…is that sometimes, you end up with pizza that’s been burnt to a crisp because it was left in the microwave for too long. Still, now Anna has learned that pizza only requires about 30 seconds of reheating, not 3 minutes. So maybe “problem” isn’t the right word. Side effect? Result of?
Reminding myself on this beautiful Monday: Every situation is an opportunity!!
We love our house in town. We’ve called it home for the last five years and it’s the house I grew up in, the house we brought our children home to, and where we became a family. So it’s special and sentimental all at the same time. One thing about it though:
It’s short on outdoor space. It’s right in the middle of town and in between a bunch of old houses, which has a certain charm to it, but because of that, we don’t have much of a yard or a place for the kids to run around (another reason we’ve been spending so much more time at the farm recently). But, we’ve learned to make do with what we have and try to use every inch of our space there.
PJ got the boys a basketball goal for Christmas and now that we’ve had a little bit of warmer weather the last few days, he finally put it together on the back porch and they’ve been playing on it nonstop. I find it so cute that they love it so much, especially Allan, who comes straight home from school and runs to the back porch to shoot a few hoops.
Last night, as I was making dinner and PJ was down in the yard with Anna tending to our sheep (watch next week’s vlog to see why we brought one of our sheep home!), the boys were playing basketball on the back porch and having a blast. We had the back doors open and there was a nice breeze passing through the house. Bossa Nova music was playing as we were both sipping wine.
It was one of those perfect moments in time that happens every now and then where I wish I could freeze time and play it over and over. Thank goodness for technology, right?
Then, when dinner was ready, Allan asked if we could eat outside since it felt so good. I told him he could if he wanted, and he immediately ran to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of lemon cleaning spray, a rag, and ran back outside to wipe down the table. He then picked up a plant from the living room and asked if he could bring it outside. I had the biggest smile on my face as I told him “sure” because that’s absolutely something PJ or I would do to dress up the outdoor table and make the entire experience a little more special.
Allan put the plant in the middle of the table and brought his food out as the sun was starting to get lower and lower. What he said next surprised me and made me laugh:
“Okay you can eat inside with your husband, and I will eat outside with Riah and Anna. Sound good?”
From the mouths of babes I tell you!!! What a cutie little stinker. So the three of them ate at the table that Allan set on the back porch while we stood beside them and just watched. They were laughing and talking and just having a good time. Now that everyone can talk, it’s fun to listen in on their very real conversations.
I love that they’re getting older and more independent and coming up with their own ideas on things to do and make. It’s both a challenging (so many mistakes, so many messes, so many frustrating situations) and beautiful (so fun to see them stretch their creativity, so rewarding to watch them think for themselves, so wonderful to witness them problem-solve) time in their lives and I know I speak for both of us when I say we’re both so grateful to call them ours.
The other night we were eating dinner when Riah asked me a question:
“Did you know that Gogurts only eat grapes and grass?”
Perplexed, I asked:
“Gogurts? What do you mean? Like those yogurts in the packets that you eat?”
“No, no, GO-GURTS. Like, the animal.”
“Riah I have no idea what you mean. There are no animals named Gogurts. Do you mean…um…lizards maybe?”
“No! We learned about them in school today.”
I was so confused and for the life of me couldn’t think of what he was talking about. I asked him a few more times what he meant, fishing for the answer and hoping one of my questions would stick. They didn’t.
Then, thankfully, Allan swooped in and saved the day:
“Riah, do you mean groundhogs?” he asked with obvious annoyance.
“Oh. Yeeeaaaah. Groundhogs!” Riah responded with the biggest smile on his face, clearly thinking his use of the word “gogurt” was just as funny as I thought it was.
The entire interaction made me laugh and I couldn’t help but think: how lucky are we, for both our boys.
I heard someone reading a book the other night (which, there are only three of us in the house who can currently read, so I had a pretty good idea of who it was ;) and it was coming from the other room, so I walked in so I could better hear. But I didn’t see anyone.
I could hear Allan’s voice but I couldn’t see him, and it’s not like our dining room is big enough to hide a child in. Then I looked under the table to find him curled up on the rug reading his “Dick and Jane” book. How cute is that? I hope he never stops reading as he gets older. Reading was one of the things I loved most growing up and I would love for at least one of our kids to take an interest in it.
I would say Allan is on his way!
The other day I told Riah to get dressed and gave him a pair of jeans to put on.
He proudly walked into the room to show me he was dressed and ready to go. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh (but not too much). When I told him his jeans were on backwards, he burst out laughing and thought it was the funniest thing ever. I immediately told him to stand still while I took his picture, naturally. He is so damn cute!!
Zachariah Garrett, what are we going to do with you?
As I was tucking our son into bed the other night, he told me something that made my heart swell.
I was laying down with Riah and rubbing his forehead and eyes to get him ready for bed, as I always do, when he looked at me and said, “Daddy, do you know how I love you so much?” I knew immediately this was a version of a question I ask the kids every night: “Do you know how much I love you?” to which every guess they give me, I respond with, “Bigger.”
I smiled and felt my heart bursting with anticipation for what his reason was going to be.
“No, how?” I curiously asked.
“Because I did not like when you fell on the stairs before, that’s why I love you so much.”
Oh man. Riah has always been our little charmer. I felt joy in how he expressed love in his own words, saying what made sense to him and conveying his emotions in a way that fit his five year old vocabulary (which was my favorite part). Even if I didn’t know he was watching at the time, he saw earlier when I fell coming up the stairs to get bed time started and that I was in physical pain, and him letting me know he doesn’t like it when I am in pain is the most human and basic form of love I can think of.
We don’t like it when our loved ones suffer, and the words we choose to let them know don’t matter so much, just so long as they know how we feel.
And so I thanked him, kissed him on the forehead, and told him I loved him, too. He then immediately ended the conversation with, “Also I love that red Spiderman because he’s my favorite also.” So there’s that, haha.
Even late at night when I’m tired and in pain from a fall up the stairs earlier, their little brains have a way of making me smile and letting me know that, one way or another, I am loved.
Yesterday was a good day.
I spent the whole morning with Anna, who kept me company while running all over town. First, we went to the car dealership and got some information on our family car (more on that at a later date!). Then we went to what might be all the kids’ favorite thing in the entire world to do, something they ask weekly if we can go through: the car wash.
She screamed with joy when I told her where we were heading, and even voluntarily put her iPad down so she could enjoy the main event . After the car was washed, Anna helped me clean the inside by wiping down the seats and floorboards with a rag, and did a fabulous job if I do say so myself.
Right now she (really, they all are) is loving to help with little daily tasks: folding the clothes, cooking and baking, cleaning up around the house, etc. However, I was telling PJ the other day how they’re all kind of at these ages where them helping actually makes the task take longer, but I know that if I stick with it and show them how to do it, eventually, they’ll get the hang of it and not only will it help us out, but they’ll also learn how to do things for themself.
But for now, I’m finding it so cute and so sweet when they ask to help put the groceries away or feed the animals. I wonder what age that’ll stop?
After the car was cleaned, we made a quick stop at the bank, where our favorite bank teller explained how she was so excited to finally to meet at least one of our kids. Anna was being shy, but her personality couldn’t help but shine through.
When we were finished at the bank, we headed to pick up Riah’s prescription and do a little grocery shopping, which happens to be one of Anna’s absolute favorite things to do. Go figure!
She rode in the cart and ate a donut that jut couldn’t wait until we got home and kept receiving compliment after compliment from people commenting on how good of a helper she was (and of course, how cute she is). I can’t help but feel so much joy when other people see what we see in our kids.
In the check out line, the sweet lady behind us with beautiful salt and pepper hair said she loved Anna’s brown hair because it reminded her of hers when she was young. How sweet is that?
And finally, when all the groceries were bought and put in our car that was all clean, we headed home to eat lunch before heading out to the farm to meet PJ and Riah, who had gone out there earlier that the morning to meet our (three!) new lambs.
I am writing this down here so I can hopefully always remember these days with our girl. She is the biggest little helper ever, and I can’t imagine running errands would be as productive or fun without her by my side.
Most days, if not all days, our lives are loud.
With three kids and more animals than I’m going to even attempt to count, there’s always some kind of noise ringing through the house. And to be honest, I quite like it that way. I love the sounds (good and bad) of kids doing life in our home. I love hearing our dog Meryl play with our cat Alyster and the noise she makes when he jokingly claws her in the face. I love the sound of the washing machine beeping and the way the doors creak in winter.
All of these are sounds of home and our very busy and very full lives right now. They’re comfortable, familiar and safe to me, and I relish them.
But on the way to clean my car and get the oil changed, something changed. I plugged in my phone and started looking for a song to listen to on the drive, but couldn’t find one I wanted to hear. I kept searching and searching but nothing sounded good. Not the new Adele, not the new Taylor, nothing.
And then I quickly realized, it’s not that I didn’t want to hear any of those songs, but that I didn’t want to hear any songs. Nothing sounded good to me because the thought of silence sounded so much better.
It’s rare that our house is quiet. It’s usually after the kids go to bed, but even then, there’s still the calming sound of the dishwasher running or the click-clack of our animals walking on the hardwood floors. This week PJ took the kids to Chattanooga while I was getting ready to accompany my mom to her holiday party, and the house was still. I tried to take in the silence then but I wasn’t able to. I’ve found I don’t enjoy being alone at home just yet; not for reasons of fear, but because I enjoy the dynamic of our family so much right now (even when I feel like I might go insane from all the fighting the kids are doing lately 😂).
Sometimes I forget we’re technically still new parents, and right now we’re still soaking up this time with our children while they’re young. I can’t tell you how many times a week someone tells us to enjoy these ages as much as we can, because they grow up so fast. I’m feeling that every single day lately: time is moving too quickly and they’re changing almost daily.
So I drove to the car wash and to get my oil changed with no sound whatsoever. No music. No podcast. No radio. And it was total bliss. I’ll be returning home to a house full of children and noise soon enough, but for now, I’m taking in the silence (and actually enjoying it).
The Property Lovers is a daily blog by PJ and Thomas about our adventures as husbands and dads living in our small hometown, life in our 100 year old Craftsman, and fixing up our farm. Welcome!
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