Category: Uncategorized

A quiet afternoon here in NH. I have been asked if there are any signs of spring, but the answer is that they are being buried under falling snow as I type. We had a streak of warm weather earlier this month and I saw the tips of bulbs coming up on the south side…

Well, the apple tart is a success. All three helped me make it, and they are now munching happily. Johann has had his pear sauce, which took fifteen minutes to feed him a half container. He is starting to open his mouth for bites voluntarily, and to look like he is enjoying this process. While…

It has been an interesting week. We had to track down the girls’ immunization records for school, which was tedious and annoying and ended up with Glady getting a shot I’m pretty sure she had gotten once before, back in 2001. But because I was trying to get four different records all on one page,…

It has been an eventful day. In order of importance, we have a snowstorm that has already dropped five inches and is just starting to slow down; Johann cut two teeth in the last twenty-four hours; and I found out my grandfather died. Robert Earl Fales, I don’t know when he was born precisely, except…

After spending a couple of hours yesterday in the girls room, I am left wondering. They have so much stuff. I have been thinning clothes and toys out since before Christmas, and still their closet, where I store their toys, and dressers are overflowing. And this is complicated by needing to move Johann in there…

Dry beans have so many uses, especially around here. Of course, they are meant to be eaten, but not in this family – no one would eat them! But you can sprout them in paper towels to study plant development, in the light or in the dark. And they can be used to make a…

I’m listening to Glady outside, just near the office window, trying to build a fort. It is a relatively warm day for January, and she wanted me to take a walk with her, which we did on Tuesday, but the little girls are supposed to be napping and I can’t leave them. I know she’s…

As the girls eat oatmeal at the table, I listen to them talk and watch them play. It is an odd morning, because a two-hour freezing rain delay gives them an unexpected window of time before Glady goes to school, and Juliet has no kindergarten this morning. Pippa is commenting on the rain, complete with…

We know that when the clouds look darkestAnd spread their shade aroundIf we could look beyond the portals,The sunshine would be found.And when the storm beats o’er us fiercely,Crushing our flowers to earthThat when the tempest’s reign is overThey will have fairer birth. So, when life’s cares almost o’erwhelm us,And we sink down dismayed,When hope’s…

Well, Johann is just not ready for solids – he perfected his gagging today and threw up while I was trying to feed him breakfast. So I’ll wait a week. I’m in no hurry. This is my last baby, I want to enjoy every moment of this. They grow up so very quickly. I can…

I fed Johann his first real meal today (it was oatmeal mixed with apple juice). He’s tried to eat things before, by snatching off our plates or having totally unsuitable things put in his mouth by his father or grandfather, but this was his first official solid food. He didn’t like it, of course. He…

All is quiet in the house – only Johann and I are up. I’ll start coffee and my morning routine soon, but for now I’ll hold onto him with one hand and wrote with the other. He has gotten so wiggly that keeping him from grabbibg the object of his desire is difficult. He would…