This picture makes me giggle. I think it shows the genuine excitement Noah feels when this time of year rolls around.

My dad uses a stripper header on his combine instead of the traditional header. These are the little "teeth" that strip the grain out of the head of wheat.

And, just as soon as it began...

it was over.

The harvesting in our home however, has just begun. The boys are constantly combining our entire house. There are combines, tractors, grain carts and semi's in our bathroom and living room as I type this. There are at least 50 requests to, "Put this header on for me." Sometimes there's a "please" with it, usually not. Usually there are tears with it (most of this from Levi, b/c Noah can put the headers on himself). Ahhhh...just wait until we get to corn harvest!

Father's Day Weekend

It was a hot, full and wonderful weekend. Wheat harvest got underway, Levi tried wearing underwear, we washed the car in the driveway, went swimming - twice, rode the combine, took naps and spent time with family. I told you it was a full weekend.

Levi started out Saturday in underwear...then pooped all over himself (and me) while we were at Stone Creek Nursery (that was fun...). We're still trying underwear with him, but accidents are frequent.

Sunday evening my family gathered at my sister's house. Sherri recently purchased an old camper that she's working at finishing out. The boys LOVED it.

Erica grilled burgers for us and mom and I brought the rest of the meal for a delicious Father's Day celebration.

Thanks dad for all you do for us and your grandchildren.

Ben and I decided to keep Mother's Day and Father's Day very simple this year. So, instead of a gift Ben played a round of golf on Saturday and got a long nap on Sunday. Simple is sometimes the best we can manage. Ben is a wonderful father. He has far more patience with the boys than I do. And he's got this laid back/hands-on approach to letting them play and learn that I wish I could master. Thanks for all you do Ben, you're a great dad!

Poley-poley

Levi loves to identify bugs. By that, I mean he points them out. The Roley-Poley is the only bug Levi wants to touch. I love the way he says it.

Strawberries

Ben's grandparents, Lee and Mary Alice, planted a strawberry pot for us this year. It was a wonderful surprise this spring to find out fresh strawberries were in our future and all we had to do was keep the plants alive! The boys have enjoyed helping me water the pot and we have enjoyed quite a few berries, too. Just the other night Noah, Levi and I checked on the plant and there were 3 berries, one for each of us.

This is an odd photo, but it shows you the ingenious protective cage that Lee built for us. Those strawberries are for us, not the pesky birds!

Thanks Lee and Mary Alice for this generous gift!

Finally!

I have been waiting for nearly 3 years for this to happen...we recently ripped out our living room and hallway carpet and had hardwood flooring installed!

For better or worse, the boys never seemed to really notice the transition from carpet to plywood.

Thankfully, they pretty much left the saws and other tools alone, too.

We chose to have unfinished oak installed. Here it is, raw and delicious (can you tell how much I like wood floors?).

Man-oh-man, was our house LOUD! Just talking in a normal voice sounded like shouting. The boys immediately started playing basketball.

And then, after I went on a work trip to New Orleans I came home to beautified (stained and sealed) wood floors!! The fumes weren't too bad, and the dust could have been so much worse.

Just last night we moved the furniture back in and it feels really good. Some day, we'll find a rug for the floor...but for now I'm enjoying the wood. It's so smooth! The boys put socks on and "ice skate" - no concussions or black eyes yet.

It was worth the wait!

6 hours in Chi-Town

6 hours in Chicago is not very long. But, with a four year old and 5 hours on a train it actually makes for a very full day. The weather was amazing. Quite possibly the best weather I've ever experienced in that city. Warm sunshine with a cool breeze off the lake - it was ideal.

We arrived at Union Station just before 11 and made our way over to Ed Debevic's for lunch. Waiting for a bus was new for Noah and he did a good job of identifying the numbers on each bus as it approached the stop. He had a nice conversation with a woman waiting for a bus, hers came before ours did. Then a man riding a skateboard and texting came to stop nearly in front of us as his multitasking skills were being maxed out. Noah and I (if not Ben and Andy too) were staring at him and then he looked right at Noah and said, "You'll never know if you don't try!" and off he went. Later in the weekend Noah repeated that to me several times when he wasn't listening to me...hmmmm...

We made it to Ed Debevic's and it was our best experience there yet. I loved watching Noah's confusion about this waiter who threw napkins and hats at us when we sat down. Noah looked at me with concern and confusion and I just laughed.

Andy is a wonderful uncle - he and Noah had a good time together.

At one point, Noah was jumping on the booth seat and our waiter yelled at him from behind the counter, "Stop jumping! I don't come over to your house and jump on your furniture, do I?" Noah immediately sat down with a shocked and embarrassed look on his face. We quickly explained that the man was just being silly, but that it's not a good idea to jump on furniture.

And when singing and dancing on the counter started happening right in front of us...Noah looked like this:

The whole thing just cracked me up, Noah was precious in this new/foreign/completely strange environment.

Next stop: Shedd Aquarium! The line was long, so Noah and I went to check out the lake. He liked the boats a lot.

We had a great time at Shedd. Noah was determined to find the sharks and when we did he didn't want to watch them. At the end of our visit he told me his favorite part was a snake. We saw amazing creatures and had a nice time exploring the aquarium. Noah moved pretty fast through a lot of it but enjoyed pretending he was a penguin.

We spent about 2 hours at Shedd which was enough for a 4 year old. Then we walked through Grant Park to Buckingham Fountain.

Noah was amazed once again.

From there we walked and then hopped on a bus to get ourselves back to Union Station for the ride back to grandma and grandpa's!

a TRAIN!

Noah has asked for about a year to go on a train. It worked out this time for us to take him to Chicago for a day and thankfully uncle Andy came, too. The train was to arrive in Normal around 7:30 a.m., but it was a bit late.

But it finally showed up

and he had a great time! We elected to not bring toys/DVDs/etc. to entertain Noah with on the 2 1/2 hour ride which made us work a little harder to keep him occupied. We didn't want to haul around that kind of stuff while we were in the city. When Noah declared he was hungry, Ben took him to go buy a can of pop and I pulled out the snacks I had brought along and Noah was one happy passenger.

It's a lot of fun to watch a child experience something new. Perhaps it's more fun to reflect on it then to be in the midst of it, but fun nonetheless.