Thundersnow and rambling...

Ivy, while riding in the van:  "I love my brother.  And I love mommy.  And I love you too, Daddy.  I love everything in my whole house! .... Except pants.  I don't love pants."

There's a lot of love in our lives right now.  And a lot of busy.

Work has been insane, with my dramatic crop of middle schoolers and all their social drama, new students moving in every two weeks (we're now at 3 new kids since September 20th!), and unending paperwork to fill the moments in between. And time at home has hardly been a relaxing respite, full to the brim with cleaning and running and weddings, fast days and tired nights; school pictures and windy beaches, ships and museums.  Holding rats and doing homework, burning the candle at both ends and driving all over this town.  A lot of living life, all burnished by October leaves and a lingering warm fall that I've wanted to soak into my bones.

At least until last night.  When we got 4 inches of snow.  

It was freakishly beautiful, actually, green and red and golden leaves glimmering behind their coats of white.  Jack said, "I love the white hats on all the houses!"  Both of the children were thrilled with the surprise snowfall, made all the better by a snow day for Jack, whose school (like our house) was without power today.  While the grownups around here have fought stoically against despair, shoveling and digging out snowpants and commuting at a snail's pace, our littles have embraced the early winter with pure-heart joy.  They were out making snow angels and tiny snowmen by 9am.  They are ready for sledding and tromping and Christmas on its way.  I haven't the heart to tell them that this will be gone by the weekend.  At least, I hope it will.  It is still thunder-snowing out as I type.  Sigh.

Photos of Octo-winter to come.

In the meantime here are some photos of the calm before the freaky-fall-snowstorm.   Almost two weeks of our lives equals many, many pictures.  Here are the highlights, in roughly chronological order.

Second Sunday Soup-- off to a chaotic and wonderful start!  

Our third year of Soup was initiated with a great guest list made entirely of Parent Center friends.  With, as you can tell from this shot of the foyer, all their kids in tow.  There were not one but two babies to hold, and I didn't see our kids for almost two hours. 

It was grand and nearly two weeks later our playroom has still not recovered. 

Math and Science Night at St Paul's.  A fun annual tradition, pretty much an open house with a gazillion hands on activities tailor- made for the 3-7 set.  A glorious mess.  While the kids enjoyed planting pumpkin seeds, stringing beads and playing with iced shaving cream, the hit of the night was "face painting" with colored pencils dipped in water.  

A night out for the grown ups.

Actually, two.  Our friend Mike married the girl of his dreams last weekend and Nat officiated the ceremony for him.  So that meant a rehearsal dinner AND the wedding night off for us, and a great weekend with Gram and Bec for the kids.  

It was wonderful fun to have this group of crazy people together.  With an open bar.  

We need to do this more often.

We even went out to see a band on Friday.  We weren't quite the oldest people there. :)

Then on Saturday morning I got up and ran a 10k.  In 58 minutes.  There are no pictures of this, because I don't look very pretty when I run.  But I AM very proud of myself.

When we picked the kids up on Sunday it was a pretty day. So we decided to Do Everything Outside.  A trip to Rocky River Beach with Bec, where the kids played with leverage and built a bench....

Was followed by a jaunt downtown for a visit to the Science Center and a tour of the Mather.  Which was really really cool. Can't believe its taken us this long to check it out.  The view of the city from the deck was worth the price of admission...

Bonus sneak peek of Ivy's school pictures.  Perk of having Nat be the parent helper on picture day...

Tuesday at Lakewood Park.  A day before the snow.  Like a dream of another world...

Stay warm, all, and if you have some better weather to spare, please send us some for the weekend!

Around here lately

We've been playing at parks and going on hayrides, walking in parades and going to Homecoming games, soaking up all the fall sunshine we can...

It's been a busy week, full of sunshine and hard work and jam-packed free time. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

The weather today was as fine as it could be. The kids and I drove out to Gates Mills for this adorable fall festival.  The drive out there alone was a treasure.  Leaves glittering and catching the sun as we twisted and turned along the wooded road, shards of blue sky above us, stark fall shadows playing across our windows.  The sun was warm and kind and the children were so well behaved.  It was a beautiful day indeed.

Tonight we are putting time into cleaning and preparing the house for the return of Second Sunday Soup.  I am looking forward to an evening of candles and soup and bread and friends and hordes of crazy beautiful children and putting life on hold for a little bit in the company of several dozen wonderful people.  I am loving these traditions we are starting, proud we have kept this one going.  Tradition is important.  So is soup.

So is this girl.

I just love this series of pictures. This is so HER.  So much expression, so little time...

This one too.

She's been calling all her dolls "baby sister," and caring for them with great dedication, carting them everywhere, feeding them, gently cradling them against her shoulder.  And napping with them in the big bed.  Just like I napped with tiny Ivy.  Seems so long ago.  
She's the sweetest sleeper ever.  Don't you just want to hug her to bits?


Friday Jack and Ivy marched -- well, rode-- in the Cleveland Heights Homecoming parade.  It was adorable.  The truck full of kids, and the tiny, two block parade.  Jack was so excited to be a part of it all and of course our three year old climbed in the truck too, without a moment's hesitation.

We stayed for a quarter of the game, too.  Jack and his friend Finn were VERY into it, carefully watching the ball and cheering for every tackle.  Ivy clapped because she likes clapping.  We also spent a lot of time looking for the tiger mascot.  We enjoyed a dinner of dollar dogs from the concession stand and the festivity of the excited young crowd.  I forgot about the contagious spirit of High School football games.   It was more fun than I expected.

 
Finally, here are some pictures from our visit to the Mayfield festival today.   Tiny petting zoo where we could feed the animals, terrific dragon shaped bounce house, and cute, easy carnival games.   Oh yeah, and a hayride.  That  Corydon got to come on.  It was pretty perfect.

 Around here lately, we are busy having fun.  Much love and happy weekend!

Apple Day!

A post of few words.  Apple day is all about the pictures, anyways. 

It was an unseasonably hot day last Saturday. So hot that we had two droopy children who needed an air conditioned car ride to perk up after a couple of hours walking in the orchards.  Climate change, I tell ya. 

Mild heatstroke aside, it was a perfect morning.  Eddy's was as laid back and lovely as always, we had the best of company, and our children always look good around all that red.

 

Happy Fall!

This moment

It's been a bit of a trying evening around here.  Tired kiddos compounded by a really really tired mama plus spending an hour at a cub scouts meeting (because we need one more thing to do each week...) equaled a few tears at bedtime.  Nothing extreme, and nothing unjustified considering that the boy did get hit on the shoulder with a ceramic princess (an accident, she swears!) followed by having his mother bump into his injured knee (scooter fall this afternoon.  its been a tough one for Jack).  The poor kid and I both kind of fell asleep while reading Harry Potter...

Sigh.

It is easy in this moment to feel frazzled.  Worn.  Frayed to a tangled mess by this over-full life.  It is easy to blame, to if-only the night away.  If-only school weren't so busy all the time, if-only I'd not gotten that new student, if-only I didn't have to tutor, if-only school started later, if-only I had a housekeeper, if-only my children would just tuck themselves in for once!

But it is 9:45 and I've made it through the day, made it to this moment, with a cup of hot tea and a quiet house and a few minutes to sit and type.  I am grateful for this.

It is easy in this moment to think that THIS moment is the one that matters.

Quiet is good.  So is tea.  So is sleeping more than 5 hours a night, for that matter.   Barring that, I will take 15 minutes of peace.

I totally love this moment.

And yet.  This moment is not my life.

Ok.  I know, technically it is.  I keep this card within sight to remind of just that.

It's just not the ONLY moment that is my life.

Midst the tears and tiredness, dishes and homework, buried in the ordinary-Wednesdayness of it all, are the moments I need to remember.  The moments that ARE my life, right now.

Moments:

Ivy on my lap at the cub scout meeting.  Quiet and patient and a little more fidgety every moment.  Turning around and standing on my knees and I was just about to shush her when she leaned in to plunk a kiss on my cheek and whisper, "I love you, mommy!"

Jack fearlessly joining a group of boys to talk and joke and learn the names of our senators.  Raising his sweet hand to talk, repeating the answers so earnestly, carefully copying the big boys' jokes with a crinkle-eyed smile.  Confidently talking about gold dollar coins.  Trying on being a big kid and doing pretty darn well.

My two, stopping outside the door at St. Paul's, faces upturned to the darkened sky.  Counting stars and wishing for pinatas.  Skipping to the van.  A small hand in mine.  A tall boy running ahead on his own.  The night quiet and rustling with fall. This moment, bottled, could sustain me for years.

Ivy, asking to snuggle at bed.  "But no nummies, OK?  We're starting to not do nummies so much now."  Snuggle.  Heart break.  Heart full.  This baby of mine, she is doing just what she should be doing, growing up so fine.  I hugged her so close and felt her littleness and remembered with gratitude that she'd asked, ever so politely, to nurse this morning at 5am.  Remembered with gratitude that I'd agreed, and held her tight, and had one last moment of nursing my little one before she *snap* grew so so big.

Jack, so sleepy after a rough day, but eyes alight as he cooed babytalk to his pet rat, face glowing when I raved about the 5 sentences he wrote for homework, skin so soft as he leaned into me for a goodnight hug.  So young still.  I have known this little person for 6 years and he is a part of me and a complete mystery at the same time and I am so lucky to have each challenging, frustrating, intensely rewarding moment with him.

And this moment.  Tea growing cold because typing in these memories is more important.  Because I need to revel in the good of it all to tie my ends back together.  To smooth myself out and face the next day, ready myself to make lunches and set out clothes and lay the foundations for a lifetime of moments with my family.

Where does this moment find you, dear readers?  What was the moment today that will sustain you tomorrow?