Harvest

El DeBarge

We had a rough night of it here. Sam was up every 40 minutes for seven of his sleeping hours. And I have a headache the size of this barge. This not how we planned to start our fall Saturday, but we're making it work.

Fall Visit 2012

We had a lovely visit with the Dockter Clan this past week. Sure, it's a little crazy with all eight of us in one space, but that's also what makes it so fun. We are especially missing Greysen, that adorable and ridiculously smart lad.

One of the highlights was cheering Dave on for his 13th Twin Cities Marathon. This was the first year that he ran without his dad because of a knee injury and surgery that Bob claimed had slowed his pace. And yet, as we clapped and shouted for Dave near the finish line, we looked just steps ahead to find Bob. They had been running about parallel without knowing it for who knows how long. This just goes to show that people who run marathons are basically out of their minds. Anyway, Dave caught up and they finished together. As usual.

Other highlights of the visit included a trip to the zoo, good meals, and, of course, raking with toddlers.

Bridge

Red

I had a frantic morning. I tried to get too much done with a toddler who just wanted some attention. He demonstrated this need by throwing things out of the cart at Target, biting right through a banana we hadn't even purchased (or peeled), dumping his tomato soup on his lap, and sticking his foot in some of his own poop. We made it through, thank goodness. But I owe him some hugs and books this afternoon. 

Steward

I'm enjoying this challenge because it's made me pay more attention to the season than I might otherwise. Take this knot in our front oak tree, for example. I'm not sure I would have looked so closely before. Dave's mom took great care of our yard while the house was hers, and she looked closely at every bit of nature here. She named this knot Mother Nature. I like that. It fits. I think I'll try to name a few things around here too.

Noticing

Sunset House