Summer finally caught up and overcame our ridiculous winter. I’ve never enjoyed being hot more. The kids seem to be grateful for the heat as well. It’s such an awesome thing to be able to open the doors and let them run around outside for hours.

This does occasionally backfire in side effects like sunburns, bug bites and bee stings but the trade off is worth it for them to get some media entertainment detox and actually engage with the outdoors. Doodles is learning the wonders of chewed up plantain and can ID it at a dozen yards when motivated by a bee sting. For the record, she isn’t being targeted, all the bees around here seem of the Bee Movie variety and very hesitant to show aggression. However when they are stepped on with a 7 year old bare foot it is only fair that they sting in return. Speaking of bare feet, our kids just won’t do the shoe thing.

There are certain things I might as well record and just play on a loop at random intervals because it’s inevitable that it needs to be said approximately five hundred times per day.

Put on your shoes before you go outside!
Close the baby gates so Squish doesn’t kill himself on the stairs!
Don’t go outside without clothes on!
Whoever made that horrible mess needs to clean it up!
Be kind to each other! Was that kind?
Did you feed and water the cats? Make sure they have enough.
No you may not have a special drink. Herbal tea or water.

Our hunky Cman is talking. More accurately, we are understanding him. He’s been talking for a long time but it was more like toddler man cub sentence growls that nobody could really make out despite his diligence in repeating them for us dense people. Now that he can be understood I have to hide involuntary giggles. He’s super articulate and sweet.

Speaking of sweet. Why does nobody talk about how spectacularly sweet little boys can be? The sort of make your eyes well up with tears and feel like your heart is going to explode into a million pieces sort of sweet? Maybe it’s because we expect sentimentality from girls. Or maybe because girls are in general emotionally expressive or what have you but I for one have been really bowled over and touched by our sweet little men. It makes being their mama such a joy. Which is a good thing cuz the rest of this boy stuff is putting gray hairs on my head and heading me towards an early grave via the regular moments of terror I experience as their safety warden.

Our herb garden kind of went nuts this year. Massive amounts of fennel and cilantro popped up seemingly out of nowhere. The cilantro reseeded from last year so at least it’s origins are known. The fennel however just showed up with no warning and no prior presence right in the middle of the herb garden where it should be. It’s a mystery but the beautiful smokey purple feathery foliage is a lovely addition to the bed. The peppermint and spearmint beds in the front and back yards respectively are trying to conquer and take over new territory by the day. We are enjoying mint and sage tea on a daily basis. The various domesticated herbs are making me wish I knew a whole lot more about all the wild plants that grow so abundantly where we live.

It’s nearly time for an early am nursing session with the littlest one. Better close out before then. Hoping to get back to writing more on this blog soon but won’t be holding my breath. Life is just over the top crazy right now and looks like it’s just going to get crazier over the next few months.