Back When the Daffodils were Blooming

A boatload of photos of daffodils...because they were beautiful while they lasted and are now long gone.

Because I only seem to blog once a month these days, I guess I am due for a bit of an update.  ;-)

It rains....it rains...it rains....

The garden goes in bit by bit because bending over is kinda hard these days with a big, lumbering belly.  Bit by bit, between bellyaches and raindrops.  This spring is shaping up to be very much like last spring (SOGGY!) which makes me worry that the garden will rot in the ground like it did last year.  I try not to think about it.

I've feel like I have looked to be in my third trimester since finding out I was pregnant.  Having six children does that sorta thing to you.  I am assured by reliable folk that this isn't so- but they are also kind folk and one wonders... 

Now I almost AM in my third trimester and I feel very sure that I really DO look like I am as huge as I feel.  Cricket already measures two weeks larger than normal sized babies so methinks I cannot grow small children anyway.  I still have quite a few weeks more to go.  I'm not even close to getting to how huge I will get.  I try not to think about that either.

I am sorting through junk and stuff- trying to reclaim my upstairs now that the girls' room project is done.  (reveal to come)  Also, I've noticed, in winter a MessMonster takes up residence in our granary so no matter how tidy I get the place in summer, by springtime it has become a Pit Of Despair once again.  So there's that.  Clutter weighs heavy and with every drop off to Salvation Army, I feel a bit lighter.  There is SO much still left to do... I try not to think about that either.

Homeschooling is ending for everyone around us but unfortunately, we must chug along for a bit longer.  I need to start the end of the year cog of portfolio making and paperwork gathering and affadavit fixing, which is always a big to-do. It feels a bit insincere, pretending to be done when we still have work to do to finish up.  But....deadlines.  Always I think how many ways I have failed in pushing my children to their max capacity without pushing them too far and see just how much I have let slide and how far they need to go.  How far *I* still need to go.  Always seeking that elusive perfect balance.  And that weighs heavy too, even while knowing full well the liberating truth that true education is not necessarily the learning of facts, but the understanding of how to look and see the world and, most importantly, in seeing Him in and through it all.

So I waddle through the days that could be full to bursting with busyness, doing little bit by little bit, all the while trying to avoid too many drowning brainwaves.

Reading Virgil Wander by Leif Enger and loving it.  Every time he finds an adjective I rejoice.

Trying to find a Cricket project to knit but lacking motivation to actually start anything.

Trying to gear up for a binge baby gift making day (or two) for friends of mine and ALL five of the gifts are for baby BOYS (trending apparently!) and, incidentally, two are for baby boys that were named with the very name I've had at the top of my List-O-Boy-Names.  How funny!

I now have varicose veins in my legs which are ugly AND (I never realized before...) VERY painful. 

Still have beans, beets, onions, lettuces, cabbages, kale, collards and radishes to plant.  Skipping broccoli and cauliflower this year entirely because by the time I pick all the little wormies out- I've entirely lost my appetite for such things.

Have decided to put everything in a single garden this year instead of several patches.  Flowers and veggies UNITE!

Need parade float ideas that are somewhat simple and involve lots of children for this years' parade float.  Friends are coming to join us this year- and both families have pretty extensive dress-up boxes and very little time to devote to a silly parade float. 

Craving chinese egg rolls every day.  And Turkey Hill Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream.  I become angry and hostile inside when I don't get them.  And I don't.  :-(