This and That Thursday

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Here’s another little gem that was drafted, but never published.  Even four years later, I’m thankful for these words and for taking the time to jot them down!

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A few of my bloggy friends have used this theme and I thought it would be a great way to get down some of the little things I want to record before they totally slip away from me!  Perhaps an alternate title to this post is “Kids Say the Darndest Things!”

  • “When I get bigger maybe…” has been used for everything from drinking coffee (or Pepsi) to riding a bus to school.  You name it and he can’t wait to be big enough to do it.  My…he’s growing up so fast already!
  • “It’s my favorite!”  – I seriously need to record him saying this because it sounds more like “fravrite” and it melts my heart every time.  He usually whips this out when we’re talking about some type of food – yogurt for breakfast or dinosaur-shaped cheese and kangaroo-shaped turkey slices for snack.  He has too many favorites to count!
  • “I can!”  or “Don’t!”  – These two aren’t as near and dear to my heart, but I suppose they’re quite essential in the normal development of this little Mr. Independent.
  • “I just got it!” – OK, so I don’t really know if this is what she’s saying, but this is what it sounds like and Miss Seneca says it A LOT!  She is so very expressive and I can only imagine how much more so she will become!  She certainly has a temper too…if she wants to show off her new light-switching skills or get her mitts on whatever snack is close at hand, she will squirm, squeal and squawk within an inch of her life!
  • “Stop!” – This sounds horrible, but it is something I am quite confident Seneca is saying.  In fact, this goes down on the record as being her first official word.  It was the first time I heard her and knew she was communicating with us verbally.  I think it’s actually due to the “Stop in the Name of Love” ditty I sang at the kids on the way home from the football game a few weeks ago.

A Whole Handful ~ Happy Fifth Birthday!

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Seneca,

When I stop to think about the fact that you’re turning 5 it shocks me!  It seems like a strange combination of much longer and just yesterday that I was blessed to become a mother to an adorable daughter.

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There are so many times when you act far beyond your years.  And somehow, each of those times has added up to a collection of days, months, weeks and years and here you are, a beautiful soon-to-be-kindergartner who loves dress up and dreaming about fanciful things.

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Thank you for reminding me to slow down, enjoy the journey and to find magic in ordinary things like an empty field, and old log, tutus and fairy wings.

Happy Birthday, my sweet!

Love,
Mom

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Summer Fun and Change on the Horizon

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I always do this.  I start a project, or restart one, with every sort of good intention.  I think the biggest lesson I’m learning in life right now is simply to do what I can, when I can.  So, I’m not going to stress, or apologize, or back-blog the thousand and one small moments that I’ve taken note of since my last post in February.  There were some great (and not-so-great) moments.

Instead, I’m going to start here.  Start now.  Sitting in the early morning in a quiet house in southern California.  Months of planning, saving and anticipating our trip are finally unfolding into an amazing experience for our family.

We’re here visiting Uncle Luke and Aunt Ann, and hoped we’d get an early surprise ~ Baby Ewing’s arrival, but it seems she’s quiet comfortable and will make her debut in a few more weeks as scheduled!  Nonetheless, we’ve had clear sunny skies, relaxing afternoons, and magical days at Disney.  As we cross the half-way point of our vacation, we’re about to embark on a journey to Sea World which is sure to thrill everyone, especially my little marine biologist in the making.  He’s been talking about this ever since we Skyped with L and A back last summer! 🙂

As with any trip we’ve taken, we’ve done what we could to plan and prepare, both ourselves and the kids.  We’ve fully expected periodic meltdowns, and I suppose we’ve had a few.  But the bigger picture seems much brighter than I could have ever hoped for.  There have been belly laughs and wide-eyed awe, hand-holding and morning snuggles, unprompted pleases and thank-yous, and seeing the kids grow before my eyes has been one of the greatest parts of this trip for me.

Stay tuned for what’s sure to be a lengthy picture post indeed! 🙂

As for the change, it still seems so far away because we went right from school, to packing, to vacation and there hardly seems to have been time to really think about the upcoming fall.  And yet, it’s there, on the horizon.  This year, after much consideration, I’ll be taking the year off to spend focused on home and health.  I’m not sick, but given all the various ups and downs I’ve experienced with teaching, I truly felt that if I didn’t do something drastic and get my head back on straight, I wouldn’t last another year, let alone another 15 until retirement.

So, I’m going to read, write, pray, learn, cook, clean, organize, purge, budget, encourage, prepare, volunteer, counsel, and cherish the time I have this upcoming school year.  I welcome any advice and covet each prayer.

Still here…

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So much has been happening lately and I’ve had every intention of posting pictures and thoughts about each activity…but haven’t slowed down much to actually make that a reality.  Instead of letting another day go by without at least recording the events for me to think back on someday, I decided to take 5 minutes and jot them down here.  Even a bulleted list is better than nothing, right?!

(Of course I have a few pictures of some of these things, and I really want to post them…I’ll try to add them sometime soon!)

  • January/February is coaching season for Hubs and this year, we’ve appointed the kids as managers.  So they’ve helped give water to the girls as needed, clean up the empty cups, put basketballs away and generally cheer on the 8th graders as they play hard!  It’s been fun and adorable watching them, and they’ve both picked up some basketball skills along the way too! 🙂
  • Buddy and I scored some last-minute tix to the Mother-Son Activity Night and we sure had a great time!  It was such a good reminder to take time just one-on-one with the kids!
  • We participated in our first ever Awana Grand Prix and learned that we’ll need to spend a little more time on the design and construction of the car than we did this year.  It was a good experience though!  Despite the reminders that it wasn’t about winning, there were still tears when trophies were awarded and he was handed a ribbon.  Hard lesson, but hopefully one that he’ll take to heart.
  • Sis and Daddy headed to the Daddy Daughter Dance on Valentine’s Eve!  She woke up at 5am the day of the dance, which also happened to be ONE of her preschool party days!  She wore the special dress to school and kept it spotless, so she could wear it for her big date that evening!  Hubs said she was a riot and that she didn’t stop dancing or smiling all the entire time they were there!
  • Valentine’s Parties!!  I used the new Silhouette Cameo I bought with a friend to cut some super cute cards!  We’ve been crafting up a storm with this thing!
  • Kids spent last weekend with Aunt Julie and got to see a few cousins, go swimming and generally get spoiled by treats, movies and later bedtimes.  They’re already asking when they can go back again!  We were able to enjoy a dinner out and then I took pictures at the Winterfest game, which was a lot of fun (and still on my list of projects to finish!).
  • For the first time since I can recall we actually had President’s Day off from school – no Professional Development or anything!  So we picked up kids from Julie then headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner.  Afterwards, we all went into Aunt Cheri’s house and found GGMA and GGPA there as well as Aunt Meri and Uncle Jeff!  It was a regular Bigg Small Group! 🙂  We had a great time and spent the night with Mom and Dad before heading home the next afternoon.
  • We nearly escaped February without sick kiddos, but this past week, Sis woke up with a fever and a sore throat.  It kept her pretty much out of commission from Wednesday until today.  She still has a sore throat, but there wasn’t anything the doctor’s could find to treat, so we’re just hoping that she’ll continue to stay fever free (and that others in the house won’t catch whatever it was!).
  • This week we have a couple more basketball games, Awana, and Sis is starting gymnastics.  Then, a few family members are headed northward to celebrate Great Papa’s 90th birthday party, while one of us heads westward to photograph a wedding!

{Four Years and} Six Months Later

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Having resurrected this here blog over our holiday break, I began looking back through some draft posts that never quite made it through to publication.  I found this one, written in February of 2009 and I thought it was just begging to be published.  Ironically, one of the milestones I mention, is about to happen in the fall!

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Despite the waning frequency with which I’m sharing the ups and downs around our household, things really are happening!  I can scarcely believe that it’s already been an entire six months since my precious girl arrived!  All too often I focus on the stress, the crammed schedule, the piles of work (house and school) that remain untouched.

But today –  when I heard her waking earlier than usual, my arms ached to hold her.  Sitting there, in the dark of the morning, I smiled thinking back on the excitement that the day had arrived when my water broke – also before dawn.

Holding my sweet, sweet angel and feeling her contentment was an blessed way to begin my day.  I pray for the clarity to see these moments more often, and to cherish them, for if this half-year has passed so quickly, I can only imagine how soon it will seem that she’s starting school and then requesting the keys.