Living, Loving, Learning

Hope all you Mothers really enjoyed your day yesterday...I sure did.

Spring has finally broke into Michigan. The trees are starting to get the green haze, the temperature allows you to roll up your pants another inch as each hour passes, and the sun is kissing the earth like high school kids meeting behind the bleachers. It is time for the landscape to come alive. As this may be our last spring in Michigan for a while, we are determined to enjoy every minute of it! Saturday, for example, was a festival of cuteness. Bruce, Griffin and I, along with the Mom's (both birthday girls last week) headed up to MSU for our annual baby animal pilgrimage. Our first stop was at the "bird barn". Griffin was almost as into the Emu as the Emu was into him. But now the baby Emus where a different story altogether. Bruce had to explain to Griff over and over why he was not allowed to get into the pen with them. I totally got it, they were so cute and fluffy and hyper...I kind of wanted to play with them too. This year, like last year, Griff was totally...

Well, hello there. Welcome to the utterly exhausted, heavy eye lidded, almost grumpy Mama Gast blog. Now that Griffin has the freedom to get out of bed he is choosing to do so at like 5:45 each morning. I can sometimes get him to snuggle in bed with me for another 15 minutes or so (15 GOLDEN minutes) but even that seems fleeting. I am starting to feel like I did when I was in the newborn zone ! Bruce is in a crush right now as the semester is coming to a screeching halt here in a couple of weeks and is trying to get his internship done ASAP so he is up and gone early each morning. Luckily we both have tomorrow off and we can catch up on some sleep (napping in shifts maybe??)! It hasn't been all bad though. Auntie Lexi came to town this week. I picked her up late Tuesday night and was able to have her stay with us until Thursday morning. She had to get on another plane on Friday -- lucky girl is going to meet our baby girl Alethia and stay with the Amors in Germany. We had a great t...

Here are some recent moments for you all. This is what we are looking at inside the house. I am very proud of getting my Paphiopedilum orchid to rebloom...I have had it for 5 years and this is the second time it has bloomed for me. Griffin loves playing "monkey in the jungle" in our big schefflera tree...poor thing is starting to show the effects of all this "love and attention" Griffin is showing it. And this is what we are looking at outside. The icestorm that froze the midwest only slightly carressed our area. Just enough to frost all the tree with a layer of sparkly ice. When the wind blows the trees make an incredibly eerie creaky noise. We are just glad that winter has finally arrived.

One of the most incredible things about Knoxville is it's proximity to the Smokey Mountains. Many areas just outside the city provide you with breathtaking mountain views. We were so excited to spend a day in the mountains and we decided to make the trek on our Aniversary (yeah, 4 years of living, loving and learning together!). We headed up to the Smokey Mountains National Park and decided to explore a part of the park called Cades Cove. From the Park's website : "Cades Cove is a lush valley surrounded by mountains and one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smokies. Deer are almost always sighted in the fields, and observations of other wildlife, including bear, Wild Turkey, and fox are possible." "A wide array of historic buildings dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries is scattered through-out the cove. These include a grist mill, a variety of barns, three churches, and a marvelous collection of log homes and outbuildings." This ...

This was the view from our bedroom window yesterday morning and today.

October in Michigan...ain't nothin' prettier. Create Your Own!

What can I say? I love the fungi. Create Your Own!