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S's seventh birthday party.  This year he wanted Pokemon on his cake.  He loves his new bionicle figures.  Clowns came for entertainment.  We had cake, presents and fun.  I think the quote is attributed Alice Walker: " Time moves slowly,but passes quickly".  This is especially true when it passes watching such fabulous children. 

 I remember how pleased we were at such a quick labor,  Kate screaming with delight when she heard the news her brother had arrived and how she fell in love with him just like we did.  I loved nursing my babies but I thought he would never sleep thru the night.  I know we won't recognize the last time we hear the patter of feet and the whispered "can I cuddle?" in the depths of the night.  I know the next time with Sam will be just as amazing as before.  

Sam enjoys life greatly and generally has a lot of fun.  He is silly and loud at times and is quite frustrated by his sister.  Kindergarten went splendidly;  he is grown up and has a good attention span and self control.  He is interested in animals, bugs and science in general.  We are all excited for our vacation to Washington DC,  we leave on his birthday.

I love you, my sweet baby!

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The garden is filled to bursting after all the rain.  I love the discoveries each new day brings. The weeds are growing like CRAZY.  I am very pleased with the white clover I overseeded the lawn with.  It is growing effortlessly (no effort on my part) due to all the rain.  The clover is fixing nitrogen for me.  I just learned what nitrogen fixing is, but I don't think I can explain it.  (I'll try) Basically, most plants use nitrogen from the soil for their growth.  Legumes form nitrogen as they grow, adding it to the soil.  The other way to get nitrogen into the soil is to use fertilizer.  Before fertilizers, farmers had to alternate crops to let cover crops or legumes recharge the soil with nitrogen.  So my clover is going to cover the ground with pillowy leaves and improve the soil, YAY!

Kate finished her second round of dog training class tonight.  She and Pepper scored higher than Papa and Ruby.  Last obedience class, Kate worked with Gabe, Papa's 10 year old yellow lab.  Gabe and Ruby escaped from their pen this winter and RAN (and ran, all the way to Kellogg), Ruby was returned, but Gabe was not.  Kate, who mourns deeply the loss of every animal she ever met, still misses him.  We also met with the orthodontist today to discuss the plan for Kate's teeth.  Very complicated, but big advances have been made since I was the patient.

First

I'm not sure when (in time) to start, so I will just start now.  For some time, I have been considering a blog as a way to record our lives.  I have dreams of diaries, journals, even scrapbooks, but have a hard time  following through.  At all.  Even more than one or two days.  The longest log I have of life is the count kept at work of how many people I see a day.  My dad started years ago keeping this record.  Every day for almost 10 years it has been written down.  For me, not by me.  So I hope I can use this blog to keep track of the beautiful, precious time that is now.  I already ache for the loss of this wonderful time to a time when the kids won't be always where I know they are,  won't need me in the same ways and won't think I am (most often) great.  Patience,  I need so much more to be a good mother, I wish it would come more easily.

s has been drawing amazing pictures (of pokemon and battles, his favorite topics right now). His images are full of nice lines and are filling the pages.  He sat mesmerized for close to an hour by an Italian opera on TV today.  He told me his friends tell him that webkinz are for girls.

We discussed that.  

 K continues to take amazing care of her rabbit Mopette.  Her social schedule is getting busy and that is tiring  for her.  She took a long nap to recharge.  They both start art camp tomorrow.

I rode with Brother C today, faster than I thought I could.  My knee is feeling better, so I am optimistic but I have lots of training before RAGBRAI.