eat, laugh, wipe peas off your nose

It's almost time for bed but I just wanted to drop in for a minute. We had a fun evening with our friends Justin and Amy McRoberts who are in town from California, and Kirk and Alli Dahlgren who live here but who we too rarely get to see. It has been so long since we've had a little dinner party of sorts (Jeremy cooked some amazing burgers using hickory chips on his new grill) that we didn't want the evening to end. Even Sam the dog looked a bit depressed to see everyone go. Lately we've been so focused within the four walls of our house: Jeremy working away to provide for the family, and me tending to Eli, keeping the house clean, and the cabinets full. It's only on nights like this when we come up for air that we are reminded of how much we need time with friends, and how thankful we are to have so many good ones.

It's replenishing to our souls to have our home filled with lively conversation and sincere laughter, and the exchange of ideas from different points of view. Because we both enjoy each other's company so well, I easily forget how much Jeremy and I really do need other musicians, photographers, artists, writers, collectors, planters, and cooks to share life with us. Thankfully our community is full of people much more interesting than ourselves who we can learn from and be challenged by. I hope this post will serve as a reminder to myself that I should pick up the phone more often and invite friends over for some conversation and a good meal.

Speaking of meals, I found a little time today to add a few new photos of Eli to the Flickr site. He's just over 5 months old now, and the face of a little boy is beginning to emerge where I once saw a baby's features. And he eats food. Sweet potatoes and mushy green peas and rice cereal, and he loves it all. He grabs eagerly at the rubber-tipped spoon with both fists, shoving it toward his mouth faster than I can feed him. I always wondered how babies manage to get food all over their faces (and everywhere else) when eating. It always seemed to me that a mouth (albeit a baby mouth) was a big enough target that more of it should be able to land there. Well, now I know the answer...


...And now I'm off to sleep.