Do you have a dream house in your mind?
I've been thinking about mine a lot lately. My heart's home is in the mountains.
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| This is the view from my parents' cabin in North Carolina. Laying in the hammock on their deck is HEAVEN. |
I would have a horse ranch in the valley. There would be lots of green rolling hills, lined with hay bails. We'd have a creek running through our property where the boys would fish each day after school. We'd have a ranch house in the valley, and we'd have a log cabin in the mountains only a small hike away. I can hear the trickle of the creek outside my window now. Hey, throw in a waterfall on our hike up to the log cabin. Why not? It's good to dream, right? :)
What the dream doesn't show is the LOADS of work this ranch would entail. Do you know how much upkeep there is on a ranch? So...the dream must include ranch hands. ;) Poof! Done.
Right now, I'm overwhelmed by my little old house and yard...the laundry, the dishes, the watering of the lawn and flowerbeds, the dusting, the vacuuming...the multitasking of so many things while I play with my boys. How the heck do I think I could keep up with acres and acres of nature filled awesomeness?
One day, maybe I'll figure out how to make my low maintenance Mountain Ranch Dream come true. Right now, I'll keep my awesome little house filled with boys' toys where the only mountains I see are mountains of laundry. :) Well - that is until October when our family will venture off to my parents' cabin for some fall fun. I can't wait for the boys to see the changing leaves and pick some pumpkins from a "real" pumpkin patch. We may even take a train ride through the mountains - the Xmen will flip!
For now, let's focus on the comings and goings of both X's. There is so much happening in their little lives.
Xavie started preschool this week. I really can't believe that three years have passed since our first Xman arrived. I was so proud of Xavier on his first day of school. He was excited. He made dropoff the easiest thing since sliced bread. I don't even know if he noticed I had left. Xanman and I took a long walk a deux and proceeded to look at each other all morning with the same bewildered look on our faces. I think we both felt like we had a limb removed or something. BUT - we had fun together, and I look forward to our mornings alone.
When we picked Xavie up, he looked like a zombie...SO tired and slightly overwhelmed. It took a while to get some good tidbits out of him. But...eventually, he told me about his favorite song they sang (Clean up, Clean up, everybody, everywhere, Clean up, Clean up, everybody do their share). He has sung it three times since Tuesday. So cute. He also told me about a cool kid named Merrick who has his same monster shoes. He told me that he is wearing them on his next school day so he can show Merrick. He said he was SO HOT on the playground and that he cried for me. SIGH... :( He mentioned the dinosaur bin, the train and car bin, and the Pooh book he was reading until a kid took it from him. LOL. I think he had a good day, even though I think he was coming down with a stomach bug...and the mini heat stroke from the playground may have sped its arrival up a bit. So...today (his second day of school), poor Xav is absent, home with a stomach ache and several trips to the bathroom. We are resting up over the weekend, ready to show Merrick our monster shoes next Tuesday. :o)
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| Above mentioned Monster Shoes :) |
Wild Man (I mean Xander) is powering through each day on not enough sleep (believe me, I know...I am up with him bright and early...and I mean EARLY). Today, it was 4:30, and I DID try to get him back to sleep...for 1.5 hours I tried...but, just as he was drifting off, his head came shooting back up, saying"BOOK". Xanman loves to read. Lately, I find him sneaking off to his room to read a book in his rocking chair. It is so cool to watch. He points to the pictures and says the words he knows. Doggie. Moon. Monkey. Elephant (just raises his arm and makes the trunk sound). Shoes...and on and on. This morning, he was reading the "Where's Elmo?" book and I heard him flipping the pages, saying, "There he is" and "Peekaboo". CUTE!
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| Be still my teacher's heart |
Xan has recently gone to one nap during the day, but he has still failed to make that nap as long as it should be (according to what the experts say about kids' sleep needs) and he is waking up so early. I think part of it could be that he is learning SO much every day. His brain must be firing on all cylinders. He has learned to say sooo many new words...lately, it's one more each day. Just recently jotted down all of his new words
here. He watches his older brother so intently, and then proceeds to copy everything he does. Today, he walked to the bathroom, saying, "Pee...peeeeee". Trav took his diaper off and Xan stood on the stool in front of the toilet trying to go for 5 minutes. I don't think he actually had to go, but he sure WANTED to. :) He jumps and climbs and has more bruises,scrapes, and scratches than Xavier ever had. Someone the other day told me that I shouldn't take him out of the house in shorts or someone might call DCF on me. Please, please, don't call. I promise I am taking care of him. But, he is a MANIAC. :) All ladders must be lying flat. All stools need to be put away. Anything climbable, rockable, slippable...keep away from Xanman.
I am so happy that I can be home with my boys each day to witness their amazing transformations as they grow up. This is the MOST tiring, exhausting, draining time of my life...but it is also the most funfilled, exciting, fulfilling time too. Our days are filled with park trips and backyard fun, stroller walks and wagon rides, visits to Nani's pool and Mema's garden. We just got an annual pass to the zoo. So much fun! Somewhere in there, I'm trying to keep the house and clothes clean, meals planned and cooked, groceries stocked, toys picked up, beds changed, shelves dusted, etc. But - really, who cares about most of that, right? (Remind me of that the next time I stress over my destroyed house.)
See - my heart's home is really right here...wherever my boys are (that includes you, Trav).
I still can't wait for our mountain trip in October though...I can already smell the fresh mountain air.
