Picture This...

... Since I don't have a picture to show you. :D I thought I should share a little description of a perfectly normal, frequent, and not in the least surprising episode that occurred just this evening to give you a glimpse of why we love our life.

The sun is just about set and the lightning bugs are sparkling everywhere. I drive the van up the hill behind our house (to avoid a flight of stairs) and Daddy, Willa, and I load 7 white chairs in the trunk. We're not in a rush at all, just moseying along. Willa and I climb in the hot, hot car (Daddy had to have the heat on inside for 20 minutes :P) and put the windows down to head over to the Lovett's. We're about to pull away when Emma walks out of the house with a piece of aluminum foil pressed over her nose. She says, "I'm Emma Bantito" and as we question her about it in French accents, she replies in her best Mexican, sounding German. 3 minutes later we take off, slowly driving across our back hill, past the raspberry/blackberry bushes and apple tree we planted, past the sledding hill, past the dirt pile, past the wood chip pile, and past the compost pile. Elsie all the while saying she'd be happy to hold the gum. And me drinking a blueberry smoothie. The lightening bugs are getting thicker as we near the mailboxes on the road. I do some fancy one-handed "getting close enough to the mailbox without hitting it" as Willa says she thinks someone already got the mail. She was right, and we head down the Stouffer's drive. Around Jack the slow-moving Pyrenees, through the speed ditch, and past the chickens. Down at the Lovett's we unload the chairs, wave to Caleb at the table saw, and head home. On the way, 3 deer jump across our path. That was exciting, since we've seen all of 5 total deer since we've been here. We've seen many other animals, though. 2 snakes. 2 skunks. A raccoon. An Opossum. and 37.5 turtles and moles. And a herd of turkeys. Oh, yeah, and a bald eagle. Its the simple things in life. :D

After dinner every night this week Emma, Willa, and I have done "20 minute cleanup" of the kitchen- we rush around cleaning as fast as we can while dancing to Elvis music. Its so nice to get it all clean in 20 minutes and sometimes Mommy will dance along!

Hopefully we'll have some pictures to share soon!