Why...

...do Baby Zion's

three-month

yes, THREE MONTH

pictures

look like

his one-year

pictures?

Big

baby

boy.

Wherein they smiled...

...and did not run away.

All the stars and planets must have been aligned.

A first

I was changing the sheets on all of the beds yesterday evening (a job I despise, but I love the results. If I had a maid, I would have fresh sheets every single day. But I digress.) Mercy wandered in and asked what I was doing. I told her, and she asked why. I said, "Oh, we get sweaty, and the sheets get dirty after awhile. I put fresh sheets on your bed too. Isn't that nice?" She responded earnestly, "No. I don't want fesh sheets. I want the old ones. I like them all peaceful and dirty."

Anyone who knows my obsessive-compulsive cleaning habits has to know that that was the first time in the history of our home that the words "peaceful" and "dirty" have been used in the same sentence. Sometimes I really wonder if she has ANY of my DNA. Silly child.

Country Girl

Sun in her hair

sky in her eyes

Inquisitive mind

wondering heart

wandering feet

great big world

to discover and explore

If she knew there's another way to live

She'd say

"Thank God I'm a country girl"

For Moi?

Apparently, I have been given the...drumroll please...Versatile Blogger Award.  A big thank you to my friend-of-many-years Pam , who nominated me for this award.

So the rules are that if I accept this honor, I must:
1. Thank the person who gave it to me
2. List seven things about myself.
3. Pass it on.

Seven things about myself:
1. I'm a foodie. I love everything about good organic, nutritious food, from shopping for it to preparing it, to eating it. I even read about food in my spare time.
2. My husband is the only person I've ever courted. We met when I was 13 and he was 14, carried on a long distance, letter-writing relationship for 7 years, and married  on the 7th anniversary of the day we met.
3. I love my job as a homemaker. Really. I even like to do laundry.
4. I'm a bibliophile. We had to build our house, because all the ready-made houses we looked at didn't have enough room for all our books. We designed our house around our library.
5. I make a game of bargain shopping. I love scouring ebay, consignment shops, and second-hand shops for expensive, brand name (especially European brand) clothes and shoes for my kids. A couple of my finds: $80 shoes for $1.99. $120 snowsuit for $4.  I love finding funky looks for a fraction of the cost.
6. The dream I share with my husband is in the very near future owning a large tract of land and growing most of our food. Sad thing is that I have a brown thumb and everything dies under my tender ministrations. Maybe I'll have better success with the animal husbandry. I'll leave the gardening to Benj.
7. I can still recite the first part of the Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales--in Middle English.

Passing it on:
To Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking

This just in...

Mercy has recently been trying to enter into adult conversation by mimicing appropriate responses. When Benj and I are talking, she'll interject, "Oh. Mm hmm. Okay."  Today, I was telling Benj about a blogger I follow who is in the hospital. I told Benj that she has a kidney stone and has protein and blood in her urine. Mercy said "Oh, dat's bad." I chuckled and Benj agreed. We walked away from where Mercy was sitting, and we heard her little voice following us into the kitchen: "Kitty bones are bad."

Something like that.

A boy and his trucks

This boy's

love of all things

with wheels

makes me wonder

if THIS boy

will be a bookworm

or a musician

or a lover of all things with wheels as well

Overheard

Mercy: "Dudah, may I please have that? Say 'yes.'"
Judah: "YES!"
Mercy (as she wrenches his food, truck, whatever, out of his hand): "Thank you."
Judah: "AIEEEEEEEEEEEE! BAHHHHHHHHH!"

*****

Mercy: "Zion, you look like such an orphan!"

Huh?

****

Judah (as we were riding in the truck): "PAPA!"

Mercy (in a patronizing falsetto): "Dat's right, Dudah! Dat does look like Papa's truck. You're so smart!"

*****

Mercy: "Mommy, Gesus died on the cross."

Me: "Yes, but He's not dead now, is He? He lives in heaven with God."

Mercy: "Yes, and Gesus will give us a baby girl. Gesus will give you a baby girl in your belly soon."

Uh...Okay.

Me: "What if Jesus gives us a baby boy?

Mercy: "Dat's okay. You can have a baby girl AND a baby boy. You can have more and more and more babies."

Alrighty then.

*****

Me: "Judah, what color is this?

Judah: "Boo."

Me: "No, honey, that's brown."

Judah: "Bown."
Me: "Right. What color is this?"

Judah: "Boo."

Me: "No, that's red."

Judah: "Red!"

Me: "Now what color is this?"

Judah: " Boo."

Me: "No, that's green."

Judah: "Geen!"

Me: "Good. What color is this?"

Judah: "Boo!"

Sigh. I think he's color blind.

First Haircut

We decided it was time for Judah to get a haircut. He will be two next month and has never had one. I've trimmed a couple long strands from out of his eyes, but that's all. I've been loathe to cut off his beautiful blonde curls, and I wanted to leave it long. I certainly didn't want to cut it short, as I think that makes little boys look so grown up. Judah is so big that he looks four anyway, so I don't want his haircut to make him look any older than he is. Anyway, the beautiful blonde ringlets on his neck were making him hot, so, it was time. I layered it, which is not easy to do on a little boy who never stops moving, but since his hair is curly, it was pretty forgiving of any unevenness.

Before:

Sitting on Daddy's lap for his haircut:

After:

 One more milestone proving he's not a baby anymore.  Sigh. My big boy.