enjoying an unexpected journey
You may have heard of the Elf on the Shelf. Perhaps it’s a long standing tradition in your home.
If you haven’t heard of it, you can check out the Elf on the Shelf official website, or check out some fun Elf pictures here.
Well, we don’t have an Elf on the Shelf at our house. That doesn’t mean our shelves are entirely empty. Nope, we have something on our shelf.
Brace yourself. [Read more...]
I meant to take pictures for our family Christmas card over a month ago. It just didn’t happen. A few days ago, we decided at the last minute to drive a few miles out of town to our favorite orchard. I grabbed our tripod, made my kids and husband put on clothes that coordinated with what I was wearing, and told the two youngest and my husband that they OWED ME–big time–for all of the help I’d given them on their costumes, and so it was time to grin and bear it. Literally.
Attempting to take our family photos by myself reminded me of something important: JUST FORK OUT THE MONEY NEXT YEAR AND LET A PROFESSIONAL DO IT. Let’s face it, no one’s going to look good when their mother is yelling at them, “Turn this way! Drop your chin! I said don’t move! Hold on a second, I have to figure out how to use my camera. Don’t squint!” And the other reality? My kids will actually cooperate better with a stranger behind the lens than they will with me behind the lens.
Here are my two favorite pictures from our trip to the orchard:
The Bionic Man and I have a rule that our children need to do some kind of activity on a regular basis that will keep their bodies moving. Our goal is not to produce Olympians, it is simply to give them the opportunity to find activities they will enjoy that will help them stay healthy.
Fall means cross country season for Endeavor.
This is her second year as part of her middle school’s cross country team. Last year, when she started, it took her 23 minutes the first time she ran the 3K course. This year, she can do it in less than 14 minutes. Running has helped Endeavor to deal with stress. She’s learned that she feels better after she runs, even when she’s had a hard day at school. Running has also taught Endeavor to eat. She has learned to recognize the connection between her body and it’s need for healthy food to power it up. She’s ravenous after she runs, and I’ll tell you: for the mom of what used to be three very picky, sporadic eaters, it’s good to be down to two. (Her grandmas will be interested to note that Endeavor still won’t eat cereal with milk, though.) [Read more...]
Today I sent my three children off to school. Hunter the dog and I waved good bye as the school bus drove away (well, I waved, and Hunter looked downtrodden–he’s not a fan of those big yellow monsters that take his peeps away) and then we went for a run. I took a leisurely shower, after which I let my good friend Nicole in the house. She’d just dropped off her youngest at kindergarten, and needed some chat therapy. (I love it when I can provide a service and do my own dishes at the same time.) And now I’m sitting down to the computer, about to update someone else’s blog widgets and write some articles and be a productive, wage-earning member of society.
I know, my life is just one thrill after another. But I like it that way–I’ve come to appreciate the magic of ordinary days.
Every once in a while I like to take a break from the glue guns and spray paint and the “fluff” of my life that I generally write about here, and revisit the topics that started my blog. Last year, I wrote something to explain that, and I want to re-post part of that blog entry, today. [Read more...]
“Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?
Do you swim in a pool, to keep yourself cool, or swing in a tree up high?Is that what you do? So do I!”
- Songs for Children
Great-grandpa has some of the best trees for climbing my children have ever seen.
Hunter the dog thought they were okay, too. [Read more...]
This is one of my two big brothers. For blogging purposes, I’m going to call him Bill. Hi, Bill!
Some of my earliest memories of my brother Bill took place on a family vacation, when I was just a little squirt of 2 or 3 years. My grandparents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, and took all their posterity on a cross-country road trip. While I remember very little of any of the sightseeing we did along the way, I do remember sleeping in a pop-up trailer, near my brother, Bill.
This seemingly insignificant detail was made memorable by Bill’s whispered revelations of our family’s past, before we fell asleep each night in that pop-up trailer. After all, he told me marvelous bits of family history previously unknown to me. Until Bill told me all about it, I had no idea that–prior to my birth–our family had lived in the jungle. [Read more...]
