Slogging On

Grief is simply exhausting.  No matter how much sleep I get, I wake up tired.  Today I tried a nap and woke up in the middle of dream, where I kept going up and up a mountain pass that got steeper and steeper and I could never see around the next curve.  I've no doubt where that dream was coming from.
This path to keeping Mom where she wants to be, doing what she wants to do, becomes more challenging by the day we're discovering.  Have mercy.

But, alas, I have a couple of gramerlings who love looking at themselves here, so I need to get cracking.
Though we got a bit of a late start, we did our "Woods Walk Workshop."

 We learned to identify Poke Weed, Poison Ivy, shale, deer tracks, maple and sassafras trees.

The 99 % humidity and heat directed us right back to the water.

 Mr. Smiley is loving life outside.

 Our newest lovey this summer. Our sweet Kate's littlest JR.  He handled the fray remarkably for one so wee.

 At lunch, Miss Linee reminded me they weren't able to stay for the whole time and hadn't we best be headed to the creek pretty soon?  Miss Jenna is back this year to help and Aunt Bran joined us for a day of fun.  It is always fun to me to have extra hands, and hands of this amazing Pre-school teacher and friend are always most welcome.

 Slow, sweet summer days are the best!  I handed off the camera to Ol' Mother Hubbard and told her I needed some face shots.  It is fun, when later I download my piks and discover all these faces I so love.

 These crazy girls!

 Time to haul it back up the hill for a snack and a story or two.

 Mr. Smiley has decided he is going to do everything the big kids do and just marched from the blankie to Uncle Jimi and climbed up in his lap for his turn at Tool Time.

 Bless Handy Man's heart, in the chaos that has been our life these past two weeks, he was able to get a  kit together for the boys to make a little stepping or sitting stool. Uncle Jimi insists they do all their own measuring and marking.  I love what they are learning.

 And back to the pool with a cool and tasty treat.

And so I find myself now a bit more lighthearted after reliving Tuesday- good times.

A big, hearty congratulations to our oldest Gramerling- Bean Town's team won the championship in baseball last night.