string

this boy is so much fun and he has his grandfather's ability with knots and string. My father-in-law could tie a knot that no one, and I mean no one could untie. He was a cook on merchant ships that ran a trade route from Europe to Africa. He would be gone on long voyages, gone for more than a year at a time. Of course, this explains the spacing of my husband's siblings quite well.
He could tie a knot, and now Gabe has somehow genetically inherited his love of all things tie-able (not sure that's even a word. He is constantly tying knots, tying string, taking my bathroom robe belt and creating marvelously intricate patterns and knots, tying chairs together, tying himself to things. If he could get the cat to stand still, he'd tie her to something.
So, last week, when he found the ball of string that I used to tie up the climbing roses on the trellis on the front porch, he was in heaven.

here it is

Now, two posts in one day. Apparently, the woman who lived here before us LOVED roses. She had planted many rosebushes and lovingly stenciled roses and vines and ivy with roses and little patches of roses all over the house. While the stencils were covered within days of moving in, I have taken over the care of her living roses and this is the first beauty of the year. I pruned all the roses in March, and was hoping that the plants would be okay after my attempts at caring for them, and it seems that they are!!

wow

So, without resorting to self-loathing and excuses, I cannot believe I have not updated this blog in more than two months. All my good intentions have gotten me nowhere and I have neglected this little journal miserably.
April was truly a blur this year, starting off with what we like to call Tonsilectomy on Tuesday (can you tell that Julianna is into Magic Treehouse books right now?). She handled the surgery really well, but it was both scary for us and reassuring at the same time. As I answered all the pre-op questions, I said a little prayer of gratitude for each "no" I was able to give: no heart problems, no liver problems, no kidney problems. You get the idea. It really helped give me some perspective on how healthy and lucky we all are. For some parents, a tonsillectomy would be a joy and they are just hoping that their child will live. I don't want to forget that; I want to be grateful as I share this time with my kids.
We also have become a sports family-which has been so much fun and busy and crazy. Cecilia has taken to softball like a natural and is starting a skills class this week. One of the coaches has suggested private pitching coaching for her (who even knew this existed?) At the rate of $40 an hour, I think we will wait just a little for that one.
I, for myself, have been up to my eyeballs in busy! I have taken on several larger writing projects which, although not very inspiring, have been good for me. Squeezing work in around the kids' schedule and spending time with Gabe this last year before school has been an adventure and a challenge. We are also in full swing Vacation Bible School planning mode. And,now I am up to my ears in the end of the year excitement. School awards, preschool picnic, ladies lunch at church, field day, pool day for the fifth graders, Alex's Lemonade stand for the fifth graders, it's all good and all fun, but wow. It's a lot to pack into one week. Now I know why the Duggars homeschool their kids-the schedule would kill them.
I am going to take a picture later of my very first rose of the season-it's on one of the red rosebushes out back.