Yesterday evening we arrived home from a nine day stay at our friends' lake house in Petoskey, MI with my family. It was pretty quiet and relaxing, and I can't wait to share photos (they're still hanging out in the camera). In the meantime, a collection of pre-vacation happenings, because first things first anyways, right?

Indy loves "crafts" of all kinds, my little artist. I've been trying to make it a more regular thing and I'm slowly building up my repertoire of ideas and creativity nurturing supplies (I love the twig colored pencils that we picked up a couple years ago). I shamelessly use Pinterest for inspiration sometimes, but I'd love to hear your favorite crafts for preschool aged children. The other day we made some paper flowers together and she enjoyed the end result but I had to do most of the project.

Speaking of crafts, I'm in crazy nesting mode (which is apparently going to last the entire third trimester) which means either we needed to get the craft closet organized ASAP or "I swear I'm going to throw every last thing out." I'm starting to recognize about myself that possessions can be a burden to me because I keep a kind of mental catalogue of the things we own, and if they're a mess, it makes my brain feel a mess. We bought a ton of storage bins and tossed and organized and now everything is clean and labeled. We also started a little office redo, removing one of our desks to make room to turn part of it into a play area for the kids, with their toys all organized and easily accessible. I'll share photos of that whenever it's done. The basement was next on my list, and thanks to some crazy rain that put several inches of water in most of our basement, we were forced to get a head start on that during the week before we left. Being pregnant, I of course decided this was the right time to go ahead and do an all out cleaning, complete with hanky tied around my face while I shop-vac'ed every last spiderweb and crumbling bit of foundation.

The poppies are blooming (and so is everything else, since we arrived home), and everything is surrounded by a wonderful layer of weeds. My poor neglected gardens. And we witnessed the most amazing cloud formations the other day called mammatus clouds, seriously beautiful.

In the kitchen we enjoyed homemade maple ice cream with some American Spoon Summer Berry Compote, and I tried my hand at pita bread (the dough was a little too dry and thin to all puff quite right, but still good) to accompany homemade falafel.

On Thursday Tennyson turned two. True to our low-key birthday fashion, we went out for pizza and ice cream as a family of four, and over the next several days Tenny opened a couple of birthday gifts from the grandparents. I know the phrase is worn out, but it really does seem like only the other day that he was born. I both feel like I just met him and that I've known him forever, my sweet Buddy. Every night I pray that God would show me the role I am to play in the story He has for him. Each one of our children has that story unfurling before them, and I can't believe we get to help them discover and embark on it. With the same feelings of exhilaration and anticipation that accompany the first few pages of any good book, how can I help but cry "again! again!" to the greatest adventure and privilege in the world! Thank you for teaching me how to mother a son. May I fortify you for your great adventure with more than just ice cream.