truth be told, these two get along pretty darn good. which is not to say they don't have their moments of kicking and hitting and name calling, but for the most part they keep it pretty sweet. more often than not they are helping each other out, having charming little conversations, and figuring out ways to share their things. 

we happened upon these mailboxes today and thought they were pretty cute, especially that chippy yellow one. i remember for awhile when hudson was small, we kept his shoes in a mailbox on top of his dresser. eventually his shoes got too big to fit well and the mailbox got moved to the playroom instead. seeing these all lined up in a row gives me ideas for the new house. not sure exactly what but we do have a few mailboxes laying around. we'll see. 

it's hard to see in the above photos, but hudson insisted on wearing his snow boots out for a hike today in the warm california sunshine. i'm absolutely sure his feet were terribly sweaty, but he didn't complain. a good thing. 

i've been having so much fun with my pack of kiddos lately. it makes me happy. even happier than a yellow mailbox. 


 
marveling at the magic potential possessed by a stack of old quilts and a few vintage binder clips. it's been raining for much of the day here, and thus half of our living room has been transformed into a bit of a retreat for the littles. they've gone about filling it with blankets and pillows and dolls and books. very sweet. 


of course no good fort is complete without at least a day's worth of rations. here we've got oranges, homemade jarred cherries, pretzels with peanut butter and a few chocolate bear cookies. in the interest of being self-serve (i'm not allowed in the fort) they've also got a small pitcher of water and (breakable!) teacups. good manners seem to be encouraged by the oldest of the bunch, whom i overheard saying things like "pour carefully," and "you have to eat the healthy things before you eat your cookie." i've taught her well, i suppose. 

sunny and sweet is fun, but cozy and quiet is pretty good too. 
 
lucy has recently started a drop-off "into the wild" program for kids. the program itself has many wonderful things about it, all which deserve another post. one of the hidden benefits though, is a good chunk of time spent alone with my two boys. four hours, to be exact. this morning, the littlest happened to be sleeping soundly in the ergo, and much of the time was spent chatting and hiking with hudson. 

i often refer to hudson as my life's work. sometimes jokingly, sometimes not. he's a tiny little guy just brimming over with energy and emotion. he's exuberant. exuberance can be exhausting. i don't blame him, by the way. the middle child has a tough row to hoe--the big is out doing cool things all the time, doing them first and best, and the baby is the baby and everyone know babies are just about the loveliest things on the planet. if you're not screaming at the top of your lungs and jumping off the furniture, you might just go unnoticed. 

well, not today. it was pretty much just me and hudson and i do think we made a nice little pair. i look forward to many more mondays spent alongside him, traveling at his pace and letting him choose our path. and of course, which things to jump off of--bench and stump above, included!
 
we had a very bouncy day. a great start to the weekend. happy happy!
 
demolition work started on our new-to-us house yesterday. jeremy knows me pretty well. instead of wine and chocolates, i got pulled-up carpet and piles of sheetrock. i'll take dust and debris over presents any day of the week. especially if it gets us closer to moving into what is hopefully our forever home. of course, we thought that about our current home. life has a funny way of taking you for a good ride sometimes.  this new place will eventually be a real, true farm with lots of animals--a dream come true for a gal like me. there are 20 acres for the kids to run and explore and play and get into mischief. we're so excited to start this new (and very unexpected) chapter in our lives!
of course, we weren't entirely without a little glitter. lucy did a bit of art, and all three kids ended up taking a nap in the car on the way home from the farmers market. what more can a mama ask for in the way of true love?
 
our winter has been  mostly mild and we have making use of the good weather to get outside and explore. there are so many fantastic places nearby that i never knew about until having kids! pictured above are two of our recent day trips, to old borges ranch and hiking at point pinole. we're headed out the door again this morning for a beach hike in marin... photos to come!