Teaching Her How

It's no secret with my family that I love to make chocolate chip cookies. And, I make a pretty mean one if I do say so myself. I have memories of making this same recipe with my mom when I was about three years old, the same age the Fifi is now. She has been more and more interested in helping in the kitchen lately and I am trying to have the patience and the time to let her learn what we are up to in there. I have been working in counting and having her get things from the cupboard.

Today I let her help me, and save for that one egg that was cracked and dropped on the table instead of the bowl, she did pretty darn well. Of course, I think she might be in it more for the spoon licking at the end. I can't really blame her though. By the way, this is the proper way to stand while eating cookie dough. In case you were wondering...

All Hallow's Eve

We carved our punkins weeks ago... At least I have massive amounts of cobwebs strung about the front porch and last year's Christmas lights (that we never bothered taking down) to make up for the molding messes that are pretending to be jack-o-lanters.

At any rate, the day we carved our pumpkins it was a glorious evening in campsite 14. The sun was warm and the fire pit was going. The kids had both gotten naps, unlike today, and everyone was in a pretty darn festive mood. Today, I am having to explain over and over again why we can't eat all the existing candy in our house RIGHT (friggin) NOW. And also why we can't go trick-or-treating until tomorrow.

They don't just give out candy when you knock on the doors on just any old night kiddo... yeah, I don't get it either. At least I got them both a couple of costumes so they can prance around the house swapping out costumes every few of hours...

 

I will keep it spooky if you promise to do the same! Happy (almost) Halloween~

Kindergarten

Today was a big milestone. O started kindergarten.

 

I think we were nervous for him, he was a champ. All smiles. Fifi cried for him the entire ride back to the house. It's strange to be home without him there.

When I picked him up and he was all smiles, we barely got to the parking lot and he was all tears. The day exhausted him. He is hanging out in his room playing on the ipod.

What a crazy new adventure we are on... and what a big kid my baby boy is now.

quiet moments with the kids

It doesn't happen that often these days, those quiet moments during the day.But every now and then, as the world whirls around us, I am stopped in my tracks.

Maybe it's the light or the way the wind is rustling around, what ever it is, I have to stop and take notice.  I breathe in and realize again, and again, and again that I have two amazing kids.

I like that photography helps me slow down time, at least a little bit, with each shutter click.

motherhood

A constant balancing act, the circus swirls on around me as I find my center and breathe.

It's a push and pull, this motherhood thing. They are you, you them- but you are your own person, mind, body.

There is a huge tug at your heart. the kind that will fill it up and make it feel like it will explode.

There are moments that I would like to run away, and I wonder what the hell I am doing.

(photo by O using the Yashica LM. I don't think I could repeat this shot if I tried)

There are times when I stop thinking about it and quiet my worrying mind about choices and ways that I am doing things that might be the same or different from other moms I know. And I am all about the moment and am fully in my choice to be "mommy".

I see me in them, me in my mom, and my mom in them.

I am pretty sure that they picked me to teach me and school me in ways that I never knew I needed.

Happy Mother's Day to ALL of the women in my life. xo

The Girl

Fifi, oh Fifi.

You are independent and feisty. Funny as all get out and my creative partner in crime.

You dress yourself- you have a major thing for PJs and dress upclothes of the princess variety.

You can tell me stories so long and elaborate that I need cliff notes to keep up, you love to paint and draw- sometimes in places you aren't supposed to or with mediums that I would rather see you eating then creating with. But, I usually let it slide because I see how happy it makes you to create and fill the world with COLOR!

You boss your brother around when you play "mommy and daddy", make me read you the Grinch Stole Christmas at least once a day and have your Daddy firmly wrapped around your pinky with your silly faces and jokes.

We passed the bottles onto the garbage man, you are working on going potty on the toilet and are sleeping so much more then you used to at night. When you tell me, "I'm a big girl" I nod my head yes and wonder where my itty bitty baby went.

The boy.

See those hands up there? the ones on the "kit-tar". They still look like chubby todler hands in that shot, but don't let this image fool you. This kids is growing into his big kid shoes way too fast for me these days.



I am not really sure what to think about the fact that my little dude will be 5 years old in 5 months. He has accomplished so many things already this year.



He is riding a bicycle without training wheels, jumping into and swimming around the pool like a little fish, climbing trees like a monkey and writing words (with a bit of help still, but he has his letters down and knows what he wants to say).



I am so proud of this kid.Oh man, does my mama heart swell.

little moments

he's getting big. it blows me away that he came from me... 

I love watching him play and explore.

Team work at the Smile shop.
I am glad he wants to be a dentist when he grows up, because she was scared to get up in that big old chair alone...

silly. silly. silly

she is here to make us laugh. truly.

She is also a move and a shaker.

Swim lesson every Wednesday.
Followed by beautiful nap times.

yoga and post yoga coffee dates with my old coworkers-
who came to my class and made me feel pretty stinking supported on this journey.

blue skies and open windows

clumsy mornings where I spill the beans, literally.

A lap and a heart that is full.