father’s day
is pretty much like any other day at our house.
the kids still need what they need.
david and i still spend most of our time making sure that they get it.
bedtime is still snacks and a family story, singing and good night prayers.
it’s good.
we know it won’t last forever.
the wee ones get taller and older everyday.
so for now,
we’re both busy and grateful.
especially today we are grateful for papa.
it is only the shoveled paths
and the driveway, that the kids can play on now.
the actual snow is so deep that they mostly can’t move through it.
we’ve resorted to more and more inside activities this season.
the latest is acting out things
that the kids like or find interesting.
my 8 yr old picked ‘peep and the big wide world‘.
she assigned everyone parts and organized the ‘costumes’ (ie: papa’s bunny ears).
it was so much fun. here’s our cast of characters:
teenage sister = quack, the cranky big blue duck who always wears a hat
4 yr old brother = chirp, the always looking on the bright side red baby bird
the 8 yr old ‘director’ herself = peep, the philosophical chick
9 yr old brother = the overly enthusiastic racoon
papa (the good sport) = the bunny (who was instructed on exactly how to hop properly)
some laughs and eye rolling was had by all.
what are you doing to fill your days with all the
unrelenting weather outside?
‘paths’ taken from 38:19-20 of job.
i know people here
wanted snow on the ground for Christmas,
but we are so happy with the non-icy pavement.
the three shiny new skateboards would have been
ever so hard to wait to use
until the fluffy stuff
melted.
‘ground’ taken from 16:14 of exodus.
so much to do today.
focused all morning on the inbox and to-do bin
(yes, i said ‘bin’. a list is no longer cutting it).
despite the busy, these three things made me smile.
thought you might need an ‘end of a monday’ smile, too.
first, the seed beads i bought
from bead biz at the new england fiber fest.
such cheery colors (and the matte finish on the czech glass beads rocks).
next, my dad playing photographer
in the backyard trying to get all six of us
to smile and keep our eyes open at the same time.
not an easy task i tell ya.
note: my 8 yr old informed me, after the fact, that he intentionally
grinned wider and stuck his chin up high
to see what it would look like.
what’s a mama to do?
lastly, this super fun homegrown video.
it is the best lyric video i think i’ve ever seen.
i wouldn’t usually be a fan of such a pop flavored tune.
maybe my 15 year old’s taste
in music
is affecting me.
it’s just so stinkin’ catchy though,
that it’s stuck in my head and i just don’t even care,
because i’m happy,
clap along if you feel like a room without a roof…
my 8 yr old
decided to write a short poem
(“actually, it’ll be an ode, mama” he told me matter-of-factly)
for his sister’s 15th birthday.
Sisi is my sister’s name,
Once a year we go to Maine.
Hidden‘s a story we are writing,
It is so much better than fighting.
…and off we go into the great blue yonder of another year
as of yet unknown.
congratulations
baby girl.
oh how i love watching you become.
there were eighteen of us (a satellite group of vacation family)
sitting happily in the early evening air
at two long picnic tables pushed into one.
behind us was the water’s edge,
and the ocean itself.
and beside us one of the lighthouses that ‘two lights’ is named for.
i repeat, (and i apologize for rubbing it in, but…) this is the life.
the first day
of the second week
of Christmas vacation
is an oddly exhilarating mixture of:
“i am a graceful ballerina inspired by the peaceful home life and loving family surrounding me, despite the fact that i look like a clumsy purple robot to you”
and
“please, oh please, could i just have 5 minutes alone? because even though i seem to have it together, the chaotic undertow of the ever changing social dynamic of my 4 kids is going to render me completely mad long before school starts again…”.
ha.
things are
just not always
what they appear,
and this week falls squarely under the category of ‘it is what it is’.