catching up

The weeks leading up to Christmas were filled with sickness and busyness. We tackled the biggest undertaking we've ever attempted in the week before Christmas, which left no time for blogging. I'll show you the results over the next few days. The 2 weeks leading up to Christmas brought a tummy bug that invaded 2 of the kids, canceling plans, and leaving us unable to fulfill many of the advent traditions we've developed over the last few years. It was a practice in letting go, for me anyway. There is always next year.  Christmas Day, and the days following, brought a series of family get-togethers and much love and togetherness. Most of it unphotographed, but all of it priceless.

(The following photograph isn't a great quality shot, but I had to capture the joy when Paulie received a new, much-desired robe and Finn inherited his old one.)

The 12 Days of Christmas for us included not a single partridge in a pear tree, but countless family gatherings, a family wedding to celebrate, 7 states, many thoughtful gifts and warm meals, time with rarely-seen extended family, and finally snow tubing.

Thanksgiving

I realize it's odd to title this post Thanksgiving when the photos are full of Christmas trees and gifts. We just came off of a week full of family. (My parents are in from the Philippines, and my brother's family came down from the Philadelphia area.) As is often the case when we have family in town, I barely have time for any photos, much less time to post to my blog. Over the days we spent with extended family we celebrated Thanksgiving, celebrated Christmas with my brother's family, put up 2 Christmas trees, played games until late in the evening, and spent a day at my Grandmother's house (with aunts, uncles, and cousins). Although I have few photos to show for it, I have a heart full of love and gratitude for the time we spent together. I'm always amazed and thankful for the interaction between my kids and my brother's kids. Those cousins love each other to pieces and enjoy playing together in a way that makes my heart smile.

::right now::

::playing Bremen Town Musicians in front of the early morning fire::

::savoring the autumnal flavors::

::weaving with Grammy::

::collecting the last of the autumn acorns::

::creating a centerpiece::

::mixing an experiment with Grandad::

::obsessing over volcanoes::

the truth

The picture below is a very good representation of our oldest and youngest these days. Paulie recently received a new "adult" bike for his birthday, and Finn moved up from a Skuut bike to a pedal bike this summer. They both love to ride, more than their siblings do, and especially enjoy riding down the hill in front of our house as often as possible.

What I could also tell you about the photo above is that most afternoons, following school, Finn patiently rides in circles in our driveway waiting for Paulie to finish his homework and join him in jaunts down the hill.  The look of barely contained excitement when Paulie finally appears in the garage doorway is thrilling to this mama's heart. That is the truth.

What I could also tell you about the photo above is that less than 30 seconds after I posted this photo, as they hit the bottom of the hill, Paulie whipped around on his bike and started pedaling back up the hill as fast as he could leaving Finn alone at the bottom. The unspoken, well, maybe not quite unspoken, code at our house is that you turn around and head back together. No sooner did I even realize what was happening, and I heard screams coming from the bottom of the hill, accompanied by shouts of "I'm never riding with you again!!" That is the truth.

There is our family in a nutshell. Equal parts beautiful truth and ugly truth. Each moment precious for the connections and relationships that are built and maintained, whether they look lovely from the outside or not. Of course, I wish my children would get along beautifully ALL the time. But I know that these relationships are the ones they will practice with to get an idea for how to handle every other relationship that comes their way in life. If this video is any indication, they'll be just fine.

Yarn Along and the story of a vintage apron

For this week's Yarn Along, I'm nearly finished with the Bitty Bump spring cardigan that I started late last week.  I had my doubts about this bulky, thick and thin yarn, but it has knit up nicely in this pattern. As for my reading, I've just started reading The Call of the Wild aloud to the kids.  We're about 3/4 of the way through the book, although I'm starting to wish I had split each chapter in half. The chapters are almost too long to read in one sitting. I have to say that I'm enjoying The Whole Story version of this book.  It's unabridged, but includes special notes, photographs, sketches and maps of the area and time period to enhance appreciation and knowledge of what is happening in the story. However, I'm not sure I would have chosen to let Finn sit in on this book had I remembered how scary and violent it is. Fortunately, much of it seems to go over his head.

I also started Finn's next pair of crazy socks.  I'm nearly finished with the first one, but I managed to leave it at my grandmother's house when we went for a visit on Monday.  I guess it is ultimately a happy exchange though since I managed to come home with the beauty below: my great, great grandmother's hand-embroidered apron.

I don't remember ever even seeing this apron before but the handwork is exquisite, perfectly even stitches with bright colors still intact.  I now need a great idea of something to do to display this lovely piece of my family's history.

The picture below is of my great, great grandparents (my paternal grandmother's paternal grandmother). My great, great grandmother's name was Delia Broyhill (of Broyhill furniture fame, her nephew started the company), and she lived from 1862 to 1948, the last several years of which she lived with my grandmother's family. She was born, lived her entire life, and died in the same small NC mountain community that my grandmother grew up in. And that's about the extent I know about her. But now I have this lovely apron as a link between her generation, her handwork and mine. It makes me want to embroider an apron to match!

a jar full of kindness

Maybe the February funk hit us hard this year, or maybe it's the fact we have a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old that sometimes seem to be competing for the title of "most dour attitude", or maybe a valley of life has come around that finds us needing to be reminded of our appreciation for one another. Whatever the reason, I find that there is less kindness in this house than there should be,  less kindness than we need to live in a state of harmony.  Every attempt on my part to amiably point out the unkindness or just lack of benevolent attitude toward one another has been either rebuffed or has lasted around 5 minutes.

And so the kindness jar was born.  Each of these marbles represents an act of kindness or a refrain from unkindness (when it was possibly warranted).  We've only been using the kindness jar for a few days, but I can already see (and hear!) fewer snippy words, more generous behavior, and a pleasanter house in general.

Each of the kids has their own kindness jar to fill, from the marbles given to them out of my kindness jar, and when a jar is full, the owner can pick out a (free!) activity for the entire family to enjoy. And the ENTIRE family has to enjoy said activity. 

As a bonus, each of the kids can memorize the kindness quote that is attached to his or her kindness jar to earn one of the larger "shooter" marbles. It's not always easy helping kids to see that, much like these marbles, little acts and words of kindness scatter out into the world upon impact, making the world a brighter, more colorful, much more pleasant place. But I'm confident that, one marble at a time, we can increase the kindness inside our household, and hopefully practicing kindness will become habitual...a reflex of kindness.

 

Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness.  ~ Mother Teresa

weekending

We're just finishing up our holiday weekend and getting ready to say goodbye to my brother's family.  I hope your weekend has been similarly filled with family time and sweet moments. Don't forget to check back tomorrow morning to find out the winner of the dagger giveaway!  If you haven't yet entered, there are a few hours left!

{this moment} - cousin warfare

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. See Soulemama to play along.

**Don't forget to enter the dagger and holster giveaway that ends on Monday!**

::right now::

::strategizing::

::eating by candlelight with a thankful heart::

::playing with cousins::

::being chased by a bat-wielding uncle::

All of the things that are so near and dear when having out-of-town family around for a week.  We are enjoying these things fully.  My presence might be scarce in this space for the next few days, but don't forget to enter the giveaway!

our trip to Philly

Sorry for the unannounced, prolonged absence from this space.  We spent the last several days in Philadelphia visiting my brother and his family.  I thought I might blog from up there, but I decided to be in the moment as much as possible and not spend my evenings blogging.  I honestly didn't even take as many pictures as I normally do.  I did manage to get quite a few shots of our time at the Crayola Factory and the Philadelphia Zoo. The kids had a wonderful time playing with their cousins, as they always do.  And I enjoyed watching my children and my brother's children interacting and caring for one another. I only wish they could do this more often.

We returned yesterday afternoon, too exhausted to head out to any of the local fireworks displays so we just set off some sparklers in the basil.

I hope everyone that celebrates July 4th had a lovely day! I plan to be back in this space regularly now. :)