Keiglets
The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs.
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more than lunch.
Last week, or something like that, I was approached by London and asked my favorite question of my every day – “What’s for lunch?” I didn’t answer with my standard full of love and kindness response. (Which, by the way, is a monosyllabic delivery of the word “food”.) Nope. I said something else. I said, “Why don’t you decide what’s for lunch. Would you and Mosely like to fix lunch?” I said it to be funny. I was laughing to myself. But London replied, “Yes! Please don’t come in the kitchen.” So I did my part. Which was nothing. And I did it like a champ too, I’ll have you know. When…
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framily. the beauty of it all.
We are so blessed. Framily is a gift so beautifully overwhelming sometimes. Papa Dale and a trip to the pond to go fishing after a trip to the auto store for man errands. Big buddies and little buddies. Oh, there’s all the usual chaos that accompanies a dozen-ish young children at every meal. But it’s a happy kind of crazy. And it’s kind of my favorite type of crazy. The crazy that says, “We are all in this life together. The tantrums and the tears. The hugs and the high-fives. The spills and the shoves.” I really like this Jason Maraz song entitled…
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a kayak experience. my favorite day of vacation.
I can’t believe it’s been weeks since we returned from the beach. Will I never cease being amazed/disappointed/confounded by the rapid passage of time? (I’m confident the only answer to that question is no!) It was such an active trip and by active I mean – we did stuff we have never been able to do on vacations before. Biking, for one. And for another – kayaking. I really love kayaking. But as a family of eight with young children, it was an event that seemed mostly out of our reach. First – because not everyone could paddle by themselves. Second – because renting anything adds up quickly times eight.…
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good morning Monday.
It’s Monday morning. And it’s raining. We just returned from a weekend camping trip at Lake Jocassee where it did not rain for almost the entire weekend. The camping trip was marvelous, lovely, fun, wonderful. This week I’m going to post more pictures from our weekend adventures but Kevin has the better ones on his phone so it’ll take a few days to wrangle the simple acts of clicking and sharing. But this morning I feel as if I’m going to ramble a little bit. (That is me, giving you fair warning.) Did I mention that it is raining? And has been for days here apparently. Our home is so…
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Friend: Five Minute Friday
It’s Friday. I’m jumping over to Lisa-Jo’s blog and joining Five Minute Friday again. Five minutes of writing on an assigned topic – no second-round editing. The topic is Friend. Go. _____ This year marks the year my children have developed real friends. Friends I think they will remember. Oh yes, we’ve been blessed with buddies like cousins and relatives and the family that will be and is the ebb and flow of our relationships together for life. (And those friendships are tight and wonderful.) But this year seems to be the year my children have made comrades amongst their peers. That they even have peers. Otto has friends. He talks…
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Piper Finn Saves the Day
I hope I never stop thinking these Keiglets are funny. (I hope they never stop being funny. The pressure’s actually on them, not me. Right?) Otto is a collector. (A hoarder if you must.) And he likes little things. Lately he is obsessed with our friend Torrye’s hair clip. It’s an unusual looking black clip that opens and closes in a way that reminds Otto of a spider. He thinks it’s awesome. Luckily Torrye thinks Otto is awesome and she has kindly given him full possession of said clip. Of course he sleeps with it. It traps his cars and his fingers and other people’s fingers and his stuffed animals.…
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the road to adventure.
“I hope adventure finds you today.” That’s the text my friend sent out last Tuesday morning. Several of us were scheduled to attend a class about wolves about Pisgah National Park. The weather had other plans and snow on the mountain caused our class to be cancelled. We all joked about our day’s schedule being altered and she sent that text. “I hope adventure finds you today.” I had already planned the day as a field trip day. Lunch was already packed. Water bottles were filled. Shoot, I’d even baked homemade pita the night before. I looked at my kids – dressed in field trippin’ attire – and I said,…
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knowing my ones.
I’ve been watching them it seems all of their lives. Which, of course, is true. I have. I’ve been watching and memorizing and forgetting. And watching. And re-learning. Still, at the end of each day, as my eyes wearily close and my world grows dark, I know I will still forget. I know it’s not enough. I will never be full enough. There is no satisfying my insatiability to know know know these small humans whose care and training I have been given. May it always be a beautiful challenge, a marvelous mystery.
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Bergen Hawkeye, HomeLife, Keiglets, London Eli Scout, Mosely Ella Claiborne, Otto Fox Wilder, Piper Finn Willow, Riley Amber
What They’ve Been Up To Lately
Scrambling eggs. Becoming increasingly obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. (Despite the fact that none of our children have ever watched even one of the films.) Saying “happy new year” after every sentence, regardless of appropriateness to the conversation. Speed reading through The Hobbit. Taking her first college level science class, complete with weekly three hour lab. Painting drumsticks red without anyone’s permission. Wearing a Snow White costume on top of her normal clothes. Reading food labels and researching soy lecithin. Attempting to stop sucking her thumb every morning and forgetting about the challenge every evening. Baking Aunt E’s Famous Pizza Dough recipe solo. Creating miniature paper cutouts of…
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mantra.
It’s because the days move so quickly that I cling to them so tightly. Having a senior in our home constantly reminds me – nine doesn’t last. But goodness – how sweet it is. Sweet, I tell you, to watch the kids craft magic out of yarn and sticks – a horse, a unicorn, a tiny doll. Pretend play in the woods. Bow and arrows from sticks and string. Forts built. Towers created. Conversations pure and innocent about trees and deer and songbirds. And I don’t always photograph this kind of magic Because I’m afraid that if I do they’ll recognize it as unusual and stop themselves. I want them…
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good morning.
One by one, they arrive. Kid after kid. In random order. Sleep in their eyes and warmth clinging to their pajamas. The smell of night still tangled in their tousled hair. They crawl into our giant bed and wedge themselves between mommy and daddy and they feel safe. And loved. Eyes close again and sleep becomes the victor. I can’t turn over and a seven-year-old leg is trapping my thirty-nine year-old leg. But I lie still and let the leg remain. I turn off my alarms before they begin and I make a choice. A choice to sleep in. To cuddle. To accept an early morning kiss from a three-year-old…
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battleground.
I’m not raising babies any longer. I was watching Otto rest in our bed last night, Kevin and I lying on either side of him – gazing at his freshly cut mo-hawk. (His request. His repeated request, actually.) He’s so capable. Been wearing big boy boxers for almost a year. Sticking his hands in his pockets. Conversing and sharing his thoughts and ideas. My days at home have changed. Oh – and how they’ve changed. I’m no longer shuffling nap times and scheduling my mornings to be home at a certain time. No directing of toddler-time activities and monitoring the play dough intake. There’s not a calendar on my fridge…
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hullabaloo
The definition of hullabaloo is “a commotion, a fuss”. I guess that’s about accurate. Last night was the sweetest hullabaloo of which I’ve ever been a part. Our co-op decided it would be great to celebrate finishing a term of class together. We wanted to give the kids a gentle opportunity to share their hard work out loud and a bit of a time for the dads to see what the kids have been up to for the past twelve weeks. The night was precious. Verses delivered with gusto by little ones. (Otto said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean BACK on your own understanding.”) Cathryn, at…
