Tag Archives: kids

Leaf Pile

Happiness is a pile of leaves!

This Moment – Shaving

A Friday ritual . A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I know this was in the happy photo challenge gallery but it is too perfect of a “this moment” picture to pass by!

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy

Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy

These are a few of the things that made me happy this Wednesday.

Clara got an ant farm for her birthday. John thinks I’m obsessed with it. I think looking at the ants makes me happy!
My husband. Not only does he make me happy but I intended that he be featured in the MINE photo challenge. Sadly I didn’t manage to get a picture of him last week.
Decorating cakes
Oh, Diet Coke, how you make me happy. When combined with chocolate and a good book – bliss. On second thought ignore that book, that book is not making me happy!
Kids and Dogs playing outside together
Flowers from John
Beautiful fall days!

Notable absences are:

Trip – Who is with my brother in Montana happily hunting without me.

Ivy  – Sadly I missed the photo of her and Clara collecting eggs together. Kids playing together while doing chores makes me happy, happy, happy!

And the Ducks  -I challenge you to watch a line of duck walk around and not be just a little bit happier. I also challenge you to get within photographing distance of my ducks without panicking them out of there cute little ducky line.

Hope you also had a happy day!

Update:

In terrible mothering moments of the week I forgot to include Jane in my post. Of course she is a part of my daily happiness – she smiles lots, she giggles, she’s easy going, content and oh so easily overlooked in the chaos of the rest of the house.

On a positive note I haven’t forgotten her anywhere – yet – but I do take roll call when we get in the truck!

The Golf Ball Birthday

For the last two months we’ve been asking Clara what she would like for her birthday and the answer has been:

“Golf balls, all colors.”

Every time.

This kind of consistency  from a girl who can’t decide what shoes she’s going to put on and stick with that decision all the way out the door- we got the hint. John and I spread the word and today the gift that got the biggest squeal was the one that also had her exclaiming: “My golf balls!!! They are all colors!!!”

Clara is now officially three years old and the proud and happy owner of at least 28 golf balls.

And because I know you are on the verge of asking, no, I have no idea why she wanted golf balls or where she got the idea. But, after today I can tell you what Clara will do with them. She will carry them around in her shirt, she will pretend to juggle them, she will “sell” them to people, she will “buy” them back, she will roll them, she will fill her new baby cradle with them and put her new doll to sleep on top of them, she will put them in bags, she will take them out of bags and before bed she will pick the perfect spot that her golf balls “want to be” before she crawls into bed herself!

Happy birthday Clara! I hope I never forget your happy squeals over your golf balls because I have a sinking suspicion that we are going to be finding them in odd places for about the next 28 years!

Did I just say what I thought I said VII?

Let me just ask you something.

Have you ever looked at a young child while eating and thought, “Hmmm, you know what would be great? If that kid comes over here and smells my food by putting their nose directly on it. Yup, that’d make this meal just about perfect.”?
No, of course you haven’t.
Because nobody wants anybodies nose on their food.
Ever.
The End.

Clara the pirate says “Arrggh Mighty!”

But…
But.
But, we have this food smelling thing going on in our house.
You know, the thing where Clara can’t eat some kinds of food so she just sweetly asks to smell them and then it breaks everyone’s heart so everyone lets her smell her food anyway even though it’s rather odd.

That thing.

Well, now she’s becoming more demanding: “I smell it with my nose on it?”

(The answer to that, in case you were wondering is- NO.)

But, there are times when Clara doesn’t ask, and my food gets nose smelled before I get a say in the matter, which makes me less than happy.

And if a certain sweet girl happens to throw a giant fit over the fact that I will not let her smell anything else with her nose on it and I catch her in the act of nose smelling another of my food items anyway – that’s when it happens:

“YOU CAN ONLY PUT YOUR NOSE ON ONE THING OF MINE A DAY!”

Yup.

That’s me, raising children one ridiculous edict at a time.

Growing Up

Ivy and I had a chat about what she thinks she might like to do when she grows up.

I was thinking nurse.

I was thinking doctor.

I was thinking ballerina, cowgirl, teacher, farmer, mother…

Ivy was thinking differently.

“Mom, -this is the very best part -when I get older, I’m going to drive your cars.  Aaannnnd if you let me drive your cars…. I’m going to…. live with…. YOU GUYS!!!!”

Fortunately she missed my look of horror as she threw herself into my arms for a gigantic hug.

I’m pretty sure that in  a few years she’ll change her mind all on her own.

But, just in case, nobody tell her how my debit card works, alright?!
Sorry, I’m afraid my computer and I are still have disagreements so you’ll just have to pretend that there is a super cute picture of Ivy here!

 

The Nap Monster

One minute there I was lining up an afternoon of cooking and preserving and the next -wham!- the Nap Monster got me and I was out for a time better measured in hours than in minutes.
These attacks have become a reoccurring issue. You see the problem is that I have a tendency to travel deep into nap monster habitat, completely unprepared for attack. After lunch, I take Jane and we lay down in my bed together to nurse her before nap time: it’s warm, it’s cuddly, it’s the afternoon, it’s Nap Monster habitat if I’ve ever heard it.  And my packing for this trip through Nap Monster habitat – it never helps. I’m just not prepared to fend off the Nap Monster with the supplies I bring for my trip. In fact I can’t think of a single instance where my book, my pillow, my sweat pants and a nice big blanket ever really helped me hide from the Nap Monster.

The trouble is that I unabashedly love the naps.  Afternoon naps with a baby have been my favorite since I discovered them in 2007 and I’m afraid the number of available opportunities is dwindling. In fact next time Jane and I dive into Nap Monster habitat I might just give him a big “Hallooo” and let him know I’m coming – just so I don’t let another opportunity pass me by.

Observant

Right now, at this very moment, on our desk we have:

  • cd’s
  • blank cd’s
  • blank DVDs that have never been used
  • two library movies
  • a cutting mat I used three weeks ago and never put away
  • junk mail
  • real mail (sadly bills)
  • the thingy that the real mail is supposed to be in
  • all the other junk that is actually in the thingy the bills are supposed to be in
  • a dictionary
  • a pencil
  • a one dollar bill
  • an external hard drive
  • one headband
  • some blue circular thing with weird wire in it that John attempted to use to clean out pipes in the bathroom
  • a nail clippers
  • two empty glasses
  • a computer monitor
  • the keyboard
  • the mouse (not a real one- phew)
  • speakers
  • a check book
  • a FarmTek catalog
  • dirt
  • the six CD holder thingy that is for the truck
  • a wedding invitation to a wedding that has come and gone
  • the remote for the radio
  • a few of Ivy’s worksheets from school
  • health insurance information
  • a small pink lamp with a white lady on it
  • a crayon drawing by Clara
  • a painting by Clara
  • miscellaneous cords to plug miscellaneous items into the computer
  • one Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup wrapper wadded up into a small ball

Today Clara looked at the desk and said: “Mom what you eatin’?”

Me: “Nothing.”

Clara points to wrapper: “Noooo,  what that from?”

Busted.

Some could look at this situation and think – “Man, that lady sits at her computer surrounded by a gigantic mess and eats peanut butter cups while her kids are sleeping and then tries to deny it.”

John will no doubt  look at this situation and think: “A WRAPPER!?” (He hates wrappers not thrown away. I have trouble getting them to the garbage. It’s an issue.)

But not me.

I look at this situation and think – “Wow, Clara has got some excellent observation skills!”

Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

Near, Far… it’s all relative, right?

This is Jane sleeping on the far side of the room looking though the keyhole in the door near the camera…

Near and far, yes?

Yes.

Thanks for coming with me on that one.

And I know what you are thinking.

You are thinking this would be so much better with a bit of Jane’s face.

It wasn’t.

Curled sleeping baby hands in sunlight – good.

Parts of sleeping baby face through crib bars – surprisingly creepy.

Crib bars are not good for the complexion.

You can see a few more Near and Far keyhole pictures (arguably more interesting ones since they involve things like faces) I’ve taken in the past in Good News… Bad News… and Sweet Sisters.