this moment {cousins}

Linking with SouleMamma and many others:

{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.

It's been quite the full and thrilling week, so I couldn't possibly stop at one moment.  Here are a few from our week:

Wishing you exciting summer weeks shared with the people you love! 

repurposing: look what I did

I'm not much of a thrifter, to be honest.  Thrifting takes patience and I'm not good at patience.  I'm not good at being a patient shopper either.  So I avoid the stores and the yard sales at all cost and hope pretend my absence in the stores is helping the cause.  Right?

I did, however, make a big thrifting score this week.  We have an office.  This office has a desk (with a computer and chair, of course).  That's it.  Yep.  That's it.  I've been looking for a shelving unit with cute little cubes, made of wood.  And I found the exact shelves I want.  They look something like this:

Image borrowed from Ikea

I didn't want to fork out over $200 and I didn't want to buy something that would someday end up putting chemicals in the air or soil.  So, when the classroom building renovation on campus was complete and they were giving away the old office furniture, I went searching.  Yep! Giving. away. Four sets of metal shelves for FREE!

Not as cute as the cubes, but they aren't too bad either.  Three in the office.  Perfect for office supplies, books, crafts, and photos.

 

And one in the garage, for garden shoes/boots, sunscreen, water toys and more.  Best of all, the metal will stand up to the mud and wet much better than wood anyway.

Not really that creative.  Not really earth-shattering.  But a rather successful first attempt at this repurposing/thrifting thing.  Don't you think?

discovery

One of my favorite pleasures of parenting is watching children discover something new.  And with six new members in our home, there is lots of new to discover.

 

:: new to them toys brought by cousins who carefully selected toys for sharing.

:: dress up clothes and old costumes.

:: new ways of being silly.

:: sharing is a little harder than we sometimes imagine it to be.

:: that swing we have is the BEST THING EVER!

:: making room for six new family members is much easier than letting go of my need to be in control of my surroundings.

:: being in another family's home makes it hard to know what your role is in being helpful.

:: two household's of children being raised by sisters does NOT mean that said children know the world in the same way.

:: sister's have a special way of being honest and working through the anxieties that transition brings.

:: swimming at Grandma & Grandpa's makes everything better.

:: ice cream helps too!

:: sunbeams make everything simpler.

the arrival

1500 miles lay between the two families.  1500 miles to be traveled by car.

Wednesday's text read: We are on our way.

Thursday's text: We're in Arkansas.  A few hours later: We're stuck in Arkansas. Which turned out to be the remnants of a car accident much earlier in the day, shutting down a major highway for hours.

Friday's messages were much more encouraging.  At 6 p.m., the text read: We're in Cincinnati.

They were six hours out and contemplating whether to stop for the night or keep plugging.  The kids were in great spirits and had handled being cooped up in a car for two days rather well.  There was hope in the air.

We cheered them on from our front porch as we watched to sun set and found creative ways to occupy our time. 

Then they were in Columbus.  Then on 80.  Then Akron.

The chatter and conversation from my front porch was precious:  When they get here, I want to show them my swing.  Well, I want to show them the bedrooms.  I can't wait to play Just Dance on the Wii.  I'm going to win!

By now, it was well past 11 p.m., but sleep was farthest from our minds!

Then they were on the highway near our home.

Then a few streets away.

My littles abandoned any activity and waited with angst in the front yard, watching for headlights on our usually quiet cul de sac.

There are here!  And here's what happened next:

 

Sometime near 2 a.m., the frenzy and excitement calmed as sleepy eyes and yawns overtook us all.  Twelve heads on pillows, resting with anticipation of summer time well spent.  Oh, it's going to be a great time!

this moment {swimming}

Linking with SouleMamma and many others:

{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.

Wishing you a cool and fun-filled weekend!

recycling memories

This post was inspired by Lady Cordelia who writes about the new passions in her life, including thrifting.

The memory popped into my mind with such a sense of familiarity I couldn't believe I hadn't made the connection before. 

For five years now, my mother and I have saved our treasures, set up tables, priced items, prepared our change, greeted strange faces, endured the rain, sun, or sweltering heat, and counted our earnings at the end of two days.  Yep, that's the annual garage sale.

We've done it each year because I have growing babies who leave behind large toys, furniture, supplies, and clothes.  Piles and piles of clothes.  Those items that will suit others quite well because they've been little used.  We do it because I love to declutter on a regular basis and so does she.  We do it because the little bit of cash we earn helps create some amazing summer-fun memories for my children - ice cream, swimming at the community pool, amusement parks, baseball games.  We do it because I can't bear to throw things away that someone else may want, need, or use in creative ways. 

I don't have babies anymore and older children don't have big stuff.  The stock has dwindled, leaving us asking each other if we should do it again next year.  We do manage to pull items together, but it is not much.  We ask this question as the crowd quiets down at the end of day two.  We are tired and hot.  

This year, my mother's response to my asking: I don't do this because I need to.  I do it because I enjoy doing it with you.

And there is the memory - my mother and her mother.  Each summer for many.  In my grandmother's driveway.  Both women, notepad in hand, on which are placed color-coded pricing stickers.  A metal lock box for their earnings and for making change.  The tables and tables of items needing a new home and hoping not to be destined for the landfill (or burn pile as was the case at Grandma's).  The chatter and buzzing from the customers.  The small town hellos and gossip.  The kids, me and my cousins, running around, playing on the side of the house, enjoying our lazy summer days.

Perhaps memories can be recycled as well.  A memory, remade into a new one.  A time shared by two women of one generation, then repeated in the next.  Isn't it funny how life somehow means more in a memory or the sharing of a memory than in the thing itself?  In this simple garage sale, I've stumbled on a real treasure - recycling moments and memories with my mother!

making room

Two homes, many miles from each other, are filling with anticipation.  In Texas, packing and planning suck up the energy of a weary mama of five.  The three day road trip seems insurmountable in some ways.  Yet, the journey promises to be well-worth the wait. 

In the second home, much is happening in the way of preparation.  Extra mattresses are being secured, bedrooms rearranged, the second bathroom emptied of all but a set of linens.  The office is set up to host the new little scrapbooker who will most assuredly need time away from the other children.  A few new toys have been purchased to accommodate the growth, craft supplies replenished. The sizeable grocery list readily posted on the fridge for the last minute preparations later this week.  Eleven mouths make for quite a long list!

Along with the anticipation, both homes are wondering: was this a good idea? are we nuts?  can we make it six whole weeks with each other? will eight children be too much for one mama/now child care giver to handle?

You see, in the two homes live two sisters.  One is a working mama, the other works at home.  When one sister is in need, the other responds.  Sometimes, we respond in ways that may seem overzealous to others.  But this is what we do for one another.  In the absence of summer childcare for my three littles, my sister and her five children are driving 1500 miles to stay with us.  She will be my child care.  If you've been keeping count, she will be caring for eight children - ages 9, 8, 7, 7, 5, 4, 3, and 10 months.

There have been open and honest conversations about food, bedtime, space needed, partnering in this time, cooking, cleaning, escape plans.  We are so bold as to hope and imagine that this can and will be one of the most fun and memorable summers of our children's lives.  What a great opportunity for the cousins to grow close, to learn together, to experience together, to be together.

So different from last summer this will be.  Last summer was one in which I made dreams and plans.  This summer will require flexibility, adaptability, less planning and more simply being in the moment.  Because when an opportunity like this comes along, one should simply soak up every. single. minute.

Now, if you'll excuse me this week, I have to start making some room.  For I have very special visitors coming.  Very special indeed.

right now

As summer fast approaches we are excited to celebrate with summer zest.  Right now, we are:

 

:: finishing the soccer season with a double header and making a day of it

:: realizing it might be time for coach (Papa Bear) to retire his cleats, but certainly not time to retire from coaching

:: enjoying my new camera, trying out each setting and finding the sports setting quite useful at said soccer tournament

:: tasting every strawberry we can pop into our mouths

:: canning and freezing half pints of strawberry jam and grateful to be pulling out the canning supplies again

:: enjoying our first dip in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa's house

:: discovering the joy of swimming when even the four-year-old can touch the bottom of the pool

:: preparing for something special (more on that later this week)

:: loving and gifting our very special father, with the written word and reading out loud, perhaps the most precious gift ever given

We hope your weekend was as fun-filled and celebratory as ours!  Happy summer!

this moment {pretend play}

Linking with SouleMamma and many others:

{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.

Wishing you a weekend filled with play and sweet moments!

gifting

I am NOT gifted at gifting.  Really, there are likely few who are worse at gifting than I.

Especially when the person-to-be-gifted is a classmate of my child whom I have never met. For this group, I have a hard time with re-purposing or thrifting and new toys are so expensive.  Never mind that new toys really just seem to be more stuff.  I'm ashamed to admit the stuff we've broken, lost, or thrown away from birthday parties.

You can imagine my joy when I dreamed up a gift that was practical, thrifty, cute, and perfect for the little girl having a spa birthday party. You have to keep a secret if I tell you what it was, though.  Shhhh!  We purchased a fake nail kit with nail polish ($10) and added a few of our own unwanted colors along with leftover lipgloss (all unopened of course), bundled with ribbon from recycled packaging.  Ta da!

I'm not naive to think I'm now well equipped to gift, but I am celebrating this one success!

watching mama

There is a new Mama in our neighborhood.  In fact, she is right in our own front yard.

One beautiful morning my mother, my children and I watched this new Mama for almost an hour.  She marched back and forth from the high grass to her burrow, preparing the nest for her littles.  Yes, I said high grass.  Right. in. my. front. yard. Ahem.

Mama rabbits usually run when they know humans are nearby.  But, this Mama had a job to do.  She looked us square in the eye as if to say I'm not leaving and Watch over my little ones.

She was even being eyed by another friendly creature who had taken shield behind the utility box.  Every time Mama wondered his way, he would duck underground.  Then he'd pop back up to observe her.  He was really too cute.  I wouldn't mind him too much if he wasn't tunneling under my house, my porch, my patio, and probably in my attic.  Sigh.

Over the next few nights, we've seen Mama return to feed and check in.  She's reliable, consistent and confident.

Now we wait anxiously for sight of those baby bunnies when they grow just a bit bigger and stronger.  Patiently, yet excitedly . . . we wait.

this moment {gardening}

Linking with SouleMamma and many others:

{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.