High water

Outside the window this morning the sky is more blue than grey... though that could change in the blink of an eye. The oatmeal's been eaten, or is being eaten, now that everyone is up. Some of us have moved on to the second course: apple cider popsicles.

Calder just beat himself in a game of Space Bingo. Looks like I'm his next target.

The New Yorker makes for interesting reading material for a 5 year old. Lots of questions about the cartoons to be sure. And if you come across a photo of a man smoking you might hear something like this, "Mom, if this is a real man and you walked by him, you'd have to hold your breath and plug your nose so you won't get any of that dirty stuff in your body that can make you sick! You don't want to go near him." Smart kid.

We've come upon a happy balance to our days. It's been a struggle for a while to feel like we were doing enough for our growing, curious 5 year old. I'm finally feeling like he's happy and engaged with what we've got going. If he were in school during the week I would think this were too many activities, but as he's home this all feels like just the right amount. Time with Gramma C, soccer class, WILD Explorers, and gymnastics. It all makes for a little more of a scheduled week, and for me, that's been helpful.

For me, a schedule means variety where before we may have hung around the home a whole lot more. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's really easy for me to be inactive at home. And to that end, I was happy to come across a couple good lists of exercises to do at home. It is so hard for me to stick to an exercise routine. So hard! I am not self-motivated, and I am very self-critical. Hmmmm....

Like I said before, it's sunny now... yes, still! But it has been raining buckets around these parts. I'm sure more is expected. Our house has always been in the clear, though we're surrounded by the floodplain, and for one day our neighborhood was cut off from the rest of town due to the confluence of multiple overfull waterways. The river is still filling most of the park near home. (As seen in the flood photos in this post.) The egg operation I wrote about recently narrowly escaped the waters by the skin of their 30 little beaks. Thank goodness! Oh, and a couple of our girls have thrown us an egg or two the last few days. We thank them and happily announce the gift every time it's received. It does feel special!

One of our favorite farms, Rainshine - the one down the street from us, is park adjacent. Their field flooded out. In fact, they canoed in over their 5' deer fence! Today is Ms. Rainshine's birthday, and Baby Rainshine is due to arrive any day now. Life is BIG for them right now.

Another of our favorite farms, Gathering Together, flooded out pretty badly. The water filled their fields, flooded out their winter crops, and ruined their tool shop, and cooler/compressor. It made it up onto the porch of the farm stand (where you dine) but didn't make it into the kitchen or indoor part of the farmstand. If peeps want to help, they've asked that we support them by purchasing their produce, signing up for their CSA, and ordering seeds from their catalog, Wild Garden Seed.

So there you go. Onward! Off to have a Thursday. Hope yours is great! My aunt is having major shoulder surgery today, so my thoughts are with her for a smooth recovery.