Friday, February 27, 2009

The Short of It...

  • my husband has Crohns disease
  • he had a flare up last week and we ended up spending the week in our local hospital
  • the kids have had a record number of snow days ie: days they are out of school but alas I am not
  • I am approaching mid terms at school and trying to catch up from a week being MIA

"You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can. " Jimmy Carter

This quote is on my bulletin board above my desk. The mantra running through my head at all times: "Put one foot in front of the other". Missing you all and dreaming of catching up on all the lovely postings I have missed reading.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Valentine Vignettes

My daughter just loves holidays. After reading Manuella's blog
I was inspired to decorate our house for Valentine's Day. Nothing could have thrilled my daughter more! We were going to make a tree to decorate but alas, life has kept us busy and no ornaments have been made. We will definitely aim for that next year. Here is what we accomplished.

Our front door.
My mom had these sweet brambly and button wreaths at her shop.

A Valnetine platter a friend gave me years ago, and our cookie cutters:)

This is a shelf in our entryway. The sheet music is for "I Love You So Much It Hurts".

...and the fireplace. The running joke is, it looks like cupid threw up:)



Hope your Valentine's Day is full of love!


Thursday, February 5, 2009

A Winter Walk


Snow is a rare thing here in our little valley. We would be remiss to not venture out and enjoy all that she has to offer. With mittened hands grasping cameras we set off to explore the woods near our home deep in Winter's grasp. All of the pictures (with the exception of the ones I took of the kids) were taken by my nine and seven year old. It fascinates me to see the world through their vantage point.




This is the path from our house to my parent's home next door, all made by little feet. I loved the circular route. It speaks volumes of how children journey through life.




A pine cone nestled in the snow.




A neighbor's barn.




A quaint birdhouse.




A portrait of mom.




Journeying into the small wood.




I didn't even see this little habitat when as I walked along! What a nice little home for mouse, mole, or rabbit. Although I'd rather like to think of a large gnome family living here!





This I didn't notice right away either. My son spotted it first and did an amazing job of capturing the futility of winter.




The clearing coming out of the wood.



Let's stop and make snow angels. Notice my son has brought home a treasure (beside him in the pic) someone long ago abandoned in the wood.





Now that is beautiful.




His view of his treasure... some sort of metal box.




And my perspective as they journey home...
















So grateful for these moments.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I have been blissfully rolling along with life, reading everyone else's blogs, but having little motivation to say much here.

The kiddos and I took a wonderful walk in "woods" near our house today in the snow. That was a great adventure. It occurred to me recently that my kids are missing out on many of the things I enjoyed most from my own childhood, foremost roaming outdoors with no supervision. I don't know if it is fear of random acts of violence or the impending doom that rushes past with each vehicle, but I just cannot see letting them play out of my sight in this day and age. I don't know if I was any safer, living in an era gone by in the middle of no where, with no traffic, but it felt that way. Anyhoo, I wanted them to experience some that sense of exploration and so I decided to escort them on a walk off the beaten path. They chose the route which hopefully gave them some sense of independence in the whole experience. I will try and post some pics they took along the way tomorrow.

We are experiencing some snowfall for the second time this year. So much fun for us. Unfortunately, the kids are on snow day number four which is not the case for the local University I attend. It leaves me scrambling to find last minute childcare, ughhh.

On a completely other than note...I came home from a small get-a-way weekend with my Mom and sister to the most wonderful surprise ever. My family had cleaned out our garage enough for my car to actually park IN the garage. Especially with all the recent weather, it has been such a huge blessing. Best present ever!