E-R-E spells Everything

Our toddler can read. Sure enough, anytime he wants to correct you, he points to a written word and says "E-R-E. King" or "E-R-E. Cousins" or "E.R.E. Tomorrow". It's his answer for everything right now.

We also have the first (documented) incident of the child working the parental circuit. The other morning, he walked up to me with some clothes: 'Mama, do these match?' I mentally noted that he was ahead of the game by caring if they matched, then told him that he need a pair of green shorts. Ten minutes later, I see him fully dressed in the original clothes. Er?

Turns out Jimdad had sent him in to request the matchy-matchy service, and then Kaden returned to his dad, saying "it's good". Jimdad, slightly incredulous, "Mom said it matched?" Kaden: "yes, see here (pointing to a logo) and here (holding up shorts). It matches." I'm not sure if we should be impressed with his powers of reasoning, impressed with his ability to run around the parentals, or just dismayed at it all.

Oooh- see the stingray in this pic above? We saw some at the beach the other day. I stayed in the water long enough to snap the blurry pic, then headed for some sand castle building.

This pic is of a baby gator (head toward the left, about the middle of the pic). This was slightly MORE exciting, because we were on a boardwalk and not actually IN the water with the little guy. We hit the swamp and the beaches when some family came down- loads of people and loads of fun. And a great excuse to adverture in our amazing wild 'backyard' too!

A long time ago... and right now too

The pictures in this post are from a while ago. We took Kaden to his first real "carnival" - a local night time fair with expensive rides and crazy eats and new! things! everywhere! We went with some friends (his age and ours!) and had a blast. He was totally blown away by every ride, and only a little apprehensive at times. Otherwise, a real pro at adapting his reality to this new, fast and furious life.



So tonight, some relatives arrived for a visit. As I type, there's six kids sleeping all over the floor in one bedroom, 2 parentals with a one year old babe in the other, and Jim snoring on the air mattress. We have plans to go to the beach, to church, to find wild alligators. I imagine this weekend will be just like that fair: a lot of noise, a lot of excitement, a lot of fun, and passing by in a blur, over way too soon.



And isn't that Holy Week, too? Things that aren't that different somehow seem exciting because of the light we shine on them, the attention we give to symbol and detail, the way we dive to the bottom of our own personal and communal suffering barrels... all to have it end in a mad rush of excitement and celebration on Sunday. It's a blur, but it only feels right, makes any sense or is any fun if our friends are nearby. And then we go back to normal life, except sometimes we have to adjust 'normal' to somehow include an understanding of this latest stuff.

But maybe that's not it at all, and maybe it's just where my head is right now. A very close friend of ours lost her mom last week. I can't stop praying for her. Thinking about everything- palm sunday, old fair visits- and trying to make it fit her new reality. How the life of our relationships are stretched and gathered and let loose... it may be that everyone else has or will someday go through this... but we are caught up in the newness of it all, along for the ride in the dark of night, looking for friends to help us through the apprehension.

Fire Trucks, Treasure Maps and Puppet Shows

Today was a good day. Fridays tend to be my favorite days, mostly because I rarely work on Friday. Sometimes I plan on cleaning or running fun errands, but some days we just play. We had lots to play with today. Earlier this week, Grandma and Pop sent Kaden an awesome little fire truck. It's loud, but not annoyingly so :)


Then yesterday we came home to a package on the doorstep. "For meeeeeee?" Kaden asked? Yup, it's all yours little man. Turns out a cool uncle and his family sent a great envelope stuffed with kaden's favorite things: superheros, pirates, coloring and stickers!

There was one very intricate drawing from our nephew with lots of pirates on a boat. First, our boy ran for his sword and tried to find his 'pirate hat' (a bandanna). Then, he studied his cousin's creation for a while, before declaring it his treasure map. It was awesome, as he pointed out who was who (here's Tali, and here's me and here's you Mommy).


We had another fun playdate today, with 3 friends coming over. I had bought some cute foam-y Easter crafts last night, when I realized I hadn't prepared any cool recycling ones :) There were stick puppets, which resulted in hilarious "shows" - one or more kids hiding behind the chair, shouting somewhat recognizable phrases and then falling down laughing. They were pretty good at taking turns, and I think the 20 second actual show time helped!!

Oh, and here's Sir Kaden, knight of all Florida and Pennsylvania too. You can see his knight hat, his sword, his trusty steed who is apparently named "My Turtle" and his maniacal laugh and he rides to rescue someone.

Here the 4 kids are crafting nicely. Hey, maybe I should plan ahead for when the 6 cousins all come to stay, too :)

Welcome to the Swamp

Technically, it's a "slough".

A wonderland of water filtration and flow adjustment.

A nursery for young'uns...

to grow big...

to pause and reflect...

to explore.

Beautiful. Peaceful.

Welcome to our sort of woods.