a gracious plenty

What is Love?

2012-02-15T08:19:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I asked the children what Love means. When they said, "It means 'I love you,'" I asked in a different way. "When I say 'I love you' what does that mean?" Here are their answers.

Lucia: It means 'I really love you, Lucia. You are so beautiful.'

Elliott: Much

Mazie: Heart

We hope your Valentine's Day was filled with much beautiful heart.

Mr. Foxy

2012-01-18T08:02:00.001-06:00

We have fox squirrels where we live. We love watching them run and play and jump from tree to tree. We had a good rain yesterday and this little guy came out to play after the clouds passed.
A fox squirrel has a fluffy reddish tail and face markings that look like a bandit mask.
We call every fox squirrel we see "Mr. Foxy" and we always stop to watch them scamper and climb.

One Expensive Cup of Coffee

2012-01-15T08:37:00.002-06:00

I swannee on my soul I can't catch a break with this blog. I was getting back into my groove with it all when last Sunday morning I built a huge bump in my road, a mound of great proportion. Let me paint the picture for you:

I have a chair and ottoman with a small bookshelf on one side and a table on the other side. I sit here in the mornings when I get up. I drink my coffee, read, write, maybe sew a bit. My table usually houses half a dozen books, my sewing box, pens, a picture frame. I have never set my coffee cup on my knee before. I usually put it on the table, occasionally I'll put it on the arm of the chair. For some reason, last Sunday morning I set the coffee on my right knee, bent and standing up beside my computer which was resting on my left thigh. Of course in no time at all the coffee cup started to fall.

The way I grabbed for my coffee cup was the exact way I should have grabbed it if I wanted to spill the entire contents into the center of my laptop's keyboard. The computer immediately made two electrical-type noises and then shut itself down. I don't remember my response exactly, but I feel I immediately made two cussing-type noises and then freaked out.

I love my lap top. I have had it for five years this month. The month we got pregnant with LEM. It has housed my life for the last five years, the most full five years of my life. It has marker on it. The E key is broken, completely gone. I can still see breast milk on it in places. I have loved and abused, tortured and adored this thing.

We have a good friend who is a computer genius. He took pity on me and came to carry the laptop away. He felt sure he could get the hard drive recovered. He said he'd clean up the insides (he used more technical terms than that) and then after 72 hours he'd turn it on and see what happened. But, he laughed the few times I asked him if he thought it would work again. No.

Wednesday evening he brought my beloved back to me--in working order. I am having some significant internet issues, but everything else is there. And, I am hoping the internet can be worked out.

So, here I am with H's laptop, using clip art for images. It doesn't take much to set me back. I'll either get my laptop in working order or load pictures onto this laptop. Until then, I'll just do what I can, which is all I can do.

The moral of the story is ... obvious.

Holiday Joy

2012-01-13T12:03:00.000-06:00

The children had fun making rugalach for Santa. Tia Karen had lots of fun ingredients for them to put inside.
They also loved playing dreidel with their Tia and Cousin Avery. Everyone ended up winning lots of chocolate coins.
Santa did indeed find us at Grandpa and NanaLin's.

Documenting the Two Photographers, or Dueling Cameras.
Grandpa with the grandkids.

The gift of the day--the AlumaWallet.
Thank goodness for Grandpas because this Mama does not enjoy opening and unpacking and assembling toys.
Look at our handsome little cousin. He's ready to drive his new car.
S&S&K were super sweet to all the four-year-olds. Below they are playing Magic Keys on the iPad.
Thank you to Grandpa and NanaLin for making Christmas so special this year. We loved our time with y'all.

Books Read

2012-01-02T08:58:00.006-06:00

I think it started on one of my trips to the Biltmore. One of the Mr. Vanderbilts kept some sort of record of all the books he read. Since 1998 I have used a postcard as a bookmark. Usually one of those black and white photographs of someone famous that they sell on the rack in Barnes & Noble or a reproduction of a painting. When I finish a book I write the title, author, and date finished on the back. I have a different card for every year from 1998 until now. Some years I read as few as three books, other years as many as 21.

Here are the books I read last year:
Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt
Letter from Point Clear by Dennis McFarland
Making a Literary Life by Carolyn See
As I Lay Dying by Wm. Faulkner
Write Away by Elizabeth George
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Highwater by Lynn Hightower
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
Bellocq's Ophelia by Natasha Threthewey
Drifting into Darien by Janisse Ray
Georgia Bottoms--Mark Childress
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter--Tom Franklin

All the books I read last year were worth reading. I loved the Tom Franklin and Dennis McFarland books. The Optimist's Daughter was really really good. I'll be back for more Welty soon. Bellocq's Ophelia is narrative poetry and I loved it. Last year I heard Tom Franklin, Janisse Ray, and Natasha Trethewey speak, and I met Mark Childress. I have such conflicting feelings about As I Lay Dying. The way I describe it is that so much of reading it was like walking in chest-high water but then you'd come across a piece so beautiful it was like flying. And I loved the last page of The Sun Also Rises:
“Oh, Jake,” Brett said, “we could have had such a damned good time together.”
Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.
“Yes,” I said. “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”
Thank you, Ernest. "Isn't it pretty to think so?" Fantastic line.

I looked back at my postcards from the past twelve years. These are the books that stayed with me the most.

1998
All Over but the Shouting by Rick Bragg *
The Color Purple by Alice Walker *
I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb

1999
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Patton

2000
The Legacy of Luna by Julia Hill

2001
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant *
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

2002
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray *
Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford
The Alchemist by Apulo Coelho *

2003
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden
Praying for Sheetrock by Melissa Faye Greene
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger *
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

2004
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
On Writing by Stephen King
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Huston

2005
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
This One and Magic Life by Anne George Carroll
Good Poems by Garrison Keillor

2006
Nora Jane: A Life in Stories by Ellen Gilchrist
Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

2007
New & Selected Poems Vol I by Mary Oliver *
Memories of My Melancholy Whores by G. G. Marquez
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott

2008
Atchafalaya Houseboat by Gwen Roland
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

2009
The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips *
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers *
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee *
If you Want to Write by Brenda Ueland *
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith *

2010
What the world will look like when all the water leaves us by Laura van den Berg
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison *
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson *
Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

Well, 2009 was definitely a fantastic year. If I could only go back to one year's books, it would be an easy decision. Also, I couldn't find Out Stealing Horses on a list but I know I read it recently and it was fantastic--"Because we do decide for ourselves when it hurts." I feel like I must be missing a recent piece of my list.

I put an asterisk by books I feel are, at least for me, necessary.

Some books I have on my radar for 2012 are The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, some Shakespeare, The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner, some plays by Chekhov, A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White, The Last Girls by Lee Smith, Saving CeeCee Honycutt by Beth Hoffman, more poetry by Billy Collins and Natasha Trethewey, Entre Nous by Debra Ollivier, Modern Vintage Style by Emily Chalmers, One Bite at a Time by Tsh Oxenreider, and Nataline Chanin's new book that comes out next month.

I also hope this year to beginning reading chapter books to Lucia, Elliott, and Mazie. I am sure Charlotte's Web will be the first. I also want to try reading some Grimms' Fairy Tales to them.

Wishing you Happy Reading in 2012.

Favorite Photos of 2011

2011-12-31T21:55:00.001-06:00

Beginnings

2011-12-31T08:02:00.015-06:00

New Year's is one of my favorite holidays. I love beginnings and clean slates and goals and projections. I love my life and am happy, but, like most people, I have an inner drive for betterment. The quote that has been at the top of this blog for almost five years now, perfectly sums up one of the tenets I lean on in this life.
"Not what we say about our Blessings, but how we use them, is the True Measure of our Thanksgiving" -W.T. Purkiser
There are two pieces that I love about this quote. One is gratitude. To be thankful is one of the most important qualities a person can have. I am very conscience about this. I try to be a good role model of gratitude for my children. When you come from a place of gratitude it colors your view. My children will never have some things--a father, their cousins living next door, a beach house in Maui. But they have so much. They have more than many. They have a wonderful Grandpa and a Papa and a slew of wonderful men who love them. They have cousins they can visit with several times a year in fun places. They live down a dirt road where they can see things like fox squirrels, bald eagles, indigo buntings, wild irises, and dogwoods blooming so pretty in the spring it looks like it has snowed out in the woods. We can look at what we don't have or we can look at what we do have.

The second piece of the quote brings up what we do versus what we say. We can talk all day long but talk is easy. What are we really doing to refine our talents and blessings and gifts? For a long time I was confused by the parable of the talents. I related to the man who buried his talent. At least he knew he wouldn't lose the one thing his master entrusted to him. But now I see it differently, more in line with how others read the parable. When the man buried his one talent, even he didn't have possession of it anymore. The talent was of no use to anyone. We must use what we are given. We must grow it, refine it, polish it, share it, cultivate it, study it.
At the beginning of 2011 I chose a word to live by, a word to continuously contemplate. I chose intention. I think I am going to stay with that word for 2012. I want to be more intentional. When we are intentional we are being active and engaged. Even if the choice is to sit down for 10 minutes and drink a cup of coffee, to be intentional makes the choice an event, more important. To be intentional is, I believe, to use our talents and appreciate our gifts. To be intentional makes us participants in our own lives. We engage with the gifts and talents we have been given. To engage and interact then increases our measure of our thankfulness.
Happy New Year to you and yours.

You'll have to ride the elevator

2011-12-24T23:51:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas to all.

Mazie, Photographer

2011-12-14T11:52:00.001-06:00

A different perspective. Through the eyes of a child. Mazie gives these gifts to us often. She is our photographer. She is always hijacking one of our phones to take pictures. She started out preferring her own face but she has learned how to look outward and capture people and sights around her.
The three always want to see the picture after it has been taken.

This is Us

2011-12-12T07:20:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite love songs is "This is Us" by Mark Knopfler and EmmyLou Harris. A couple is looking back through the photo album of their life, reminiscing all the fun, crazy, wonderful times they had. Here are some of my favorite photos from the past months.

We have a bald eagle hanging out at our pond. He is beautiful and majestic. We are all so happy when we get to see him. He loves to sit in trees, and he is a very good fisher. We hope he stays for a while.
Grancy came for a visit and we had a lovely time with her.

Like you, we have been busy and enjoying life. As our small town life affords us, we've had several fun parades. We were most excited about the Christmas parade as we get to glimpse the big man in the flesh.

Lu was all about riding in the fire truck with her Bee. We tried to get her to march with the baton girls but she thought the rescue truck would be more fun.
We picked out our Christmas tree at our favorite farm over Thanksgiving weekend.

The three love taking scissors to just about anything. The netting on the tree was lots of fun. We had a gift left on our fireplace the morning after Thanksgiving. An elf we've named Tucker. Our favorite thing about Tucker is finding him in the morning.
Lu went to a dance camp one Saturday morning and had a great time.

We went to a lovely fall farm wedding. Everything about it was wonderful, especially playing on the round bales.

Halloween was fun. We were mermaids and a diver. Everyone did a good job manipulating their costumes.

We have acquired quite a few cats. The children love them to pieces.
My sweet girl Mazie loves fairies and mermaids.
The girls love drawing and all things art. Below Mazie has drawn a picture of "Lucia when she's older."

We went camping for the first time to help a good friend celebrate a big birthday.

We played soccer for the first time this fall. Mazie wasn't sure she wanted to play. She sat out the first practice but then decided she wanted to play with her brother and sister. I loved seeing their personalities. Mazie, who I often think is quite shy, was very much into the performance aspect of the game. Every time she touched the soccer ball, or even got near it, she would run over to us to make sure we saw or turn and wave to us.
Elliott would at times get into the game but he could easily be distracted by an ant hill or an orange cone or the moon coming up over the trees.
Lucia got the game the most. She really seemed to see the big picture of what was supposed to happen. She was intent of doing well but also had fun.
H and I really enjoyed watching them improve during the season. I think we will play spring soccer also.
My sister and her family came for a visit. Isn't this little Landon adorable? He is just as happy as he is cute. He has a lot of my dad and my dad's brothers to his look. We loved getting to spend time with him and getting to know his personality.

If I was to look for a silver lining in the dark cloud that is living so far from my sister, I'd say it would be getting to share novel aspects of our lives. When we visit Avery, we get to experience pieces of her life in Southern California that we don't have. When Avery visits us, we try to give her the Gulf and country experience. Avery really got into collecting cicada shells this visit. She also enjoyed feeding the goats and horses. We planted acorns in hopes that they would grow into big trees. We tried to lure the fox squirrel with a variety of nuts. We can't wait until we get to show Avery and Landon more of our world.

Below is the first photo of the now five grandchildren. Come back and see us soon, Tia Karen, Uncle Jon, Cousin Avery, and Baby Landon. We miss you every day.

Lucia loves to change clothes. She changes multiple times a day. Often she will wake up in different pajamas than she first went to bed in.
We were going to go to New Orleans to celebrate the three's fourth birthday but a storm decided to come through. So, we stayed home and celebrated on our own.

Below: My girls on their first day back at dance. The three with their new kittens--strays H found in town. One-Eyed Jack came first and then H found his sister in the same spot a few weeks later. Her name is Jill. My Mazie, caught under her bed with my make-up, trying to look like one of the most beautiful women the world has ever known. And, lastly, my sweet Bubby man, bringing me a bouquet of gardenias.

Sorry the pictures are a bit out of order and jumbled. I am, apparently, out of practice with uploading photos onto the blog.

4yo check up

2011-10-27T18:10:00.002-05:00

We went for our four year old check up today and got good reports. Below are our statistics for height and weight.

Lucia
40 1/4"
37#4oz

Elliott
42 1/4"
45#4oz

Mazie
37 1/2"
28#6oz

Sayings, v.3.11

2011-08-19T09:31:00.003-05:00

I have been an absentee blogger, but not an absentee parent. I've been collecting, collecting their delicious little sayings and verbal mishaps.

Here they are from the past several months.

One of the things I absolutely love about their age is listening to them. The singing. The word games they make up. All the repetition. Elliott went through a phase in the early summer where he would walk around saying "Scratch could eat no patch. Scratch could eat no patch." I am pretty sure it came from "Jack Spratt."

When saying "Jack and Jill," all three of them say "Petch a fail of water."

Mazie, upset and crying: "My socks felled me down."

Mae, asked if she could put shoes on, I said no. She said, "I'll just wear my feet."

I couldn't find Elliott. I looked and found him in my chocolate stash. He said, "I was just eating some chocolate for you."

H is on the local fire department. All three call it the Fire Mapartment.

One night Lu got upset because H had to leave during our bedtime routine to go on a fire call. Lu wanted to know why BeeBee had to leave. I told her someone was in trouble and Bee was going to help them. She said, "You know why Bee went on the fire mapartment? A monster is in trouble because he got bleed on his self and he went in the house and got stuck...." The story kept going.

Then five minutes later she was telling her brother and sister, "You know what I think is in trouble? A dolphin is in trouble. He's stuck in a house. He is stuck under a shelf because...."

Elliott will ask, "What's the problem?" For example, when he was trying to pull the drying rack up the stairs and it wouldn't come, he asked himself, "Hey, what's the problem?"

When scooping cookie dough out to make cookies, Elliott asked me about his large clump of dough, "Is this way too much big?"

Lu: "Those are old and break-ed."

One day Elliott asked me, "Can I go check on my baby chicken or none?"

When Elliott was talking to himself one day I asked him who he was talking to. He said, "I'm just talking to my whole self."

Lucia was doing a little number game. I told her, "Lucia, you got two right." She said to me, "And I got two ears."

Lucia and Elliott were playing. Lucia said, "I don't have enough." Elliott reassured her with, "I have some-nuff."

Lucia came into the kitchen one evening to tell me, "A detavarium is a doctor of animals."

Lucia and Mazie were building something and they wanted Elliott to wait until they were finished and then come see it. "OK," he told them, "I'm going to eat my breakfast. Call me when I'm ready."

On a walk Elliott told me, "It's going to rain in eighty-fifteen seven minutes." He is always telling me something is going to happen in eighty-fifteen minutes.

Elliott fell off his scooter. He came to me upset, saying, "Mazie was pushing me way much too fast."

Lucia was playing with her chicken. The chicken gave her a little peck. She told me, "She didn't bit it really able. She just bit it tiny."

Mazie wanted to eat a snack on the couch. She said to me, "I can eat grapes on the couch. Can I do that idea?"

Mazie is always saying, "BeeBee (or Mama), I can't wait to tell you this...."

The three also still have no concept of time. They still say things like "last morning, the other day..." whenever they want to speak of anything that happened in the past.

One Saturday afternoon, Lucia told H, "Bee, look out. There is a gorillagator in our house. Don't wake him up."

Elliott was on the couch, getting frustrated. "I didn't have much comfortable," he told me when I asked what was wrong.

Lucia and Mazie love to color. I have to remind them to only write on paper. One day Lucia told me, "I have marker on me, but it doesn't mind."

I put a sheet over the dining room table one morning to make a fort. Elliott said, "Mama, don't go under the table."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I don't want you to see something," he said.
He had a glass of sweet tea under the table.

Here he is again, telling on himself. They are not supposed to take food or drinks to their rooms.
Coming out of his room, he said to me, "Mama, I need a flashlight."
Me: "Go get it out of your room."
He asked, "The juice cup?"
Me: "Uhmm, well, yes."

At the beach, Mazie, talking about a boat going by, said, "Let's see what it doo-ses" for does.

Also at the beach Mazie pointed to some barnacles and told me, "They are called miracles."

One day at lunch, Lucia asked me, "Can you hot the tacos up in the oven?"

Lucia, talking about noodles, said, "I'm not use the swishes ones because they are pissahtate." (I have no idea what she meant.)

H was whispering something into Elliott's ear. He swatted her away and said, "Quit Bee. It'll come out my nostril and I'll have to go to the dentist."

Trying to help out on evening, Mazie told me that she would "separate the table." (Set the table.)

Lucia is our little leader. One day we were at home, our home, and Mazie said, "I have to go poo poo." Lucia offered up her services, "Do you know where the bathroom is? It is right now the hall by the straight."

One night at bedtime, Elliott said to me, "If I get scared, and you hear me calling you with your ears, come get me." Of course, I said, "I will baby."

One night the moon was reflecting in the pond. Mazie said to me, "Look. The moon fell in the water."

We were at the beach for the Fourth of July. Lucia called it the "North of July." Elliott called it "Jorth of Lye." One day Lu told me not to eat the strawberries, they were for North of July.

I asked Elliott one day during rest time if he wanted me to bring him some trucks to play with. "Just maybe eleven or five," he said.

Lucia pointed to a number on a tape measure and asked me, "Is it this many inches long to Mississippi?"

Lucia picked some flowers for me. She said, "Let's put them on the table so we can join them."

Elliott received a bunch of hand-me-downs. In one of the bags was a pair of cowboy boots that look like ones another boy in town wears. "Look," he said, "I think K was riding with Santa and his tray and he came to put them in my closet."

H was in the bathroom attached to Elliott's bedroom. She was in there one night while he was reading in his bed. He finished reading Jamberry, closed the book and nodded his head and said, "I like it. Absolutely. I like it."

One day we'd been out side. Lucia wanted to come inside and drink. What she was trying to say was that she wanted to drink out of a big glass cup. What she said was, "Mama, can I drink out of a big ass cup." I said, "Sure, Baby, let's go get you one.

The individual shots of the three were some I found on my phone one day. When I showed them and asked what they were doing, they said they were practicing their mad faces.

I've missed you...

2011-08-18T16:28:00.005-05:00

...all two of you.
I hope you'll excuse my absence.

What have I been doing?

Turning 40. (It was fairly painless.)
Burying our 15 year old lab, Molasses. (Painful.)
Making my own laundry soap.
Hibernating from the heat.
Taking two novel writing classes.
Watching weeds kill my garden.
Brewing kombucha.
Taking various summer trips.
Hosting beloved visitors.
Falling into the black hole that is Pinterest.
Helping our one-eyed kitten assimilate into the family farm.
Fielding fights, arguments, and the like.
Reading books, trying new art projects, and cooking new recipes with the children.
Missing my blogging.

Would you like for me to paint a picture for you?
This happened while I was typing the list above.
Really, it did.
The children had gotten up from rest time and were playing. Mazie was dressed up. "You are a fairy," Elliott told her. She looked at him like he was stupid and said, "I don't have wings. I'm a princess." She brought me purple Mardi Gras beads and a pink tiara to wear. The tiara is quite lovely with ribbons that hang down and furry fake feathers that ripple when you elegantly move your head from side to side. Elliott, whose stomach has been unsettled all day*, walked up to me and said I have to go poo poo." He then proceeded to lose his load on the floor.
So there I am, pink tiara, purple Mardi Gras bead with a bottle of Pine Sol, cleaning up diarrhea.
I am indeed the Queen of Sheet.

That is what I have been doing. I wouldn't change a thing.

*Drink a can of apple juice concentrate thawing on the counter once, shame on you. Drink a can of apple juice concentrate thawing on the counter twice, shame on me.

Wheeeee...

2011-05-15T15:43:00.001-05:00

...that's me. Whizzing down the slide into the pool of 40. I thought I'd check in with my Project 40 list to assess how things are going. I am reminding myself that these are goals I am trying to meet sometime within my 40th year. Also, though I likely won't meet every single goal, I will meet so much more of them than if I hadn't made the goals at all.

I have marked the ones I've accomplished and also hope to make a few separate posts in the next few weeks about several of these goals that I've met, marked in blue.

*=ones I've done
#=ones I'm working on
X=ones I'm not going to do

X1. Run a 5K
X2. Run a 10K
*3. Run a Half marathon
4. Go to New Orleans
*5. Sew a Skirt
*6. Sew an Apron
7. Sew a Pillow
#8. Memorize 40 Poems
#9. Read Les Miserables
#10. Sew a Dress for my Girls

11. Go to Oxford, Mississippi
12. Visit Lazy Magnolia Brewery
13. Take a Long Weekend Alone (3 Nights!)
#14. Send Novel to Agents
#15. Send Short Story to Literary Review
*16. Listen to Live music at xx Theatre
17. Visit Flannery, Carson, or Eudora's Home
*18. Plant Calla Lilies
*19. Hang Wallpaper
*20. Eat raw, organic, or do a detox diet for one week

21. Learn Calligraphy
22. Read One Hundred Years of Solitude
*X23. Try 12 recipes from The Gift of Southern Cooking
24. Go to Helen Keller's home
*25. Plant a Lemon Tree
26. Read a Hemingway
*27. Read a Faulkner
*28. Attend a Literary Conference
29. Eat at Float-Away
?30. Go to an EmmyLou Harris concert (as of now, the only dates she has within five hours of us are during a weekend we already have plans during.)

X31. Eat Oysters in Appalachicola (may need to be amended)
*32. Learn 12+ Birds that live in our area
#33. Learn 12+ Trees that grow in our area
34. Teach a writing workshop
35. Go through Pioneer Woman's photography archives
36. Start Bee Hives
37. Watch last season of Six Feet Under
X38. Be able to do 40 Push-Ups
39. Make Mole' Sauce
40. Make a Video of my children's first 4 years

Baby Chix

2011-05-08T17:05:00.002-05:00

We had three new family members and the babes love them. They would move in with the chickens if we'd let them. Their favorite activity to do when we are home is go play with their baby chickens.

At first Elliott was tentative, but he learned quickly that they were lots of fun and not going to hurt him.

Lucia named her chicken Spot Chicken; Mazie named her chicken Darlin'; Elliott named his chicken Spot also.

When I am working in the garden, the children come down with me and play with their chickens. It works well. I let them torment the chicks so they don't torment me.

Grandma Livvy

2011-05-03T16:52:00.001-05:00

A little bit before Easter, the three and I went to see my beautiful Grandma. My sweet Aunt Nita organized a big easter egg hunt for Lucia, Elliott, Mazie Bell, and my cousin's son Evan (who my children called Kelvin the entire time?!?). They had lots of fun finding eggs and playing with little easter toys.
Mazie, Elliott, Lucia, and Kelvin (I mean Evan) with their spoils.

One of Lucia's treats was an orange carrot filled with bubbles and a wand. The child could not have been happier. She seriously thought this was the greatest thing she'd ever seen.
Mazie Bell showed Grandma Livvy some of her ballet moves.
We had a great time visiting the family and look forward to going back soon.

The day before Easter we went to an easter egg hunt at our church. We had a great turn out of children and enjoyed our time with everyone.

Easter

2011-05-02T16:36:00.001-05:00

We had a lovely easter, and I wanted to share some pictures with you.

I snapped this picture of our sweet Molasses while we were looking at our Easter Bunny loot. Our sweet Mo Mo will turn 16 in September.

Spring is here. We are trying to hold on to it as long as we can, for we know summer will be here before we know it.

New Endeavours

2011-04-25T10:29:00.001-05:00

Guess what we've been up to! Yes me, the worst gardener in the world, is trying yet again. It is hard to love something that you are so terrible at. I will try again. I have to get better. I can only go up.
My greatest motivation is that the babes are at such a great age for gardening. It really is all a miracle, isn't it? You put a seed in the ground and it becomes this plant which gives you all this food. It really is something to stop and marvel.
So, we will do our best and see if we can harvest a bounty. I am sure we will keep you abreast of our progress.
(The picture below is a great example of how I garden--I spent lots of time building this lovely trellis and it has been standing for a month with nothing growing on it.)

Reality

2011-04-22T10:24:00.000-05:00

We've gotten a few bites about reality shows. Nothing too strong, but we don't ever pursue them. The thing is, we might look fascinating to a few people on paper, but the day to day of our lives is quite uneventful.

We recently had a day that would have been great for television. After hearing too much quiet for much too long, I went searching and found the three in the bathroom. In the tub was three sticks of room temperature butter, coffee grounds, tea leaves (still haven't figured out where they came from, as I never found the bags), cooked spaghetti, and a jar of agave nectar (good thing that stuff was deemed unhealthy last month!). H was napping. I was unhappy. Then, Elliott had an upset stomach all over himself, groceries still in the tub. Luckily H woke up at that time to help.

We got Elliott and the tub cleaned up. H went in to use the restroom. She came out and said, "Apparently they put agave all over the toilet seat too."

Fun days. We wouldn't change a thing.

Puppy Love

2011-04-15T10:17:00.001-05:00

We got to puppysit for a puppy that H rescued. The three loved the hound out of that thing. He survived us and went to live with the J boys. I think he'll be safer there.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Pizza

2011-04-12T10:05:00.001-05:00

We went to Disneyland almost six months ago. For four months--and I am not exaggerating--for four months every night when I would go in to tuck Lucia in to bed, she'd ask "tell me about the Disney stuff." I go through and talk about parades, rides, food, characters. One thing she loved to hear about was how the two of us got to ride on the Dumbo with the orange saddle.
While we were at Disney, my sweet sister treated us all to breakfast with Goofy. There they served waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse and lots of foods that aren't typically served for breakfast (i.e. dessert!). One thing that was really neat was that they served pizza--a macaroni and cheese pizza and a peanut butter and jelly pizza.
I thought I would try to make them at home. I started with the PBnJ. I just bought a ready-made pizza crust. I slathered it with peanut butter then jelly. You see, I am very smart. I figured it out all by myself! Seriously, the only thing I really learned that might be of interest if you wanted to try a PBnJ pizza is to let it cool a few minutes so it sets up. It was pretty slidey when I served it warm. One other thing I did was add sliced strawberries when it came out of the over. Bananas would be good too.
Give it a try. You'll like it. And I'll let you know when we try the mac&cheese pizza.

Memories

2011-04-02T10:39:00.001-05:00

Some times when I am in the moment I consider how it will look years down the road. Trying to commit something to memory before it is gone. One of my favorite memories will be when Mazie and I reunited with H and Lu and Bubby after being away a week.

The terrible picture above is of the flowers my darling son handed me in the airport. Oranges, pinks, and yellows. Colors of a mama's happy heart.

Dancing Queens

2011-03-31T15:29:00.003-05:00

Our two girls went to a baton camp this weekend. It was all day. All day as in 9:00 to 4:00. It was a very long day for them without a rest, but all the energy kept them going.

Above is a picture of them with their favorite teachers, SW & J. They were very sweet and patient with our two and all the other girls in the youngest class.

At 3:30 the classes put on a performance. There were three classes and the three classes took turns performing three routines. Then they also all danced to one song together.
I hated any kind of performing when I was a child. I hate it even more now. The only performances I really enjoyed were when I was in orchestra--as in one of many. Lucia has always loved attention. I knew she'd do fantastic. I really thought Mazie would be more tentative, more shy. She wasn't. She was just as comfortable as Lucia. The girls had a great time.
And I have to say I Loved watching them. H, her mom, her grandmother, Elliott, and I went to cheer them on. Both Lucia and Mazie were very engaging and really enjoyed what they were doing.
I will never forget watching my girls perform for the first time. I know there will be lots more practices and games and performances in our future, but this first time will be one I'll never forget. I was surprised how much joy it brought me to see my girls out there having a great time.

A few nights after baton camp, I heard Mazie singing the words to A Chorus Line: "Me! You! Give me your attention."

Lucia dances just about everyday. It doesn't matter what she does, usually some sort of twisting and kicking, she always says she is doing a plie'.

We are so proud of our girls and how great they did at baton camp. Thank you to Miss Caty and all her girls for going such a great job.

And More...

2011-03-29T21:47:00.002-05:00

After I posted the previous California pictures, I realized I had not included some pictures that are important to me. The one above is of my sweet sister with her sweet son. I love it. I snapped it right before we headed to the airport. I assigned it to her contact on my phone and now get to look at it every time she calls me. It always makes me smile.
We did a few fun activities with Mazie and Avery while they were together. We made watercolors. We played color & number games with M&Ms. We watched a princess movie that Mazie still talks about. One day after we got back home she told Lucia, "You can go with me to Avery's and we can watch the princess movie."
Avery has fantastic hair. One morning, after putting Avery's hair in a ponytail, I decided to try Mazie's. She looked so cute and so grown-up.

One of our favorite things we did while we were together was attend Avery's art class. Her teachers were great. They set up several different stations. The students get to move around as they like. The week's theme was pom-pom art.
I learned lots of neat tricks, sources, and ideas from Avery's teachers. One was to put a little drop of paint in the glue to give it color. How simple is that?

We also got a recipe for the play dough they use. If I am successful making it, I will post it. The picture below is of Mazie cutting her hot dog.
I also had a few more aquarium pictures I wanted to share.

Below is a picture of the eel that Mazie fell in love with. She thought it was an amazing creature.

I love seeing all the flowers when we go to California. Geraniums that grow huge in the ground. Jacaranda trees, purple and splendid (though not this trip). Birds of Paradise (below) and Lilies of the Nile, which I have promised myself I will grow one day. And Jasmine. A house we passed on our twice daily walks had jasmine growing all along their fence on two sides of their house. It was so fragrant and had the sweetest pale pink flowers. And those are Camellias growing up the side of the house. I had never noticed camellias in California before, but they are definitely prevalent.

Mazie loved getting to know Baby Landon. Below she is putting the pacifier in his mouth. He is such a good, good baby. So good, at times I forgot he was there. He is in a good routine, feeds like a champ, and has such a happy disposition. Mazie and I loved our time with him. The other three are still jealous that they have not met him yet.

Two other fun things we did were Shrinky-dinks and cake pops from Starbucks. One of my sister's best friends, Deirdre, whom I happen to adore too, came over one day with two of her children. She bought the Shrinky-dinks. I had forgotten all about them. Isn't it wonderful how simple things can bring so much magic to children?
Jon and Karen were mighty good to Mazie and me while we were there. Adios from California.

California

2011-03-28T14:47:00.001-05:00

We did a crazy thing this month. Something we'd yet to do. We split up the family. Mazie* and I took a plane across the country to see my sister and her growing family. It was hard on some accounts but good in many ways also.
H did a great job holding down the fort at home. Mazie and I missed them terribly but had a fantastic time. We were glad to go and glad to get home.
On a rainy, rainy Sunday, we went to the Long Beach Aquarium. They had thee great stations all around the aquarium that were manned by volunteens. So, Avery and Mazie got to feel a large turtle shell, pick up shark teeth and feel sea urchins.

Another fun thing we did was go for yogurt a few times. Mazie enjoyed picking her flavors and toppings.

In case you are wondering, all the gummies were left to wallow in melted yogurt. Even the three-year-old quickly realized gummy bears and worms don't taste as good in cold yogurt.
Here is Baby Landon, enjoying his yogurt. I mean nap.
We went to the beach a few times. One time Uncle Jon ran with Avery and Mazie in the stroller down to the beach and Karen, Landon, and I met them there for a walk along the Strand.

The area Karen and Jon moved to has lots of little parks in the neighborhood. We went everyday to the various parks. Swings, slides, monkey bars, even a rock wall.

We loved our time with Avery, Landon, Uncle Jon, and Tia Karen. Thank you for being so good to Mazie and me. We look forward to our next time together.

Tia Karen sent us home with fun gifts for Lucia and Elliott. A headband and a bucket full of sharks.
*Mazie was chosen for the California trip because Elliott and Lucia got to go away for football weekends last fall.

Mardi Gras

2011-03-19T21:13:00.001-05:00

"Oh No, another Mardi Gras?"
Went went south again this year to celebrate Mardi Gras. The weather was a little crazy. Parades were canceled. We were only able to go to one parade--on Fat Tuesday. But it was worth the wait. We filled a wagon up completely with beads, Moon Pies, stuffed animals, and other fun items.
While on the coast, we were able to go to our favorite zoo. There were some interesting animals that were out this trip that we hadn't seen before. Lu enjoyed feeding the capybera. (I didn't see the 'Don't feed me. I bite' sign until we were finishing up. Luckily the guy was friendly.) We also got to see a bunny rabbit who hadn't shown his face to us before. The three chased him around awhile.
We took another picture on our favorite little carousel.
I think I've mentioned before how Elliott is obsessed with sharks. every night when I lie down with him he asks "What's your favorite shark?" or says "Let's talk about sharks."

While we were at the beach, the babes turned 3 1/2. So, to celebrate I took them to a souvenir store. We looked at the novelties inside and took a few pictures. Then we bought some salt water taffy. It was a fun little excursion to celebrate that milestone. Our parade was lots of fun. Three children in matching shirts and celebratory hats garner a lot of attention and goodies. They had their picture taken by quite a few people and their wagon was overflowing by the end of the parade.

On our drive home after the parade, we made one of our favorite stops--a bookstore. It is a great place to stretch our legs, use the restrooms, and get a drink (and a book or two!).
H had to leave before Tuesday, so when we got home the three had an impromptu parade for her. Showering her with all their Mardi Gras goodies.
Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

Poem #18

2011-03-18T23:40:00.002-05:00

Won't you celebrate with me
By Gwendolyn Brooks

won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.

Fifteen Fill-ins

2011-03-15T11:51:00.005-05:00

I love a blog called Marta Writes...Welcome to the Dear Diary Stories. Lately she's been having guest bloggers post their responses to fifteen fill-ins. For some odd reason, she hasn't asked me, so I thought I just give it a go over here.

:: no matter what mood i'm in, i can always go for a: slice (loaf) of sourdough bread with butter.

:: my favorite go-to outfit would have to be: jeans, flats, top, and cardigan in winter. skirt, top, and sandals in the summer.

:: a good source of inspiration is: my family, also books and poetry i read.

:: am so glad my parents taught me: it doesn't pay to cheat and that i am loved.

:: a song i like to dance to is: His Eye is on the Sparrow by Abagail Washburn and Caroline by Brandi Carlisle.

:: i wish everyone knew about: Mary Oliver.

:: the best thing in my makeup bag is: my Dior mascara and my Dr. Pepper lip balm.

:: my dream spring break vacation spot is: The Beautiful Gulf of Mexico. Or, Paris. Or India. Or Mexico.

:: this may be a surprise, but i am passionate about: home food preservation. i'm lame, i know. but i love canning, freezing, drying. then, i really love pulling that stuff out throughout the year and cooking for my family with it.

:: a favorite book that changed me for the better: The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe. i didn't read much in my adolescence. i would say reading this book in college started my adult love affair with reading.

:: one of my pet peeves is: that they don't make Downy refills in the cardboard carton anymore (or at least I can't find them anywhere.)

:: my favorite daily ritual would have to be: getting up before everyone else in the house and having my quiet time. also, when we all five pile in the bed at night and read books.

:: i am trying to be better at: being engaged and being prepared.

:: the most recent rad thing i found online was: a pair of boots on Ebay that I had been pining and looking for for almost six months.

:: i can't live without: dark chocolate, kale, greek yogurt, good books, rain, a little sunshine, lucia, elliott, mazie bell, h, my sister, and, of course, you.

Sayings, v.3.6

2011-03-12T11:14:00.010-06:00

The babes turned three-and-a-half a few days ago. Here are some of the things they've been saying lately.
Holly had taken the old dryer out of the laundry room and it was out in the middle of the great room. Lucia walked in and said with much enthusiasm, "Oh, that's a cute laundry" when she saw the old dryer.

Elliott found an orange toy pistol outside. He said, "My gun! I've missed you so much." Then he threw it down on the ground and said, "but I'm blowing bubbles right now."

Lucia said, "I could carry eachbody's balloon."

I love the way Elliott says pizza puzzles instead of pieces of puzzle: "We're missing some pizza puzzles."

Mazie said one day that we were going to go for a hi-walk. (hike/walk)

Lucia sometimes uses notice for know.
"Mama, kinkajous sleep during the day. Did you notice that?"

Elliott loves to ask me what week it is for what day of the week it is: "Mama, what week is it? I think tomorrow is today."
We had a serious storm the middle of the week. After a particularly loud boom, Elliott said, "I don't like the loud tunder. I like the sleepy tunder."
Mazie, when practicing writing an M and an N said two things I though were interesting. One, because I have no idea what she meant, the other because she was transferring what she knew about colors to letters. She said, "

"N is perfully an M." and "N is a shade of M."

We watch a lot of DVDs in the car. Recently we've been listening to more music in the car and really enjoying it. Lucia told the others on a recent trip, "Y'all, we're going to watch 'Little Bunny Foo Foo on the music."

In trying to make his point, Elliott said, "Listen to the deal of me."

When we were at the beach for Mardi Gras driving back to the cabin, Mazie said, "We're going back to the cabinet."

Mazie made a little dot on the screen of my phone with a Sharpie. Lucia brought me the phone and said, "Mama, look at that little spreckle Mazie made."

When the three were discussing what instruments they wanted to play in the band, Mazie and Lucia decided they wanted to play the bum-trone.

Another day they were discussing what state they lived in.

Elliott: "I live in Georgia."

Lucia: "I live in Mississippi."

Mazie: "I live in Texaco."

Lucia was playing on her tricycle and told me to watch her. She said, "Hey, I got a great I-trick." (Idea+trick)

Mazie thinks every time any one says which that they are saying witch. Her eyes will get big and she'll say, "Oooohh, witch."

When Lucia sings Jingle Bells, she sings "Oh mut fun it is to bride."

Elliott calls pretzels print-zells.

Another warm day, Lucia and Mazie took off all their clothes and went running outside. Lucia said, "Mazie, let's go play with our nekkid selves."

Mazie, with a white blanket on her head, "A ghost bees white."

From the following, you can probably tell we've been a bit sick this winter, our sickest winter yet.

One evening I overheard Mazie telling her brother and sister that sometimes we go to the doctor to get our germs fixed.

Mazie touched her forehead and said, "This is where your fever lives."

When Lucia is trying to convince us she is sick, she'll put her hand on her forehead and say, "But, I'm warmer. Bee, I am warmer." To Lu, fever=warmer.

We have started calling Elliott the negotiator. With Mardi Gras candy in hand, he told me, "My belly wont feel good if I can't eat this candy."

Then, yesterday when we were getting ready for school, he said, "I don't need to brush my teeth because I'm wearing a hat. If you wear a hat you don't have to brush your teeth."

Poem #17

2011-03-01T07:31:00.001-06:00

Classic Ballroom Dances
by Charles Simic

Grandmothers who wring the necks
of chickens; Old nuns
With names like Theresa, Maryanne,
Who pull schoolboys by the ear;

The intricate steps of pickpockets
Working the crowd of the curious
At the scene of an accident, The slow shuffle
Of the evangelist with a sandwich board;

The hesitation of the early morning customer
Peeking through the window-grille
of a pawn shop; the weave of a little kid
Who is walking to school with his eyes closed;

And the ancient lovers, cheek to cheek,
On the dance floor of the Union Hall,
where they also hold charity raffles
on rainy Monday nights of an eternal November.

A Recognizable Shape

2011-02-25T12:09:00.030-06:00

This week’s Love Four All topic is “Love your passion.” Like many people, I have a lot of passions: my family, my friends, cooking, baking, food preservation, sewing. I have interests that I want to cultivate into passions: gardening, yoga. But aside from the precious people in my life, the abundance of love in my life, the bit of faith I have in my life, my biggest passion, my vocational passion is story, language, character. Some days those things are all I think about.

There is nothing I love more than to come across a fantastic word (ponder or cypher) or an interesting phrase (I didn’t go to school just to eat my lunch) or a peculiar habit (I once worked with a woman who scraped deep canyons in her thumb nails with her index fingernails; she was always scraping no matter what she was doing) or an odd enterprise (a woman who fakes mental illness to keep people at bay). It can be simple or intricate, doesn’t matter. It can be in a book or in life, doesn’t matter. I am always collecting, appreciating, marveling.

To be honest, I have been dreading this week’s topic a bit. I have always wanted to write, to be a writer. Most of the people in my life don’t know this. The people who are very close to me know it, but even they’ve only known it for a year or two. For years I never talked about it, at all. Since college, I’ve written stories. I’ve been working on “my little story” since I moved to the country almost seven years ago. But it has only been in about the last two years that I’ve mentioned working on a story. And only to people who are extremely close to me. And still, I’ve had to force myself to tell those people. I mostly did it because I felt I needed to start putting it out there.

I just don’t feel comfortable talking about it, and I don’t exactly know why. Most people don’t really understand the process and, to be fair, they don’t really care. And I get that. Most people don’t care about the process an engineer or social security administrator or wood yard foreman goes through when they are working. I don’t take it personally, but, still, I don’t want to talk about my writing with just anyone.

Part of not feeling comfortable talking about my passion is because it is my secret. These are my characters. Though I’ve been with them a long time, I am still getting to know them. I want to protect them from the world for as long as possible. They are always with me. At the risk of sounding like a nut, they are friends who are always with me. I spend a lot of time with them. Wondering how they would handle this situation or that predicament.

But another truth, another facet of this passion, is that I am hungry for conversation about books and language and story and characters. I don’t have that in my life. I get little tastes, but I want a feast. I love nothing better than to discuss a good book. I often hear more emotion in my voice when I am discussing The Lacuna or The Well and the Mine or Bastard out of Carolina. The thought of a story of my own becoming part of that discussion is enthralling and overwhelming.

Part of wanting to write a story that others read is that I want to be a part of that feast, that larger collective of discussion about story and literature. I want to know that this character of mine made you mad or surprised you or reminded you of someone from your past. I want to know what you felt, enjoyed, contemplated.

When I am in the car by myself, I usually don’t listen to anything. I just think. But, if I do turn anything on it is always from my collection of writing podcasts. My favorite ones, the ones I listen to over and over, are author panels from the Tennessee Williams festival, a writing festival held in New Orleans every spring. I listen to these discussions over and over again. I want Silas House to remind me that I can’t sing a proper hymn to someone without including their faults. I need Rick Bragg to reinforce for me to “hit it lightly” when it comes to dialect. I know what the authors are going to say, but I want to hear them say it again.

Like most readers and writers, I love going into bookstores. I go straight to the literature section and walk the aisles. I see what catches my attention. I touch the covers. I pick up books and feel the edges of the pages, look at the style and size of the font inside. I’ve started taking pictures of covers that I really like. All the pictures in this post are ones I’ve taken with my phone over the past year or two. As I walk the aisles, I think about things like name branding and fonts and colors and art.

One of my favorite things about literature is that the artist is manipulating the viewer, the reader, with nothing more than words. Painters get to use texture and color, size and scale. Cinematographers use spoken words, music, framing, order. The author has only words: black marks on a white page. Nothing else influences the reader. Because of this, I think the author has a more intimate relationship with her reader. That reader has to bring more of herself into the book. Still, the cover is important. Aside from word of mouth, the cover, along with the title or name of the author, brings the reader into the story.

I think the writer’s life is a great way to live—a great way for me to live. It absolutely suits me to a T. I love alone time, time for thought and introspection, but I love people too. I find people absolutely fascinating. I am so interested in how people handle their lives. My brain is very much a processor. I am a terrible arguer because I can never think of anything to say. I need time to be quiet and realize what I think or feel. (Yes, this drives H nuts.)

With all aspects of my life, I have to spend time with myself to know what I want, what I think. I completely agree with Lee Smith, "Narrative is as necessary to me as breathing, as air. I write for the reason I've always done so: simply to survive. To make sense of my life. I never know what I think until I read what I've written. And I refuse to lead an unexamined life." I, too, am much clearer when I’ve had time to write.

So, I’ll probably tuck this passion away again, like a gem in my pocket, just pulling it out every once in a while to share it with someone, but always knowing it is with me, mine. Maybe one day I will be comfortable going public, wearing it on a t-shirt, telling people I meet “Hi, I’m K. I am a writer.” I kind of doubt that though.

Whatever the future holds, whether I never show anyone anything I’ve written again or whether I get to see my books on the shelf at the bookstore, this passion will always be mine. I wouldn’t be me without it.

"In the telling of it, we discover who we are, why we exist, what we should do. It brings order and delight. Its form is inherently pleasing, and deeply satisfying to us. Because it has a beginning, a middle, and an end, it gives a recognizable shape to the muddle and chaos of our lives." Lee Smith.

Love You

2011-02-18T13:15:00.019-06:00

This week's theme for the All Four Love contribution is Love Yourself.

The most important thing I have done for myself as a mother and partner is establish the routine of getting up before everyone else in the house. When you have three three-year-olds--or elderly parents or your own business or __________(fill in the blank)--it is hard to take time for yourself. There is a lot of guilt involved in overlooking everything that needs to be done in order to grab for a few minutes for yourself.

But I am very committed to my morning time. H's mom, "the Nana," sets such a good example of a person of faith committed to starting her day off in quiet meditation. For as long as I've known H, her mother has started everyday with her coffee and her reading and her prayer. I always admired her for it, saw how she benefited from it, but never tried to make it work in my own life.

At Christmas, a little over a year ago, I saw our church's little mass-published daily devotion book. I thought, "I'm going to get up each morning of this Advent season and read the passage for the day." I did it. I set my alarm. I got up each morning, started the coffee maker, and watched the sun rise. I did it every morning. And I haven't stopped.
Getting up first. Giving thanks. Drinking my coffee in solitude and stillness, before the energy of the house rises for the day. Reading from various books. Giving thanks. Writing in my journal. Working on "my little story." Reading poetry. Occasionally doing some sewing or yoga. Meditating on qualities I hope grow or diminish within me. Focusing on my day and what I hope to accomplish or improve. Giving thanks.
I have a great deal of certainty that this is a habit that will be mine for a long time to come. It does me too much good to put it down. It is worth the thirty or ninety less minutes of sleep. It is ten times worth giving up that hour of television at night to get up an hour early the next morning.
My time. My morning meditation. It makes me a better mother, a better partner. By the time the rest of my family is up, I am able to meet them from a place of contentment, gratefulness. I'm not hitting the ground running, struggling to wake up as those around me twirl around like tops and dervishes and tornadoes. I have spent time with myself; I am now able to be more present.
Depending on the time of year, I sometimes get up with the sun. These are some of my favorite mornings--the light spilling through the trees like ink. The pink overtaking the navy of the sky, the fog hovering in the troughs. Every once in a while, deer eating under the oak trees. These are my favorite mornings. The winter mornings where my coffee shields me from the cold outside. But all the mornings are worth while. Every morning makes my day clearer and more complete.
There are lots of things I don't do for myself that I need to--exercise enough, shower enough, socialize enough. But getting up before my family is one thing I can commit to, one thing I can, to a certain extent, control. I do love myself enough to give me that time.
What can you do for yourself? What gift would you give a friend, hope for a friend? Do that for yourself. You are worth it and you will be stronger for it, more grounded, more content, and probably more accepting of yourself and others. Whatever it is--make it happen. Love you.
__________________________________________________
All the photos in this post are pictures I took with my phone of a Eudora Welty Exhibit. I took an hour one day by myself and went to a museum not too far from where I was that day to see this exhibit--Eudora Welty: Exposures and Reflections. I love Southern literature and culture; I loved my time looking at the photography this great writer took during her time with the WPA in Mississippi. Strolling through this collection was a special time for me, because it was my time doing something for me. As the title of this post says, loving myself enough to take the time.

The first photo may have been my favorite of the exhibit: School Children Meeting a Visitor, 1935-36. The remainder of the photos are titled as follows:
Ruins of Windsor, post-1936.
Carrying the Ice for Sunday Dinner, prior to 1935.
Tomato Packers' Recess, 1935-36.
Hairdressing Queue, prior to 1935.
The photo just above is Untitled (Woman in Cotton Field) prior to 1935.
Finally, the one below is Home with Bottle Trees, 1936.

I took a picture, also, of a book open to a page where Ms. Welty is writing about her experience as a photographer and a writer. She writes, "I knew this, anyway: that my wish, indeed my continuing passion, would be not to point the finger in judgment but to part a curtain, that invisible shadow that falls between people, the veil of indifference to each other's presence, each other's wonder, each other's human plight." Jackson, 1971.

Loved, unexpectedly

2011-02-11T16:25:00.010-06:00

I didn't want to move here. In fact, I was terrified to move here--to this rural county on the Mississippi-Alabama line. Conservative dry county in a town with one red light, only two red lights in the whole county. I'd lived in places like Auburn, St. Louis, Los Angeles. I was living in a place I adored--Atlanta. I loved going to the Y, to Java Monkey coffee house, taking yoga classes and cooking classes. I loved the diversity. I loved going to the Farmer's Market and hearing at least eight different languages that I couldn't identify and seeing signs in the bathroom stalls asking users not to stand on the toilets. I loved seeing couples of all kinds, happy and at home in their town. I loved feeling like I fit in, like there were lots of others just like me.
But then heartbreak took hold. As we were driving back to Atlanta after H's brother's funeral, I had a strong, clear feeling. We needed to move to her hometown. That's what we did. Within six months she was here, and I came a few months later at the end of the school year. We were coming for five years. Then we'd decide where to go next.
We've now been here almost seven years.
I still miss my yoga studios, my independent coffee shops and bookstores, seeing five different kinds of eggplant at the farmer's market, the energy and culture of a big city. Seeing what classes the Cook's Warehouse is offering and what is coming to the Fox. As soon as it is warm enough sitting outside at Raging Burrito, drinking Margaritas and dipping into guacamole. I still miss a lot. I have a lot of city in me.
But there is much I've fallen in love with here. The kindness of people, that people here take time. We had more meals that you could shake a stick at once we brought these three home from the hospital. Yesterday morning, the new dryer still on the truck, the phone rang. "Donna said y'all had to go get a new dryer yesterday. Can my son and I come help you install it?" When there is so much kindness and generosity around you, you want to participate. When Brandon and Terry came to switch out and hook up the dryer, I had my kids go downstairs and watch for a few minutes. I want them to see that kind of task, that kind of consideration.
People around here work hard; they are always working at something. They are industrious and resourceful. Gardens, woodworking, welding, sewing, canning, cooking.
I love the pace of life here. People stop and take time here. They know one another. If you have a need, someone knows about it and helps you with it.
When we moved here we knew we wanted to try to have a few children. We thought three might be a good number to aim for. Well, we hit the mark. Our three will be three and a half years old next month. The time is going by so fast sometimes it makes my chest tight. Thankfulness abounds when I ponder my own lack of control: what were once two of my biggest fears--carrying three babies at once and moving to H's hometown--are currently among our biggest and most treasured blessings.
I can think of no better place for us to be raising these youngin's. Just this morning I was reading a bit of Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne. Here are just a few of the things he wrote about children being in nature: "Modern life narrows our focus until it is primarily visual...nature accentuates all of the senses, it helps us recover from the stresses of daily life and improves our capacity to pay attention...Nature invites exploration, direct contact, and experience. But it also inspires a sense of awe, a glimpse of what is still 'un-Googleable'...life's mystery and magnitude."

He also says "How satisfying it is for a child to know a place--and to know it deeply....Children feel more more grounded to where they live when they can learn to identify some of the common plants, birds, and animals they see in their yards and neighborhoods."

This makes me think of Lucia being excited to see the deer tracks and Elliott loving pointing out a cardinal to me. Mazie begging to go get the chicken eggs. Throwing rocks in the old cow pond. Watching the heron fly from the edge of the pond up into a tall pine.

Blue skies. Green grass. Ponds. Sandy patches in the dirt roads. Rocks to throw. Leaves that fall.
Blue Herons. Red-Winged Blackbirds. Fox squirrels. Cowhorns, yearlings, bucks, and does. Cardinals, blue jays, towhees, and mockingbirds. Wild ferns, tiny wild irises. Some springs the dogwood trees out in the pines are so plentiful, they look like snow.
Mazie was walking back up to our house from Nana's. I was waiting outside for her. When she got to me she said, "I saw a squirrel." Then she cocked her head and, thinking, said, "but it was red." I said, "Mazie, that was the fox squirrel. You saw the fox squirrel." I loved that she could tell he was different. I love that another day, the three and I saw him again and got to see where his nest is.
I love that when we go walking down the dirt road, they look for deer tracks. "Look, Mama, deer tracks," Lucia will say. She loves to find them and show them to her siblings and me. Mazie has started asking all about bugs.
Everyday we go to the chicken yard to feed them our scraps and give them corn and pellets. They love getting the eggs and bringing them back up to the house. We've picked up a feather and determined which chicken it once belonged to.
We've also gone to someone else's property in June for blueberry picking. Their blueberry bushes were the biggest I've ever seen. The three and I picked blueberries one morning, filling our buckets and bellies. I love that they are learning about where food comes from.
This year I am going to attempt a garden again. Lucia and Elliott and Mazie will each get their own little plot to tend. I think they are at a great age to start this. We are already starting to talk about what they might want to plant.
Before we moved here, when I would come with H to visit, I didn't think this place was that pretty. Just a bunch of pine trees, I thought. But, now that I live here. I think it is beautiful. It is in the details. Once I noticed the oaks and magnolias, ferns and acorns, its beauty began to grow for me. Each year I find it more and more beautiful. I am so thankful we live here right now, for this time in our lives. We are right where we are supposed to be.
When I first read the theme for this week's All Four Love, this place I am living was the first thing that came to my mind. These woods, this dirt road, this home. Unexpected, yes, but still a deep love.
I don't know how many more years we will be here. But I know wherever we go, I'd rather be living down a dirt road than on a cul-de-sac. And I know I will always have a piece of this place in my heart.

Sayings, v.3.5.2

2011-02-10T10:00:00.002-06:00

Old habits do die hard. This morning I found a few sayings I'd jotted down in the notes section of my phone. Here they are:

Last weekend we were able to get outside for a couple hours. We spent some of that time raking up pine straw to put around our blueberry bushes. I think Elliott meant important when he said the following: "We don't have to bring the rake; that's not impositive."

Lucia says ya a lot. As in, "I'm gonna come get ya" and "I'll pick up the sweater for ya." But, she enunciates ya like it is the most important word in the sentence, rather than slurring and slanging it. It makes me laugh.

This is one of my favorite things right now--Lucia uses "in cep" instead of "because." She never wavers. "Can we go to the park, in cep it's not raining?" "Mazie can't go to school in cep she's sick." "I can't eat my oatmeal right now in cep it's hot."

Sayings, v. 3.5

2011-02-09T09:01:00.001-06:00

So I lost my camera in December, and then, about a few weeks ago, the notes file on my phone where I record things the children say that I want to remember "disdapearred." I can remember nothing. So if someone says something, I go straight to my phone and type it in. So, it had tons and tons of bits the babes had said that I wanted to document.

Blogging bummers.

So here is what I can remember, or what they've said the past week or two. Now, I just go straight to blogger, when I can, and type it right into a draft entry. I hope you enjoy some of the things I've been enjoying lately.

Funny Sounding Words

Lucia loves to get the window cleaner and spray the French doors that go from the living area to the back porch. One night she said: "I also wanna spray the dob nor so it'll be clean."

Me: Where is Bubby?
Lu: He is brushing his teeth. He is scqueeping toothpaste.

Mae: Dox-og-o-ly for Doxology.

Lucia: "Elliott threw that juice. It went sploosh."

Time and Amounts
Lu & Mae have both said: "Will you lay down with me five times?" instead of five minutes.
Mazie also has asked: "Will you lay down with me five hours?"

When Mazie had her hands full, she asked me, "Mama, can you bring my toy 'cause I've got two hands."

All three of the children, whenever talking about the past, say "last night the other day." What they are talking about could have been last night or three months ago. Doesn't matter. It is always introduced as "last night the other day."

Tense and Form of Words

About our gingerbread house, Lucia said, "Our candy house is not working because it's felling."

Lucia has also said, "She's gonna be worrious about that."

Mazie loves to go to parks and playgrounds. There is a city park by the high school stadium where we went to the homecoming game this year. Mazie always asks, "Mama, can we go to the park by the Auburn game?" Evidence that in our house, Auburn=Football.

I have been working with Lucia on not saying "What?" when she needs me to repeat something I've just said to her. I am forever correcting her, saying "Please say 'Ma'am?' or 'Pardon?'". The girls were in the back bathroom doing something, I said to them, "When y'all get finished, come in the kitchen, we need to do something." Lucia looked at me quizzically and asked, in a manner not polite enough for my taste, asked, "For what?" I gave her a look, apparently the same look I give her when I am about to correct her for saying, "What?" because she immediately changed her question to a more pleasant, "For pardon?"

At Christmas I put an little artificial wreath on our wooden horse. It had two pieces of fake peppermint candy attached to it. The children, especially Elliott, fixated on that candy, driving me pure bonkers. They were always detaching the "candy" and trying to unwrap it. After too many days of this, I caught Mazie and Elliott hiding under the couch cover "eating" the "candy."
Frustrated, I said, "Are you kidding me?"
Elliott immediately handed Mazie the candy and said, "No, Mazie is kidding you."
Frustration relieved.

Various Wording
I often tell my children, "you are killing me" when they are driving me psuedo-crazy. Elliott has started saying, "you are killing on me."
He also will run around with a ball and, trying to get Lucia to chase him, say, "touch me down, Lucia. Touch me down."

Mazie asked, "Mama, where's my rest of snack?"

On the couch one afternoon, Mazie told Elliott she'd share her blanket, "Bubby, I can share your blanket with me."

This is one thing I love that the girls both do. When I tell them something like, "Mazie, you can get those out, but at the end of rest time you have to clean them up," she'll answer with "I would." Or, if I say, "Lucia, I don't want you to get up on the counter again," she'll say, "I wouldn't." As if, I wouldn't even dream of it. I think it is so cute.

Melange of Funny
Me: "Lucia, you did so great." (picking up crayons)
Lu: "I know. I'm not going to believe it."

I've heard all three of them say: "That's a positive; that's a positive." I am not exactly sure what they mean, but they seem to understand each other.

My sweet Mazie will say, "Look, chocolate. Mama, you and I love chocolate."

Mae: "Mama is this a pig? She has an oink nose."

One day Lu called the remote control the commode all day.

Bubby, leaning out window of Nana's car: "Hey Mama. Remember not to say any bad words." He has taken to telling me this when he leaves me. I think because I am always reminding him of something when I leave him: "Mind your teachers." He has fixated on the not saying bad words requests I give him. Bad words to him are "shut up" and "shoot". I do think he's overheard me fire off a few times though, because a few times lately I've seen him get frustrated with something and he'll emphatically say, "Shut." The word I tend to slip up with has the same initial sound, so I think he is modeling me. Yikes!

Another thing I love right now is that Lucia gets so tickled at things that sound funny. If I say say something like "Don't get all huffy with me," she'll turn to Elliott and say, "Bubby, she said 'get all huffy.'" Then they'll both laugh. Once I asked Lucia if she "ripped a toot" and she laughed about that for days. "Mama said, 'Ripped-a-toot. Mama said 'ripped-a-toot.'"

I am a pretty private person. If you called me and I was writing, "I'd tell you "nothing" when you asked what I was doing. It doesn't feel comfortable to me to say, "I am writing." This isn't something I completely understand about myself. Where my children are concerned, I try to be forthcoming. I am trying to be honest, but also set examples for them. During rest time one afternoon, they all three came out of their rooms.
Me: "You all go back to your rooms to rest. Mama needs some writing time."
Lucia and Mazie started making their way back. Elliott stayed back to ask, "You need some writing time? You need some laundry time?" It makes sense. Laundry is one of the things they see me doing the most.

Bedtime

We have been back from Disneyland for just over two months now, and every single night since we've gotten home, at bedtime Lucia asks me to "tell me about the Disney stuff." When I lay down with her at night time, we spend our time talking about the rides, characters, parades, snow, fireworks, and food from our three days at Disney. "You tell me about the Disney stuff."

Elliott is in a shark phase right now. When H and I lie down with him at night time, he wants to talk about sharks. He'll ask various questions like "Mama, do you like green sharks?" or "Do you like to be close to baby sharks?" or "What is your favorite shark?" I love this time with him. I have claimed the hammerhead shark as my favorite.

Mae also has a current interest, though she doesn't question us at bedtimes about the bugs: "Mama, what bugs bleed?" and "What bugs itch?" and "What bugs tickle?" I don't know what triggered this interest of hers.

Loved, deeply

2011-02-04T17:04:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite blogs* is having a ...not sure what to call it. It isn't a contest. An invitation, maybe? You can read about it here: Jeanne's All Four Love invitation. Basically there is a different love-inspired theme each Friday. You post photos that you feel fit the theme. So, I thought I would participate. A fun way to get me back in the habit of posting regularly and in "real time"!

When we were at Disneyland my nice Canon SRL camera was stolen. Stolen is a euphemism for: "she set it down outside a restaurant, she is pretty sure, and when she went back two hours later it was not there!" The police were very kind to not make me feel like the complete idiot I knew I was. And, the nice hotel guest attendant working the night shift didn't make me feel dramatic when I cried to her at 11:00pm that I had lost my purse with my new sunglasses, $300 cash, and my expensive camera that had hundreds of Disney photos on it (the camera and pictures were the real reason for the tears).** Like I said, I wasn't 100% sure where I'd left it.
So, I finally spill all those beans to say that my pictures for All Four Loved are taken on my iPhone (which I had luckily, uncharacteristically put in my jacket pocket that night rather than in my purse), so they are not the best. Still, they represent some of the ones I love deeply.

We have been sick, sick, sick for over a week. So, the pictures of my precious creatures certainly capture real life. Here is Mazie, having fallen asleep on the couch.

Here are Lucia and Elliott sharing a snack of jelly bellies.
Showing their favorite colors: blue and orange. Sharing makes them happy--and me even more happy!
My final photo for my loved deeply photos is of our chocolate lab Molasses. The beginning of the year we lost our sweet Sipsey, Molasses' daughter. Sipsey was about to turn 13 years old. Molasses will turn 16 in September. I know my time with Mo is running out, and I know that I will likely never have a dog as wonderful as her. One of the biggest regrets I've had since having our three is how little attention my dogs get. For a long time my babies, our labs were displaced when we brought home three tiny babies. Since Sipsey is no longer with Mo, I try to spend a little time with her every day, make sure she is okay and that she knows she is loved--deeply.I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of a few of those who I love deeply. Wishing you a wonderful day filled with those you love deeply.

*There are many reasons to visit her site, one being the great playlist you can listen to. She has great (or my?) taste in music.

**After returning home, I remembered that my personalized embossed leather bracelet that I bought at a fair in fourth grade was in there too. Major bummer.

Mama Mazie

2011-01-31T11:45:00.000-06:00

Throughout our house we can almost always find someone who is under Mama Mazie's care. I love when I discover some little creature she has looked after.

Mazie is such a joy to me and to those she has taken charge of.

Poem #16

2011-01-25T14:54:00.000-06:00

Resume' by Dorothy Parker

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

I really like this poem. I don't know anything about Dorothy Parker except I quote that I've read that is attributed to her: "I don't know anything about being a millionaire, but I bet I'd be darling at it." Isn't that a great quote? Don't we all feel that way? Given the chance to be filthy rich, wouldn't we be gracious and generous, darling yet down to earth?

One thing I like about the poem is the rhythm. It goes along at a happy little clip, contrary to the subject of the poem. And while subject is heavy, the end is hopeful.

My favorite thing about the poem though, is the title. At first, I skimmed over the title not letting it affect my reading of the poem. Without the title, the poem seems almost hopeful in its delivery. Don't go to all those dark places, just make the best of it. But, with the title, the reader is forced to reckon that the speaker of the poem has tried each of those things. Much the way an employee puts projects and undertakings on their resume', the speaker of the poem does the same in this poem.

This poem reminds me of a Langston Hughes poem I used when I taught middle school English. When we talked about the importance of titles, I'd use one of his poems. I'd write it on the board and cover the title up by taping up a sheet of paper. I'd ask the students to write about the poem for five minutes and we'd discuss. Then, I'd uncover the title and ask them to write again about the poem. Then, we'd discuss how our readings were changed by the title.

The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.

Read it and think about what the poem evokes for you. Then click on comments and read the title, seeing how that changes your reading of the poem.

Class dismissed.

A list for a list

2011-01-15T10:34:00.002-06:00

Here is something I've been doing for a while now. Since having children, I've found my brain truly doesn't work like it used to. (The word truly always makes me think of the movie Roxanne. You too? "Earn more sessions by sleaving." I think that was my sister's and my favorite part.) I've never been one to go to the store without a list, but now sometimes to create the list takes more brain power than I have. So, I created a list to refer to when I have an upcoming shopping day. This has helped me to forget less. I tend to make one big trip toward the beginning of the month getting as much as I can for that month. The trips when I haven't referred to the list are not as successful. For a while I printed the list off and referred to that; now I just pull it up on my computer.

Laundry

Paper towels

Toilet paper

Puffs

White vinegar

Cascade

Method dish washing tablets

Windex

Pinesol

Comet

Kitchen sponges

Gain

All

Downy sheets

Downy liquid

Dawn

Clorox

Shout

Biz

Trash bags 13 gallon

Freezer gallon

Freezer quart

Storage gallon

Storage quart

Wax paper

Foil

Plastic wrap

Diapers*

Wipes

Dog food

Cat Food

Hall Closet

Qtips

Cotton balls

Bandaids

Toothpaste

Toddler toothpaste

Butt paste

Aquaphor

Soap

Deodorant

Toilet paper

Liners

Tampons

Fridge & Freezer

Eggs

Milk

Butter

Yogurt

Cottage cheese

Shredded cheese

Block cheese

Cream cheese

Miso

Ketchup

Yellow mustard

Dijon

Duke’s mayo

Bread crumbs

Flax seed meal

Peas

Green beans

Corn

Bacon

Turkey sausage

Ground beef

Roast

Steak

Ground turkey

Salmon

Fish

Shrimp

Chicken breast

Roaster chicken

Lettuce

Carrot

Celery

Beer

Wine

Puff pastry

Tortillas

Pantry

Coffee

Tea

Green Tea

Herbal Tea

Quaker Oats

Sunbutter

Peanut Butter

Jelly

Salad Dressing

Olives

Pepper

Applesauce

Cereal

Raisins

Prunes

Dried fruit

Almonds

Walnuts

Nuts

Mini Nillas

Goldfish

Artichoke Hearts

Mandarin Oranges

Canned Tomatoes

Tomato Paste

Pasta Sauce

Honey

Wine

Beer

Splenda

AP Flour

WW Flour

SR Flour

Cake Flour

Corn Meal

SR Corn Meal

Vanilla

Chocolate chips

Onions

Potatoes

Apples

Bananas

Triscuits

Brown Rice

Mac& Cheese

Pasta

Chicken broth

Beans

*This list was obviously made a while ago. I need to update it, but wanted to publish the original first. I have things to take off and a few things to add.

Year's First Visitors

2011-01-09T13:09:00.005-06:00

We had a great visit with this year's first visitors. W has been a close friend of H's and mine for many years, since they worked together at the beach one summer during college. W brought her two girls, 18 months, E & F, for a visit on this crisp but sunny first Monday of January. We walked to the barn and then had lunch together.
I love the picture above. Elliott has taken F's hand as they all run toward the barn.

W's girls are beautiful and very well behaved. They are calm and play well. W is a great mom, very consistent and engaged and loving. We are so glad they came to see us.
We have lots and lots of babies at the barn this winter. Sheep and goats. They are all such cute babies. Brownie had one of the first babies and my three have really taken to it. They've gotten to hold it quite a bit and they have named him Villie.
Below is the shelter that the five of us built in December when cold weather was coming. It was fun doing a project together as a family.
Come back soon, W, E, and F.

Project 40,

2011-01-07T20:53:00.005-06:00

Downhill slide. That is what I am on--with the Big Four-Oh at the bottom. I thought it might be a good idea for me to check in with my Project 40 list. I've had to amend the list a bit. My knees are giving me trouble since I finished the half marathon in April. So, I am done with running--at least for a while. I don't plan to get all these finished by June, but during the year I am celebrating 40.

#=ones I'm working on
*=ones I've done
X=ones I'm not going to do

X1. Run a 5K
X2. Run a 10K
*3. Run a Half marathon
4. Go to New Orleans
*5. Sew a Skirt
6. Sew an Apron
7. Sew a Pillow
#8. Memorize 40 Poems
#9. Read Les Miserables
#10. Sew a Dress for my Girls

11. Go to Oxford, Mississippi
12. Visit Lazy Magnolia Brewery
13. Take a Long Weekend Alone (3 Nights!)
#14. Send Novel to Agents
#15. Send Short Story to Literary Review
*16. Listen to Live music at xx Theatre
17. Visit Flannery, Carson, or Eudora's Home
18. Plant Calla Lilies
*19. Hang Wallpaper
20. Eat raw, organic, or do a detox diet for one week

21. Learn Calligraphy
22. Read One Hundred Years of Solitude
#23. Try 12 recipes from The Gift of Southern Cooking
24. Go to Helen Keller's home
#25. Plant a Lemon Trees
26. Read a Hemmingway
27. Read a Faulkner
#28. Attend a Literary Conference
29. Eat at Float-Away
?30. Go to an EmmyLou Harris concert (as of now, the only dates she has within five hours of us are during a weekend we already have plans during.)

X31. Eat Oysters in Appalachicola (may need to be amended)
#32. Learn 12+ Birds that live in our area
#33. Learn 12+ Trees that grow in our area
34. Teach a writing workshop
35. Go through Pioneer Woman's photography archives
36. Start Bee Hives
37. Watch last season of Six Feet Under
#38. Be able to do 40 Push-Ups
39. Make Mole' Sauce
40. Make a Video of my children's first 4 years

Some of Our Favorite Things

2011-01-03T11:38:00.000-06:00

We are seriously loving our Legos. All three, but especially Lu and Bubby. Every day at rest time, all three of them choose Legos for the toy they get to take to their rooms.

We also enjoy making tall towers with the blocks.
Just a few of our favorite things right now.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T13:42:00.003-06:00

One of the things I enjoyed most about teaching is that you got to start over every year. Make big changes. Try new things. For the same reasons, I love the new year, and I love birthdays. Resolutions don't scare me. I have accepted that I will not get everything accomplished that I want; I have come to realize that I often put too much on my plate, try to do too much. Still, I think it is good to have goals, resolutions, to keep us striving to be a little bit better.

One of my favorite blogs mentioned trying to think of a word to focus on for the new year, something you want to become or refine. I have chosen the word engaged. I have certainly developed that motherly talent of checking out. I want to check out less. Multi-task as little as possible. Enjoy the undertaking or activity, whether it is a story with my children or cooking supper.

Since having children, and I think daughters specifically because women tend to have more of an issue with degradation, I have noticed how I talk to myself. In the past year or two, our pastor's husband gave a lay sermon that I really enjoyed. Part of what he talked about was the way that we talk to ourselves. He quoted Philippians 4:8 in his sermon: "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." That is something to ruminate on. Along with that verse, I think about my daughters talking to themselves the way I have a propensity to talk to myself. I would cry if, one day, I knew they were saying such harsh and awful things to themselves. Those two things have come together to help me to talk nicer to myself. I have cut way back on the harsh judgments of my appearance and even try to find things, appearance- and character-wise, that I do find acceptable or even valuable.

I write the above to give a foundation for my new year's resolutions. In thinking about how I hope all of my children talk to themselves--Lucia, Elliott, and Mazie Bell, I framed my resolutions a little differently this year, perhaps a little softer, more hopeful than dogmatic. I have an empty frame by my writing chair that I intend to put the list in:

Today I hope you:

eat raw vegetables
say something nice to yourself
walk or do yoga
write
read a poem
pray
say no to things that are bad for you
sit on the floor and play with lucia, elliott, and mazie
notice your gift
give thanks

I hope your year has started off well and that you are kindly moving yourself toward new goals. Much love to you.

House Fires

2010-12-31T11:43:00.005-06:00

The week after Christmas, we went to watch the fire department, which H is a member of, burn an old house. They do it for practice. The children really enjoyed it. I thought it was interesting but quite scary. It will certainly make you think about your own home. This particular house was very old, and older houses do generally burn faster, but the speed and ferocity with which this fire spread was very upsetting. H has been on the fire department for four or five years now. There have been a decent number, too many, of homes completely lost. Several people in our area have perished in fires, including children.
Here are several things I've learned since H joined the fire department. First off, most house fires start with the clothes dryer. I never run our washing machine, dryer, or dish washer once I go to bed. In fact, I make sure their cycle will finish before the time I want to be in bed; otherwise I wait until the morning to start it. And, I try not to run the clothes dryer if no one is home. I don't always stick to this, but I try to do it as little as possible.

Another thing that is good to know. Have a hammer or ax hidden outside your children's windows. That way if you can't get to them through the house, you can still get to them. If you have bedrooms on a second story or your windows are high off the ground, you also need to have a ladder outside so you can get up to bedroom windows. You can find rope ladders for sale that would facilitate a second story escape, but you still need a way to get up from the outside if you need to.

Another thing I've learned is why you don't ever put water on a grease or oil fire. Everyone knows not to do that, but sometimes I think it is interesting and even helpful to know why. This is how I understand the why: If you were to throw water on an oil fire, the water would sink to the bottom of the oil, stuck there. Once the temperature increases enough, the water basically gets so hot it explodes out of the oil, thus spraying all the hot oil and water everywhere. Very scary.
Finally, we have just introduced the beginnings of a fire plan to our children. We have told them if the fire alarm goes off at night, they need to sit under their bedroom window and we will come get them. We will add to this as they process. The next thing we will add is for them to shut their door and then sit under their window. But, we didn't want to overwhelm them.

I hope this has helped and given you some things to think about. Fires are very scary for parents to think of, but to have a plan and for parents to be on the same page does give peace of mind. Here's hoping none of us every has to deal with a house fire.

Christmas Crafts

2010-12-30T11:27:00.004-06:00

This season the three and I did several Christmas crafts; I'd say more failed than were a success, but we did have a good time.
I tried to make more gifts this year. For the gifts--like bean soup mix and chai tea--that we gave in jars, I had the children color squares of fabric to tie around the tops. They enjoyed this, and I thought it added to the appeal of the gifts.
The babes really love snow globes, so much so that they've broken all the glass ones we have had. The one plastic one we have they have learned to take the stopper out of. So, I thought it might be fun to make our own snow globes. I learned a few things. I think we'll try again next year, making a few changes. There are two main two things I'd do differently. One is buy cheaper glitter. I just grabbed some Martha Stewart stuff and it was very fine. I think that courser, heavier glitter would look better. Also, I would attach the lid by itself and then once the hot glue had cooled, screw on the ring. I tried to attach and lid and ring at the same time and it was hard to get them on in a timely manner. Elliott's I never was able to screw on tight because the glue adhered while the thing was all caddywompus*. The only other issue is getting the Santa (or other) figurine to stay stuck to the lid. They came apart after a while in the water. I need to research a better glue, and I also think I should have glued the figurines and let them sit before putting them in the water. We'll try this again next year though.
For the employees that work with H, the babes and I dipped and decorated pretzels and, along with a packet of hot cocoa, put them in decorated bags. This was a lot of fun and I feel like went well. I thought they turned out to be nice little, simple gifts.

Our colossal failure of the season was the gingerbread house. First of all, we didn't get to them until the 26th. Second of all they did not stay put. We ended up making gingerbread cookies. As with the snow globes, I think it would have been better to do the project in stages. Let the icing holding the house together set up before turning three pre-schoolers over to it. (Obvious, I know.) I find it hard, though, to gear up for a project--get them excited, get all supplies ready, find chunk of time, etc.--and then not complete it at one sitting. But, they are getting older and I am (maybe) getting wiser. Next year I really want to do this early in the season so we can enjoy the gingerbread house all season. We went to their teacher Miss Debbie's house the day before Christmas to take her a gift. She had the most elaborate gingerbread houses that she had done with her children and grandchildren. She does them every year. I thought it was so neat. It was obviously something she really enjoys doing and then enjoys throughout the holidays. She inspired me to make more of an effort. I think LEM are getting to the age where we can really get into the project and, hopefully, we can put the houses out to enjoy and them not torment me to death trying to eat all the candy off them. We'll see!

Because the house fell apart after a short while, we ended up just making gingerbread...wait for it...cookies. Genius, huh?

We hope your holidays were sweet and that you enjoyed the mishaps along with the successes.

* I cannot find how to correctly spell caddywompus. I probably do not even know how to pronounce it correctly. It is a word my Grandma uses, and I try to use as many of the interesting words and sayings that she uses as I can. Perhaps I should ask her how to spell it. I know she knows.

Christmas

2010-12-29T10:13:00.000-06:00

We had a fun Christmas this year. We were at home for Christmas for this first time since the babes were just a few months old. It was nice to be low-key and mellow and just enjoy being together. Also, this was the first year since the three were born that I really enjoyed decorating for Christmas. Before it was just too much of a stress.
The two pictures above are of the three at our parsonage's Holiday Open House. The first picture shows them singing "Go Tell It On the Mountain," led by their Nana.

We had a strange phenomenon occur this Christmas. Around the property, random trees were decorated with tin can lids. When we first noticed them I said, "Y'all, look at that tree. What do you think those are?" Immediately Lucia exclaimed "Goldens!" I don't know where she got that from, but that is what we called them from then on out. The three think that Santa, his elves, and their Nana hung the goldens up around our place.
We went down to Nana and Papa's for Christmas Eve supper and exchanged gifts with them then.

Here is our tree in all its glory. While we didn't get all the ornament on the tree this year, we got the most yet on it. Maybe next year we will fill the thing up.
Santa came and was quite good to us. The favorite gifts were a train table and a Dora the Explorer microphone. Both have brought us lots of entertainment.

Mazie especially enjoyed opening her stocking and opening presents this year. She'd have opened everybody's everything if we'd have let her.

For Christmas Dinner we went to the J House. Lots of family friends came and we all ate tons of delicious food.

We hope your holiday was filled with light and love.

Our Elves

2010-12-17T11:23:00.001-06:00

A friend in town loaned us some elf costumes to play with over the Christmas holidays. The children looked so cute in them and had a great time dressing up. We even wore the hats when we went to the nursing home on Christmas Eve.

Nothing like three cute little elves to get me in the Christmas spirit.

Disney, Continued

2010-12-13T17:01:00.003-06:00

Here are a few more pictures, highlights from our time in Anaheim. The children had fun picking out their Mickey hats and getting their names sewn on the back.

My mom also treated them to their first Build-A-Bear experience. The girls picked out Hello Kitties with Tigger and Piglet costumes. Elliott, after much prodding, finally chose a monkey with a Buzz Lightyear costume.
I skipped out on the Build-A-Bear experience to visit with one of my close high school friends. Keri and I had a wonderful, though too short, time catching up. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Here the four are at the base of the beautiful Christmas tree at the beginning of Main Street. Notice how wonderfully cooperative (sarcasm) Lucia is being.

They loved playing on the old fire engine. They got to crawl all over it and play with all its features.

Another highlight was getting to see Buzz Lightyear. The children have loved Toy Story the past year so seeing all the Toy Story characters in the parades and out and about was great fun.
We loved going to Minnie's House. She had a cake baking in the oven, dishes washing in the dishwasher, a laptop they could play on. Lots of fun things to do. She was even home one time we went to her house.

I loved the Dumbo ride when I was little. It was such a treat for me to be able to ride on Dumbo with one of my children. Lucia and I were able to ride on her favorite color Dumbo too--Orange!
Karen treated us to Breakfast with Goofy. This was such a great time; something I would definitely want to do again. Different characters walk around and talk to you at your table while you partake in a huge spread of delicious food. Mickey-shaped waffles, among the treats.

Disneyland was great and we look forward to getting to go back before too too long.

Disney Parades

2010-12-12T17:11:00.004-06:00

We had several people ask us what we thought about taking the three to Disney at their age. (They were 3.25 yo.) I had originally thought we'd wait and take them to Disney when they were closer to five years old. I just thought that would be a fun age to go to Disney for the first time.
But I think they had a great time at Disney and the experience was very age-appropriate. I remember going a lot in high school and having a great time. I think there is just such a wide range of things to do so the experience applies to all ages. Plus, there is magic there for all to enjoy.
Some rides were really great for us: submarine, carousel, Dumbo, tea cups, Peter Pan, and, our favorite, we rode each day, Small World. And really, these were enough rides for us.
The two greatest parts of Disney that we enjoyed though, were the parades and meeting the characters. This made all the time, money, and effort worth it. The parades were fantastic. Choreography, music, interaction, costumes, props, floats. All of it was 100% Disney-wonderful.
And at the end of the parades, they always made snow and had fireworks. Magic for children, magic for anyone.

Another thing that I really enjoyed were the holiday decorations. That made the trip extra special. I think next time we plan to go to Disney, I'll try to get us to go during the holiday season. Not only were the crowds tolerable, the place was even more beautiful.

DisneyLand, the Small World

2010-12-11T12:24:00.005-06:00

For a wonderful Christmas and Hanukkah gift, my mom treated us to three days at Disneyland. We spent four nights at the California Grand Hotel. The hotel is so beautiful, maybe the prettiest hotel I've ever stayed in. It is all Craftsman style: stained glass, lots of wood, Mission-style furniture. So beautiful.
In the lobby they play Mickey Mouse cartoons and have little Mission rockers for the children to sit in. Very smart on their part!

Here is probably the best picture I got of our three. They are at Goofy's Gas Station. If you are (rightly) thinking that the pictures from this trip aren't quite up to snuff, you are right. More on my camera situation in a later post.
Karen, my sister, said we needed strollers for Disneyland. I scoffed. I chastised. I made fun. However, I did acquiesced. And boy am I glad. Every one, and I mean everyone, takes strollers to Disney. Apparently everyone knows more than me. To make it through the day, to traverse the paths of Disney, you need a stroller. I will never scoff, chastise, or make fun of my dear sister again. Karen, from here on out, I will always acquiesce. Without strollers, I think the days at Disney might have been unbearable.

Pluto was the first character we got to visit with. It was such a great experience for the children--one I will never forget. Pluto was very sweet and looked so cute in his antlers and holly.

In FrontierLand they had a coloring area for the children. A great idea because it was something different for them to do and allowed them to rest a little bit.

Mazie and Charlotte showing one another their work.
Mazie on Small World.
H and Lu going into Small World.
The rest of us on the boat going in to Small World. (J.D. and I--on the middle seat--are the only adults on this boat who are not in the last trimester of pregnancy. Go Karen and Deirdre! They were fantastic troopers.)

Karen and Avery.

Just in case you needed proof that even Disney (or expecially Disney?) is subject to advertising pressures: It's A Small World was proudly brought to us by Sylvania.
This last picture is of Small World all lit up. They light it up after the parade each night while blowing freshly made snow down onto the crowds of people. So beautiful.

The Burger Mecca

2010-12-05T12:15:00.001-06:00

While in California we went to The place to get hamburgers: In-N-Out. lemonade, shakes, fries, cheeseburgers. They have the best and we had a fantastic lunch.
I am glad they don't have In-N-Out in our neck of the woods.

Irvine

2010-12-04T14:37:00.000-06:00

Our next day, down in Orange County, we met up with our dear friends, Melanie and Alex. H and I have known them since Alex in six--she'll be 16 next year. Arrggg! We met at the Irvine Spectrum--a big ourdoor mall with some rides and fountains and live entertainment and lots of shops and eateries.
We rode the carousel. Lucia still talks about how she chose the cat with the fish in its mouth.

Dancing to live music.

There was a fun man who worked at the Spectrum who played with the children. They loved him and followed him all around.

Our first Pinkberry. Delish!

Mazie, shopping at Anthropologie with Mama.

Elliott developed quite the little crush on Miss Alex.
We love our friends and hope they will come see us soon!

Venice

2010-12-04T14:31:00.001-06:00

We spent our first day in Venice where my sister's family lives. We walked from their place along the beach to the Santa Monica pier. It was a beautiful day. We got lemonades and rode the ferris wheel--which everyone enjoyed except Elliott. He was afraid of falling into the water below.
On the ferris wheel: Elliott with me, H with Mazie and Lucia.

Elliott helped Uncle Jon make us some yummy smoothies in their VitAMix.
Then we spent the rest of the afternoon going to look at Cousin Avery's new house that they are going to move into at the first of the year. We had a great time before heading south for the rest of the trip.

Airplane Ride

2010-12-04T14:27:00.000-06:00

So the three took their first plane ride over Thanksgiving. H and I were rather nervous about making the cross-country trek. I solicited advice and packed a large carry-on with little games, puzzles, and snacks. I thought I was over-packing, but I think it turned out to be about enough stuff.
They did well and we got several compliments on their behavior. Our only issue was pottying. We had some turbulence on the way to California so the seatbelt sign stayed illuminated for a good portion of the flight. H had words with a flight attendant and passenger over getting up to take them to the restroom. But that was really our only problem. When we returned home, we limited their beverages so we didn't have to get up as much, but also the seatbelt light was not on very much.
H and I are not jumping up and down to get all five of us on a plane again anytime soon, but overall we feel it went well and will go even better next time.

Where are we going?

2010-11-24T14:23:00.001-06:00

Lucia, Elliott, and Mazie are about to take their first plane trip. Can you guess where we are all going?

Artists and Bangs

2010-11-07T15:40:00.011-06:00

On our way to the beach in September, Lucia said, "Look, Mama. I drew a cyclop." I turned and looked and saw her one eye creature. Then she said, "Let me put a shoe on him" and drew the shoe below him. Of course I had to pull over and take a picture of my Lu and her cyclop.
For the three's birthday, my sister and her family gave us MagnaDoodles. Avery had one when she visited us and LEM loved it. Well, now they get to love their own. They are great toys because they are easy to handle and operate. I don't have to tend to them if they are playing with their MagnaDoodles. This makes them great for travel.
Over Halloween weekend the girls were playing with theirs. Lucia drew a cat and Mazie drew a monster. I thought they were pretty good.
Tangentially: I included both pictures of Mazie to show her bangs. I am not a fan of bangs on my children. Somehow Mazie started out with bangs so we've been trying to grow them out. She has fine hair so barrettes don't stay in really well. Unfortunately the above picture is how she often looks. The picture below was taken after H told me to get her hair out of her face. We've been growing her bangs out for what seems like a year. Over the Fourth of July weekend we left the three so we could have a night away. When we came back to get them Someone--who will remain unnamed--had decided to cut Mazie's bangs to get them out of her face. So, we were back to square one. Now they are about to the length they were in July. They won't be grown out for the holidays, but maybe by Easter.

sayings, v. 3.4

2010-11-04T09:56:00.003-05:00

Bubby to H: Can we watch one episode?
H: Go ask Mama.
Me: I don't know bubby. It is so pretty outside.
Bubby went back downstairs to H and said: I think she said yes.

Mazie: I'm gonna have (instead of behave)

Lucia calls restaurants meetings or restrooms. So, she is always saying: Let's go to the meeting and eat or How 'bout we go to the restroom for lunch.

Lucia: I saw a handicrane. (What she calls cranes.)

Mazie: I want to separate the table. (set the table)

Lucia: Hey Mama, where's the goph? (ghost)

Elliott to one of his sisters: Hit the stool. Hit the stool. Don't hit me; I might cry.

Lucia, when I ask her a question, like What state does Avery Mae live in: she'll whisper, You tell me.

Elliott, with a flashlight in hand: I can look through the dark with this.

Me to Lucia and Mazie: We are going to vote.
Lucia: We are going to the river?

Lucia loves the word similar. She says it all the time. She'll say things like 'Mazie and Maggie start the same. They are similar.' She'll also use it incorrectly, like 'Tree and chair are similar.'

Mazie: Yes, I'm appreciate it.

Lucia: When we are driving will ask every few miles: What state are we in now? Sometimes she'll say What steak are we in now?

Me, when the wind was blowing the leaves down from the trees: Look at the pretty leaves.
Lucia: That means it's fallen time.
Also lately when the wind blows she'll say: It's windy. That means it's winter time.

In the pictures above, Elliott made himself an onion mustache and goatee and kept saying, "I am the doctor. I am the doctor." (Our pediatrician is a female and she does not have facial hair.)

Amazing, Chapter 3

2010-11-01T08:15:00.002-05:00

So...it has been quite a while since I did a chapter summary of Tim Seldin's How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way. Chapter Three is "Help me to do it myself." This is a good chapter for where we are. As I think I've mentioned before, I need to be fostering more independence in my children. I value independence; often times I can the easier, quicker route and just do it for them. I need to slow down and let them do more for themselves.

Here are the high points from the chapter that I really loved. I bolded the ideas that especially resonated with me. I put in brackets any ideas that are mine.
______________________________________________
Chapter Three: Let Me Do It

The lessons your child learns can be broken down into three areas:
care of self
everyday tasks around the house
grace and courtesy

Children who feel respected and competent develop a greater sense of emotional well-being that children who are doted upon. [This idea is one of the ones I love the most about Montessori theory.]

It is important to teach the skill itself but also help your child develop a sense of calmness, concentration, cooperation, self-discipline, and self-reliance. Parents have to set the tone and serve as a daily role model for everyday living skills. We need to be poised, purposeful, precise, caring, and giving.

The best way to encourage your child to try new skills is to demonstrate them precisely and slowly in simple ways he can understand. Then give him time to practice, and to be allowed to make his own mistakes and correct them.

How often do we find ourselves continuing to bundle our children into their coats or shoes long after they are capable of managing to put them on by themselves? [I am totally guilty of this.]

Mastering an everyday skill is made easier by careful planning, and patient instruction and support from parents.
If taught where things belong and how to return them correctly, children internalize this sense of order, and carry it with them for the rest of their lives. [Again, this is such a weak area for me. Order in the home is a constant struggle for me.]

Establish a ground rule and gently but firmly teach your child that while she may select anything from her shelves to work and play with for as long as s he wishes, she must return it when she is done, and may not remove something new until the last thing has been put away.

[The author gives many specific ways to help foster independence in children. Just a few of them that I've tried are brushing teeth, washing hands, sweeping. Ones I need to work on are brushing hair, snaps and buttons, washing dishes, setting table.]

The rationale behind letting children use cups and bowls that break if they are dropped or misused is that children quickly learn to be careful and controlled when they use them.

Young children absorb and remember every nuance of their early home environment.

Avoid things which are cheap and made of plastic. Children respond to the beauty of wood, glass, silver, brass, and similar natural materials.

Children learn by practice and repetition. [This is one of my favorite things about this age. I love that they enjoy things over and over again. I love listening to them sing the same song or recite the same nursery rhyme or story over and over.]

If you approach things correctly, without nagging, impatience, criticism, and redoing something your child has done because it is not quite perfect, she will take delight in helping care for her home.

One way to encourage your child to eat healthy snacks is to get him involved in making them himself. Make sure your child can easily reach all the ingredients and utensils he needs to make a snack without help.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T14:05:00.002-05:00

Lucia, Elliott, and Mazie were our little love bugs for Halloween. Lucia, the ladybug. Elliott, the spider (fider). Mazie, the butterfly.
We dressed up three times over the long Halloween weekend. A party at school. Trick-or-Treating. Festival at one of the local churches.

We the three are with some cute bottles are friend Miss Pat made for us. They each have a different Halloween scene on them. We displayed them on our buffet for the weeks leading up to Halloween.
We hope your Halloween was sweet.

Fall Festival

2010-10-30T12:16:00.001-05:00

We had a fun weekend celebrating homecoming in our town recently. It was H's 20 year HS reunion so we went to the game and had a great time.
LEM loved two things the most about the game: the fire that the band played with and the paper banner that the football team ran through. They are still talking about both.
The next day we went to a local fall festival. We are very proud of our H because she was in charge of the festival. The organization is trying to raise money for local schools. We had a great turn out and everyone seemed to have a good time. We think H and her cohorts did an excellent job.
The cake walk was our favorite activity. We really racked up, too. Each child won a cake and they thought it was just about the greatest thing to ever happen to them when they were handed that big ol' cake.

Mazie was the only one who wanted to get her face painted. She opted for a lady bug and a flower.
We had a great time and are so proud of our Mama Bee for all her hard work.

Poem #15

2010-10-29T08:04:00.002-05:00

Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sag
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Poem #14

2010-10-26T15:36:00.005-05:00

Why I Wake Early
by Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety--

Best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light--
good morning, good morning, good morning

Watch now how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.

Beach Picture Bingo

2010-10-19T14:09:00.038-05:00

Here are some pictures from the day we went to the big beach. The light was so pretty that day, the weather perfect. I snapped over a hundred pictures in those two hours. Here are some of my favorites.
Seth and Elliott.

Allison with Mazie, Elliott, and Seth.

Lucia.
Elliott.
Rachael and Rory.

Amy and Karen.
H and Summer.
Lucia and Mazie.
LEM.
Lucia, Elliott, Mazie, and Seth loved jumping and running in the water.

H and Lucia.

Alyson and Mazie.
Al, Mazie, and Elliott.

My LEM.

Grandpa's Birthday

2010-10-17T22:20:00.002-05:00

NanaLin and GrandPa were nice enough to come help H watch LEM for two nights so I could stay down at the beach and clean up more efficiently (oh ok, and maybe, visit with friends a little longer!).
Luckily for us, their trip coincided with Grandpa's birthday week so we got to celebrate his day with a coconut cream pie. Happy Birthday, Grandpa. We love you.

Impromptu Retical

2010-10-17T21:06:00.004-05:00

My dad sent me a video of the girls he took when he and NanaLin were watching the children. They are trying to have a ballet recital like Avery gave us when she was here visiting.

Seff

2010-10-16T13:05:00.003-05:00

This precious creature is three months older than LEM. He was the first child born into our Atlanta friends family. I got some neat series of photos while we were at the beach. My series of Setheroni were among my favorites.

He caught his water bottle on his fishing pole and drug it around for a while.
Here he is playing boats with his bread. So cute.

We miss you Setheroni and can't wait to be with you again.

Eating for 18

2010-10-16T12:46:00.003-05:00

We always eat well. Some of my favorite meals have been shrimp Athenea (shrimp, rice, kalamata olives, tomatoes, garlic, etc.), Appilachiacola oysters on the grill, ancho pepper and espresso rubbed filet mignon. Like I said, we always eat very well. A good number of us love to cook and are pretty decent at it. One of us (Newt) is an immensely talented chef. She is pure genius.
While we still ate well this year, we didn't eat as well as we normally do. Roast chicken and hamburgers were our main meals. Still, the company is what makes the meal as that was as savory as ever.

A La Playa

2010-10-15T15:16:00.015-05:00

Every year, for the last seven years, we get together on the coast for a week with our Atlanta friends. We all lived in Atlanta for several years and built strong friendships. Now none of us live in Atlanta; we are scattered throughout three time zones. This is our seventh year to get together. A feat we are all proud of.
Another thing that we are proud of is that in three years (three years and one month to be exact) we have had eight children. Of course, H and I did more than our part to up the numbers. Eight children from five pregnancies in three years. I was worried we wouldn't all even be able to have a meal together this year, but each of the three nights we were all together the adults all sat down for a meal.

Lots of playing and reading and baby-loving went on. We loved getting to know our two new members--a four-month-old and an almost-three-month-old. Also this was our first year with Whit's girls as they were just about to arrive during last year's beach week. We look forward to next year, glad to be together again.

Sayings

2010-10-03T17:02:00.003-05:00

Here are our recent sayings that I love:

Lu: Elliott has the choate mah roll (remote control).

lem: look there's the pledge of allegiance to the flag
some times they add of the united states of america.

E: "You not get a lollipop!" He says it whenever he gets mad at someone, even H and me. Lollipop withdrawl is the worst injury he thinks can be inflicted.

Lu" "We're in hind the mom." (We're behind mom.)

E: After hiding some candy: "Guys, you'll never forget it."

E: Friderday for Friday.

Mazie: "I want to tell Bee it's forty-to-clock," to me. Then she ran in the bedroom to wake H up saying, "Bee! It's forty-to-clock!"

Three Year Check Up

2010-09-30T19:45:00.005-05:00

This week we took the three to see their pediatrician. She was very pleased with their language skills. They did fine counting. They are growing. The mamas got all their questions answered. It was a good appointment.

Below are their stats. The only real difference, percentage-wise, is Mazie's weight. She's always been below the chart; now she is at 10%. Yay Mazie! We are so proud of you, and your brother and sister.

Elliott
Height: 38 3/4" 75%
Weight: 36.6# 75%

Lucia
Height: 37" 50%
Weight: 30.2# 50%

Mazie
34 3/4" 10%
25# 10%