The Streetpoet

Today at the Grand Prix race Jerome told Jane that he’s been looking forward to this day so much and that he had a lot of fun! Peter and Jerome put a lot of hard and careful work into his car and had some great times together.

This Spring these amazing young people asked me to shoot their Senior Portraits, and they all agreed to come  to me! They tromped through the mud leaned against rustic old barns, and brought their own wonderful ideas and creativity. Troopers all! I love how their pictures turned out, so even though they’re on my website already I wanted to highlight some of my favorites here.

Hannah:

Jeannette:

Brooklin:

There are a few blogs that I watch regularly, some of the bloggers I even know :-), but whenever there is an absence of a new post I automatically assume they have a life. There are more important things to do than post on a blog. I find time here and there to keep this one up because it’s easier to post pictures for long distance family and friends with a blurb about our life than to write every one of them and print copies of photos (which I know would be even more appreciated but it would never happen). And I love to tell stories with pictures. Stories about my boys and life with them. Chronological stories. I post for myself as a mother…to remember.

My excuse for not blogging this week is because I’ve been sick. My three rambunctious boys have felt totally fine, praise be to God, but they’ve had a weary mother looking after them. They had a mild cold each two and three weeks ago, then Peter succumbed last week and had to take a day off work to sleep through the worst of it. It didn’t look so bad when the boys had it, but it’s hit us big people pretty hard. The worst day for me was Monday. I could hardly walk across the yard without feeling shaky and weak and kept falling onto the bed whenever I knew the boys were safely occupied. God sent me angels in our landlords! They were out for the day and took the boys for over an hour so I could rest, letting them follow around and play and eat with them, then when it was time for them to really get to work it was nap time for Ian. 🙂 We’re able to do our school work and we’ve been enjoying a new stack of library books!

Today was much better and I hope to catch up here a little. I have a Mommy & Me shoot and a Six Month shoot with my nieces to post as well as some Senior Portraits…so stay tuned!

Peter had wanted to take another snowboarding trip with his buddies for his birthday but it wasn’t possible this year (besides, he got in a couple of days when he went to Utah earlier this  month 🙂 ).  So instead he took me and the boys to the gun show and then we met some of his buddies at the shooting range.  He had a great day and we’re so glad he took us with him!

My sisters and I grew up in a house with no guns.  Guns were scary to me and I didn’t understand them (or people who had them in their homes), but Peter grew up in an environment where guns were just a part of life on the mountain.  This is one of the many differences between the family I was raised in and the family I married into.  Before today I had only shot a gun once…when my brother-in-law married my twin, they lived in a tiny cabin on top of a mountain with bears prowling about.  So when I visited them, he put a gun in my hands, set up a target and showed me how to shoot it.  I shot it once and said that was good enough (thanks for trying, Vann!).

So when Peter took me out to the shooting range and loaded a pistol for me to shoot I was determined to do my best and have fun if I could.  The first few shots really shook me up.  The noise and power of it were unnerving.  But the target drew me in and it was increasingly easier to make a good shot.  I feel like shooting today has helped me get beyond some fears that I have had since I was a child, and I am understanding more Peter’s healthy view of “arms” and respect his taking responsibility as a citizen and leader of our home.

I hope you had a wonderful birthday Peter and I love you!

When Peter came back from Utah he brought home two beautiful tulip plants. He gave Seth the purple tulip plant and he gave me the red one. They’ve been such bright spots in our window all month! Seth was showing them to his little friend and he told her “Daddy gave me the purple lips and he gave Mommy the red lips!” 🙂

At about two this morning Jerome came and got us up because he said Seth was crying from a bad dream and throwing up. When we ran in there it took us a minute to realize that Seth was neither crying normally or throwing up. He had an attack of croup and was terrified that he could not breath. (He did not seem to be sick yesterday and still only sounds a little hoarse this morning with no other symptoms.) He was better once he calmed down in the steamed bathroom. After a while he wasn’t scared anymore and was breathing easier so I read a book to him before trying to put him back to bed. He chose “The Littlest Angel” and at the end he said “Mommy, I want to be an angel some day.” When I asked him why he said “So I can save the day!” 🙂

This morning Peter was still here when I woke up (he’s so very quiet in the mornings I rarely see him) and Jerome was already awake. This is the sight that greeted me: (Mama, skip the first two!)