Special Memories this Week

Though Daddy has been away almost all week, we've actually done pretty well.  I'm not sure which of these three memories of Andrew this week would rank as my favorite:

1 - Gotta say, it melted my heart when he fully blessed Molly's dinner before giving it to her.  He went through the entire "God our Father" blessing while she sat on edge, shaking in anticipation.  We've been working on not teasing Molly with her food (or anything else) but how does one discourage blessing the meal?!?

2 - I'm overdue weeding the MASSIVE garden that we inherited.  I do not exaggerate.  It is 20' by 11'.  While the 3-4' weeds are actually quite beautiful right now, it's time for them to go. I learned the hard way last year that they will die overnight.  Shortly thereafter, I will get a nice note from the HOA with the box checked, "Mow left side yard to remain compliant with bylaws".  So while it's gorgeous now, the April showers hit this week, so I must strike while the iron is hot and weed while the ground is soft. 

Beautiful Flowers...hard to explain to Andrew why we have to pull them up.  We have had some good conversations about how things grow, though.  Trying to explain what "absorb" means is an interesting task!

The 3+' wall poses problems when littles ones want "to help".  But we found some good lettuce growing on the left!

Last week, I weeded by moonlight. I kid you not.  The moon was full, the sky was clear, and Michael was home to cover bedtime, so out I went.  This week, Michael has been on the road, so I've not been afforded the luxury of weeding alone. Andrew has blossomed into quite a helper, but the problem with our garden is the beautiful 3' wall that surrounds it, which of course my kids AND all of the neighbors' kids LOVE to walk and run on.  The rule is, no one on the wall or in the garden unless you're helping a grown up weed.  So Andrew decided he wanted to weed!  After putting Margaret down, he came out sporting his Toy Story PJs and helped me weed until almost 8:45pm!  A good 45 minutes past bedtime, he was thrilled to be doing grown up work and was tickled when Miss Tracey came out to help, too.  Can you say, "AWESOME NEIGHBOR"?!?  It was a great day for so many reasons:)  Lots of good conversations about nature and helping others.

Almost finished!  The trashcan is overflowing, so I'm just piling them up now. I don't know why I weed so that there is just a little patch left in the middle.

3 - Before naptime and bedtime, I let him choose whatever books he wants to read.  One day, he proudly marched to his bookshelf and declared, "I want a book that has God's Word in it.".  So he searched for the Bible and brought one to me requesting Jonah and the whale.  He's also been saying his own blessing often at meals.  A recent one was great, "Dear God and Jesus, Thank you for the earth and outer space. Thank you for watermellon and green beans and all that stuff.  Thank you for this food that Mommy made me.  AAAAmen."  And thank the good Lord that he still claps after EVERY blessing and exclaims, "Yeah!".  I hope he never, ever stops doing that!