thank you linda

My Mother in Law passed away three months before i met jared, and she left him and therefore me, many beautiful gifts...some REALLY weird things and about a million wicker baskets. 

Sometimes i find little treasures here, in the house she lived in, that i feel were left so that only someone worthy would find them.

My last gift from beyond, pinking shears.

Might I add, about a week after i said outloud to jared- "babe, i need to get pinking shears, can you remind me tomorrow?"

i forgot.... he forgot to remind me.

then as we were cleaning the office, we decided to clean out one of her old sewing machine tables that we keep meaning to refinish... and found these.

not ever knowing her, these little things always make me sad... i think we would have gotten along so well.

popcorn

BEHOLD- my first attempt at ever popping popcorn that was not pre packaged.....

i havent had popcorn in years..... now- im eating it like its about to become illegal....

liv oblivious as to what popcorn is....

ira totally uninterested in the process- just awaiting her bowl.....

hiking

while on a hike a week ago- the kids found this little shaded area with clovers growing in it!

beautiful thing to find here in the desert.

daddy, im hungry

came a small voice.... four hours after we retired blissfully to bed.

daddy being rockstar daddy, he went & fetched a banana & water, chatted while she ate... and then coaxed her into cuddling... (not very challenging as he is a jedi master cuddler).

then- it came. the fever.

the disoriented, too hot to think emotional wave of "im not okay but i dont know why or what to do" irrational state that a 3.5  year old can not grapple out of.

daddy, being sleepy and  missing completely the increasing heat radiating, is trying desperately to reason & trying even harder to understand what is up with our normally sweet pleasant happy to be anywhere little lady.

im half awake, nursing liv- and trying to whisper to her that "all the things are alright, all is well". 

meeting every irrational request with an "okay sweetie, sure love, we can get up", looked to a confused daddy who thinks im now bonkers too, at 430, mumbling about how much "i too, love wallE and that i will most certainly read her a book, just give me two seconds to unlatch sleeping liv."

so even longer story short, we are all up by 5, jared & i are slamming coffee and water to stop our sleep deprived shaking hands & foggy brains..jared saying things like, "blessing, this is a great opportunity to get my homework done so we can go to the farmers market..." etc etc

.. and then....

her fever breaks, she is asleep on the couch.

we are wired, im reading blogs and crying at the magnificent  serendipitous morning events filling up what would normally be a darkened, quiet sleeping house.