Steph’s Blog

Who else gets fall fever instead of spring fever? Well ok, I get spring fever too but not the same as fall fever. When spring hits I clean and sort out and throw away things like a mad woman. Fall, however, is a totally different sort of fever. I LOVE fall. LOVE, love love it! I would be perfectly content to have it be fall all year round.

I think it comes from growing up on a farm that has me so infatuated with fall. I love how quickly everything changes from warm lazy days to cool crisp afternoons. I love the warm rich tones of the changing leaves, the cool crisp sent of the air, the chopping of the fields of corn and the bushels and bushels of apples! I love to do all sorts of things in the kitchen this time of year. I love to can tomatoes and bake anything and everything under the sun that has apples in it and tonight my Mom and I are going to be canning pickles. I LOVE doing things like this with my Mom, maybe because she always seemed to love doing things like this and passed it down to me as well. I guess I am a bit old fashioned or as Scott says, I am an “old soul”. I love doing all these things that not many people I know still do. I can’t wait to teach the girls and in some cases, Scott, how to do some of things that were taught to me by my Mom, Dad and my Grandparents as well.

Abigail has already started to notice the few leaves that have changed and we make a promise to collect a few and press them in a heavy book. I cannot wait to see Megan jump into a huge pile of leaves in our back yard for the very first time. I cannot wait for apple picking and pumpkin carving like I used to do when I was small. I can’t wait to take the girls up to the annual church turkey dinner in October. This has been a family tradition for as long as I can remember.

There is something to be said for passing things on through the generations whether it is a tradition, that secret ingredient that you just can’t skip in a recipe or a string of pearls. It somehow makes life that much richer to know that you have something that generations of your blood have in essence given to you and that you get to pass on. I guess that is what makes fall so wonderful for me. It is the time of year that I use the most near and dear things that have been passed down to me no matter how old or new they may be. Add these passed on traditions to the rich colors of leaves, the crisp breeze on your cheeks, and the wonderful scents in my kitchen and you have the makings of a perfect recipe to cure fall fever.

Well it has been a few days since my last entry…sorry about that! We have been a tad on the busy side the last few days. Saturday was poker here at our house for Scott and his buddies and the girls and I went to visit with my Mom for a couple hours and then Sunday we took a trip to Watertown. Normally I would have been crying at the thought of taking both kids to the mall an hour and a half away but this time I am singing and dancing about it when we got home. My kids are not real big fans of riding in the van for any longer than 30 minutes at the most. It’s mostly Megan that hates it…she has hated it since the day she was born! However this trip was different, Aunt Stacie and Uncle Mark went with us and saved our day! They were 2 extra people that kept the girls occupied and happy…even with a VERY late nap for Megan and Abigail on Benedryl they were happy content kids! AMEN!

Last night my youngest sister Sara and her soon to be Hubby Ryan were over for a visit and some wine and brownies. I think Sara was dying to go upstairs and let my kids out of bed to come play with her. Did I tell you that Auntie Sara can have the same mentality as a 5 year old when it comes to playing fun games, dressing up in weird outfits and getting into mischief? Abigail was already in bed when they arrived but made about 5 trips downstairs because she was; hot, thirsty, had to pee, there was a noise she didn’t like in her room and finally about 9:30 we heard sobbing upstairs after we thought she was asleep.

This is where my entry gets interesting I promise…She was sobbing, sweaty and upset because…you ready for this?…she doesn’t want to grow up! I am telling you this kid is SMART!! Seriously, now that I am grown, married, have 2 children, a house and everything that goes with being an adult, I think if I could change things on those crappy grown up days I might seriously want to just stay 5 forever! Abigail said between sobs and sniffles that she didn’t want to grow up and leave her home, her baby sister, Mommy and Daddy or her stuff animals. How heart breaking is that! It was even harder to hear her say it after I tucked her into our bed for a while. There she was all 40 pounds of her, blonde hair, and big blue eyes all red from crying tucked into our huge bed with 5 pillows and a gazillion stuffed animals. She was so sweet and small and innoccent….it was heartbreaking and yet it made me smile and chuckle a little on the inside.

Note to Abigail when she is grown:
Abigail…If Daddy and Mommy had their way we would probably like to keep you 5 years old forever too!

Life is so easy and carefree when I see it through my girls. There are no major worries or troubles. The hardest part of the day is when they realize it’s bed time and we have to put the toys away and go to sleep for hours! To watch them run and play or sit quietly with each other coloring or even when they fight with each other over a toy, life is just so easy and simple.

I miss those days, but I wouldn’t trade my grown up days for the world if it meant missing out on watching my kids grow…even if growing up is against their will!

When I approach a child
He inspires in me two sentiments:
Tenderness for what he is,
And respect for what he may become.

-Louis Pasteur

It has been quite the week here in our household. The weather has been perfect for those last few lazy weeks of August, the kids are healthy and busier than ever, and it seems that there is always something going on at the last minute of most days where we say “what the hell, lets go!” and then there is the lesson of the day to be learned…from my children that is.

Kids are smarter and more in tune with the world around them than most people give them credit for. I am always amazed at the way my girls see things through those innocent sharp blue eyes of theirs! Their simple acts of kindness warm me to the core and sometimes bring a tear to my eye with the touching way small hands can do so much for the human soul.

I had a particularly rough day not too long ago. It seemed nothing was going right and things just kept getting worse as the day wore on and I just could not wait to get the girls tucked into bed and sit down in the livingroom, watch some TV and pretend that the day never happened. I was rocking our youngest daughter in our creeky rocking chair before I put her in bed for the night, whether she was feeling extra sniggly that night or knew that my day had been terrible I will never know, but she wrapped those tiny, sweet smelling baby soft arms around my neck and gave me the best Eskimo Kiss ever (for those who don’t know what an eskimo kiss is, its rubbing noses). That right there took some of the sting out of that horrible day. After she was settled in for the night I proceeded into our oldest daughters room to do our bedtime routine with her. We read our story, talked about things we saw or did that day and before I got up off the bed to turn out the light she promised me that tomorrow would be better and kissed me on the forehead like I would have done for her after a long day and said, “if you giggle it will feel better”. You know what…she is the smartest 5 year old on the planet! It does feel better if you have a little laugh, even through tears.

When did my children become so smart and so intuitive? I don’t think I can answer that question. What I do know is that I am grateful to have children that notice other peoples pains and wish to make them feel a bit better. I am glad to have children that share in the pure joy of a drippy ice cream cone and don’t care what flavor they have or don’t have. I am proud to have children that stick up for each other when one is in trouble. I am blessed to have children that can teach me how to slow down and be grateful for the smallest things in life. It may have been a horrible day, but those sweeties of mine taught me that a simple ordinary bad day is still a day I should be grateful to have and be thankful that I have so many people around me to share it with.

In the past week I have sat out in the sunshine making up funny stories with my girls and have just let the phone ring and the dishes sit in the sink. I have looked up at the sky with my oldest and noticed the clouds are still magical puffy marshmallows no matter how old you get. I have remembered how fun making a mud pie used to be. I have learned that bad days can turn out to hold the best moments of my life.
 “What guides us is children’s response, their joy in learning to dance, to sing, to live together. It should be a guide to the whole world.”     Yehudi MenuhinÂ

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my very first blog. My husband seems to think I might be good at this so we will have to see! Chances are that most of time you will be reading about my life here in Small Town USA, my beautiful children, our new puppy, my husband and our friends and family.

Just for an introduction I have two beautiful daughters who are 5 and 1.5 years old. I am a stay at home mom to them. Our oldest daughter starts Kindergarten in just a few short weeks. I can’t believe five years has come and gone so quickly! My husband is a computer tech and a web designer. He also has his own side business doing web design and hosting. He is quite the busy guy when it comes to work and business but he is also the most amazing father I have even known. Our girls are definately the apple of his eye! Then there is our newest addition to the family, our Beagle puppy Guinness. He has been a wonderful addition. He adores our girls as much as they adore him and has made our family complete!

I think that is all I have time to add right now, the girls are a bit TOO quiet so I need to go see what mischief they have found in the few minutes I have been on here. I shall return again soon!