Windle, Windle Widdle Tar...

Sam has been in speech therapy for his articulation disorder since spring. He's progressing very well, but still has a way to go until the proper sounds make their way into his regular speech patterns.

I worry about it, sure. No one wants their kid to be delayed in any way, to struggle with anything. My sweet baby boy starts preschool in just a few weeks (can you sense my tears as I write that?), and I want him to be understood and to be able to express himself without frustration. I know that it will come. I have faith in him to the utmost, but I'm a worrier. What can I say.

That being said, there are a few things I'll miss when his articulation disorder becomes a thing of the past, and this is one of them. Sam's rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

King's Island

We had such a fund day at my company's King's Island day last week. But no one had a better time than those two beautiful babies of ours, as best evidenced by the video showing their huge smiles during the mini scrambler ride.

Ordinary Heroes

Do you ever notice how some of our days have themes?

Sometimes it's an I'm dropping everything today theme (one I have a lot). Or an everything is going my way today theme. Or you notice a certain number a hundred times one day or hear the same song everywhere you go another day.

Do you ever have days like that? I do.

And today's theme is heroes.

It started off this morning with a story on the news about Antonio Diaz Chacon who, upon seeing a six year old neighbor girl get thrown into a strange van, hopped into his truck and chased the van while his wife called 911. The van ended up crashing, the child abductor fled, Antonio rescued the little girl and the cops caught the bad guy.

Hero number one.

Then on my way to work there was an accident on the freeway and traffic was creeping by. When my car reached the crash, I saw a few firemen around a car trying to get the driver out. Their hats were all lined up on the trunk, one fireman held the driver's hand while another was cutting the man out. Seeing that firefighter holding that man's hand brought tears to my eyes.

Hero number two.


Just a few yards up the road alongside the freeway I found more lights, this time from a police car. When my car reached that scene, I saw a police officer helping a man change his front tire, mere inches away from cars zooming past them both.

Hero number three.

I so often hear scary stories and witness ugly things. There is so much tragedy and corruption and so many terrible awful people doing terrible awful things in this world. It's easy for me to forget that God is good and that he uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things every moment of every day.

Today was a nice reminder of that - of our everyday heroes.

The Incredible Shrinking Woman

I introduced my husband to one of the greatest worst 80's movies ever made - The Incredible Shrinking Woman.



We have Encore movie channels and one of them always plays old throwback movies like that, including one of my all-time favorites, one of the greatest great movies ever made - The Four Seasons.



Thanks, Encore.

Catch Up

Here are some catch up photos of the summer, including a hysterical video of my low-voiced 1 year old daughter saying "Awww, baby" to a teeny tiny piece of broccoli at dinner this week and my sweet 3 year old boy laughing at her.

My sweet little fairies.


Sam with his head gear.

Visiting Grammy and Papa Barker.




Meeting Daddy for lunch after speech a few weeks ago.

Family photo on the day we left for Idlewild.

And the aww baby video.

State Fair!

We loaded up the kids and headed to the State Fair Thursday night. It was a beautiful evening to go and we had a great time.

With two little ones, we can't meander about forever, so I hopped online before we went and found a couple of events we wanted to see, places to eat, etc. A bit of preplanning made all the difference. Plus we got lucky with $4 tickets (AAA member night) and had bags of free potato chips thrown at us as soon as we walked in. That's always a good way to start.

Then onto a huge tractor, a couple bahama mamas, a horse drawn wagon competition, pony rides, junk toy shopping, and the Wingers.



Sam was so excited to see Lori and her brood...other than his $4 toy garbage truck (which he was in love with and carried around all night), walking around holding cousin Jack's hand was the highlight of his night.

I would venture to guess that Lena's highlight was the animals. She cried after her first pony ride ended because she didn't want to stop (that's why she got a second ride). She then proceeded to pet and wave to every piglet and cow and horse and sheep and goat we saw.

Lena was all about the fair. She did not want to be in the stroller, choosing to walk almost as much as we did, smiling the whole time. She loved the crowds and noise and activity and animals and food. She's a little social butterfly.


Sam is just more chill. He sits back and takes things in. Much of his evening was spent relaxing in the stroller playing with his garbage truck, but he did find time to eat an entire ice cream cone by himself, ride a pony, pet a few animals, walk around with Jack. He wanted to go on some rides, but he was too small for everything he wanted to try...maybe next year.

Another fun visit to the State Fair. Thanks, Ohio!

Home

The drive to Newcomerstown on Saturday morning was lovely. The sun was warm and the farther east I traveled, the more the scenery changed from the flat land of Franklin County to the rolling hills of Coshocton and Tuscarawas Counties.

These are the hills I grew up admiring, the endless acres and perfectly straight rows of corn "high as an elephant's eye" waving their tasseled heads at me, the dense foliage of the forests covering every hill that isn't farmland, old twisted oak trees with trunks as big around as a house dotting front yards and open fields, their greener than green leaves shuddering in the breeze, the muddy river meandering alongside the freeway with trees leaning toward it creating a covered canal, a tunnel of shade.

I love this place, this land that God created with such obvious joy and wild abandon.

I love the quietness of the car, the hush of the wind rushing past the windows, the memories these trees and fields and all the smells bring back to me.

I love this drive.

I love where this drive takes me.

It's the way home to my memories, my childhood, my friends, which are all so sweet and precious to me that I hold them too close.

And this drive is the way home to my mom and dad, the beginning and the end of everything. Keepers of my past and encouragers of my future. They are my inspiration, my comfort, my anchors, my pride. They are the place where my smile is easy and my laugh is loud.

They are home to me.