Photo Dump

Before I show you the promised pics, I offer a quick vignette.

Last night, we were sitting around the dinner table as an exhale, together at the end of a day that was haphazardly sewn together with
work and play
a toy store and renovation plans (you're welcome, Home Depot)
math and reading
laughter and screams
sing-song stories and policing ("MOM! He called me 'stupid' again!")
Lego and Angry Birds
snacks and sharing
enjoying the general cacophony of life and love shared. Annalyn was quietly singing 'Holy Holy Holy Lord,' her fingers covered in tomato sauce and planted firmly in her nose. Yup, this is my life. I'll tie it all up with a bow and give thanks.

***

*gulp* Here we go.

hosting an extended family breakfast

Adriel and Annalyn: Beach Babes

chillin' with Uncle Stephan, probably learning bad words

brother & sister

When I got Silas dressed on the morning of the wedding, he grinned at me and said "Mom, everyone is going to look and me and say 'You look SO COOL!'" Then, after he beautifully performed his duties as 'Ring Bear,' he came and sat down next to me and announced loudly, 'Mom, I did a great job!' The kid speaks truth, without any false modesty.

Aidan and Heidi!

Rigel

Mom & Dad Ifland, Grandma & Grandpa Davies, the newlyweds

the sisters

the party

Forest

 Halfway down the aisle, she just dumped out her basket. The girl is efficient.

Yay!

Homebrew root beer at the reception. Seth's funny wedding moment was during the processional (the processional!), as he was sitting next to me, working on a word search themed on the solar system. "Jupiter, Saturn, Venus ... Hey MOM! Venus rhymes with P.....!!"

fathers of the newlyweds

play/school room (because in our home, learning=fun)

bedroom view

deck

girl

10 years of dating! My boyfriend took me out for Thai food and my first Seattle Symphony concert. I have such a crush on him.

Spinning Hamster

Oh boy. I haven't shown up here in a long time, and now the effort of writing something, writing anything, seems monumental. The truth is that I have had just so much of life and work and URGENT pressing in on me that I haven't been able to string complete sentences together in my own head, let alone carry a thought to its completion, let alone have intelligent conversation. Really, you should be thanking me for not even trying to blog in the past few weeks.

We have been exhausted, tired down to our bones. And I'm pretty weary of all of my thoughts and energy going towards The House and decisions about electrical systems and heating systems and all the necessary bones of a home. We may be significantly boosting Home Depot's sales. First world problems. I just want all of this to be done, and have a bit of paint on the walls (hey, I'd settle for simply having walls in parts of the house) so that I can get on to more important matters. There is a very small possibility that I'm not being very gracious right now. All of this spinning, like a hamster on a wheel, has been skewing my perspective. It's easy to feel like I'm labouring without doing anything important (like this, for example).

Next post: photos. The house, the wonderful wedding of Aidan and Heidi, the kids. I promise.