4/52

Owen:  shoveling the lake paths.  I thought he wasn't serious when he asked to save his Christmas money for a snow plow.  This determined boy was in his element shoveling all day long.

Everly: after the snow and the hot coco she settled down with puzzles...but still wanted to wear her boots.

Music

“The end of a melody is not its goal; but nonetheless, if the melody had not reached its end it would not have reached its goal either." Friedrich Nietzsche

Wow.

You know...one of the upsides to having a horrible memory (which may be getting worse...I can't remember) is that everything always feels so fresh.  And yet not.  It's as if I've heard everything before but still manage to be genuinely awed by the most obvious of the obvious.

Like this quote.  Comparing life to a musical movement must certainly be cliche.  But...wow.

Sure...life needs a destination in order for it to be a journey. But the journey is the music. That just makes life feel beautiful, doesn't it?

What kind of music is my life at this point? Interestingly...I might be able to take a guess by what actual music I spend my time listening to (and I don't mean toddler jams, obviously).  FYI at this point it's actually mostly worship, (or some kind of upbeat big band type love song).

Every fiber of me wants this life to be the most amazing music...a song that brings the listener to tears, takes them on journeys, lifts their spirits, gets them exited and ignites passion.  I'm assuming that it will be rather comedic as well...with plenty of dance worthy sections (the slide around on the kitchen floor in your socks type dancing).

And then, at the very end, before the last note stops vibrating (triumphantly, of course...no tragedy here) I want the standing ovation. I want that "WELL DONE! Nicely played." (Encore?)

The goal reached, in the playing and in the ending.

Hmmm...

It all just makes me desire deliberate, conscious gracefulness in how I conduct myself, how I treat others, how I contribute.  If somewhere...in a Truman Show type reality...someone is sitting at a keyboard, watching my life and composing a tune based on what they see - I think they'd have fun coming up with catchy sounds to match what's going on.

"Suspense and laughter around every corner in this one!" they'd say.  "What an unusual combo!" dun-dun-duuuuuunnnnn...

Totally applicable photos from Christmas Eve.  Ever is obviously pondering my wise words while gazing in the fire.

3/52

Owen:  Being disciplined with a little time in his room.  In his initial anger he laid the mesh baby gate across the doorway...but a few minutes later when I went to check on him he was quietly reading to himself by the rocker.  A much calmer, happier boy emerged 20 minutes later.

Everly:  Pacifiers and pup-pup for nap time while the teddy bear my grandmother made stands watch in the corner.

...

I love finding old pictures.  The kids and I took a bunch of photos together back in October and I just came across them again now.  

I love these silly moments together.  Sitting on Mama's bed in our jammies (well...except for Owen who was modeling his formal wear) and laughing together at all the funny faces we could make on the screen.  I love Ever's messy shirt...probably stained with strawberries from breakfast...and Owen's attempt to look serious.

Last night I was thinking again about the vital role of fun in life.  Of how really crucial it is to have laughter and dancing and celebrating and lightheartedness thrown in the mix with responsibility and attending to the weighty matters of life.  Not that weighty things are onerous or dreary aspects of life.  Really - being responsible should be joyful in itself, right?  There is such peace that comes from doing things correctly.  But random laughter and burst of spontaneous joy give such great perspective.  I really want to show the kids that everything is intertwined - work and fun and laughter and seriousness - it's all a part of the package.  We need to have everything balanced together.  Being seriousness is fun and being fun is serious, if you will.

But anyway...lately I've been seeking to add more sparkle to my daily life, and remembering moments like this (and fitting a few more silly picture sessions into the daily routine) is a perfect way to reflect some light.    

2/52

*Photos from last week

Owen: borrowed trucks at the sand playground.  Braving the chill to get out some evening energy.
Ever: pulling out the next book, sitting amidst the scattered discards.  She'll spend 20-30 minutes reading the books to herself.  I love hearing the stories as she interprets them.

1/52

I love going to Che and Fidel.  The photos and writing are so synchronized and soothing.  It's one of my favorite little worlds to get a glimpse into.  Plus I love imagining a warm summer world while it's grey and cold out the window.  
I tend to shut off when blogs have gimmicky buttons and days of the week set aside for this project or that...but the idea of tracking the growth and progress of the kids over a year of pictures was very appealing to me.  I'm trying her 52 project...I hope that I can do it. 

These photos are from the first week...

Owen: jumping, jumping, running, rolling, throwing, happy to be outside stretching those growing muscles.
Ever: snack time ended up being a few of the dried cherries and a lick of the cream cheese.

(Play Kitchen)

I mentioned this in the last post.  I made it waaaay long ago for Owen's second birthday. 

I love it.  

Another imperfect attempt to be sure...but so many fun hours were poured into this project.  My dad helped out too which made it special.  I learned so much and made way too many trips to Home Depot.

The kids play with it daily and it's such a happy little messy spot in the kitchen.    

On tents and love

This is our Christmas present to the kids.  

I've probably mentioned that we're not really big holiday celebrators.  Gosh, I'm sure that sounds heartless and cruel to some people but we've found that being low key works for our family.  The holidays pass semi-normally with scattered bursts of special events - like going to see the light with friends, or visiting family.  But there is no big build up to Christmas morning.  The kids are still little and don't know any better and the general season is still special with it's cookie baking and sparkly light spotting.  I'm interested to see how things change and evolve as the kids get older.  I'm pretty sure that we will still keep things simplified...no matter what traditions we adopt.

This year is the first year that I thought about getting them any presents.  They don't want for toys at all and have super generous grandparents so there hasn't ever been anything that I really wanted to buy for them. About a year ago, though, I started thinking of making Owen a little tent.  We constantly build forts here - blankets and pillows and chairs going every which way.  I thought it might be nice to have something a little more permanent and they looked easy enough to build.  

Aaand like most ideas I have...it evolved.  Into a teepee.  Into an 8 foot tall teepee that we all could kind of camp in.  I saw a tutorial on Smile and Wave and suddenly I was buying the wood in Lowes...I'm not sure what happened.  

It took me a few extra days to finish it - so it ended up as more of a New Years present than a Christmas present.  And I accidentally bought 5 pieces of wood instead of 6 so it's a litttttle different.  And I modified the instructions to make the door flaps overlap...but in general her measurements and instructions are a good place to start.  Easy enough for a sewing novice like myself to whip out in a few hours.  

It looks homey in our living room - is roomy enough that we can all cuddle inside - and is WARM.  Perfectly cozy.

I love making the kids random toys...homemade things like this or the play kitchen or the yarn blobby things. They're wonky and imperfect and take so much longer than I estimate they will...but there is something so important about finding ways to tangibly express love to someone else.  Baking them goodies, giving backrubs, building tents, mowing their lawn...whatever it is...I want our kids to grow up learning to DO as well as say.  To be creative in their expressions of love and friendship with others.  

I definitely need to ponder ways to encourage such creativity in them but I think that practicing it more often myself is a pretty good place to start.