My Window To The World

Dishes stacked high.

Not perfect beauty, but

beautiful to me.

A reminder of dinner filled with laughter

and my family.

A morning of getting the kitchen back in order,

washing dishes, folding laundry... solitude.

This window is where I view much of my world.

As I wash dishes the deer graze, birds flutter by,

and in the summer I have the perfect shot

of Rusty manning the grill

and  making funny faces at me as I supervise.

Above this window hangs a sign saying:

"It's a Wonderful Life"

It sure is.

Text From The School Bus This Morning

From my 12 year old who just left for school 20 minutes ago...

"Hey ,there's a guy with hand cuffs and a mask near the CVS. I think Mr. Beasely (the bus driver) is calling the police."

Niiice.

Glimpses of Home

Home. The place I most love to be.  This is my haven, this is where I belong.  I pray that my girls will look back at the houses they lived in, and find the common denominator to be love and security, even more than the decorations and home improvement projects we are always embracing.

But if there is one material image they will associate with home, I think it will be this chair, my "comfie chair".  It was our first purchase as newlyweds, and  beyond our budget, except for my discount as the in store designer, working at my first job out of college to support us while Rusty finished his degree.  I will never forget how proud we were to special order a piece of furniture. We were so young and innocent, playing grown up it seemed.

This chair and ottoman have moved  to 5 homes in the last 17 years, and no matter where we've lived, it has been my "home spot". Every morning finds me perched here with a soft blanket, my sweet tea, and stacks of Bible study materials, as well as my daily notebook to jot down my to do list for the day and week.

This is where I carried the girls from bed, and cuddled with them- both- every morning until we could no longer all squeeze in together (not so long ago, actually!). It is where they still come, one at a time now, on Saturday mornings and climb beside me as they slowly come to life. They know when they awaken, this is where I will be, and I hope it says "home" to them, just as it does to me.

For more glimpses of home, visit Emily at Chatting at the Sky.

**I have to admit the flip flops with paint on them will also probably shout "home" to them in their memories. They tried to replace them with some lovely new under armour ones, but I just can't give up my oldies yet!**

Ladies, Start Your Engines

This picture has nothing to do with anything

except to remind me of sweet, relaxing days in the sunshine.

I hear the peepers in the yard, which means spring is really going to come. It also means the snakes will come, since peepers are a tasty snake snack, but I am trying really hard to squelch that thought. Squelching is my primary coping skill, much to Rusty's delight, because otherwise

incessantly asking him for reassurance is my second choice.

So I am denying the existence of slithery wildlife in my yard, and trying to focus instead on the joy of the birds chirping, the longer sunny days, the gentle breezes, and lots of quality time in the car.

Yep, in the car, because that is where spring will find me.

Shuttling girls from soccer, to field hockey, to lacrosse, to theater.

We dropped what felt like a small fortune

on new cleats, sticks, balls, shin guards, socks,

and stick bags and I am now planning lots of portable meals,

so we won't spend what is left of our 401K on meals out.

Have mercy- I hope the girls like wraps!

Since tonight is the first practice of the season (lacrosse),

today is my kick off day. I am loading the van with my mom chair

(the new deluxe model I got last year that has a cup holder and a flip up table for my sweet tea- woohoo),

a rubbermaid container with homework essentials

so we can do schoolwork between practices,

blankets, extra snacks, trash bags, and lots of paper towels.

At this stage of parenting I feel like I have regressed to my diaper bag days,

although now it is a Lands End's jumbo canvas bag

stuffed to overflowing with travel necessities and extra jackets.

All this preparation has become a springtime rite of passage, like turning forward the clocks Saturday night, and I am almost as excited as the girls. Running into friends and their moms at Play It Again Sports, we are all in the same stage of readiness, swapping Parks & Rec horror stories, guessing at sizes, and lamenting the chaos about to take over.

But we really don't mind, it is the tween Mom version of sleeping through the night and labor stories. Every phase of parenting provides fodder for commiseration and encouragement, and this stage provides lots of shared time on the sidelines, sharing sunscreen and crazy tales

of minivans filled with fast food wrappers and water bottles.

I frequently smile, as I swoop into a parking lot already filled with minivans and SUV's,

and see the other moms and kids tumbling out, loaded down and rushing to make it to the field on time, thinking how blessed I am to be a member of this Mom club, at every age.

So come on Spring, bring it on!

This is my season to shine and I'm ready to play!

Here Comes The Sun

The sun is shining

and grass is peeking through

after weeks and weeks of snow.

I loved the endless days home with them...
And being trapped in this...
But the sun is shining
and now I'm ready for spring.
Our first winter in our new home
was certainly memorable ,
and I'm hoping the spring will
be just as fun!