Nothing In Particular

Ok, (not to take away from the last post) but we have dubbed Kingston with a new name. He is now called on a very frequent basis "The Mess Maker." Alder was not like this at all (probably because I was holding him ALL THE TIME and he did not want to be put down). It fascinates me how quickly Kingston can move from one area of the house to the next TRYING to find things to dismantle, tear up, pull apart, and unfold. You get the idea. If you look closely in the picture, you can see him crawling away quickly with a smirk on his face in search of the next place to "be conquered." 

***Alder had absolutely nothing to do with this mess(because he was most likely following me around the house as I did morning odd jobs saying, "Mama hold you, MAMA, HOLD YOU, MAMA HOOOOLLLLLDDDD YOU!!! Not much has changed with that one) and just simply sat down in the middle of the mess quite amazed at the accomplishments of his younger brother.

I took this picture real quick last week while preparing lunch for my children because I realized a few things while staring down at this cut board.

1. I can understand why my grocery bill must be so high and how my husband wants to pull his hair out every month due to this fact. I mean fresh food is just so dang expensive. But we are suppose to eat healthy and feed our children the best of the best. How though financially? We spend more on produce than meat every week. How much do you say you spend on produce each week? Curious to compare. 

2. I feel pretty confident that this picture indicates an overall "style of eating" for my children: lots of fresh, whole foods (even though most are not organic because I only have a Wal-Mart to shop at) and nothing processed (except of course the occassional chicken nugget Happy Meal from MickeyD's, the VERY occassional Happy Meal). And so if this is true and my children eat so well, please tell me that they are going to have a leg up on other children as they grow, mature, kick a soccer ball, and possibly even ace algebra due in part to such a wonderful diet??? I am being rather sarcastic here, but its worth it right? Even if we end up living in a cardboard box from the expense of groceries???

3. When I am feeling like the worst Mama in the whole world and that I could do so much more for my children then I just need to look at this picture. It proves that I am, at least, trying to do my best. 

4. I never knew that blackberries has such a interesting and beautiful inside until I starting cutting them up for my 10 month old. You learn something new everyday. 

This is my husband with his "rollie fingers" mustache and other such absurd and insanely unattractive facial hair, but again, I still love the man. I mean you have to say, it says something about a man who can so confidently walk around with such a mustache on his face. By the way, this is the greatest bike in the world for children. It is called a balance bike and we saw them all over Europe when we lived there. The kids all had them there and it teaches balance quickly with no need ever for a bike with training wheels. You can see all about them here.

And finally, my husband, the artist. (Notice he is clean shaven in the picture above. Thank the Lord.)

On Sunday at one of the local historical homes, there was an art show of local artists called "Canvases and Melodies." It was a lovely day full of sunshine, wind, live music, and all sorts of various types of art being displayed. I never knew there were so many talented artists in this rural town and it was rather impressive. We took a picnic and watched Dada hang the art, compete with the gusts of wind, and chit chat with all the admirers as they came by. I do get a great kick out of Jared's bio shown below. It just cracks me up. His brother wrote it for the hospital art show back in the October. I mean really? Nautical hull design as a hobby.