Thursday, May 27, 2010

last post from the 'root

Photobucket
Thunderstorms have ricocheted back and forth across the valley all day today. When I dropped Amelia at her preschool this morning, my windshield wipers were going full speed and the bird was putting her green frog boots to work in every puddle between the parking lot and school door. Seems like I was just posting pictures of her first day of school, and today was her last since we’ll be leaving for our new home in the morning. By 10:30 the sun was burning through the clouds so I hustled Aven into the stroller and ran my 40 minute run in 30 minutes because I had a loaf of bread in the oven that really didn’t need more than 30 minutes, and I had to grab a quick shower before I picked up the bird- so as not to offend any other mamas with my post-run-less-than-fabulous-self when saying our goodbyes. I felt pretty together- endorphins flowing from the run, pulling this beautiful loaf of bread out of the oven just in time,

Photobucket
(I didn't bake it in the toaster...just used the rack to cool)

showering off the sweat and getting dressed to find this freshly-awoken little thing just chilling in the stroller in the backyard-
Photobucket
definitely one of those 'I-can-rock-this-motherhood-thing' moments.

Photobucket

We had Amelia’s birthday this weekend- a few weeks early, but it was a good excuse to get everyone together before we leave. She has been talking for months about her birthday party and how she would have a chocolate cake, with white frosting, “andthenblowoutthecandles!”

Photobucket

Which is just about how it happened!
Photobucket
Photobucket
Aven is getting stronger and more agile every day. She climbs up on this chair all by her crazy self!
Photobucket
The other day we were running errands downtown and Ameila decided she needed to pick every single dandelion for the entire length of an alley. I tried to hurry her along at first, but eventually just gave in and ended up picking flowers with her. On the way home she handed flowers out to everyone who stopped to talk to her, which was just about everyone whe passed on the street. One lady even recited a poem she'd written about dandelions!
Photobucket
I can't believe she will soon be three...

Thursday, May 20, 2010

home-making

We have about a week before we officially set up residence in our new home. I feel like I keep forgetting that this change is so immanent, that our daily lives are going to soon look very different.
Photobucket
I’ve lived in this valley for almost five years, and in our funky little white house for four. We have always talked about how to change it, fix it up, improve it, make it a little less funky. But we never really have, although it has changed so much since I’ve lived here. This is the house we brought two new babies home to, planted way more gardens than any sane people would, crowded our friends into our tiny kitchen for dinner and drinks and stories. In the summers we listen to Joan Zen playing downtown through our open bedroom window, in the winter we haul load after load of firewood through the house to the woodstove to keep us warm, as we watch storms move across the mountains. Mike comes home for lunch most days, I walk the girls to the library for storytime, Amelia opens any door of the house and wanders the yard on her own, visiting the chickens, playing in the sandbox, climbing her willow.
Photobucket
This house is not fancy- it is generous to call it plain. It’s been a good home for the last four years.

So, once again, (because I am my mother's daughter (and my dad's, too, although he doesn't say it, he lives it), I say: ‘Life is an ocean, always in motion.’
Photobucket

Off we go!

Photobucket

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Friday, May 14, 2010

Friday, May 7, 2010

rally

Our valley had sun today so the girls and I spent all morning at the park with friends; swinging, sliding, riding bikes, trading bikes, fighting over bikes, eating each others' snacks, etc...It finally feels like spring! Hooray! Just in case you were wondering what absolute joy looks like:
Photobucket
It's been cold in this part of the world...very cold for May. It's been hard to keep two kids occupied inside when all we want to do run around barefoot in the grass...and, while an umbrella holds a lot of allure for a two-year-old, there are only so many times I feel like I can rally the enthusiasm for yet another freezing rain walk.

I can't blame it all on the weather-it is a combination of lack of sleep (I celebrated prematurely when Aven only woke up twice the other night- last night was 4x and Amelia was up once, too!), lack of organization, and an overwhelming 'to-do' list...which all combine to leave me attempting to balance: a) some inner peace, and b) some enthusiasm all while carrying Aven in one arm, while cooking dinner, and answering questions about dinosaurs, and hanging diaper covers out on the line, and getting the eggs from the chicken coop, and answering the phone, etc....! And with Mike working a lot (he left at 4:30 this morning and we won't see him until probably after 7....x6 days a week since the middle of March!), I'm feeling the single-parent pressure (how do they do it?)

So I've started to have these 'rally' moments. When I feel like I'm getting close to the abyss of frustration where I have no idea how to get it all done and still enjoy my life- I stop and I rally. We turn up the radio and have a kitchen dance party, or I ingest some more caffine, or I take some pictures, or I pile my girls on top of each other on the bed until we're all laughing...whatever it takes, to stop, collect myself, and keep going. With love for what I'm doing. That's really the key- I could just slog through another crazy day...but I don't want to. I want to love it.

The rally is essential...many, many times over the course of the day!

My garden is very scaled back this spring since we're moving and I'm not even sure what I'll do with the plants I've started since I have no prepared garden for them at our new place...hmmm...will have to think about that...Anyway, beautiful peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants are all kicking.
Photobucket
I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner...fun with a typewriter!
Photobucket
Post-bath naked time:
Photobucket
Bed head...and slow mornings reading lots of books...
Photobucket It still amazes me that I'm actually in charge of two whole people...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Monday, May 3, 2010

strange findings...

I'm doing a lot of packing these days, and I keep coming across this strange phenomenon...so I started to document it...There are rocks all over my house...In a cup next to the honey, forming a tiny cairn pile on our desk, in my junk basket...Just minding their own business on the shelf above the sink...
And apperently the phenom spreads all the way to my car...hmm....

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...