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second cousins

I have lots of cousins on the Bredberg side of my family. 17 first cousins and now with marriage and kids, that world of cousins and cousins kids has multiplied quickly. On Saturday a lot of us were together for Nik's graduation open house and some of us ended up at the park for part of the party.

I stood back and watched my kids and my cousin's kids play together on all the playground equipment that I swear I was just playing on with the cousins that now had the kids. Somehow we are now the ones who stand in clumps and catch up while watching our kids. The passage of time is a very crazy and surreal thing. I felt it profoundly on Saturday.
And oh it was so good to be together. We don't all gather for Christmas like we did growing up, or meet at Grandma's farm for the 4th of July. Our own families have grown and that chapter seems to be over. But it just felt so right to be together. And it got us planning future gatherings, weeks at Bible Camp, wiener roasts and road trips to make sure we see each other a whole lot more.

weekend roadtrip

On Friday I took a little roadtrip with the kids down to my Aunt Annie and Uncle Ed's farm. While packing up I said to Ivar, "Hey Ivar, I think we should pack up a few toys for our weekend." Ivar replied very enthused, "I was just thinking about that this morning. Like how there is probably going to be a lot of Grandma-Stuff there, like jewels, and diamonds, and glass candles..."

The overnight was wonderful and it was so good to be with family. We were down there for my cousin's son's graduation party and it was so fun to see everyone. Ivar and Elsie insisted I sleep with them, so I lay between my two big kids with Hattie in the pack-n-play at the foot of the bed. And I slept great, realizing of how sweet and short this season is when I can even fit in a bed with Ivar and Elsie. We fed the orioles grape jelly with Aunt Annie, explored their farm buildings and played in the tree house.

And as it turns out, Aunt Annie had a lot of other Grandma-Stuff too. The kids were in awe of her Light Bright and played with it for hours. And Ivar built a whole train out of a toy he had never seen before: tinker toys, and used some of the light bright pieces as jewels and gold for his train to carry. So Aunt Annie did have jewels and diamonds after all!

descriptive language

Me: Elsie, no. Just because you found cookies by the couch doesn't mean you get to eat one.

Elsie: But I want one! I need sugar!

Me: No. You have already had a lot of sugar today. You had candy with Karis and a rhubarb bar with cool whip. That is a lot of sugar in one day.

Elsie: (Elsie swallows and chews her tongue for a second.) But mom. My mouth doesn't taste like sugar. It just tastes like gooey water!


the three lamb-igos

These three may be my favorite addition to our hobby farm. I never knew I liked sheep so much, but now I do. They're pretty adorable. They have no tail, and this is really amusing to me. They look like stuffed animals and they don't say Baa as much as Maa. In fact, I think goats make more of a Baa sound and sheep make an annoyed-teenager-calling-up-the-stairs "Maa! What are we having for dinner?!!" 

We were planning on getting four lambs, but when Rory went to pick them up the farmer said, "now that one there has some protrusion." Rory asked what that meant and he said, "well, his rectum is hanging out." Rory explained kindly how new we are at all of this, and that protrusion sounded like a challenge were weren't quite ready to take on. 

That story made me laugh, mostly because Rory said the farmer was so totally fine with the new plan and not one bit bent out of shape. This farmer was totally chill.

Just like these three lambs. They are chill. And not quite as tiny as we had imagined they'd be. They are weaned from their mama and so gentle and sweet. Today they head out to pasture, which leaves a lot more room for story material lest anything go wrong... 

in summer!

Elsie is my lover of summer. This has become quite clear as she tells me often, "I like Christmas, but I don't like wintertime because it's cold and has snow." I get such a kick out of her ability to articulate this feeling so succinctly...and frequently. Also, asks often when it will be summer. On a few lovely days this spring she asked if it was summer but Rory would always tell her, "no, these are just great days in springtime." He feels strongly that we have to have some sort of spring and not let winter melt into summer.

But on Friday night Mimi called to see how Elsie was feeling after she had two nights with a fever. And while she was checking in we got to talking about Monday and our plans for Memorial Day. At some point while I was still on the phone with Mimi, I told Elsie she'd need to bring her swim suit on Monday. Elsie asked, "Because is it summer on Monday?!!" And I told her yes. Monday was going to definitely be summer. 

Elsie went completely bananas. She started dancing around and laughing. She ran to her room and found her swimsuit and told me to "pack it for Monday!" as I continued to make plans with Mimi. Then she picked out her tank top and shorts that she would wear and brought them in my bedroom too. And she proclaimed, "I am so happy that I am laughing and I might cry! Like you cried when you had me because you were so happy!" She was positively deliriously happy. Then Ivar came in the house and I heard her yell to him, "Ivar! It's summer on Monday! And we need to bring our swim suits to Mimi's!"  He came and showed me that he picked out shorts that matched Papa's fishing boat. And then he ran to the garage and found the beach toys and put them in the jeep. 

It was Friday night and we were all packed and ready to go. For Monday. When it would be Summer.

So it officially began. We grilled burgers and hot dogs, ate watermelon and ruffles, played in the sand, went for a boat ride, Ivar taught Uncle Kyle how to use his equaler (calculator), the baby rolled around on a quilt in the shade, and I read a Real Simple magazine outside while looking at the lake. This summer is off to a good start!