Little Wonders

He's here! Sommer and Ben's little wonder, Talmage Allen Reynolds. He's beautiful! Mom, sibs and baby are doing fine. Jury's still out on Ben. :) Talmage shares Tucker's birthday, May 16th, which made Tuck very happy. His "best gift," he said.

Blazes! We've had some hot weather and although it does feel strangely nice to sweat behind my knees for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say I couldn't live with this kind of heat for more than a few consecutive days. I am always amazed at how drastically the weather can fluctuate from one day to the next. Kind of like my moods. Mother Nature is a fickle lass, eh?!

Grandma Susan is in town for three weeks and although she's staying at Sommer's we get to see her often and enjoy her humor and energy. Chances are good that she and Dale will be joining us permanently here in the NW within the next several months, which we're very excited about.

This weekend was the community garage sale, which I usually avoid for two reasons. One, I spend money on stuff I don't need and that seems to fill corners of my house that I'd rather leave empty, and two, because I have this weird sense of intrusion when I dig through other people's "stuff."


Katelyn thought it would be a fantastic idea to hold our very OWN garage sale in order to purge our home of the many, many items we don't need, use, want or care about. Thinking that perhaps this would serve the additional purpose of teaching my progeny the finer dealings of commerce and monetary value, I conceded. (May I add here that digging through other people's stuff is uncomfortable: other people digging through my stuff is excruciating!!)


I procrastinated the unpleasant task of systematically sorting through our junk all week and paid for it. I had to shock myself into action with some Def Leppard and Van Halen cranked way too high on my I-Pod and powered through until 2am Saturday morning to stack and price everything.


The sale itself was marginal, but what I loved is that my kids and I spent the entire morning hanging out in the garage together. We ate breakfast on a tablecloth on the garage floor, played card games and listened to music. We ruminated about the weather, shared stories about school and visited with garage salers. My kids will probably vaguely remember the experience, and I'm not sure my educational purposes for holding it were attained, but I won't forget the sheer comfort of their nearness, innocence and ease.

Have a great week! Mara


The Week in Pics:





















Kalli's field trip with Dad on Thursday to the Seattle Children's Theatre


















Tucker & Logan at school on Tuck's bday




















Two Prom-bound Laurels in our ward. Such fun girls...



















Kids in a realtor's golf cart while we were house shopping with Grandma Susan this afternoon. Qualified as the "thrill" of their week.














Kalli and Tucker attempting to dig up the mammoth tree stump in our backyard.