How Can It Be?

I have astonishing news.

Lane Stevan has lost his first tooth.

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Which must be impossible, because yesterday he looked like this –

Lane 5

Don’t believe me? Well, here is another one.

Lane 1

And here, he was melting my heart with those eye lashes.

Lane 4

And here he was picking and eating strawberries in all of his cuteness. Yesterday.

Lane 3

Here is some more cuteness, since I am on a roll.

Lane 6

And then I found out that we were already crazy. Yesterday, that is.

July 2009

Mr. Lane, you are not allowed to get any more grown up. Okay?

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Thanks, buddy.

Love, Mom

Our Favorite Gathering Spot

There is nothing more refreshing than a night around a fire.

After an amazing lunch and afternoon at David and Kayla’s, we had our first fire of the season yesterday evening.

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Sitting around our dinner table every night, and around the fire in the summers are where we have listened to, learned, and captured the hearts of our children!

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It was not very warm last night, so Blake enjoyed keeping the fire roaring which burned almost of all the debris the boys had cleaned up.

Eating snacks and running around kept some little people warm too.

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We could hardly pull ourselves away to go to bed!

It was such a gorgeous sunset.

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Tate, I know you can see the same sun and moon that we see here.

Soon, little man, we will be looking at them together.

And we will be listening to your hopes, your dreams, and capturing your heart as well.

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Soon.

The Farm

At the end of last week when it was so summer-like, our cows were convinced the grass was greener on the other side of their fence.

Well, it was. And still is.

Starting last Sunday it turned cold, wet, cold, and colder….so their enthusiasm to get to the greener grass waned.

Which was a good thing, because they were trying to get under the fence to get to it!

It is supposed to warm up again this week. So this morning we moved the cows to the pasture.

We made our “wall” with vehicles, to encourage them to stay on the right path.

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Once the gate was opened in the paddock, it all happened so fast that I did not get very good photos!!

Our littlest guy wasn’t interested in following his buddies, so Grant used a harness to move him.

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I had run back into the house by this time because I had muffins in the oven.

But Addie took over the camera and holding Eliza for me.

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Right at the end of the day today the skies cleared and the sun shone so beautifully!

Brownie, Whitaker, Ollie Oliverian, and Otis are loving their summer home.

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It has been a great day on the farm.

Freezing cold or not, we just had to be outside.

Eliza even took a little nap in her swing.

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My hubby lived underneath that broken truck again, and the boys cleaned the land, the paddock, and spread manure in our garden beds.

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Couldn’t imagine a better life!

Although I did imagine Tate with us today.

Hurry home, buddy.

Hurry home.

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There is so much waiting for you here.

Another First

Even though Eliza has been home nine months, she is still experiencing firsts.

Today, I took her for her first haircut!

Remember our sweet girl nine months ago?

Eliza day 2

We have been growing her hair since then, but it was time for a trim.

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Sitting on my lap, she was really enjoying the pampering.

Which would explain this huge yawn.

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Did you just yawn looking at that photo?

Me too!

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Every “first” we get to experience with Eliza is not lost on us.

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We missed a lot of firsts before Eliza was placed into our arms nine months ago.

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What a privilege to not miss anymore.

We can’t remember life before you, sweet baby.

What a precious gift you are.