wishing you

No Tricks.

Lots of Treats.

And wonderful fun this Halloween!

this moment {a tutu anywhere}

Joining Soulemama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are savoring this week!

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

errands

Sometimes errands can turn into the grandest of adventures.

Discovering.

Meeting.

Watching.

Climbing.

As I try (oh so hard) to settle into a stay at home routine, I keep in mind that now we have time.  Time to breath and time to be.  As I shrug off the vestiges of constant busyness and schedule and calendar, I am warming to the pace of a new routine, slower and more present.

It isn't easy to shed years of a certain way.  But each day I am learning.

And enjoying.

After all, we only had to pick up flour, and we got so much more.

grape juice

I adore Concord grapes.  

I have, ever since I was a little girl playing at the home of my great-grandmother we called Buba.  Buba had Concord grapes growing in her backyard.  The yard, even though it was a city lot abutting train tracks, had the feeling of an oasis with grass as thick as plush carpet.  The rich smell and tart sweet taste of Concord grapes warm from the vine, will always be intermingled with memories of time spent lying on that cool grass on a hot summer afternoon.  Of the cob-webby crawl space under the back of the house where there was a handful of real bowling alley bowling pins we could play with.  Of the horse-hair sofa on her enclosed front porch and the heavy rotary phone that still had a party line.  A party line.  My sisters and I would quietly as we could pick up the heavy receiver and listen, hoping to hear the conversation of someone across town.  Buba, who lived into her mid-nineties, walked many blocks to church every morning of the week and never needed to use a measuring cup, I don't know if she even owned one.  She wasn't afraid to climb up on the roof to repair it and she used a reel hand mower to cut that luxurious lawn.

I recall all of this in the moment of smelling the tangy delicious scent of a Concord grape.

When we discovered a new apple farm last year, one that also grows Concord grapes, I was delighted.  And determined to can some of them, somehow.  Why not, when I could get loads of grapes, warm from the vine.

I readily admit that canning seems overwhelming with the equipment and the temperature-taking the precise measurements and times. How do other Mamas make it seem so easy, and something that could happen amidst family life about the house? 

With my courage bolstered by a dear friend of mine, I decided to try something that seemed like an easy start.  Involving Concord grapes of course.

A simple recipe for grape juice only needing clean grapes, sugar, boiling water and 25 minutes of processing.

And I did it, I canned.  Not much, just four jars worth.  But enough to make me want to do even more next year. 

And enough that I think Buba would be proud.

My mother's paternal grandmother.

do-over

Remember "do-overs" when you were a kid?  They were terribly handy when it came to friendships and playing and all sorts of kid situations.

This Mama needs a do-over.

This is what my house looks like.  (You can turn away, really, I know it isn't pretty.)

Yes, that is a piece of bread on the edge of my children's dresser.  No, I don't know how long it has been there.

Those dirty diapers.  They are in the middle of the kitchen waiting to be laundered.  Very, very long overdue.  Be happy smell-o-vision has not yet reached the internet.

The toys, oh the toys. 

I spent all day yesterday trying to turn the tide of tiredness, and grumpiness, and oh some major hormones.  But I never quite managed it.  No surprise I didn't make it to the computer to post a bit of happiness.

So today is my do-over.  For which I am oh so thankful.  As I figure I am already ahead my friends, I've posted.

Wishing you a day that doesn't need a do-over!

this moment {larger than life}

Joining Soulemama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are savoring this week!

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

rain, and rain

I've been wanting rain boots for a long time.  I have halfheartedly looked the last couple of years, but always seemed to miss boot season.  How is it that it seems to begin in July and ends in September?

This year I wasn't going to miss out, so I put it on my fall pleasures list, ensuring that I would finally get those much desired rain boots.

I, however, was not counting on so much rain.  Ahem.

Almost unstopping, heavy rain.

Our back yard looks like this. Oh sigh.

Soccer games look like this.  Oh the laundry.

After a good rain, the playground looks like this. Oh drat.

We learned the painful lesson that, when wet, the bumpy slide is oh so slick, propelling you off of the bottom at high speeds landing you in various positions quite a distance from the end.  This generally ends in tears and a quick exit to home.

All of this rain has kept us mostly inside.  But I am not quite ready to be mostly inside.  So today, we made friends with the rain.

Got to know the puddles.

Created new waterways.

Splashed until we were drenched, even under our coats.

The good news: I have cute new boots that are keeping my feet oh so warm and dry.  Which is good news indeed, the forecast is calling for even more.

box of inspiration

Earlier this year I reconnected with an old friend of mine.  It had been over ten years since I had seen or  talked to her.  In the intricately wonderful way blogs work she found me through a comment and link I had left on Amanda Soule's blog in the spring.

What a fantastically small world, I say.

Recently when I shared with her the many exciting changes that are happening in our family: new job for hubby, staying at home full time for me, baby number four on the way; she insisted that I needed some inspiration as I journey into this new time of creativity and homemaking.

Last week I received a whole box of inspiration.  Twenty-nine, yes 29, sewing, knitting, paper-making, crafting and homemaking books arrived for me in the mail.  There was much squealing and cheering and jumping around our house for quite some time.  I squealed over the books.  The kids squealed over the bubble wrap the books came wrapped in.

I've been slowly making my way through the stack, book by book, soaking in the lovely pictures and projects, scheming what I might make first.  Oh so much to choose from!

Big Brother on the other hand selected a book right away and within an hour of opening the box was well into a project.  My young artist was following the templates free-hand to create these delightful paper animals.  Munchkin, as he does most days right now, wanted to do exactly the same.  Pretty good I think.

My friend included a book I've been wanting for a long, long time, unbeknown to her.  I figure if any book can, Keeping Chickens by Ashley English will convince me 100% that I do want to keep chickens, and the knowledge will help me convince Honey that he wants me to too.  (Or, it will give me just enough reality to know that perhaps I don't.)

I am still a bit overwhelmed by my re-found friend's sweet generosity, and her wanting to recognize this special time in my life.  I can't think of a better start to my pursuit of homemade creativity than having a personal library of books all for creating.  Especially when the usual routine was a handful of books from the public library in three-week increments. 

Inspiration indeed.

this moment

Joining Soulemama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are savoring this week!

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

the story and the backstory {apple picking}

I've begun to check-mark off my fall pleasures.  Oh how good it feels to be intentional in embracing and experiencing this season I so love.

the story
This past weekend we spent time apple-picking.  This yearly tradition helps us welcome fall.  We load up our cloth bags with apples and apples and more apples, seeking out our favorite varieties, and trying some new ones.  Almost smelling the apple crisp that will surely be made later.

This year we were able to pick grapes at the farm too.  Filling boxes with fragrant bunches.  Even though it was an unseasonably warm hot day, we still got mud covered boots and shoes as we trekked between aisles of vines.

Glorious, I tell you.  And to think it almost didn't happen.

the backstory
Begins much earlier in the week, when I realized that we had an open Saturday.  I marked on the calendar in bold letters with squiggly lines around them:  APPLE PICKING!

What fun to plan ahead and know that we would embark on our annual trip to the apple farm.  Oh, and the weather was supposed to be glorious too, such a reprieve after days upon days of rain.  So, hey, why don't I check-mark off another pleasure and take portraits of the kids.  At. The. Apple. Farm.

So brilliant of me, I thought.  I even remembered to prepare the kids by telling them a couple days before that I would be picking out special clothes for them to wear.  I told them because I know and appreciate that they each have their own particular style and like to wear what they like to wear.  Don't we all?

The entire family woke up happy and excited.  Clothes washed and ready, laid out for dressing. A perfect sundress for Lovey featuring, of all things, fall apples.  The boys shirts just right too.

Okay.  Put on some rain boots, a couple bows, and we would be out the door taking darling portraits in no time.

But then came time to actually get dressed.  In the actual clothes I had chosen.

They were not happy.  I was not happy.

Tantrums and tears ensued.  And not just by the kids.

What to do?  Somehow, I let it go.  Albeit very grudgingly at first.  But then my husband showed me the apple Buddy made as soon as he had woken up -- he was that excited to go apple picking that day.  To him, the day was about the apple picking.  The family tradition of being together, breathing fresh air,  anticipating the smell of warm apple crisp that would soon be baked.  When had I lost sight of that?  Because I certainly had.  It makes me wonder about other times I loose sight of the really important matters of mothering.

Somehow, we salvaged the day.  Helped by plentiful "I'm sorrys" and hugs and all wearing whatever clothes we wanted to.  We headed out, a bit later than planned, but all together.

Honey asked if I was taking my camera.

"Of course."

And I captured some portraits I think are pretty perfect.  Not because I picked out any apple-themed dress or cute shirts.  But because my children were being themselves.  As for me, their mama, I learned a bit more about myself that day too.