I spuddle.

What? What happened? One minute, I was watching The Bachelorette (so it must have been Monday) and next I looked up and, BAM, it was Saturday. It must have been a busy week. Or not. I do not recall any of it. It’s possible I have amnesia or just didn’t do anything. Actually, I did do some stuff. I did some actual writing of a book, which leads me to believe that I may actually finish it someday. I did some reading of other people’s books. I spent a bunch of time outside with the kids. I tried to figure out why my Nikon D80 overexposes everything when in automatic settings. I dumped all the stuff out of my closet in an attempt to sort it and then stuffed it all back in again when I didn’t get it done in a timely manner, i.e. I was tired of tripping on it at the top of the stairs. I vacuumed the thick layer of dust off the kids’ bedroom floors because it was disgusting. Ta da! It was like a real life in which I wasn’t attached at the lap to this MacBook which was nice and probably a nice break for my girly parts which are probably getting radiation sickness from the constant battery heat. And believe me when I say that the girly parts are in enough disrepair without being victimized by gamma rays or what have you.

Onwards. I missed the following: Five Thing Friday. Silent Sunday. Grace in Small Things. And posting in general. So here are Five Silent Things That Grace My Life. This should fill the void left by my silence or at least give you something to read when you should be doing something else, such as your work or tending to your toenails. I warn you that I will be completely silent all of next week because I am not turning on this computer even one time. Not once. Zero. I love you all, and I will miss you, but I will not miss things like the grotesque picture of the man-dog-goat-thing that Clayton just sent me or the seven hours a day I spend reading random twitter streams for no reason. I’M ON A BREAK!

1. OK, here’s the first one because OMG how cute. They were getting ready for bed and The Bun said, “QUICK GET THE CAMERA THIS WILL BE REALLY CUTE!” Which was weird because, um, what? Anyway, it WAS cute. They both picked their nose but I won’t post that one and then they had this big hug, or “huggy” as we call them around here because you don’t really get much opportunity in your life to talk baby talk so you should do it when you actually have baby-like people around, and then stop when you start to irritate yourself. HUGGY.

2.  We have been trying for what feels like 1000 years to take The Bun and The Birdy out to Saanich Historical Artifacts Society to ride the little trains.   Every time we go, the trains are not running in spite of the fact that — like last weekend — it said in the paper that they were.   For some reason The SHAS exists in a tiny pocket of geography wherein it is 26 degrees hotter than everywhere else in a ten mile radius.   Nothing improves the experience of driving for half an hour with over-excited kids to a mosquito infested acreage criss-crossed with fascinating train tracks THAT NO TRAINS EVER SEEM TO RUN ON than a heat so intense that taking four steps in any direction causes  you to faint from heatstroke.   Needless to say, The Bun was determined to enjoy his day at the “train place” (regardless of the fact that the elderly gentleman tinkering with one of the coveted trains-that-can-be-ridden-upon had NO idea if or when the trains may ever run again though he thought that Bill had taken a few kids out on one earlier maybe or he wasn’t really sure if at all), so we did what any fun family would do:  we walked around the tiny train track.

3.   After the train place, we were desperate for fresh sea air in the hopes that we may cool down.    We decided to go to a beach we used to take Malcolm to when he was wee, called Roberts Bay.   I LOVE this beach.   The water is warm and healthy and full of interesting sea life.   There is a sand bar, lots of crabs living under rocks, shade, herons and a lot of boat traffic to observe, if by “observe”,  I mean scream, “A BOAT A BOAT HI BOAT HIIIIIII BOATTTTT!” every time one goes by.    The kids got soaked but it was worth it.   Next time, we may go ahead and bring something like “bathing suits” or “water shoes”.    I don’t know though, that might be too radical.

4.   Also this week, we spent a bunch of time hanging out in the backyard, which I like because I can lie in the shade on a lounge chair and read a trashy novel while the kids entertain themselves which is actually now a reality, at almost-2 and just-4.   They actually PLAY, people.   They do.   Not always together and not always without biting and randomly pushing each other over by using the old palm-of-hand-on-nose technique, but it does happen.   The Bun is into building stuff, like machines.   Like this.   Awesome.   And look!   Beside him!   A trashy novel!   And behind him!  The garden!     All good things.

5.  OK, you’re going to look at this one and say, “Um, so?”  But trust me, this is big.   THIS is my backyard and THIS is a California poppy.   For at least five years, I’ve planted California poppies at every house we’ve lived in.   I’ve dumped packets of seeds into various types of dirt, in the sun, out of the sun, wherever.    I’ve seen these things growing out of concrete on the highway, that’s how tough they are, but I’ve never EVER successfully made one come up in my garden.    Then I was out watering a couple of days ago and highlighted against my dead lawn was THIS.   Fo’ serious, people, I done did it.   It’s a fluke because it came from a packet of assorted seeds I got from the counter at Butchart’s for 50cents because The Bun desperately wanted it and it did not come from any one of the ten packets of California poppy seeds I planted all over the rest of the garden, but stil:  I iz poppy grower!  For realz!

Filed under: Five Thing Friday, Grace in Small Things, Kids, MacBook, Photography, Silent Sunday