inscription on back of clock: “To Kevin – Here’s to our dreams!
Happy Birthday, Love Lisa, October 21, 2000″
We are going to look at a house tomorrow. We’ve looked at almost a dozen in the past three or four months, but this one feels like it has the most promise. It is on a quiet country road in the town where we now live and so far by looking at pictures, driving by, and talking to the owners (it’s for sale by owner), seems a bit dreamy.
Kevin and I struggle between living in a neighborhood with sidewalks with a little more civilization and a house in the country with land. Well let me rephrase, I struggle -Kevin definately wants land (the painting on the clock above is a representation of Kevin’s country home dream).
It has high speed internet access which is a necessity as I wouldn’t be able to run my business without it, so that’s good. Now we just need to see the inside, find out if we can picture ourselves there, if so make an offer, then see if they accept.
Our second son loved the Disney version of Peter Pan so much that we got him the book with the original story for Christmas. I’ve been reading it to the boys chapter by chapter the last few days before bedtime.
At the end of chapter 4 Tinkerbell filled with jealousy and hate for Wendy tells the lost boys to shoot at Wendy (who they think is a bird in the sky). They do, and she falls to earth with an arrow in her breast. We find out later she lives, but oh this is no innocent story. Within its pages are harsh realities and I cringe a bit reading it, especially when Tinkerbell calls people “silly ass” (I couldn’t believe that!).
I’ve got no one but myself to blame for being knee deep in Neverland hoping to inspire spirits with some swashbuckling adventure and then some. Wish me luck!
It’s pretty typical for parents with little kids and Christmas family photo aspirations to encounter cranky attitudes…so I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but I was determined and hopeful. The two younger siblings towed the line quite effortlessly, it was our oldest son who decided that changing out of his lazy day clothes into something a little more photo worthy was cause for uprising. Sure we reasoned and cajoled, but ultimately we were left with brute force and then the unsightly and loud aftershocks of this method.
As we spilled out the front door trying to let go of all the unpleasantness, our friend and photographer Louisa arrived. Our eldest then proceeded to run behind the snow covered Hemlock that we had gathered in front of for our photo. All seemed lost till my brilliant husband spotted a moth on the “snow cave” he had built with the boys the weekend before. Mesmerized by the moth, our insect loving son came out from his hiding spot and with an evergreen branch was able to pick it up.
A sense of peace came over the whole lot of us and Louisa was able to snap just the right photo for our Christmas card and capture the essence of our family this holiday season…
I am so thouroughly swamped with Christmas orders. It is at once exhilirating and every bit of exhausting. The late nights of work and full days with the kids are definately taking their toll on my 5 month pregnant body.
I’m hoping to get all Christmas orders done by Saturday morning, so I can actually focus on the upcoming holiday a bit, get out Christmas cards (my friend Louisa got a rockin’ photo of our family that will be just right for our cards), do some crafts with the boys, and hang with Kev.
This is our Jesse Tree. Our Christmas decorations, and ornaments have been in storage for 2 Christmas’ now, but this 18″ tree with its handmade ornaments has been a true symbol of Christmas for our family. Each evening Dec. 1st through Dec. 25th one of the boys opens a bag with an ornament for that particular day in it. We read about what the ornament symbolizes (a story from the old testament), say a prayer and/or share a prayer, then hang it on the tree.
Reading these bible stories and interpreting them for the boys can be a real challenge. Last year after Christmas I went on Amazon.com, bought a Study Bible and started reading. One year later, and almost 1/2 way in, the Jesse tree stories are more familiar but still not easy. So I muddle through and try, with Kevin’s help to find the essence of what they mean.
Even with its imperfections and our humble interpretations, each night for 25 days our Jesse Tree becomes a hub for family unity amongst the chaos of our lives and a place to remember what we are thankful for instead of what we wish for…
Our oldest son awoke this morning to the news that school was cancelled due to an over abundance of snow.
In his footed jammies sitting at the top of the stairs he couldn’t hold back his tears of sadness. No words from me could overshadow the fact that Mondays are his “share day” in his kindergarten class and that meant he would miss his chance for show and tell. This was not the response I expected from “I need a week off ” boy. Full day kindergarten has been at once a wonderful and eye opening experience for our oldest son and an exhausting adjustment from our loosy goosy, play all day, days at home.
Luckily after hours of tumbling and penguin sliding down the Daddy-made mountain in the front yard with his brother, two cups of hot chocolate, and some sugar on snow, he is now up to speed on the virtues of the “snow day”.
…there was work, kids, a husband, a computer, and then -there was a blog….
It’s time for me to reach out to the people I love and feel like I’ve left. I want to share with you my life (at least pieces of it). If I can’t always manage a phone call or a visit, I can at least manage to update this blog with some photos and a few words about life up North. Please feel free to leave comments. Love you!
