Amelia Island

Sunrise from our deck.

I want to share a hundred pictures with you. From these pictures I'd love for the sun, relaxation, and giggles to ooze out and fill you with joy the way we were filled last week.

Mostly of beach scenes, running down the boardwalk, crabs, clams, herons, turtles, and even a striped snake, these pictures reflect a spot of time very well lived.

The pictures are of my sweet family and their unique ways of spending days with no agendas other than enjoy.
Of Asher karate chopping at waves, yelling at them to stay back.
Of Amelie clinging to Daddy in complete trust of his ability to keep her safe.
Of Asa stepping in sand for the first time and his fasincation with the swirling water at our feet.
Of Walter and his delight in spending time with the kids on the sand and in the water.
Of me living in time minus a list - knitting, reading, having an opportunity to enjoy my own children.

I can't share them all with you, but these are a few.


Our only family picture of the trip! Yummy gourmet cupcakes we made 6 last over 4 nights.

Kids on the beach before sunrise the first day! They couldn't wait (neither could I!) 

Love introducing babies to sand!

A rare moment of Asa sitting on the sand.

Daddy loving his kids.

Three

And she is Three.

I love her words, endless words. Words describing friends and imaginary happenings. Talk about Bunny Foofoo who is coming soon for a sleepover. Admiring words of Asher and the great feats he can accomplish. Adoring words of our Baby Asa or sometimes the one we call Buddy Boo.


The ensembles she chooses for the day make me smile. Scarves in 70 degree weather. Sunglasses on the darkest dreariest winter day, always bracelets, necklaces and a "headfan," "owl feathers," or a "kitty tail" in her hair. Today for her birthday, she chose two sets of sunglasses on her head.

A day can bring a moment of complete joy over hot chocolate and then a second later a meltdown over applesauce instead of yogurt for lunch.

She loves to be close, to be touching, and just to hang out with mommy. Mommy-daughter fun has been more fun than I thought and I'm so thankful for my sweet three year old AMELIE!

Six

Now he is six.

Asher the Rockstar who became Asher the Knight who became Asher the Sheriff who became Asher the Kindergartner who loves all things Lego especially Ninjago.

When I first looked into his brilliant blue eyes, there was no way I could have anticipated the battles we would have. Battles that span from eating food to wearing jeans and challenging him to simply show a little emotion.


But there was also no way I could have anticipated the thoughtful sweetness, cut and dry rule following, or creative artistic expressions.


His dealings with the things life throws his way challenge me to find a good response. There have been times I've never wanted to hurt someone more than when they have hurt my boy. But more often, I've never wanted more to set a good example of trusting God and treating people kindly.

He brings out my worst moments of impatience and angry outbursts, but I hope I've also practiced forgiveness and selfless love more than before.

Never dull and always an adventure I'm so thankful for Asher, my six year old boy.

Things that make me smile

I'm back and hoping to be back more frequently, but life is life and I'm embracing what it is and at this time not what my vision for it would be.

I've accumulated a image gallery of things that have made me smile in the past few weeks and I'll share them here with you.

Proof that my little girl is bookended by two smaller boys and one boyish daddy. Wielding a sword before her first birthday and regularly requesting her brother to fight with her, I love that my little sweetie does maintain girlish loves as well. And so it is no surprise and yet completely shocking to see this T-Rex serving as a holder for her Hello Kitty necklace.

My Superbowl contribution! I didn't invent this tasty cupcake, I found it somewhere here online with all the inspirations I intend to do someday!  I love the smile it gave to everyone who saw it and I loved even more the tastiness of buffalo flavor, blue cheese, and hot sauce infused cake.  My new Superbowl staple!

And finally these chairs. I don't ever want to forget these chairs.

You might wonder what is out of the ordinary, but I will point out that the closeness of the two is no accident. I usually sit on the left chair and Amelie sits on the right.  I start off breakfast or lunch a reasonable distance away from  my girl, but as soon as she realizes where she is, she hops off her chair and pushes her stool into mine until they are lined up and touching all along the seat.

It actually drives me crazy since she often wiggles herself onto my chair entirely and being a right handed eater, I have little room to feed myself or reach for a drink.
In the moment I get annoyed. But in the big scheme, I love it. Love that she wants to be "right next to you."
These are the things. The things that make me smile today!
Take a look around. Be a stranger in your home and find the ordinary to you but unusual to the world things that make you smile.

2012 Intentional soaking

Am I too late for 2012 resolutions?  One month into the year and although I've been thinking about this for weeks, I'm finally finding time to get my hopes and plans down.

I'm not a big resolution person, but for the past two years, I've loved writing a story for the year. Maybe it's more of setting the scene for the year and dreaming of the setting I'd like to be living in next December.

Last year I planned for a year of quiet purpose. I wanted to write and read much. Honestly those stacks of journals I had hoped to fill still have many blank pages. The writing books I planned to read were carried around with me for a few days and then other reading priorities replaced them.
My bookshelves did get decorated and the weed boxes in our backyard produced radishes, peas, tomatoes, and one fantastic green pepper. And so I completed the practical.

At this stage of life, the practical usually rises to the top of the pile as the urgent and the dreaming, the planning, the reflection sinks lower and lower on the priority list.

In the middle of the practical, I did lots of snuggling, soaked in the sweetness of my newborn, and tried to take a mental snapshot of those precious times.

For 2012 then, I look forward to more of the same. I hope to write. Not just the assignments or hoped submissions, but write to write. The way I always have in a small cute notebook where my thoughts jump and wander.

As I think of a friend, one I've wanted to know deeper, who is facing a scary health issue, my thoughts have been wondering what she would be doing in her moments when uncertainty about the future is so real. Would she be finishing one last kitchen chore or reading a book with her preschooler? I imagine there is much intentionality.

In 2012, I want to frequently ask myself those questions about the best use of my time and more often than not choose the thing that will not always be the option.

When December 31 2012 arrives, I hope to roll my eyes over the number of words I've written on a page wondering when I'll ever read them again and what purpose they will serve in all practicality. The setting in my house still won't be perfect or as cute as I'd want it to be, but I would like to have our office transformed into a well-used working space. As Asa gets older and we figure out what works in getting us out of the house, I hope we have chosen to geocache, be outside, get the table messy, and soak in the time.
Although it's well into 2012, I take this time to say goodbye to 2011 the year of quiet purpose and welcome 2012 the year of intentional soaking.

Here's to a year of soaking it all in!

Desperation

We haven't had a lot of snow yet this year and my kids are so anxious to do all the snow things.  They have great memories from all of the angels, forts, and snowball fights they had with all of the snow last year and are getting desperate to experience that fun again. So when it snowed (dusted) last week, they were out the door and getting their fill. 


I've wanted things that bad. I know how they feel.
Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

Bootcamp

On this last day of Christmas break, I pushed the snooze button, reset my alarm, and justified to myself that I would still get some quiet time in because the kids would probably sleep in. After all I had reminded them before turning out the lights last night that it would be their last chance to have a lazy morning.

Actually, I meant to say, this is mommy's last chance to sleep in, so please don't wake up early!

And so why am I surprised that I had companions on both sides of me this morning while I tried to have a quiet time alone? We've already had a fight over pillows, a meltdown about wanting me to retrieve a blanket, and spilled coffee two times and it's not yet 8 o'clock.

So yeah, no pain no gain. If I had pushed through my sleepiness and rolled out of bed when my alarm buzzed, I would have had a quiet hour alone but I didn't take the pain and I missed out on the gain of time spent alone receiving from God.

I hate to say it, but doing hard things often gets the best results.

I've been squatting, lunging, sprinting, and planking at bootcamp twice a week for almost six months.  While those workouts leave me exhausted and believing I will not be able to hold my baby for the rest of the day, I am seeing great results. (Thanks Emily!)

I also see results of facing family difficulties head-on.  Amelie is almost potty-trained. Asher is kind to his siblings. Asa is still nursing even though I thought we would not make it this long. Getting the kids to embrace behaviors that seemed like mountains to climb hasn't been easy, but that pain has also been worth the gain.

Living life as a bootcamp isn't what I'm advocating.  But I am suggesting that pushing through the hard things we don't want to do might just be worth it.

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