Poco Mountain Girl

Over the weekend the rains came and washed away most of the snow.  We still have a foot or two in places, but it’s feeling warmer–and there is a tiny seed of hope sprouting in me.  Do I dare believe this might actually be spring?

Maybe, just maybe.  We’re all feeling it.

David came home a week ago, and we have been thoroughly enjoying him ever since.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?  Although, we were actually quite fond of him before he left.

His time at Masters went well–so much better than last year.  I think just knowing that made the time go by faster for us at home.  We had a few late birthday presents for him–a box of Senor Murphy’s Pinon Parade candy mix, a geode Zia and Caleb cracked open, and a box of beef jerky from Mimi and Papa, which has steadily dwindled over the week.

This oil painting was my birthday present to him–the first oil I’ve done in nine years, I think.  It’s not an incredible painting, but it’s a good start back into the wonderful world of oils.  It felt amazing to be painting again, smelling the slops, layering on the tones, wiping down and starting over in spots.  I barely had the ochre underpainting laid in when Cash ran over and yelled, “Dadda!” It was a shot in the arm, for sure.  Babies tell you like it is.

Thursday we went to Zia’s birthday celebration at school.  She has a summer birthday, which is very disappointing when you’re in first grade, but Mrs. T. allowed her to celebrate it early in class.  (And David says, Now we don’t need to celebrate it in July, Zia.  Haha. Right.)

It was a very big deal.  I was instructed to “Please bring store-bought cupcakes, Mamma.  That’s the kind the other parents bring.”  Hmmm, store-bought?  I balked a bit at that, but eventually complied.  We got some pretty cute carrot cupcakes at Costco (the kind with the little frosting carrot on top, that I loved as a kid) and they were exactly perfect, according to the birthday girl (even though she had to pick out the raisins).

At the celebration, she decorated the birthday board with pictures, her birth story, and a short description of each year.  Mrs. T. only looked slightly taken aback at the mention of Zia’s unassisted home birth, her potty training at 11 weeks, and the fact that she nursed till she was three.  Zia is proud of all those things, but I was absolutely not allowed to tell how she cut her hair off when she was little.

After each birthday that she talked about, she walked around a lighted candle holding a globe, while everyone sang about the earth going around the sun and Zia turning one, two, three, four, etc.

It was a good celebration, and she came home happy–especially since there were leftover cupcakes for home.

Sunday was Easter, and there was a treasure hunt at our house in the morning.  The clues led the kids to three baskets.  I know I’m weird, but as a kid I just loved that Easter grass.  We never celebrated Easter, but I still thought about that grass and imagined how it would feel in my hands.

So these baskets held mostly just Easter grass, heehee.  Well, I did add a couple of other things–

Chocolate bunnies (and kitty), which Zia has been asking for for months.

A toy phone for Cash, the perfect thing for a techie toddler.

And Sea Monkeys!  Oh I made these baskets for me, not the kids.  Do you remember Sea Monkeys?  They were always on the backs of comic books, a sweet, naked little family with long tails, flippers, antennae, and big ears.  They were simply lovely, and they were alive.  They could probably talk, too.  How I dreamed of having my own family of Sea Monkeys.

Walmart has them.  They are a type of shrimp, so I doubt they look exactly like the package, but they are indeed alive (or will be, once they hatch) and they are guaranteed for two years.  It’s a fun experiment, anyway.  We’ll have to see whether or not they can talk.

I know this is a giant post, but it’s been a while since I’ve blogged, as I’ve tried to put some distance between myself and my computer lately.  I discovered my chronic sleeplessness was directly linked to the amount of time I spend in front of the screen, especially in late afternoon and evening.  I’m trying to keep it to mornings and early afternoons, and yesterday I finally caught up on journaling and emails, so today I blog.  And oh, BTW–it feels amazing to sleep at night!

Hope you had a nice weekend!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014 at 9:33 am and is filed under Caleb, Cash, Celebrating, Lion Man, Little Redhead Girl. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.