Lingering in the Fleeting

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.  
~Andrew Wyeth

Elving

I am always bitten by the holiday bug somewhere around June or July, when the heat forces us inward like a blizzard would do in the more northern states... When the bug bites, it usually results in a list (or two) of pretty ambitious projects, started in the hot summer months while promises of crisp breezes, wassail, and Christmas music linger in my mind.

 

This year, my focus and enthusiasm for said holiday lists did not fizzle out as the summer wore on and on (and on and on), and we've actually accomplished many of those little projects through our creative process that we now refer to as 'Elving,' thanks to this much-loved blog. 

Now the Elving has taken hold of us all, and oh my, are we looking forward to sharing our treasures!

Right Now

Right now, I'm loving...

...the arrival of Christmastime. Wishing you some seasonal spirit as we move into the last month of the year!

Thankful.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," 

that would suffice.  ~Meister Eckhart

Today, we are full... full of love, full of thankfulness, full of giggles and stories and lingering holiday excitement... and full of amazing home cooking. Tomorrow, we'll turn our attention back to our home, and perhaps deck a few halls. For now, though, we enjoy the darkness, the quiet, and the peace of the Day After. Happy Thanksgiving.

Right Now

Right now, I'm loving...

...preparations. Hoping this Thanksgiving week is full of busy preparations, family, friends, and thankful hearts. Happy Monday!

Weekend Waffles

I have blogged about making waffles to kick off our weekends several times, and yet I've never shared our recipe... how mean! This weekend we repeated our Weekend Waffle tradition, and to rectify the teaser blogs past, here it is:

Weekend Waffles

we started with this recipe, then changed it up to suit our taste

1 C low-fat or fat-free milk

1 C sour cream OR 1 C fat-free greek-style yogurt

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 TBS melted butter
~1/4 C good honey

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour

1 C whole-wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat waffle iron. Combine all wet ingredients, and combine dry separately, then add wet to dry and mix until just blended. Pour into waffle iron (grease if there is concern of sticking) in amount recommended by waffle iron directions and cook according to waffle iron settings. We serve them immediately with butter and powdered sugar, but they also freeze perfectly in a single layer in air-tight freezer bags... just break in to fourths and pop in the toaster to reheat!

These are awesome and guilt-free! We love them... Audrey calls them "brunch waffles," who knows why... but no matter when you make them, they will definitely be crowd pleasers!

Happy weekending!

These Goofballs

These goofballs of mine... every day, they do something that cracks me up, surprises me, makes me smile, and shows me a little glimpse of their developing personalities, so distinct and different from one anther already.

These goofballs... in their innocence they are so beautiful and sincere, so earnest and loving, so open.

These goofballs... so trying at times, and so simple and genuine so many other times.

These goofballs... so ingrained and melded into my heart, it's hard to remember what I was before them.

 

These goofballs of mine...

Last Year...

Last year at this time (to the day, actually), my little girl fit inside this wagon, with this other wagon.

Also, last year at this time, we still hadn't named Little Brother, we hadn't even started Christmas shopping, we were experiencing very similar freakishly warm weather, and we were preparing for all that comes with the holidays.

This year, much has changed, and I treasure it all the more after being reminded of exactly how much has actually changed.

It's amazing what can change in one year... and it boggles the mind what might be different the next.

Sick

There is a bug amongst us. Well, to be more specific, there is a bug with Audrey. We all are very regimented about sleeping in our own beds, but being sick is the exception, and so around midnight last night a very hot and tired girlchild made her way down the stairs in my arms and into Mama and Daddy's bed. There she remained, getting up about every hour or so to work through whatever settled on her. When morning broke, so did her fever, and I awoke to little feet dug into my back and a tired Little One hogging my pillow.

Our day today revolved around keeping this child- who cannot help but move, make noise, and go go go- still and resting. We pulled out the juice, the hot soup and special easy-on-the-tummy foods, the Christmas books (her favorites since about August), the slippers and hoodies, and the remote (since phasing out most TV, we have enjoyed being able to put on an episode of Sesame Street and it be a novelty and something that feels special... for now, anyway).

She truly has seemed to recover completely, but she is also notorious for lapsing back into sickness after bedtime, so in writing this as she settles in for the night, I am painfully aware of the possibility that we haven't seen the end of this... yet...

For now, though, it is nice to breathe a sigh of relief, soak up those rare cuddly moments with our Miss Independent, and head off to bed early to rest up for a possible repeat of quite a hectic night.

Despite how terrible it always is when your child is sick, I can't help but be incredibly thankful that this is happening now and not next week. So thankful. So bring on the late nights and extra laundry... and let's get this out of the way!

Right Now

Right now, I'm loving...

 

...coffee on the back porch. Some of us still haven't adjusted to the time change, but at least waking this early allows for some calm and collection before the bebes fill the house with their happy morning energy. Wishing you some calm and collection to start this week, too... or maybe just some happy morning energy.

Autumn Is Here

I had an 'Ah-Ha' moment last year around the holidays: the only way to really feel present in this whirlwind time is to be in the moment (as frequently as possible). For me, that requires a conscious slow-down, which sometimes requires more effort than the planning and going that we do day-to-day.

This afternoon offered the perfect opportunity to practice this methodology. It's something I would like to be able to do naturally, frequently, and without much thought. For now, though, it requires purposeful action... and the rewards are sunlight, breath, and an afternoon that felt paused in time. So worth it.

 

Autumn is here, and so are we. We are here.