The Saturday Evening Blog Post

Elizabeth Esther collects the "best of" posts on the first Saturday of every month, an opportunity for bloggers to gather and share their favourite post from the previous month. I've submitted Teaching Myself my own Lessons, and it looks like there's quite a few other interesting posts to check out.

Elizabeth is one of my newest favourite blogs to read. Snarky, sweet and fun all at the same time, she blogs about (amongst other things) growing up in an abusive fundamentalist church and her subsequent return to Jesus and conversion to Catholicism. I appreciate the way her straight-forward words are tempered with a light-hearted kindness. If you're checking out the SEBP, take some time to browse through her blog as well.

Good night, all!

Word Pictures

I've been forgetting my camera more often than not lately.

Although there is always the expected twinge of disappointment when I first realize I've left it at home once again, I can't deny the feeling of being more fully present and engaged when I'm not constantly watching for that perfect photo to capture the moment.

And yet I don't want to forget those moments either...

So many trips to the park, where the boy's first request is always to be pushed on the tire swing, higher, faster! Pure joy as he swings and spins through the air. The baby's grins and giggles as he swings in the baby swing. The boy sharing his cars with the other kids in the sandbox, each of them trading back and forth, working out their disagreements amongst themselves. The baby alternating between crawling around and chomping on grass and sticks...

Apple picking with our other young home schooling friends, fall jackets and rosy cheeks that match the deliciously sweet apples. Watching him pull on an apple, nearly falling over when it finally lets go. Pockets full of small treasures, leaves and tiny berries found amongst the apple trees. Running down the rows, tripping and laughing with that full-out enthusiasm that we somehow seem to lose as we grow older...

Picnics celebrating another year together, "not back to school", home learners gathering to enjoy days with our children and each other. Climbing trees, getting braver, trying to follow the older kids but just not quite ready. Hushed children gathered around a field mouse, watching him eat. The wide open ocean, the shore blanketed in sea shells. Walking in the tide pools, deeper and deeper until the water pours over the top of rubber boots, filling them, the squelching sound accompanying us as we say goodbye...

Curious faces pressed against the glass at the museum, questions pouring forth...

My boys with their Grandma and Great-Grandma, a rare visit with family far away. My mother's grin as she talks with her first grandson, holds her second one, me silently asking myself why I had been so anxious, so worried. Forgive me, Lord, my unjust judgement. Pent up energy bursting forth on the ferry back home, little boy running wild circles on the deck, wind nearly blowing him over...

Thanksgiving with their Oma, Opa, and aunties. Puppies chasing and nipping at boot-covered heals. A bonfire followed by a bath to wash the marshmallow out of a certain boy's blonde hair. His Opa pushing him on the swing, both of them gloriously happy and content in that moment. Endless books read on their Oma's lap...

Old friends reunited, walking ahead, hand-in-hand, stopping to fill pockets with red leaves and yellow flowers. Oh, to see excitement and beauty in everything, as they do...

Sweaty red faces, deliriously happy, racing around a gym packed full of all the best toys - balls, ride-on cars, trucks, trampolines, swings, ropes, mats, crawl tunnels, play houses, slides, toys, teeter-totters, and more. Preschoolers alternating between fits of selfishness and of generosity, claiming toys, giving them up, sharing, collaborating - always, always, growing and learning. The baby taking tentative steps towards independence, crawling away to explore, back for reassurance, then away again...

Slow walks through the forest, stopping to inspect slugs, choosing the best rocks to fill pockets with. Listening, watching, observing. Picking the last of the blackberries as we pass by. Leaving the trail to pick our way over tree roots, finding new paths and forging some of our own...

I pray these are the moments they carry with them into adulthood. I know I will cherish them always.

More fun than a barrel of monkeys

Thank you to the very nice couple who posted their sandbox for sale on Craigslist. I can hear my boys laughing and squealing happily as they play in it together in the garage.

It will be lovely as the rain comes this winter for them to have a dry place to play. Their usual patch of dirt in the garden will soon be rather muddy and cold. And what fun would a whole winter be with no place to dig and drive and bury and build? No fun at all, that's what.




Sure, they'll be dirty as all get-out by the time they're ready to come in, but that's what the bathtub is for, right?

Other recent Craigslist finds include a vintage Fisher Price circus train and vintage Fisher Price main street, both with their relevant accessories (people, animals, vehicles). Those have been quietly tucked away for Christmas!

We had such a fun day today. We discovered a community drop-in activity for children in a nearby gymnasium. The gym was filled with balls, ride-on toys, trampolines, swings, ropes, mats, crawl tunnels, play houses, slides, toys, and teeter-totters. Wore my boys out! They both fell asleep in the car on the way home, so I enjoyed a lovely quiet hour sitting out there with my laptop and a peppermint mocha from Starbucks. Bliss, all of it.

Hope your day has been as wonderful as ours.

Surprise!

So. Say you plan a surprise date for your husband. Your first all-by-yourselves date in, like, a year. You line up a babysitter, you buy the tickets, you've got it all planned out. You're golden.

Don't tell the three year old.

Gosh. Writing it out makes it sound so ridiculously obvious.

I'm a dolt.


...In other news, we're going on a date in a couple weeks!

When you come across...

...the baby playing with his older brother's paintbrush and paint water from this morning's activity...



...it's probably best to just laugh and grab the camera...



...and then wonder how toxic that paint was.

By the way, how is this boy almost a whole year old? Where did the last ten months go??

Buckle toy

We spent our Thanksgiving last month with my wonderful in-laws. Every time we visit, I feel so blessed to have their example and their support in my life. They are an incredible family.

The less wonderful part, however, was the 11 hour drive to their house. With two kids. By myself.

Oh, the horror.

(Because the boys and I were going earlier and staying longer than their daddy, I drove them up by myself while he flew there and back. Lucky, lucky man.)

It wasn't all bad. I did take the opportunity to listen to some of my guilty pleasures in the absence of a protesting party. Cher...The Archies...Simple Plan...oh, I am so ashamed right now. Please don't think too poorly of me! And, of course, there was lots of Great Big Sea played - but that's no guilty pleasure. That's just awesome music.

Anyway. I needed a plan to keep the boy occupied during the 11 hour drive. Part of said plan involved the dollar store and some wrapping paper. The idea was to get one new "surprise" every hour of the trip.

Yeah. Tell that to the three year old.

What followed our departure was several hours of "can I open another one now??" Eventually I gave up and he went to town, opening all the remaining packages and then covering himself and his baby brother in stickers.

Meh. Whatever got us there with my sanity intact.

One of my pre-trip projects was a buckle toy for the boy. Buckles don't stay unclipped for long in our home, so I figured it was a sure thing for keeping him occupied.

The general idea came from a tutorial at Quirky Momma, though I pretty much just winged it. I was quite happy with how it turned out.



I added a button and loop so it could be rolled up and fastened when not in use.



More than two weeks later, I often find him clipping away on his new toy. I consider this project a success!

Mornings

I'm not a morning person. Not in the least. But I have two precious boys who make each morning just that slight bit more bearable.

The baby is an early riser (*yawn*). He kicks me out of bed early in the morning because otherwise he lays there happily babbling away and attempting to gouge out his older brother's eyes. This usually results in said older brother taking a few sleepy swings at the wee instigator while I quickly scoop him out of harm's way and leave big bro to snooze for a while longer.

The boy is a boy after my own heart - a night owl and late morning sleeper, just like his parents. One of my favourite moments of every day is when he finally stumbles sleepily from the bedroom to join his "bruzzer" and I. I've learned not to talk to him or even look at him when he comes out, lest I be met with a grumpy roar. I just open my arms and he crawls onto my lap. We snuggle in silence together for a few precious minutes. Finally, he'll say, "I'm hung-ga-ry, Mommy." And so our day together begins.

Thank you, God, for these sweet boys. Raise them up to be men who know, love, and follow You.