I'm extremely guilty of attempting to fit way too many things in on the weekends. But when my weeks are full, and I really need to be home in order to do things like, oh, I don't know, homeschool my children, oftentimes the weekends are my only chance to get the to-do list done.

On Saturday, one of the things on my list was to workout. And suddenly, I discovered it was late afternoon-- I still needed to shower before going out for the evening with my cousin. I needed to make dinner. I needed to keep working on lessons plans. But I really needed to exercise.

So instead of slipping off to the gym, alone, (and you know me, feeling guilty about it) I plopped Birdy in the backpack and took the children who weren't napping (good girl, Elizabeth) for a walk.

It was the most beautiful exercise I've had in months. I said it on habit, but I hope my children never ever take for granted the beauty in their backyard.

We crossed the stream (there's a hole in my Muck Boot boot!) and walked and walked, following the mowed paths around my uncle's dormant cornfields. It was breathtaking, cold, beautiful, funny and sometimes a little back-breaking with that chubby toddler hanging from my shoulders.

The girls rolled down hills,

stomped in mud, kept tabs on the barn cat that followed us the whole time,

jammed sticks down fox dens,

scraped notes into the mud for their uncle, and did their best to stay in plain sight of their littlest sister on my back, who whined only when she couldn't see what her sisters were doing.