Dress Up, Dine In

When Eileen turned one I remember it being bittersweet. It hurt my heart in a fresh place that she wasn't a baby anymore. We celebrated her in St. Augustine where our family officially began when Seth & I got married. It was perfection but I was sad. It was as if when that day ended, a part of us did too.  At the time, all the fun (and, let's be honest, some not so fun) d evelopments were still a mystery. I didn't know turning one meant she was on her way to singing songs, "reading" herself stories at night, or having real conversations.  Those things and so much more were on the other side of birthdays and so when it was time for Man Friend to enjoy his first birthday last week, I was a lot less sad.  We celebrated him at Wheeler Farm for Pumpkin Days (where we had been the day before he was born). We  basked in his snorting, toothless gummy grins, chubby hands, and wild curls.  Even though it was sad to blow the candles out on his baby stage, I could

Leave it to me to write my first post of the new year six months into it. It's impossible to recount all the adventures we've had or the wonderfully mundane events that have passed. So, instead I'll just say (because I'm feeling sappy)... 2014 has been about arrivals and departures.  The Ranch has been alive with the dearest kind of visitors from the home state. They have Sundanced, farmed, egg hunted, and filled the space between these walls with laughter. They've come to life, hopped right out of their pictures and become real to our kids. It's been amazing.  And then there was February. We said goodbye (sometimes in spirit, sometimes in person, always in heart) to Mama Zoy, Seth's Grandma, and our raspberry neighbor Charlotte. It is an isolating experience to lose someone and be so physically distant. We tend both sides of the raspberry patch and visit Charlotte's grave because we can. But when we do it's like we're doing it for our gr