Ordinary Life

One of Riley's favorite questions is "Will you________ with me?" Whatever it is she is doing, she likes to have a friend join in- usually-and most almost all of the time, that friend is me.  For this I am grateful.  It is nice to needed in such a way.  I plan to enjoy it while it lasts.  On this particular day -a while back now, but it could have been any day, given her chosen activity- Riley wanted me to paint with her. Riley asks to paint every single day.  Rye determining which shade to tint her mostly murky colored painting.  Of course I joined her. (I LOVE painting too!) I came up with a few clouds. Perhaps that is the ocean underneath...I'll never know how it turned out, this was as far as I got before she claimed it and began to add her own touches.  We were low on paper for painting, so I pulled out a stack of paper sacks.  Some of my brown bag masterpieces: When I painted this rainbow, I thought Riley would love it- and she did. However s...

Rye has her daddy wrapped around that pretty little pinky... 

Ideally, I would have picked the tomatoes for this soup and stewed them down on a low simmer. I would have caught & plucked the chicken used for broth and set that on another low simmer. Not neglecting to milk my pet cow and a few coconuts too, I would have made sour cream, cocount milk and even the Cheeze-It ™ crackers from scratch. Eventually, finally, bringing it all together in a savory combination in one pot.  This is not an ideal world.  I have four children. (who all want something different for lunch, mind you) I homeschool. (so I know about the dangers of using canned foods, I know!)  I kill plants. (No tomatoes would have likely made it to the picking stage under my care) I don't know that the cow would be that much safer.  If I were close enough to a coconut tree to climb it, I wouldn't be rushing back to the house to make soup... (or climbing it either...but that is another story about how long it has been since I've been in the beloved Keys...and if ...