It's snowing!

Our house snow covered

View of the park

An attempt at a snow man

run don't walk!

it's awful to be adored....



Down the snowy path


playing is so much fun

grammy & papa's house

(a stop we made for dry mittens a few tissues)

We woke this morning to snow, even though the weather man said, we probably wouldn't get any, they did say more tomorrow, so we'll see?! For today, we took advantage (since the last snow happened in the dark) and took a "snow walk!" It was cold and fun. I took some pictures to share (this time). What a beautiful thing snow is, it just seems to make everything more beautiful.

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? ~J.B. Priestley

where roots grow

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children.

One is roots. The other is wings.

~Hodding Carter, Jr.

I've been meaning to write this for a while, but I wanted time to be able to sit, concentrate, and think, and well, about the only time that can happen for me is when I am supposed to be asleep. As I tried to close my eyes tonight and rest, I was flooded with thoughts about HOME. My parents just closed on their home that they just sold, where I spent my whole life. (my mom spent her whole life their too, I mean her whole life, can you imagine never moving away from home?) (Instead of moving away from home her parents moved across the field into their parents home... a little confusing, but I hope you follow!) I have always known that where I was raised, was something special, because our family's roots grew so deeply there. I got to grow up in a house my Grandpa built, across from the field from where my Grandma lived, (Grandpa passed away when I was two weeks old) in a quaint little city where my family had been for years and years. We attended a church our family had gone to close to 80+ years (when it closed in 2002), attended schools that grandma, mom, uncles, cousins, second cousins, etc. had spent their school years at also. There was so much history, that you almost didn't know that everyone didn't live just that same way... But, as I grow up, I realize just how unique and special that upbringing was. Now, that Grandma doesn't live there anymore, and mom and dad don't live there anymore, and the church is no longer a church, and most of the family that once was there has all gone their own directions, I just can't help but be bombarded with thoughts of how odd that this place where my roots felt so deeply in the ground feel like they have been ripped out. None the less, I am happy that Grandma is in a safe place, and that mom and dad are closer to us, and closer to her. But, Oh how I wish I would have taken the time when I had it to enjoy this magic place where my roots grew, and my wings grew, and then let me fly. I wish I could smell the summer breeze blow off the river into my room. I wish I could run as fast as my legs would take me across that field to Grandma when I am upset and lost, just to have a talk, or share some salty popcorn, or to play a board game, or watch an episode of "Golden Girls". What I wouldn't give to drive that drive with the top down in my little convertible of days gone by, to have a home cooked dinner in our tiny dining room where there always seemed like enough room, and to relive a million other things I loved about that place..... I realize life goes on, and I am happy it does, it's just so surreal when it happens and you never thought it would. I am so thankful for the memories I have, for the vivid memories I have, and when I feel like going HOME, I know I can always go in my memory. How lucky I feel for living the experience, and for having these roots that grow so deep.

Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts. It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule. ~Frederick W. Robertson

a little bit of snow for the day....

Oh, what excitement this evening. Snow! We aren't sure how long it will last or how much we will get, but it's our first this year, and Bella was elated!!! (OK, me too... I'm a kid at heart, I love snow!) So, in a few hours time we took a snow walk, caught snow flakes on our tongues, jumped in it, ran in it, and Matt and Bella even laid down (in street clothes/banker clothes) and made snow angels. You have to take full advantage of these things who knows if it will still be here tomorrow?! Sorry there are no pictures, but it didn't start snowing till it was just getting dark... We keep our fingers crossed we have more snow on the way, the weather man says Saturday and Sunday. We'll keep you posted!

"Balance"

So, it is my new years resolution to try and find "balance" in my life this year. To try and find a good balance between work, the girls, Matt, myself, family, and friends. For some reason I find this hard. It's been a challenging week. Meritt is busy, very busy, and very shall we say clingy to me. On one hand what a horrible problem... right? to be loved an adored by the sweetest thing on planet earth. But, at the same time, I have a need, a need to be organized, get things done, be on some kind of routine, & feel some sort of sense of self. Latley all that seems to be lost. No one ever tells you when you become a mother that you for a while will give up all else. Mind you I'm sure this would not stop one from becoming a mother, but until you walk in those shoes I don't know if you are prepared. How does one find this sort of "balance" so she is good for those she loves, and good to what she wants out of life, but still knows the person in the mirror looking back at her? I'm fairly sure that this is an age old question that women have been asking for years, but I think women must forget these feelings, (maybe it's like how a woman forgets the true pain of child birth, so she will do it again) or there would be more support out there for such a thing. Definitely more understanding! I don't know for sure what I am going to do to get this "balance" I seem to be needing so much, but I can ensure you I am doing a lot of praying about it, trying to look within at what is in my heart, and trying to remind myself to not worry if I don't get anything done in a day other than rock my baby, read books, help color pictures, cuddle my kids, feed my family, change poopy diapers, and generally nothing else. My question is.... is okay to want a "balance" of all that you love & need? Is it okay to want it all? Or is it even possible?

rocking my babies.....

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic today, it doesn't seem like so long ago looking back at these pictures. My, how they grow fast! I am trying to enjoy everything.... it's hard for me to slow down and ignore the house work, and the "stuff" that needs to be done, but it is my "new years resolution" to find BALANCE in my life. This poem sums these precious years and moments perfectly!

BABIES DON'T KEEP
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton
Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.
The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

moments to remember....

Happy 2008

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce