Eliza at 1

One-year-old Eliza Jane.  Isn't she starting to look like a little girl already?  Hard call on this photo:  do I  insist that she sits down in the wagon or go ahead and take a picture?  She was just so delighted with herself, with the wagon . . . with Benjamin's socks. . . 

A photo with the coreopsis, below, should have been better, but the sun was quite glaring.  

We spent Eliza's birthday weekend in Sulphur Springs combining the celebration with JB's dad's 70th birthday.  Here's just a few pictures of a fun weekend characterized by excellent food, great music, and delightful company.  Of course I could say that of all our weekends in SS, but the birthdays added a little something extra.  

E danced along with the music...especially when her grandmommy was
playing her violin.  

And with such a gracious and capable dance partner...

It is getting too late for me to reflect much on my little girl tonight. I am so proud of my little one-year-old, and I truly delight to think of her presence in our lives in the year ahead.  She's her own person, this one.  Strong-willed and confounding at times, but that is all part of the greater joy in getting to know her little spirit.

And two more photos back at home. One of E's first words
has been "backpack."  She loves Benjamin's so much that
we got her one of her own.  

But perhaps her favorite gift is the card Ben
made for her glued all over with fuzzy balls.  

Four years later

Four years later, and I've still got it!  Such as it ever was anyway.  I have never been a fast or even a dedicated runner, but I have been a runner.  Well, let's just say jogger.  

Jogging is about the only form of aerobic exercise I enjoy doing regularly.  It started when I accidentally signed up for the cross country team in middle school and stuck with it for a whole season.  (I meant to sign up for track, not distance running--oops!)  I've enjoyed running much more without the races.  One day I ran about 9 or 10 miles up in the Shawangunk mountains, and remember feeling so full of life and strength, connected to nature, energized by accomplishment and potential, content with being alone.  That is truly one of my favorite memories.      

So after having two children and living daily in the chaos of caring for the wee ones, jogging feels different.  Not just physically--yes, my knees could be better and I have never been so SLOW--but also mentally and emotionally.  Getting out for half an hour to run by myself is precious alone time now. A good morning run has a way of setting me up for my day emotionally.  The time away from the house in a different environment gives me a little perspective and allows me to gather to my thoughts.  The endorphins get going, and I return to the house feeling energized, centered, ready to face a demanding 11 month old and a daydreaming 3 year old.  I am better able to care for and teach the kids when I start the day with a run.

My 33-year-old self no longer sees running primarily as an accomplishment, and I think this is good for me.  My life is not much about accomplishment right now and I need to learn to live with that.  When I don't exactly feel like running, I even tell myself that if I don't make it very far, I can just stop at the St. Albans episcopal church courtyard and enjoy the morning quiet for a few minutes instead.  That has only happened once so far, but there is something about having that as an option that is so freeing.

With all of that said about accomplishment, I did run a 5k out at the Lake Waco Wetlands a few weeks ago, and it felt great.



A "prediction run" was perfect for my current state of mind (and body!):  the winner is the runner who comes closest to running his or her predicted time.  So even at the back of the pack, I actually came pretty close to winning, having predicted within 30 seconds of my finishing time.

It was really just a fun family outing.  We all managed to get out the door at 7am, and the kids enjoyed playing around the marshy grassland while I ran.



Eliza Jane enjoyed her backpack ride, and Ben came back with lots of bug bites from lying in the tall grass.



I had an absolutely lovely time running.  I especially loved having my family there to cheer me on at the end.  And I felt proud to be running again.

A visit to Bonnie's

Eliza Jane chased the guinea hens all around the soggy grass at our favorite greenhouse 

Bonnie's is the best garden store in Waco.  A trip to Bonnie's is an
 all-Saturday morning outing for us.   

Early summer

lovely Eliza rests in the hammock

The tree house continues and the roses bloom 

Watermelon is eaten

Kite festival attended. Kites flown and sun hats worn. 

And then all of a sudden, Benjamin is ready for college. 

...or just too sick to go to school but not sick enough to
keep me from bringing him to Baylor so I can put the finishing
touches on my students' final exam.  

And Eliza inspects the four-nerve daisies.  

Going down to the Brazos River...

Benjamin's favorite thing to do outside right now is to
climb trees.  They are imaginary worlds where he can
lose himself for quite a while.  

The highlight of our church's annual Easter retreat for me this year happened in a few fleeting minutes that I was lucky to catch.  Bed time for Eliza Jane is usually 6:30 or so these days, but since she was getting over a stomach bug and had slept way more than usual during the day, I decided to go ahead and take her out to the Saturday night variety show.  JB had told me earlier in the day he was going to try to get Benjamin to get up and sing his song for everyone.  Benjamin sings this little song he made up all the time, but I had my doubts that he would be game for performing it with all the people and the microphone.  I sure wouldn't want to do it.  

But sure enough, he went up there and belted it out and even said, "I want it to be louder!"  Going down to the Brazos River, the frog goes croak!  Other verses follow in which other animals and people make various sounds and do various things by the Brazos river.  It is charming.  

Well, yes, this is the best we could do this year.
E was getting over being sick, she feels that dresses
cramp her style, and she lost one of her own shoes
so is wearing some old ones of Benjamin's.  

There he is in the picture below, a little performer.  He may look more like the Wilson side of his family right now, but he is his father's son all the way through.  

B did a little Easter egg hunt at school the week before Easter.  It was fun to see him with a group of other kids.  He looks so independent when he is with his classmates.  But he is still 3 and would rather be with me : )  

Tree house!

Each Spring my parents come to visit, and we are starting to develop some traditions.  For one, we always have a small list of things that we look forward to having fixed while dad is here.  This year though, we skipped right over the loose doors and broken towel racks and requested help building this here (incomplete, yet still charming) tree house.  

JB and dad worked with our friend John to get the basic structure up in one day.  I went off to teach my class at Baylor and had lunch with my mom and her sisters and by the time we came back there it was.    

JB and dad spent many hours together during the rest of the week working on the railings.  JB is excited about the cedar posts they are using to build the railing and he has (as you can well imagine) many visions for the tree house as an on-going project.  I like the idea of having vines climbing up the sides.  Mostly though, I like the idea of it being safe.  That's the first priority.  Poor Benjamin is just dying to get up there all by himself and we just can't let him do that yet.  Finding the time in our normal lives to work on the tree house has been hard.  Maybe we can dedicate a weekend in May to its completion.  

Another beloved tradition is the meeting of the grandparents.  Sarah and Hank come down for the day and we all have a big lunch together.  Our children are so blessed to have two such wonderful sets of grandparents.  

This year's visit was extra special because Aunt Kathy was able to come down to visit from Maine!  It made me so happy to have all three sisters together at my house.  Kathy stayed with Aunt Mary in Temple, but they were in Waco nearly every day.  

I thought a lot about how different this visit was from last year when they came a week or so after Eliza Jane's birth.  Oh my, that was a hard time. Then, I was just thankful to have my parents here to hold the baby and play with Benjamin.  This time JB and I were able to cook and we had conversations and really enjoyed the kids.  E even took her first independent steps during their visit.  I expect that next year, when E is almost 2, will be even better.

And here is a post-grandparents, early morning-pajamas-in-the-hammock picture.  This happens sometimes.  Not a bad life.

Until I get my grandparent photos in order...

The week before last, it was all we could do to contain ourselves while we awaited the arrival of the grammy and grandpa from NY.  We took a trip to the museum to pass the time.  And we genuinely enjoyed ourselves.  Benjamin and Eliza are playing together in new ways all the time--such a delight to see.  Eliza is interested in everything B does, and now she provokes him to laughter at every opportunity.  When he is lying down on the couch, she will often come over and laugh right in his face to get a reaction.  

And now this girl is getting to be a walker.  She is taking to it two months earlier, but also more gradually than Benjamin did, I think.  She took her first steps, as mom predicted, while they were visiting last week and now, just a few days later, she is getting herself up from the floor to walk by herself and was even trying to drag around a pull toy with her today.  Eliza may not be as easy-going as Benjamin was as a baby, but she knows what she wants and will do what it takes to accomplish it.  She was working with that pull toy for a good 10 minutes before the fussing got too much for me and I made her give it up.  

And here we are at the opposite end of the grandparents' visit on another day out at the World Hunger Relief Farm.  I made it with the kids to listen to JB and Jeff play the opening set.  Benjamin had his mind set on the hayride, but Eliza was in her bliss, dancing and clapping along with the music.  

More to come...