you know when it's suddenly too quiet. . .

. . .that something not right is going on. . .

When I noticed that quiet in the house, I imagined the littlest Zeli was upstairs drawing all over (with only his Crayola magic Color Wonder markers. . .love those. . .). . .

And found him at the top of the steps. . .somewhat covered in white. . .

A cwue all better. . .

All better?


He held up the two little felt pawprints, also all white. All cween. Cwue all better. And that smile.

His face smeared in white. Little hands all white. Little clues all white.

I washed it.

In toothpaste. Jack's toothpaste, to be exact. The one that kinda does look like the soap dispenser. That never worked quite right and leaks out the bottom all the time. The one that is practically empty now, with the contents smeared all over the bathroom sink, the clues, and little Luke.

He walked down the steps smiling.

And I found him in the living room. With kleenaxes, wiping his face, the clues, his hands (and trying to blow his little nose, bless his heart).

So right now, all clues in the Zeli house remain all cween.

the weekend, baby!

Jack's happy for a four day weekend; Sam, a three. I'm happy to have my house full of noisy, excited boys.

We unanticipatedly spent the day in Monroeville yesterday. A quick trip to get Sam his first snowboard (a great sale, but sadly, no snow yet) and me some paper (for my class project) turned into an all-day affair. . . With lunch at the chicken house (aka Chik-fil-A). . .

And a new couch!

A new couch, baby! Very exciting. We went Monday to Levins in Mt Pleasant expecting to order a sectional that our growing family could fit on (yep, the green couch just won't fit us all anymore. . .). . . And, a last minute just for fun measurement (thank goodness we measured!) proved our new room arrangement and new furniture weren't going to work out.

Very disappointed. . .

So, on a whim, we stopped at the Levin's in Monroeville to check out the sales. . . And walked out with a new couch and chair. To be delivered Friday. . .

How exciting. Actual grown up furniture. That matches =0]

Amazing how those little things that you wait for (after 15 years of marriage) turn out to be so fulfilling. Just fill you up with joy and happiness. Our first couch was a hand me down from Aunt Renee's house. A wooden, uncomfortable nightmare, with matching chair. I tried covering the scratchy plaid with fabric. Cow fabric to be exact (my farm phase. . .). Then, green and plaid sheets that I caught on sale at Gabriel's. . . Then, when we bought the house, we also decided to finally get a couch. . . Green corduroy from Montgomery Wards. . .back in the clearance section for $400. . . and we thought we hit the big time. No chair, however. Same wooden nightmare chair. Which eventually disappeared. . .replaced by my great grandmother's rocking chair.

But, we can't all sit and watch tv anymore. Just not enough room with those growing boys. So, we're very excited.

Little Lukey didn't fare so well yesterday. He seemed to be a little warm all morning. And just kinda laid around wherever we went. Wanting carried. Poor boy. Came home to a 102ish temperature. . . a little Tylenol later, and he spent the evening playing trains and watching toons.

Today: Lukey's temp is gone. The sun is shining. Sam's on a morning run. And the day could take us anywhere. . .

early morning. . .

I heard the melody from a harmonica as Sam left this morning. . . Our little Luke has taken a shine to Jack's harmonica (after finding it on Jack's nightstand), and has spent the past few days playing it at odd intervals. . .smiling after he plays each little toddler tune, blowing as hard as he can. . .

And then quiet. . .

And then Jack arose (he hasn't yet figured out the fine art of sleeping in on your day off from school yet. . .) for morning Legos and pancakes.

I tiptoed upstairs and peeked into his doorway. . .

A cwue, a cwue!
A cwue on birdies.
We need handy dandy notebook.
Notebook.

So cute. He's loving the Blues Clues right now. Searching the house for little pawprints that he has hidden and putting them in his little notebook.

He spent an hour in his bed. . .listening to his birdies. . . playing the harmonica. . .and discovering clues (except for the little one on his back, too cute).

A slow morning for little Luke. . . Waking up his way. . .

fall's flowers. . .

My sweet Jack gives me flowers all year long. At the bus stop yesterday, he handed me 18 beautiful leaves. . .

. . .yellow, speckled with bits of green . . .

drying leaves, from the neighbor's tree down the street. . . blown so casually up the road, whispering the coming of autumn. . .

Leaves.

When the flowers of summer disappear, he gives me handfuls of leaves. I love them all. Brown and crunchy. . . and green. . . yellow. . . and soon, oranges and reds. . .

They bring back memories of jumping in those huge piles raked under the neighbor's giant maples. . . the sweet smells of fall. . . burying myself under their fragrance, and peeking at the patches of blue sky. . .

Favorite memories. . .

18 beautiful leaves.

And one retrieved from his pocket the day before. He handed it to me as he came bounding off the bus.

A yellow maple leaf. Small veins of green. Still soft in my palm. . .

I imagine he found it outside at recess. And he carefully put it away in his pocket, the keeper of all little boy treasures. . . Thinking of his Mama. . . in the midst of his recess adventures. . .

adjusting. . .

to life without a big brother all day long is a little difficult. . . .

Jack woke up not so happy this morning. . . so tired. . . our big boy is not so much the morning guy. Unhappy about a day so long away from home. Quiet, pensive at the bus stop. A small wave out the window as the bus departed.

And little Luke. Happy this morning searching for clues. And then quiet. Drinking milk. Watching toons. A little too quiet. And I discovered our little Davinci using our newly painted living room wall as his Sistene Chapel.

Moving on to the disaster of no more milk.

Insistence on new twack, Mama.
And that Percy needed new batteries (even though she appears to be running just fine).

A small temper flared, and James was slammed to the table.

So, time to regroup. A fresh cup of milk. Some Mickey toons.

Calm .
Or just the eye of the hurricane. . .

first grade tales. . .

and the first day was wonderful. He was off the bus, smiling from ear to ear. Loved being with kids his own age all day long. Loved lunch (he ate everything I packed!) and recess. Went to the bathroom many times. Had his very own desk. Two children from his Kindergarten class in his new class. So much fun!

Day two: Not so much. Too many rules to listen to. Not enough time to play at gym class. No one would play with him at recess. He wanted the jump rope (to be Indiana Jones with his whip, of course) at recess and some boy would not let him have it.

Amazingly, he woke up with a smile this morning.

I assured him that today would be a good day, because he would make it a good one.

Fingers crossed, I'm waiting for the rumble of the bus at 3:50.

first day. . .

Jack's first day of first grade. . .

He left minutes ago on the bus. So very excited to ride the bus again. . . both ways this year. He could barely contain it. . .waiting impatiently for the bus to arrive.

Dressed in his new Wall-E shirt (everyone is going to love my shirt. . .he told me as he dressed this morning). With his Speed Racer backpack and lunch box. Which I way overpacked with goodies. How do you know how much to pack? Mama that I am, worried that he would be starving at lunch time. . . I stuffed it to capacity with his ham sandwich, cheese stick, grapes, a tomato from his garden, pizza goldfish, and a dinosaur Eat n Park cookie. Way too much, I know. . . but all of his favorite goodies to make him feel a little closer to home.

Little bits of tears. My baby. . . growing and moving forward.

Waking him up in his bed this morning. . . I remember when we put him to bed in it the first time. His big boy bed. . . and he was so excited. He awoke, all smiles about today. So happy to be back to school.

Me, fearing he will think the day too long. . . Worried about him so far from our protective care. . . And Lukey at home to scuff around on his own, for the first time. . .

It's so quiet. . .

But, Jack is so ready to discover the world. So full of questions about how everything works. . . how the world operates. . . why things are the way they are. . . Questions, all day long. . . His mind is ready. . . .craving. . . .this new mental stimulation. . .

Ready to unfurl his wings, and fly. . .