BREEZY FIELDS

 Sawyer and I were just remembering an incident from the last time we lived in this house (yes, second time, same house, Fort Leavenworth).  A squirrel somehow made his way into the house while Mike and I were in downtown Leavenworth playing board games at Meriwether’s.  Sawyer and Sadie, using Sawyer’s light sabers, corralled the squirrel under our giant blue bookcase.  Then...they trapped it by surrounding all of the openings with board game boxes.  Our neighbor, Dan, and I showed up at about the exact same time. We created a path with furniture which lead from the bookcase to the side door, meanwhile there was a flurry of activity beneath the bookcase, boxes were shaking.  We all took our places, brooms, light sabers, chairs...and moved a box.  Our plan worked  and the squirrel scurried across the dining room and out the door.  Good times, good times.

Yesterday, September 8th, 2020, was Sawyer's first day of school at Patton.  He is in 7th grade.  If any school can successfully navigate Covid, it is most likely Patton, and so we are giving it a go.  This boy is such a great human being.  We've had over 150 days of togetherness, and I am going to miss this punk.   I am not going to miss this punk.  She is home with mom this school year.  Masks, hybrid classes, social distancing?  Not happening.  Ellyn and I took a nice long drive yesterday.  Every day, about 10 times a day, she brings me the keys or goes to the door and says, "seatbelt."  We accommodate as often as we can.  Since she was a tiny girl there are few things she has loved more than a trip in the car.  She has clearly mastered the teenage glare, she actually wasn't glaring at all, it's just great eye contact.  

The year 2020, really, there is no great place to begin.  And so I will present to you, Loki, the Covid cat. In April we all realized that we missed the comfort of a feline around the house. "Sheltering in Place" gave us ample opportunity to be at home, and home was missing... a cat.  It was also missing Jane, Leo, and baby Henry, but there was nothing we could do about that.  Mother's Day was only a month away, and a cat, I decided, was the perfect present.   Our internet search began for a cat that we could rescue, close to home, that would love two dogs, and was already declawed (because I would not do that to a cat, and yet I have a new, beautiful leather couch that I really did not want attacked).  After great effort, I found him. Loki, the Covid cat.  We all love him.  At night he travels from room to room, taking turns snuggling with each family member.  During the day he can be found lazing on top of the piano, drinking out of the dog...

Ellyn's Golden Birthday was truly exciting for all of us.  This was the first year that WE, as a family, could tell that Ellyn knew it was HER day.  Perhaps she has known every year, but in the past the cake and ice cream seemed to be all that mattered.  This year both her YW class, and her Sunday School class, dropped off treats and heart attacked our front door.  When Ellyn walked outside to get on her bus the morning of her birthday she paused, without any prompting.  Ellyn looked at the hearts, smiled, pointed to one, then turned and walked to her bus. At school, Ellyn's teacher had programed, "Happy Birthday, Ellyn!" into every child's speaking device.  I took in Valentine's donuts from Krispy Kreme (one of Ellyn's very favorite foods on Earth), and all through treat time the boys were pushing their birthday buttons.  Ellyn also started singing "Happy Birthday to You!" all on her own. She also said "Ellyn....

For almost three years I have been thinking how very sad it is that I hadn't continued to keep a journal of our family activities.  No more deployment letters and emails to Mike, no more family blog to keep grandparents and aunts and uncles connected to our family.  Nothing but printed off monthly calendars saved in a file somewhere.  I guess our family blog died a slow death when we lived in Washington and we were seeing everyone all of the time.  It just was not important to keep everyone informed.  They were right there with us.  I did not stop, in all the chaos, to think how very important the blog might be to me, or to my children.  I have often thought of the cute pictures and quotes we had saved on our family blog.  I thought of the interviews I did with the kiddos, and how grateful I was that, somewhere, on a dusty webpage, those beautiful faces, those funny antics, still existed.  I have checked to make sure the blog still existed fr...

Last Friday I was able to go with Ellyn's class to the Seattle Aquarium. I think that perhaps Disneyland is the only place on Earth that makes Ellyn happier than an aquarium. In my dream house I would have one whole wall of Ellyn's room a real, salt water tank. That sounds doable and low maintenance, right? It was as if all of Western Washington was celebrating that Mrs. A.... received a grant and was able to take two classes to the Seattle Aquarium. The sky was blue for the first time in ages. Children and adults were happy and buoyed by a fabulous outing with amazing weather. Ellie Boo loved the entire day. What could be better than a long bus ride, a walk along the water, and an aquarium? As much as possible, I let her hang out near the huge tank at the entrance. She was also quite taken with the seals. I was taken with the view of the Sound while sitting near the seals. I am so happy when this girl is happy:-) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

There is part of me that aches for the days of snuggling little babies.  Chubby cheeks, chubby buns, the way my Jane called all meat "Hoggie."  Sadie called herself  "Deedee," Ellyn would nuzzle into my neck, Sawyer could pronounce no consonants.  Toddling little bodies, with bright smiles, and wispy curls.  I loved it.  I couldn't do it again, but I love it and miss it. We were looking through videos and pictures one rainy Saturday afternoon and we (Mike, Sadie, Sawyer, and I) were laughing... and I was crying.  We have so many years of amazing memories. But...  I love this stage as well.  I enjoy being able to have real conversations with my kids, I appreciate their humor, I love doing things that we all love to do as their ideas of fun grow up. I was thinking all of this the other night, in Mike's den.  Mike was changing his photos out on his Facebook profile.  He decided the background photo for his page should be a pictur...