rain, gardens and what's that smell??

another weekend, come and gone...

i took the littles to my parents' for part of the weekend. we went friday afternoon, after naps. madison had a fever, but it seemed mild, and since all of us here had some sniffles and whatnot, i didn't think it would be an issue. toddlers get fevers with colds all the time... it's just how their little bodies operate.

after her long week AND not feeling the best, poor madison was a bit out of sorts. she didn't fall asleep as she usually does, then started squawking around 10:30 or so. i moved her bed into the room closest to me and spent a good chunk of time trying to get her to sleep. she finally laid down and dozed after about an hour, and by midnight, i finally drifted off. two hours later, miss squish was crying again. she was too restless and hot to sleep well, but after moving to the recliner in mom and dad's living room, she hit the hay. lucky girl... i just waited for the sun to rise while holding my feverish little peanut. even stripped down to her diaper, her fever spiked pretty good and not long after she woke up, she tossed her cookies (or would have, had there been anything in her little tummy). she cooled down after awhile, though, and perked up a little.

poor baby!!

it rained in the night, so i took the opportunity to play around with macro.

i'm thinking of either framing this shot or selling it as a fine art print on etsy.

we'll see...

she might've been under the weather, but madi still can ham it up!

make a wish...

cole "helped" his grandma and great-grandma pick rhubarb.

he had more fun "replanting" his stalks.

i love this shot- it looks like he's giving his rhubarb a pep-talk...

"alright, you: grow!!"

a little more playing with macro; mom had a canning jar sitting on the counter.

it literally begged to be photographed.

the lid on an old glass jar (one that used to have candy in it, a LONG time ago when the farm was just a weekend getaway yet) turned out to be quite photogenic.

in the afternoon, we attempted to get started on the garden. mom's always done a pretty large garden, and this year we're doing it together. i used to hate the garden... not my idea of fun. now that i have small kids, though, the thought of home-grown veggies is quite appealing! we did get some things planted: yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, beans, beets and carrots.

you can't see the end of it because it's behind cole's head, but this is a planting tool that his great-grandpa krisher made a long time ago. it's a stick (obviously) with a shotgun shell and a nail on one end. he used it for planting corn, and my dad uses it to this day. perfect rows every time.

he's pretty proud to be using his great-grandpa's corn planting stick!

i think grandpa would have gotten a kick out of watching cole use it...

a little boy in the dirt: is there anything more classic?

he was "planting" gardening stakes.

i asked him how many sticks he had in the dirt, and without a pause, cole said "ten". i counted, and sure enough, there were ten of them in his little row.

smart kid.

madison helped too. she raked a little... she also "helped" plant some seeds. really!

she put some squash seeds on one of the plant mounds, poked very gently at it, then picked it back up, incredibly proud of herself.

later, she had a bean seed in each hand... she had them tight in her little fists as if they were life itself. maybe she'll take after her grandma and love being in the garden.

see the dirt on his little face? that's only a small portion of it. i've never seen a kid leave so much dirt in the bottom of the tub after his bath!

feeling icky, but still insisting on being independent; madi refused to eat until i gave her the spoon and cup of yogurt. i wouldn't be surprised if her first complete sentence is "i do it myself!!" (or something to that effect).

~

the kids were both asleep within 15 minutes of leaving the farm. cole had gotten away with no nap and had played outside all afternoon, so he was exhausted. his little feet were STILL moving in his sleep all the way home... and both kids slept like logs all night.

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madi's fever was gone yesterday evening, but she's cranky as can be. i'm watching for a rash (i noticed a slight one on her tummy this morning)- she's super cranky, so i'm wondering if she had roseola. cole had it JUST before we moved back to wisconsin, so it's not a new thing to me. it's just waiting out the crabbies that's the hardest part!

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as for the "what's that smell?" part: while giving the kids baths at mom and dad's, i was hunting around for some lotion for the kids (note to self: start carrying travel-sized bottles of bath wash and lotion, in case impromptu baths are ever needed!), and found a partially used bottle of black raspberry and vanilla lotion from bath and body works. it smelled yummy, so i used a little on madison. for some reason, i got this strong feeling of deja vu, a nostalgic kind of deja vu that hit me like a ton of bricks. it took me a little while, but then i remembered why the smell of that lotion was so familiar: i used the exact same stuff the last month or two that i was pregnant with cole, and for about two weeks after he was born. isn't it funny how a certain scent can bring back a flood of emotions, even when you don't remember right away where you've smelled it before? sarah was sweet enough to let me take the rest of the lotion home with me. now all i have to do is take a whiff and drift back to those peaceful days right before and right after my spunky, spirited son was born...