This Moment

Playing along with Amanda today... in her words: 

{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.

Important Work

Ever have one of those weeks where you could sit down with a pad of paper and a pen and easily write up three, four, five pages of things that need your attention, like, yesterday?

I am totally having a week like that. It's already Wednesday and it feels like I've gotten nothing done. Granted, sick babies throw a wrench in whatever plans one might have, and also I think this beautiful spring weather is adding to the more urgent feeling of godoaccomplishnownownow, but that doesn't change the still-not-done status of the to-do stuff on all my lists.

The chicken coop is probably only one focused day away from being ready for the peeps. There is a trip to the local plant nursery long overdue. If I don't make it to the grocery store today I'll have no coffee for tomorrow morning, and the house isn't cleaning itself. I'm sure everyone knows this music.

It gets a little hard to prioritize... until you push it all out of the way and let the priorities sort themselves out. The important stuff always rises to the top. Funny.

This morning we woke up to another beautiful day with the same opportunities to get stuff done as yesterday. Our lists waited, our errands waited, our chores waited (imagine that!). In letting our priorities sort themselves out we gained more than we bumped, to risk sounding cliche. What felt like sitting still (me) and playing (the littles) really ended up being important work for all of us. Rest. Recuperation. A good recharge.

So now, as the sun reaches into the woods and all around, stirring things up for another day, we'll be ready to make the most of it and get our stuff done! Yeah, we're having one of Those Weeks, but staying busy isn't the only way to take it down.

Sometimes the best way to work through the day (or week, or month...) is to take a moment and stop working.

After all...

"It is the quality of the moment, not the number of days,

or events, or of actors, that imports."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Right Now, Belated

Right now, I'm...

...feeling tired. That kind of tired that only parents know... the down-to-the-bone weary that comes from lack of sleep, worry, and juggling all the moving parts that go along with having sick kiddos.
...hoping the meds, the naps, the teas, the fresh air, and the sunshine will keep working their magic on this house and get us back in our rhythm!
...realizing that in the dim light of dawn this house doesn't look so dirty! Nice.
...wondering if we'll get the chance to get out to the grocery store today, or if we'll be diving back into the freezer for dinner and going rogue for tp............ it's getting dire over here folks.
...planning the movement of the way-too-big-for-the-bathtub chicks out to the coop, and soon. Only a few more touches will make the hen house ready, and oh, am I ready to get them out of my house.
...loving the gentle rain we've had for the past few evenings and the beautiful green that's popping up in the garden! The house may be a mess, but when we're out walking between the sprouting beds in our garden, who really cares?

At the risk of 'jinxing' us all, let me just say the kids seem to be on the mend, the day seems to be promising beautiful weather, and I for one am ready to take full advantage of the upswing. We may be tired, but it feels so energizing to look out the windows at the bright warm sunshine.

Let's do this.

Happy... Tuesday!

Three

Today my Baby Bubba turns three years old. We had grand plans of celebrating this kind, laid-back little man with special foods, an outing to feed some giraffes, and some construction work with his new tools, but sadly he gets to spend his birthday with a 104.7 fever and a dry, hoarse cough.

Our poor sweet Hen, what a crummy way to kick off your third year.

The amazing thing about this guy, though, is that he'll still be just as loving and sweet, despite it all.

So we'll trade the special foods for oatmeal and he'll be just as happy. We'll swap getting out for staying in, probably piled on top of each other on the couch (Audrey's still under the weather, too), and he won't mind. We'll put off working outside until another day when he's on the mend, and that'll be OK too.

At least there's a silver lining- if not for this, there's probably no other way I'd get to spend his birthday holding him... and that's what this Mama really wants for this landmark day. Wishing he were well, but glad to hold him a little more than usual.

Happy birthday Henry Warden, we will totally have a do-over when you're feeling better.

Tractor Party

Our Tractor Party Day has come and gone. I think it'll go down in Henry's book as the most perfect day ever. At least that's what he's called it (in so many words). He's asked when it would be here every morning since mid-March, and this morning all his wiggly body parts were going in different directions all at once from excitement- it was finally here.

I hope it was what he was wanting. We had cow-spotted balloons. We had fried chicken, corn-on-the-cob, potato salad, baked beans and biscuits. We had fruit pizza (my kids don't like cake). We had a ride in a real, "big huge" tractor. We had some spot-on completely inspired gifts.

I think it was a success.

Notice Audrey all bundled up, looking a little unhappy, and coughing in that last pic? That's quite a side story... Audrey woke up in the middle of the night (the night before the tractor party) with a fever so high our expensive exactly-what-the-pediatrician-uses digital thermometer would only say "Error/Hi." With an every-two-hour regimen of alternating doses of acetaminophen and ibuprofen we got her fever down to 105.3* and in the morning rushed her off to the doc (thankfully our pediatrician has Saturday office hours, awesome).

*Side note: Audrey has always run extremely high fevers, which we figured out when she got strep for the first time and along with it a 107.3 fever. No kidding. 

We exhausted all their tests, ended up at the hospital for chest X-rays, and finally found out (mid-party) that she has walking pneumonia. She's on amoxicillin now and tucked in to bed. Hopefully that'll be the end of the pits and we'll be on the upswing soon.

Poor girl.

So that was our Tractor Party Day. We've left all the packaging, wrappings, crumbs, sticky places, and clutter exactly where they fell. We soaked up all the family and friend goodness while they were here, soaked up the quiet and togetherness of the four of us when things settled back down, and we are now resting.

Tomorrow we'll clean, tomorrow we'll find places for all the new treasures. Tonight we need the stillness- for kiddos to recover and for Mama to wrap her head around it all.

Henry is Three.

Time flies, folks. It really does.

This Moment

Playing along with Amanda today... in her words: 

{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.

Party, Party, Party...

Over here on this muggy, gray morning the agenda for the day is party, party, party... prepping.

We'll be cleaning and tidying our space, getting some of the food under way, and readying some of the birthday goodies. I'll be trying my hand at hard candy for the first time, too! I found these molds and ordered some flavoring oil, and as long as I can avoid burning the sugar (or myself) I feel optimistic about pulling them off!

Our little workin' man is getting a fully-stocked tool box of his own from Mama and Daddy, and I need to finish making his tool belt/tool apron thing that'll go with it. His sister wants to make him a watercolor painting of a tractor, too (her own idea, love), so we'll probably tackle that when he goes down for a nap.

An afternoon of making and doing for a generous, sweet, loving Little who is getting so big so fast; all labors of love, and everyone almost as excited as he to celebrate this weekend!