To her father, And his…
To the man who has stuck by my side in this high-seas adventure called parenting.  For the boy of my heart who knows how to be calm in the storm, speaks with wisdom, and who day after day, gives us the gift of FUN!  

Your children are blessed to call you Dada, and I’m blessed to be your girl. 
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

before bed

The children went to be a little late tonight.  For some random reason, the time before bed became naked-time.  And then, I cannot tell you why, naked-time turned into wrestle-with-Dada time.  Before we knew it,  wrestle-with-Dada time turned into smother-Dada-with-kisses-time.    And that was how, in a matter of seconds, all hope of being-sleepy-soon was replaced with shrieking-giggle-laughs . and it was totally worth it!

a well-celebrated day

the beginning:: blueberry pancakes in the shape of hearts and airplanes all made before 8:30 class, birthday song sung by all four parents, …the middle:: parks, sunshine!!! (so different from last year), spaghetti moustaches, music, seeing redemptive grace at work in discipline and baby girl lovin’ on me!

the end:: sparkler candles, fairy cupcakes, chocolate mousse frosting, giggling toddlers, and heart conversations…                        From beginning to end I was loved so well.   Thank you, my dear husband, family and friends for celebrating me so well!

confessions of a J during finals week….

It is finals week and though he has been in the house most of the day, I have seen Jonathan for a total of maybe 20 minutes if you exaggerate it.  The day after he takes his last evening exam, we are leaving early in the morning on a 12+ hour road trip with two small, ACTIVE, children.  Christmas is upon us and there are MANY things to be made.  I don’t really know why (except that by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit must be prompting me) I’ve been dealing with this finals week differently.

Normally a week with this much activity, responsibility, uncertainty and potential for disaster would have me making plans upon contingency plans and lists of my lists in an effort to stave off any negative impact on my family.   Though this approach may sometimes result in being prepared for everything, it always guarantees one very stressed out and grumpy Mama.  I’ve been noticing, in the little bit of growing up I’ve done these past few months, that Mama’s mood quickly becomes everyone's mood.  So, in an effort to love my children and husband better, I have let the house go.   I am moving through each task in front of me without stressing about the cloud of other urgent, pestering tasks remaining undone.  I have no set of lists except the overall objectives of:

• getting Charlie outside for HARD playing once a day,
• making sure I have timely snacks and meals to provide my offspring (and to hand through the door to my muttering husband, hunched over yet another outline of notes he is studying)
• being aware of and then using any moment my hands are free to work on the projects I’m making for Christmas. 
• getting us all packed and travel-food supplied for our trip while the children are awake (as long as I can make it fun)  so that I can work on Christmas-ing while they are asleep.

The super bonus is that I’ve found I haven’t been inadvertently showing Charlie he doesn’t matter and is an inconvenience to me like I usually end up doing in high-stress  times.   We’ve actually had fun together instead of resenting the fact that we can’t have Dad!  This was our chaotic but delightful scene while we made pizza for dinner last night:

Many, many thanks to Gail, our Sunday school teacher, for teaching us this joyful song!

::Tonight::

(…in the style of Soule Mama…)

Tonight I am…

::finding it appropriate that I fed Wendy her first sweet potatoes out of my favorite china teacup because all our ramekins are full of watercolor paint!  (…and of course she loved them.  How could she not with such beautiful presentation!)

::recovering from a long rainy day inside with a two-year-old boy and a teething infant.

::putting rain boots in size 11-12 on my shopping list…how could I not have those for this muddy Fall season?

::amazed by the quantity and quality of crafters who have  unique voices/blogs on the internet

::deciding that I need to set a time limit and also a timer when I decide to log into Pinterest, ahem!

::wishing I spent more of my time tonight knitting  (…someone please tell me how to browse the internet and knit at the same time and I will be happy happy happy!)

::thinking there is not enough Aquaphor in the world to fix the state my hands are in

::wondering how in the world we got that many hand-wash only dishes  dirty anyways  (oh yeah, all the painting, and making of granola, scones, bread, stew, and spagehtti we’ve done over the last three days!)

::thankful for a husband who encourages me to voice my opinion even when it differs from his—and all the growing up I’ve done in this area since I met him

::loving this silent house where everyone is asleep but me, and all the lights are off except the dimmed ones above the bed that he left on for me.

::going to bed!

A Poem Inspired by Bedtime

We Boys and Girls

Sleep:

He quiets to him

and she to me.

At night, his exploding boy energy needs

a man’s stern strength

for still and calm.

Where my gentleness elicits endless negotiations,

his fears are quelled by his father’s tall frame, large hands and whispered prayers.

Yet she,

in her rosebud, chrysalis of a body,

lost in layers of soft blankets and fat,

she, quiets to my hands.

She takes my song, my scent and

melts sleep heavy against my bones

until I am undone by her trust.

We are gloriously different, Him and I,

(as are they, the he and she we’ve put to sleep this night)

and though our love wears different hands, uses a different voice and
speaks with different words,

We are we.

We are as fiercely we as they are fiercely ours.

And in the end, when the day is done;

I quiet to him

and he to me.

Concert

I do not recommend taking two-year olds to concerts.  However, Jonathan was slated to play with a band of fellow covenant students, and I didn’t want to miss it.  So I bundled Charlie up and we went to do our best at listening.  (It started at 7:15pm, which is usually Charlie’s bed time, so I knew we wouldn’t be staying for the whole thing.)

Luckily the venue was at a coffee shop, so it was pretty laid back.  That was a good thing too, because every time a song ended, Charlie announced, repeatedly,  in a loud voice, “All done!  Song all done!” 

And then there was the moment I looked down and realized Charlie had taken off all his shoes and socks (thankfully not his shirt).  Another time I glanced over and realized he had knocked my strawberry smoothie off the table in front of me and spilled it down the side of the leather sofa we were sitting in.  We also had to leave the room where the band was playing several times, because the other rooms of the coffee shop had TVs with basketball playing, and Charlie needed to keep up on the score. 

We left for home before the first set was even finished.  And Charlie, misunderstanding my instructions to wave goodbye to Dada, escaped me and climbed up onto the stage to give Dada a hug goodbye!  Oops!! 

Still, all in all I’d say it was a pretty successful evening—I did get to hear Jonathan play and I enjoyed the music I heard and could pay attention to!

Charlie had some decided opinions about some of the songs: 

Jonathan played beautifully:

And Charlie and I clapped enthusiastically for every single song!

I hearted my birthday—literally!

When we woke up to the first day of February, it was doing a little of this--

        and a little of that--

      --all in all too nasty to go out in. 

 

 

Classes were canceled and I couldn’t make it out of the parking lot to go babysitting, so Jonathan had the time to roll up his sleeves and make blueberry muffins, thyme scrambled eggs and tea for breakfast.The tea was a special treat--Commodore Grey from the Tea Cup in Seattle, hand carried to me by my dear friend Abby.  It is SOOOOOO good!While the muffins baked, Charlie and I broke out his new to him fishing game that I found at the thrift store.  He was more excited about it than I expected, and insisted that Dada and Mama come fishing with him!

Isn’t a candle-lit breakfast exciting? 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Sure, especially if you take into account the bed-headed and pajamad participants!)

 

 

 

The fact that Charlie got to drink some tea milk from his very own tiny tea cup excited him to no end!   He took a sip every time I or his Dad did, just because he could!

After breakfast, I invited my neighbor friend Debbie over for what I thought would be an hour or two of cutting out hearts for a heart garland I had in mind to make for Valentines day.  

 

 

 

 

 

One idea led to another and pretty soon, there were 3-d heart mobiles and see-through lacy hearts flying out of our hands….There were a LOT of hearts –different colors and sizes—but no garland!

 

The three of us ended up cutting out hearts, and coloring  and gluing all morning, though lunch.  Then Debbie went home for a bit…

 

…And Charlie went down for his nap. . .

…And I stared at the pretty paper for a while before giving in to cut out more hearts so I could do this! Oh yes, friends,  it was long--around the living room long! It was double sided! And it was the most fun I’ve had in a really long time!After I got it up, it felt like spring inside while it hailed and iced over again outside!  Charlie woke up from his nap and wandered into the living room and noticed them immediately, pointing excitedly,   “Hahts, Mama, hahts!”  You’d think I would have had enough or maybe just the common sense to stop there because really by this time I was quite tired! 

BUT …there were those left over hearts that I hadn’t used just staring back at me…even after I made these….

…and I didn’t have anything to put on the door after taking down our Christmas wreath….

…AND Jonathan was making fairy cupcakes with sour cream chocolate icing—pretty much my favorite—so I invited my friend Debbie back over for dinner and cupcakes and wreath making!

We finished up around 9pm.  So really…(should I be embarrassed to admit this?)  I, the mother of one almost two-year-old,  shirked all my responsibilities and did nothing but cut and glue paper hearts alllllllll day long!   And, um, it was pretty much the best birthday I can remember having! 

Also….…it needs to be mentioned, that Birthday celebrations like these, especially when there are toddlers at hand, are made possible by terrific husbands (and conveniently timed ice storms).  Thanks for making all the food, changing the stinky diapers and washing the dishes so I could I could be so extravagantly crafty and happy all day long, my Boy!  You are the best husband a girl could desire!

Guest Post: Bad Mom Complex?

This is the husband.

Every once and a while I will say something to Keren that I think is completely ridiculous. She undoubtedly catches on that I’m using some sort of reverse psychology to prove a point. Here’s the situation from this morning.

Recently, we’ve both been marveling about how much Charlie’s features have become more elongated than round.

“He looks so much older!” we’d say, “Where’d our little boy go?” Of course it excited me that he was growing tall and strong. On the other hand, Keren would worry that she was feeding him enough. “Are we giving him enough food? Do you think he’s starving?”

In order to prove beyond a doubt that Keren is not the bad mother she sometimes thinks she is, I said, “Gosh, Charlie sure is looking gaunt today!”

Far from the response I was expecting, she joined in, “Yeah, I know!”

I stood there quietly, a huge smile on my face, waiting for her to turn to me. As soon as she did, I had to recoil in defense of the swinging fist toward my gut. Then we both looked at each other for a second, and erupted in laughter.

Keren is not the bad mother she sometimes thinks she is. I’m sure you all will agree with me.