Sunday, April 28, 2013

Sunday Report

It's Sunday afternoon.  There are toys, blankies, and random items likes a Dora sandals, sunglasses, and Band-aid wrappers strewn around the living room.  There is always something that could be done...laundry, dust bunnies, streaks and smears...and yet I sit at my computer savouring my afternoon coffee.  I like coffee.  The spring wind is whistling outside.  Blowing so hard that the house shakes and creaks and cracks at times.  It's days like this that productive people are getting their indoor jobs done so that when Mother Nature says its Go Time they are standing ready at the door with their bedding plants in one hand and a paint roller in another.


And me, well I just poured another cup of coffee, put on a sweater, turned up the heat and sat back down with Lexi at my side.  It would be a great day to get stuff done and maybe I will.  But right now a warm coffee, a snuggle with my little girl and a movie, Barbie and the Magic Pegasus, is what's on the agenda.   


This was Friday's breakfast.  Cucumbers and bright sunlight in the windows.  Be gone short dark days!! Be gone!
Callie is at a playdate with a friend this afternoon.  On her own. There are not many places she will go to all on her own.  I can count probably three friends that she will go to without me.  She is growing more confident and independent all the time.  And, as always, I struggle with when to push, how much to push, and when to step back and let her take the lead.




I decided to follow her lead and skip registering her for soccer this year.  Our conversation went something like this...

Me:  Its time to register for soccer.
Callie: Mom, I don't want to play soccer.
Me: Why not?
Callie: I just don't want to play.
Me: You played last year and had fun, remember?
Callie:  I just don't want to.  I'm not playing.  Even if you sign me up.  I don't want to play.
Me:  Are you sure?
Callie:  Yes, I don't want to play soccer.
Me: Okay. Let me know if you change your mind.
Callie:  I won't change my mind, mom.



And so soccer registration came and went.  Summer soccer camp registration came and went.  And she didn't change her mind.  I don't really care whether she plays soccer or not but the mother in me wants what she can't give me.  The why?  Is this just her usual apprehensiveness and would she have been fine and enjoying herself after the first time out?  Or is this her true self and identity forming her likes and dislikes.  I don't know.  And I don't know why I have to overthink things all the time.  She doesn't want to play soccer.  She wants to keep swimming.  End of discussion.  Oh, and she want to be an acrobat too, by the way!

Maybe a golfer?
*****
In other news...
There was a serious incident at the daycare.  Something about Lexi sitting on Jake and then his head broke off...



Jake joined our family in the summer of 2008.  Callie and I were just wheeling around in the Wal-Mart store and we passed the display of babies.  These dolls were motion sensored so when you walked by the display they started moving and calling mama.  Callie reached her chubby little arms out of the cart and landed a death grip on one of the babies it came home with us that day.  He didn't get his name, Jake, for a couple of years later.  Named after our friend's son.



Over the years, both girls came to love Jake.  Eventually his movement and talking ceased but that never mattered.  He was still loved.  There have been a lot of babies come into our house and the girls like them too but there was always something special about Jake.  He just seemed to be the first choice for road trips and adventures.



Callie handled Jake's accident very well.  She immediately went into fix-it mode, suggesting we could hot-glue him or tape his head back on.  I don't know if getting a new Jake will be an acceptable option, if it's even possible that these dolls are still being made or if something so loved could be replaced.  For now, Jake is sitting in Callie's room with his head hanging low waiting to see what will become of him.  Only time will tell.



Sunday, April 21, 2013

We're Ready

So I had mentioned to Jon on Friday that I was going to wash the snowsuits and jackets this weekend. Hoping we wouldn't need them anymore and they could be packed up and put out of sight.  We always get our hopes up so high this time of year, praying to whatever God you believe in, that spring will come early.  It's the only thing we can talk about.  We've had a little tease, with some of the snow melting, but spring is not officially here until you can smell it in the air.  You know the smell of green and earth and the rebirth of life from ground that's been frozen and dormant.  Ya, that smell.  I'm waiting with great anticipation for that day.  I will be sure to let you know when it arrives.






We always feel like spring should be here by now.  The thing with having a blog is you can easily look back to see if we are getting short-changed this year.  This time last year looked pretty much the same.  And the year before we were well into May before spring showed up.  So we can keep praying and blaming those people who already had their flip-flops and capris on  for jinxing our chance at an early spring but according to my little history book I have going on here...I'd say we are right on schedule.  Oh, and our mega-sized can of hot chocolate isn't empty yet so we can't rush into spring just yet!




Yesterday, the girls had the bikes out despite the cold north wind and grey skies warning us what was coming.  This morning Jon dug the bikes out of the snow and put them back in the garage until the next melt.  



So we will make some more art, play some more board games, watch some more movies, drink some more hot chocolate.  Basically, keep on keepin on until that spring fresh day shows up.  Snowsuits will wait another week to be washed.  Prayers will continue.  Complaints will be fierce.  





We will hope and wish and make spring plans.  And still, spring will show up without rhyme or reason.  But at least we will be ready.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Just Wondering

Before I get down to the business of writing a new blog post I procrastinate by reading all the recent posts from the blogs that I follow.  I follow a hodge podge of blogs.  Some work related, some mom related, some people I know, most I don't.  Some have a few followers, some have twenty thousand.  I read these popular bloggers who share their well written words and intimate experiences with the masses and then I read a post on how to sew a pillow, even though I don't sew, then a post recommending meaningful children's literature  ... ans all the while I'm reading I wonder about these people I don't know for real life.  Each of them just taking the time to post about what they are most passionate about.  I read somewhere if you want to know what your passion is... look at the subject of you photos.   

I'm not passionate about writing.  At this time I have no desire to learn more or figure out how to be better at it.  I like to take photos but I'm not passionate about being a great photographer.  I play with buttons on my camera and take pictures from different angles but I mostly just hit the button and hope for the best.  



I am very passionate about the subjects in my photos.  My family and friends.  I have this internal motivation to document our lives, to find the joy in the everyday, regular moments, to look back at and reflect on the scrapbook of our life and not only see the snapshots of  the special occasions and the award winning moments but to see the whole picture.  Attempting to capture individual personalities and the beauty of the everyday.  And I think I do this to somehow satisfy my endless wonder I have about people.  

I've caught Callie saying, "I wonder ..."  and then she makes her own hypothesis to answer her wonder questions.  Is it possible my wondering is contagious!  

I wonder how she is going to get down from up there...



 I wonder who is always first at the preschool in the morning because their moms have to get to work...


I wonder if she will get her bangs wet during this round of swimming lessons...


I wonder if she will jump....


Graceful?  Maybe not.  But she did it!
The only thing left to wonder is when the snow will melt so we can get on with spring.  I like to wonder and I like to look forward.  Two of my favorite things to do.  What do you wonder about?

Sunday, April 14, 2013

In a Nutshell

 Our week...

1. We celebrated The Day of Pink at school for bullying prevention.  Round up the pink shirts.




2. Little sister is quite the sk8r girl rockin my new bridesmaid shoes on her board like...(insert famous skateboarder here. )


3. Play-doh and play-dates.



4. Rock stars in the making...



5. Sunday morning manicures.  I do it myself...



6. Ice covered puddles, rubber boots, slash pants, mud and bikes... hello spring.




That's it... in a nutshell.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Christmas in April

On Friday night I cashed in my Christmas present from my hubby...



It was so awesome for so many reasons.  It was a great show of pure energy.  No fancy acrobats or fireworks.  Just a band who's been around for thirty years singing their hearts out to 15000 fans.  And if Jon Bon Jovi said, "clap your hands", we clapped.  If he said, "sing", we sang.  Oh, the power of a rockstar!  The power to play with your emotions and take you back to the days of pre-teen dances when you had an action for every word of Shot through the heart and you're to blame, you give love a bad name... With thirty years of music, every song can take you to a place and time and conjure up a memory.  

As I watched JBJ entertain this huge arena of people, I wondered what it must be like to to have these thousands of people cheering, smiling and singing the words to your songs.  I wondered, if after thirty years, it's all in a days work or if sometimes it still feels crazy that all these people are here to see you.  Somewhere there must be the satisfaction of witnessing the joy that your craft brings to so many.  I was thinking all this as I was singing my own heart out.  Because who doesn't know every word to Bed of Roses?



This concert date took us to the city for one night without our girls.  And that meant I had six hours in a shopping mall all by myself.  There was a time I would have owned this mall, having every shop scoped out then returning to pick up the things I had to have in record time.  But I have to say that I'm not so good at it anymore. 

 I looked at the neon colors and skinny jeans and wondered how I pull off these styles since I'm trying to go for a thirty-ish look not a close-to-forty trying to look twenty look.  I breezed in and out of Garage, Aeropostale, Hollister, and Forever 21.  I looked everywhere for a Forever 29 store but it didn't exist.  I was moments away from accepting my fate of shopping at Cleo and Tan Jay when I stopped in at the Children's Place to see if my girls needed anything.  I knew they didn't need anything but picking out a new graphic tee for them offered me respite from the chore of shopping for myself in stores full of summer clothes that by the time it's warm enough to wear them, they will all be on the clearance rack.  I did end up with three new pairs of shoes though.  Shoes were the least painful to try on.



One day away from the girls is all it takes for me to miss them. When we got home we had a new addition to our family.  A while ago Callie drew a picture of her dad.  On one of my surfs through Pinterest I came across a site where you could have your child's drawing turned into a toy.  I immediately thought this was the coolest idea ever and recalled the picture Callie had drawn of her dad.  You see, if Callie wakes up in the night it is her dad that she comes looking for to lay with her.  Imagine if she had her very own dad doll that could sleep with her all the time!  And I knew just the person to make this one of a kind doll...



Whenever I have a good idea I always call my mom, because her and my dad always have the know how. (remember the pirate ship?)  Grandma may have been the main contributor to this project but I know Papa was there to offer suggestions for which materials to use.  Callie had a tight lipped little smirk when she saw her new dad doll.  Her way of saying that she was very pleased.  Grandma also did some repairs to Callie's quilt that she had made for her bed.  She sewed a green backing on the quilt just as sister requested and she told Callie that she put a million hugs and kisses in it so that she would get a hug a kiss from Grandma every night.  When I tucked Callie into bed she smelled her quilt and said, "it smells like Grandma".  Then she looked at her dad doll and said, "now we're just missing mom, me and Lexi.  I think I'll draw some pictures tomorrow."  I didn't tell her that Grandma closed her doll making shop.



Funny thing about being away from the girls for one night...they seemed to have grown overnight.  Is that even possible?  It's like the banana shirt got too small and Callie learned how to read in the short time that I was having my shopping crisis and rockin out to a long haired rock-n-roll band!