recently

it's been a while since my last post. here are some things that are happening around here:

• spring is here! forsythia and cherry trees are in full bloom. daffodils, tulips and crocuses are beginning to unfurl. the smell of compost is in the air. people are walking around in tshirts, students are playing football in the streets. i had a sunburn the other day!

• isla is no longer a baby. i just realized this. she repeats nearly everything i say. she has very strong ideas about what she does and doesn't want. she LOVES babies (real and not). she has temper tantrums. she climbs up everything. she is very particular about her clothing. she can walk for blocks and blocks. she can eat and eat and eat. she rarely drinks mama's milk. (so sad!)

• lent has arrived. we have been talking about how to use this time to learn how to love one another better. noah is going to work on not yelling at people. (he has become very bossy lately.) i am trying to work on spending more time with aaron, particularly waking up early to have coffee with him before he leaves for work. we are all thinking about sacrifice. (thanks to christina for spurring some really meaningful thought and discussion around here!)

• the seasonal table is now an official table, and has a beautifully simple lenten garden. christina also made some easter animals for us (who will appear later), and sort of tried to show me how to needle felt. i made a circle.

• aaron's been working on the doors of the shop. they're going to be cool: double-long sliders. and he just had his final inspection with the city, and passed! so it should be smooth sailing from here on out.

• noah has a new big-boy bunk bed. he is still very excited about puzzles, mazes, writing letters and drawing trucks. he can pretty much ride his big boy bike. he digs and hoes a lot in the dirt under the holly tree. he narrates the funniest stories involving trains and trucks while he's playing by himself. all his vehicles have names and personalities, and at times have been know to need snacks. he aspires to be a bandstra mover.

• christina came to visit!! it was way too brief but very good for my soul. her visit was aaron's gift to me for christmas. such a great idea! and christina was so brave to leave all five of her boys behind and venture so far from new england. it was so much fun.

• and lastly, we got a new computer! it is SO SO much faster and cooler and overall better than our nearly six-year old clunky ibook. we got it the day before christina came, so she was here to show me how to do all the secret awesome mac tricks. i feel like a whole new world has opened up to me now...

• which leads to my last point, which is that i'm in the process of making a new blog/website for our family. iweb is SO SO much easier to use than blogspot! and we can have a few pages in addition to the main page, so i'm planning to make a portfolio page for aaron too. stay tuned for the great unveiling!

happy spring to you all! (or mid-winter, if you live in a normal part of the country.)