Friday, May 29, 2015

Beauty of Simplicity

Lots of purging, dumping and organizing has been happening around here. It's a little late in the season to call it spring cleaning... but, it's hopefully the start of keeping it simple around here. When there are tornado threats daily (at times), and flash flood warnings daily (at times), it's amazing how quickly you throw together a bag filled with the important stuff (important paperwork/documents, camera, external hard drive, etc.), grab the kids, and head to the storm shelter. The older I get, the less attached I've become to "things". It's amazing how unimportant it all is in the scheme of things... trust me, it used to not be so easy. As I've been packing boxes (for the garage sale that we've been having today and tomorrow), Charlotte has been so devastated as to why I'm "getting rid of things"... and I've been trying to explain to her the beauty of simplicity...and that we shouldn't place so much emphasis on "things". Today, near the end of the garage sale, she started pulling out some of her own toys to sell. Wow. It made me stop in my tracks to hear her get excited about certain belongings as she showed them off to any/all who would listen...

On another note... a little furry four legged beast has made it's way to our house... it's a tiny little guy... and the girls (okay, and us) are totally smitten with it. I should say, all but Runyan. It's been hanging out with us all while prepping for the garage sale, and during the sale. I never knew I'd meet a little one who would match Runyan in the "sweet department". Seriously, this cat has a darling disposition. So, we are on a trial run to see if we can make this work with him... he's pretty irresistible.










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Monday, May 25, 2015

Beautiful Things

It has been a little over 4 years (2 days over to be exact)... since we first laid eyes on the little girl that would make us parents... I cannot even begin to fathom, where all these years have gone. Oh this little girl, who keeps us on our toes daily, who cares like nobody else I know, who can be the silliest... she has come so far in the 4 years that we've known her, and we are beyond thankful, to call her ours.

We've known her for nearly a whole handful... and she is just that, a handful... but she's my first baby... and I wouldn't want it any other way. Couldn't imagine it, any other way...



















She delights in the smallest of things... and it's such an amazing thing to witness... It doesn't take a parade to get her to smile. She could eat salami sandwiches everyday for lunch if I let her. Whatever ailments her friends have (broken arms, twisted ankle, strep throat, etc.), her dolls all of a sudden have. She has a song, for every situation... some that are even made up by her. She twirls as she walks, and you are left wondering if she's going to break out in dance at any moment. She smells like stale Cheerios and orange mango sorbet. She practices her cartwheels...everywhere...trying to "perfect" them... still doesn't quite understand how "perfect" doesn't exist...her knobbly little knees... the way her left eye still turns inward... her feet that are so torn up from walking barefoot everywhere... her little gap between her two front teeth...  oh how there's such beauty in imperfection.

"You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us"
- Beautiful Things, Gungor

Here's last year's post... for those that love to see all the changes. And then this post, which is a raw take on how I felt the moment I first met her.
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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

School's Out...

Oh, the sweetest feeling... to know that school is out for the summer. Some dread it... but for me, it's bliss... a little bit of "me" time, instead of teaching Charlotte. For Charlotte, well, now her ENTIRE day will be filled with "play" instead of just a few hours. We'll still continue to nature journal, and write her penpal... but for now, it's my honor to say, that I have a second grader on my hands... where has the time gone?








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Monday, May 18, 2015

Sisters, Sidewalk Chalk, Sweet Little Tails

We only have a few days left until our neighborhood pool/splash pad open... so we have tons of time to occupy until swimming takes over our days. I think we go through a box of sidewalk chalk... a week. There are usually pictures EVERYWHERE on our driveway... porches... or they chalk up themselves. For me, it's so sweet to watch. I love seeing what they create, or how well they draw together (it's the one time they're not fighting over something), or sometimes I just like the view of the little pigtails and pony tails...











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Sunday, May 17, 2015

On The Move

On Mother's Day, Finn decided he'd try to crawl for the very first time... and each day since, he's done more and more than the day before. This kid has the CUTEST crawl (really, photos don't do it justice). It's a wounded soldier, leg drag sort of crawl... but it gets him exactly where he wants to go. He's on the move... my baby, is on the move... and it makes him seem SO old and independent. He doesn't want to sit in my lap so much anymore, he doesn't want to be held so much anymore... he just wants to be on the move.










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Friday, May 15, 2015

I want to remember...

I decided a few days ago, that lists... well, to do lists are just being thrown out the window. I can't handle them anymore. You know, you cross one thing off, and add two more things. They are started on one paper and then you can't find that paper, so you start another on a different sheet of paper... and then you find your old list... and so the vicious cycle continues, until you have five lists in front of you, instead of just one. I've started compartmentalizing... I do what NEEDS to be done, and toss all the other stuff out. There's absolutely no reason for me to feel terrible about not getting something done... there's too much playing to be had with my littles, and that takes full priority. I'd rather look back on my day remembering that I pushed the kids on their swing/rope swing, and laughed over the fact that Finn ate dirt (and seemed to like the taste)/. I want to remember the smell of the kids after playing outside all day, and how knotty their hair was. I want to remember all the dirt stains that accumulated over time, that each wash couldn't get rid of. I want to remember all the strawberries that never made it inside, because we were too busy picking and eating right then and there in the garden. I want to remember how dirty the tub water was... the dirtier, the better the day.










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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Savoring The Sunlight

Day after day I check the weather channel app on my phone and I see rain after rain after rain in our forecast. We've had a TON of rain, to say the least... Warnings of flash flooding, tornados, thunderstorms, hail and rain. The craziest Spring that I've ever seen. Amounts of water that have fallen, that haven't fallen in over 100 years (or so they say). There haven't been too many moments of sunshine in between, but when there was, you betcha' we were outside.... savoring that sweet sunlight.













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