{this moment}

{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. (via SouleMama)

Growing Up

My little guy is growing up. He came into the world at barely 6 lbs, a tiny helpless thing, and now, sitting next to him on our front porch, looking at his feet next to mine, it makes me both sad and happy to be struck with how grown-up he already is.

Me

This is me. Ok, so I’ve introduced you to my boys, but I haven’t really told you about me. Probably because I’m not very good at it. I’m Wendy. Hi. Nice to meet you! I’m a brown-haired, blue-eyed, 30-ish gal who is still trying to figure herself out. I’m a bit shy, I think too much, I’m emotional, intensely loyal, creative, very un-conventional in some ways and rather normal in others. I’m a bit boring, sometimes impulsive, very loving, slightly crunchy, and a bit of a plain Jane. I like Indie Rock and rap music, love goofy buddy comedies and visually stunning romantic foreign films. I’m a wife, mother, friend and dreamer. Thanks for reading!

What I Want

When my boys look back on their childhood, I want them to remember days filled with music, color, laughter, fun, love, understanding. I want them to have happy memories of happy days. I know they probably won’t even remember anything that we do right now, for they are too young, but I want to make wonderful memories that build on top of more wonderful memories, creating a wall of happiness and joy that sustains them through life. I want them to be well-adjusted, free-spirited, confident boys who grow up knowing that they are important, that they are loved. I don’t want them to ever question who they are. I want them to love life and see the joy in every day.


But… how do I do that? How do we manage that amongst the struggles of daily life, the piles of laundry that never gets folded, bills that need paid, doctors’ visits, stress, arguments, temper tantrums, dirty refrigerators, sibling rivalry, breakfast, bath time, naps, vitamins, broken toilets, cooking and cleaning?
Each day is a journey, and my goal is to give them everything, but the reality is that I often fall short. Every day I’m learning, trying, working harder to get where I want us to be. I’ve recently been reading Pam Leo’s “Connection Parenting” a life-changing book, and in it she talks about the gap between what we learn and what we are capable of doing. We have the awareness, but it takes us time to actually get into the practice. I feel like I am forever living in that gap; I’m forever thinking and learning, and always ahead of me, like a dangling carrot, is this image of what I want for, but I can never seem to get there. The picture changes, more layers are added, pushing it further ahead of me.

Still, this picture, of the future, of my boys grown up, of a home full of love and laughter and life, is what sustains me, is what keeps me focused on trying to be the best I can- more patient, more attached, more connected, more compassionate, more creative, more organized, more open, and more comfortable with who I am and who I want to be.

House of Cards part 2

We’ve added to our house of cards. I stumbled upon this a few days ago, so when L mentioned he was bored yesterday afternoon, I got out some scrap card stock (you’ll recognize our Dolch sight words on the one house- left over from the scrap pile) and helped The Owl cut the shapes and assemble the houses. The first one (with the words) was pretty basic, but The Owl pulled out all the stops with the second. I recently designed some dividers for The Owl’s book collection, which are housed in pull-out bins. The idea was to use them as dividers between the different categories, and on each, such as “Little Bear” there is a corresponding picture, to help with word identification, etc. For some reason they printed much smaller on the page, so I had a stack of useless dividers waiting for a use. They proved to be perfect walls, b/c they were all the same size and easy to cut out and assemble. Plus, they make the house look really cool. The Owl crafted a 2-story home plus attic space and included cut-outs in the floors between the levels, which he’s pretending are elevators. We made some stick people cut-outs, and then he added a train track through the middle of the town, which he dubbed “Modern Town.” He also added a plastic ladder and made a “rope” for the roof so that Diego can visit. He has plans to expand the town in the near future.

Silly Day

Here are scenes from our recent "Silly Day." Unfortunately, my camera is broken and I had to take these photos with my phone, which is why they are blurry. The kids wouldn't stand still long enough for me to get a decent photo!

We started the day by dressing in silly outfits. For The Owl, we put one of Daddy's dress shirts and tie over his PJ's, along with some of my winter socks pulled up to his knees. I put on a skirt, knee socks, sweater, tie, and a handkerchief in my hair. We dressed The Tiger in knee socks, a bandanna and diaper. After running around and engaging in some general silliness and posing for silly pictures, we sat down and watched one of the silliest films of all time- The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking.

To be honest, after that we sort of petered out. Tiger needed an early nap and The Owl got engrossed in track-building, so we didn't do much else that we silly for the day. But I gathered up some ideas for another silly day in the future.

- Make silly food for breakfast, or eat meals in reverse (dinner for break)
- Make homemade silly putty
- Make silly sculptures
- Read Winnie the Pooh's Silly Day

What ideas do you have?

House of Cards

Influenced by this post here (and found via The Crafty Crow) we made our own House of Cards. Working with what we had on hand, I cut cardstock into rectangles with six slits and let The Owl and The Tiger decorate them. Tiger scribbled on a few, but The Owl had a good time drawing on the cards. He wanted me to draw to, so I made silly drawings on some of the cards. It was actually a lot of fun, and reminded me of the quick 1-minute drawings I used to do in art school. Rather than working on one masterpiece, we were able to just have fun with silly quick doodles. My drawings are a bit embarrassing, and it made it clear how rusty my drawing is, but we had a good time. Process over product, right?


The Owl and I put it together- he need a little help from me. If I did it again, I'd use larger pieces of a heavier material, like in the inspiration post, and then maybe he'd have an easier time putting it together himself. He really loves to build, but gets frustrated easily if things fall apart.