A Magical Night on the Back Porch

We love our house in town. We’ve called it home for the last five years and it’s the house I grew up in, the house we brought our children home to, and where we became a family. So it’s special and sentimental all at the same time. One thing about it though:

It’s short on outdoor space. It’s right in the middle of town and in between a bunch of old houses, which has a certain charm to it, but because of that, we don’t have much of a yard or a place for the kids to run around (another reason we’ve been spending so much more time at the farm recently). But, we’ve learned to make do with what we have and try to use every inch of our space there.

PJ got the boys a basketball goal for Christmas and now that we’ve had a little bit of warmer weather the last few days, he finally put it together on the back porch and they’ve been playing on it nonstop. I find it so cute that they love it so much, especially Allan, who comes straight home from school and runs to the back porch to shoot a few hoops.

Last night, as I was making dinner and PJ was down in the yard with Anna tending to our sheep (watch next week’s vlog to see why we brought one of our sheep home!), the boys were playing basketball on the back porch and having a blast. We had the back doors open and there was a nice breeze passing through the house. Bossa Nova music was playing as we were both sipping wine.

It was one of those perfect moments in time that happens every now and then where I wish I could freeze time and play it over and over. Thank goodness for technology, right?

Then, when dinner was ready, Allan asked if we could eat outside since it felt so good. I told him he could if he wanted, and he immediately ran to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of lemon cleaning spray, a rag, and ran back outside to wipe down the table. He then picked up a plant from the living room and asked if he could bring it outside. I had the biggest smile on my face as I told him “sure” because that’s absolutely something PJ or I would do to dress up the outdoor table and make the entire experience a little more special.

Allan put the plant in the middle of the table and brought his food out as the sun was starting to get lower and lower. What he said next surprised me and made me laugh:

“Okay you can eat inside with your husband, and I will eat outside with Riah and Anna. Sound good?”

From the mouths of babes I tell you!!! What a cutie little stinker. So the three of them ate at the table that Allan set on the back porch while we stood beside them and just watched. They were laughing and talking and just having a good time. Now that everyone can talk, it’s fun to listen in on their very real conversations.

I love that they’re getting older and more independent and coming up with their own ideas on things to do and make. It’s both a challenging (so many mistakes, so many messes, so many frustrating situations) and beautiful (so fun to see them stretch their creativity, so rewarding to watch them think for themselves, so wonderful to witness them problem-solve) time in their lives and I know I speak for both of us when I say we’re both so grateful to call them ours.