Fall drive

Sometimes when you aren't feeling the best, there can still be some really great moments that remind you life is really not so bad. My drive north to teach my class was dreaded this month as I have a flu/cold bug. But I didn't want to cancel because I am only up there once a month. So I packed up and jumped in the beetle and made my way north. I went straight to Beulah beach and listened to the water tickle the shore, then I got to the incredible studio and immersed myself in the peace of it all (I even managed to choreograph a bit), the class was lovely the women are incredible, I woke up early (darn cold!!) and slipped back over to the beach where I enjoyed rich, dark cup of coffee and a scone...I sat enjoying fall's chill and read for awhile...then I wandered up into town bought a few pressies, went to the fantastic Gwen Frostic Printer's, and meandered my way home stopping for mums and oogling the fall colors on the way...once home the ladies were antsy hoping to go out for pizza. So I pulled myself off the comfy couch, and we went for pizza and a wander through the downtown to see the scarecrows. It was a good evening. Even though I now sit on the couch spent and aching and stuffy with work worry on my mind and an inability to breathe through the future...life has big tests for us sometimes and I just am not up to the next one...I am quite disgruntled and upset and hoping I make peace with it all quickly!

Big Girls Room

This one is a bit blurry but look they have a floor!!!

So the new arrangement in the girls room was all sparked by this desk above that I got for free at a garage sale. It was painted black, over, blue, over white...you get the idea. But Bronwyn had been asking for a real desk, somehow my big third grader was no longer able to fold herself into the little tykes desk (not with lack of trying mind you). John put a new top on the desk and added an extension that is hinged and can fold down on the end to accomodate Ella. They spent most of yesterday evening organizing things in drawers and setting it all up. Bronwyn's first words were "Can I do my homework here?!!!" Which in true first born fashion, she sat down and finished before she got too involved in the rest.

I wandered in there this morning and it hit me hard...this is not longer a little girls' room...it has morphed overnight into a big girls' room. Well outside of the clouds still on the ceiling and the stars on the wall, which my Bronwyn is requesting a new paint job she has ideas and plans this one! And before the life that is two young ladies, takes over and destroys it all I wanted to capture the shift and change. My heart ached just a little to see the board books replaced by chapter books, and the coloring books replaced by journals and writing. The clothing is no longer whimsical but fashionable...my babies are growing up. All those times going into that room to soothe someone crying, or for a nighttime nursing....standing in the doorway just to get one more peek at them before bedtime...makes me just a little melancholy...but very proud at the same time. We are raising two unique, incredible young ladies that bring us smiles, frustrations, and challenges who make our days full and our hearts doubly so!

The Truck...

Did anyone see the truck that ran me over?? I think this may have been the one! I have washed hands, chloroxed keyboards and handsets, I have yoga'd and tea'd hoping to dodge the ick. And darn it all if it hasn't arrived anyway to plow me over and make me want to curl up in the fetal position and not come out for a very long time. And cap that off with a little emotional angst and a few tears and I am a big ball of junk! So once I heal and journal and smudge and have myself a little pity party I shall be back. But if you see this truck get its license plate number!!

Party...

Sometimes you come home and you find Raggedy Anne having her own little party in the blue room tamborine and all...then you wonder what happened to Andy?
May everyone find a little time to have a little party all of their own!!

Being a grown up

No one tells you that being a grown up is such hard work. Once you feel like you have a really good groove going life throws you twists and turns and new paths and openings. Things you didn't know you wanted or could even be possible...things you can't wrap your head around and you have to make it work somehow. You have to find a way to keep yourself going down the path and not just stop and sit down in the middle of it and let it swirl all around you. Even though you really want to have a big ole two year old size tantrum in the middle of the path it is now your job to stand up dust yourself off and keep on following the twists to see where you will end up. No one will or can do it for you as much as you would like them to. And all you can do is believe with all you got that it is for a reason...that growth will come...that the a-ha moment is right around one of those bends...and try to keep breathing deep, light the incense, and bury yourself inside yourself to see what it all might mean...and be open to the idea there really is a reason in it all you just have to continue the journey to see the bigger picture...but sometimes just sometimes I think it might be nice to not be a grown up...

Ella's New Smile

Our Ella has yet another new smile! At age five she has been through many goofy incarnations in the smiling world. Now she has a tooth, gap, tooth, gap pattern going on! It feels like everyday for months she has been in the process of losing a tooth or two. Once one makes it's way free another is loosening up for the journey. And now her little mouth seems too small to house so many grown up chompers. I can see some orthodontics in our future. She takes it in stride although she has been a little hesitant to show us her big smile so with some cheerleading by her Dad and I she let us get a couple of shots of that silly little smile that just as all the others have will change and grow and be gone before we even remember what happened.

Guess what....

I got to spend the whole day with these people!!! The ever incredible Irishman (who likes me said all giggly and teenager like), the little monster baby (who is not so much a baby any more), and my very wise elderstatesman... It was nice to just be with them. No agendas, no timelines, just no hurry. Exploring the world as a family. Sometimes life just gets in the middle of all this and I forget just how very lucky I am and just how very much I like these people I live with. They are each very unique and each such a very important part of my story! It is so good to reconnect and remember exactly why and how much I love them! Hoping everyone gets a day to reconnect with the people they love soon!!