I think things are finally getting back to "normal after a rocky start to the academic year. Hazen has been healthy, and more importantly, happy. Cally is well into the groove of school, making friends, and really growing up right before our eyes. John and I have been able to go to work, catch up on sleep, and get a get into a sort of groove again.
We've take a lot of afternoon hikes with the kids:
Haircuts:
Seeing a friendship blossom by the day
And one of the best parts of this past weekend, was stacking wood as a family. Six years ago, on one of my first dates with John, he somehow convinced me to stack a cord of wood with him for fun. It actually was kind of fun. I'd never lived in a place where wood was the primary source of heat and sort of liked the feeling of working to make a house a home. Over the years, stacking wood has become more of a chore or something to check off our family "to do" list. We'd try to squeeze it in when the kids napped or with headlamps on after they went to bed. But yesterday, John and I got our wood stacking attire on and Cally put on her "wood chucking" boots (thanks, Claire) because she insisted on helping us. At 3 1/2 years old, Cally really did help us. She found logs that were small enough for Hazen to "chuck" into the cart, she sang songs, and both of the kids really did make stacking wood fun again.
We also went on a lovely hike up Eagle Mountain in Milton with the family of John's student, Avi, who passed away in March. I can't even imagine the loss that they feel, but they embraced our family and we had a lovely day together.
