An Eleven Year Streak Ends.

Last week Jeff and I dropped our youngest off for her first day of school. 

(I know, it is so very dark here in the morning still. Summer makes up for it when it never really gets dark at all.)

On Minna's second day, I went and sat in the car with a coffee and realized that this preschool adventure for Minna is also a huge new time of adventure for me. 

For eleven years, we experienced every combination of being pregnant, a newborn, nursing babe, toddler, bigger kid and all of the above. My days were tailored to nurture all of these phases of us. Our days have just morphed to accommodate. First, all of my kids home each day. Then, just two. Then, to just Minna and I, since she was born over four years ago.

Now, I have a new combo of a few hours each week alone, or with Jeff when he isn't on shift.

I keep trying to remember when it was always just the two of us. But now we have been parents way longer than we were a newly wedded, childless couple. Kind of weird to think.

These moments when I find myself buckling only one seat belt, grabbing just one coat and speeding thorough my grocery list, are weird too. Very weird.

But oh my, not bad at all! Not bad because this girl wishes school were everyday. She is so excited. So ready.

She didn't want her picture taken for her first day. She just wanted to tell me about the art she made with paper plates and the snack she had. And that she was glad she had water with her snack because its better for her teeth.

"I mean, I am just so really, really ready. It is time for me to go for school with a backpack and a folder like my brothers."

She got her first haircut too. Talk about a new phase! Those little blond ends will be tucked into her baby book next to ultrasound pictures and baby shower cards. All tucked away and making way for the next.

This big girl. 

A perfect combo of smart, funny and lovely. 

And even though I plan to thoroughly enjoy my free time, or at least use it wisely, I will be waiting excitedly for her to come home. Then as usual, we will be excited for her brothers to come home too. And this is our new phase. 

The beginning of a sweet new streak.

Eleven?

I was very glad that I was too lazy this weekend to wipe off and rip down birthday decorations. Sully celebrated his eleventh over the break and we had his best bud over for a sleepover. 

I smiled at the window marker and streamers in our windows on this very dark morning.

His little brother and sister had cut and sewed them all.

Then we taped them up just right.

They still hang in the dinning room. I am not sure I am ready to take them down. 

Then, I will really be admitting he is another year older. This one little year, minute by minute, pushed my first born closer to a teenager than a child. I am frightened by that. But also excited by the glimpses I get of who this young man is.

  

He got some big time fishing gear that will take him well into his teens. He is a real life, serious fisherman now. No denying it. He needed the real thing. The right tools. 

Here he is at ten. Just one year ago. He was teaching himself how to tie flies and use a fly rod. He became seriously interested in music. He believed in the tooth fairy.

And now, eleven. He sells his flies. He officially out-fished his dad this season. He has dedicated himself to the saxophone. He pulled me aside one night a while back when his younger siblings were asleep and asked me the truth about the tooth fairy. We have talked honestly about many other big, scary, embarrassing, important things since. 

I know that one day eleven will seem so little. Tiny. Young. 

Right now it is so very big.

The Grand Post.

It's quiet here.

Well, not really quiet. Its never quiet here. Its just a little empty feeling because most of August has been filled with visitors. Visitors bring noise and bustle and busy of the best kind. We did so much! Amazing how all of us, back together after so long, jumped right in where we left off.

Right back to it with morning routines.

Laughter and "the sillies".

(Four is a big year for "the sillies".)

Long walks where I am always the caboose.

Taking pictures and trying not to trip.

Movie nights and seriously salty popcorn. (Grampie...)

All the grandparents can picture our little place out here.

And we can close our eyes and picture them here with us.

I realized that if you come visit we will promptly put you to work! Grandma pruned and weeded. A lot. Grandpa dug a hole and helped install our new boiler. Everybody helped with the animals. Extra hands to keep the kids busy allowed chores to be done swiftly, and a date night to be had. (Yes, a date! Sushi, a walk and spiked coffee.)

Don't worry, we let our visitors relax sometimes too with some knitting or reading or fishing. I taught my Mom how to crochet and Jeff's Mom read up on chickens and just might end up with a teeny flock of her own. Chicken-love is contagious.

It really was a grand few weeks spent with the grandparents. We are still getting over the good byes. We all cried at the airport. (That is a lot of Trenery/Streeter folk crying at the airport.)

It's terribly hard to see Sully, Colyer and Minna cry that way. So different from a bee sting or a bruise. It's a pain inside. Yet, I am so happy they know and love their grandparents so much that they felt it though and through. 

Having our people here was the best way to spend the tail end of summer. What great memories for us. 

We just feel it though and through.

A Party And Farewell.

As we all know,  Minna just had her birthday.

I blinked and she turned four.

Just like that.

A few days ago, we celebrated early with some special friends.

She got sweet pals to cuddle and of course some crocheted goodies.

(Lots of crochet goes on when us moms get together. :)

We made wands and fooled around.

It was a fun easy-going party.

We had to celebrate early because 

these friends of ours are moving all the way to Maine.

(Maine!)

It is hard living in a military community 

because it is inevitable that families will come and go.

I am so happy we all ended up on the island at the same time.

These sweet girls had to say goodbye today.

So very hard.

It sure has been fun watching them together.

They met when they were two!

How much they have grown up.

Grown up together.

We will always be in touch. 

Us moms will still exchange crochet patterns and inspiration. 

There will still be giggling and fun and a shared love of chickens.

I don't think a little distance could stop these two anyhow.

(Or us crazy crochet ladies.)

Four.

This girl.

She is...

a little country.

A lot rock-n-roll.

(Some things don't change much.)

All smart.

And cute.

And awesome.

And, she is FOUR!

Happy-Happy Birthday to my best girl.

4 is gonna be fun.

Our First Year In About Four Minutes.

Last year on this day exactly, we landed in Kodiak.

Whoa.

Here is a little movie with a year's worth of fun and adventure. Mostly my photos. A couple of Jeff's and a bit of video taken by Jeff too. If you only knew how obsessed I got about finding a good song to help tell our story, you would probably worry about my mental health. (It's "When U Love Somebody" by the Fruit Bats.) Even now that all is rendered and compressed, I still have reservations about the song because it says the word "blood" in it so many times. It also says "love" a lot so I figured it all worked out in the end. I am sure you wouldn't have really noticed if I didn't say anything about the blood part. All part of being kind of obsessed.

So! Without further crazy-lady talk...

here is year one.

Now onto living year two.

Have a great Monday!

A Stormy Sentimental Note On Brothers.

Today we had a windy, wet ride to school. In the rear-view I see my boys heads, covered with rain hoods. Minna in the middle, under a blanket, between her "bo-bos". All are cozy and quiet. Three years ago, pre-Minna, the boys sat next to each other and on dark mornings like this, looked like one little being.

"1-2-3!" They yelled in unison after cramped hugs and kisses goodbye inside the truck. Then the doors flung open and off to the front door of the school they go. One boy slightly taller. The other, slightly skipping. They moved quickly together. One body and two little hoods.

Brothers. My boys. In the rain.

These two are less than 3 years apart and the age gap has become much less apparent. Colyer is almost as tall as Sully. He can run as fast and ride as fast. He may even have an edge on Sully in the daredevil department. That creates so much competition and determination inside of their little hearts that it frightens me sometimes. (er, all the time.) It causes hurt feelings and at worst, injuries.

I am reassured when I see something else coming from their little hearts. I see a partnership that I will never fully understand. I know it is there. They show me in little ways everyday.

When one goes, he makes room for the other.

They do the scary stuff together. Always.

When one challenges the other. The other takes it on.

Then challenges right back.

They teach each other. They learn.

When one asks for help. The other helps.

And with four hands, they make things better.

They run in the same circles.

Have the same besties from Kodiak to California.

Honorary bo-bos.

They share everything.

Love of the outdoors, a soft spot for animals, their baby sister,

a passion for Legos, building, inventing and ever so often,

they share sleep.

I wonder if they will have a rocky teenage relationship as their Dad and Uncle did? How will Colyer feel when Sully goes off to college first? Will they always ride side by side, racing but still together?

No one can know.

So what helps this Mama of a pair of smart, driven, daring, confident young men rest just a little easier? The way they look like one little being on the school bus as it drives up to our house. My boys on an almost empty bus, huddled together in one seat.

Brothers. My growing boys. In the rain. On the bus.

today...

Remembering that day.

Reminded of the good that has come from the past 10 years.

"Kodi", For Short.

So here is a story I have been meaning to share for a year now. I am glad I waited (or was lazy) because I have such a good follow up! With pictures too!

Meet, Kodi.

It stands for Kodiak. Kodiak is kind of a masculine name for a teeny girl kitten. So, Kodi it is. Sully found Kodi, with her eyes still shut, on the floor of the hay barn out in Two Rock. A huge truck had earlier moved hay bales out of the barn and we think, may have sadly disturbed a mama and her kittens.

We searched, and waited all evening for any sign of a mama cat. Nothing.

It also happened to be our very last night in that house by the hay barn. That same day, all of our stuff had been packed and prepped to ship here. Kodi needed a home. And Grandma willingly gave her one.

She was fed from a teeny bottle that Grandma wrapped with a piece of an old woolly sweater. Kodi would grab it and knead with her claws. Genius! Besides grandma, no one loved (loves) Kodi more than the boy who found her. I always say he saved her. One more day and he wouldn't have been there to hear her little mews.

Here she is one year ago, learning to be a cat.

Here she now! We stayed at Grandma's house on our trip to California and got to see her all grown up!

She doesn't love to be held as she did when she was a kitten and the camera kind of scared her. So we just watched and enjoyed having her around. We liked telling stories about when she was a baby.

Sully somehow got to hold her and get a few purrs out of her. He just has a way. Oh! How he loves her and ALL cats, really.

She knows.

Revelations From Our Multi-Phase Trip...

PHASE ONE-

A Portland wedding.

"Beloved little sisters will always be little sisters,

even with a diamond and new last name."

(and big brothers will never be too big to hold their little sister's bouquet for her.)

PHASE TWO-

Week-o-beach house on the Oregon Coast.

"A single is still a perfect fit for this pair of growing boys."

(this summer may be the last though...)

"Three generations of flip flops takes up a lot of sandy real estate."

PHASE THREE-

Hometown Frolic.

"Nothing like the feeling of going back to the places and people that really know you."

-The kids played in the same houses that we played in. The homes that saw us become grown-ups.

-I laughed about life and marriage with the same girls I giggled with about first bras and kisses, more than 20 years ago.

-We drove by the high school where that cute science lab partner I had would someday be my husband. Never saw that one comin!

-We lounged in a hammock that swings on the very spot I married him.

-On Colyer's birthday, we drove by the little birth center where he was born. (He wishes though, that he were born at the karate school next door instead.)

After a busy-wonderful three weeks, we said goodbye to everybody in the same driveway that we did almost a year ago when we moved here. Only this time, we weren't starting all over in a new place. We were coming home, and it is so good to be back.

What's everybody been doing this past month?