Happy Happy...

Happy, happy Father's Day to my Doy, my father-in-law, my grandfathers (by blood and by fortune), my daddy-friends, and the father-figures in my life. But a special Happy Father's Day to my husband, who has so naturally and fully embraced his role as a Father, and who inspires me every day in my journey in Motherhood. I love you all.

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.

Right Now, on a Wednesday

Right now, I'm...

...online again for the first time since Friday! There was an... accident (that may or may not have involved erosion, the lawnmower, and the internet/TV cable), and we have been living like it's 1990 all weekend.
...winding down from a last-minute showing for the buyers of our house and their entire extended family (we're talking an entire driveway full of cars, and my driveway is a circle drive that's also half an acre long).
...feeling tense knowing that even though we've come this far, it's still entirely possible that this house deal could fall apart... for a myriad of reasons.
...smiling in spite of myself at the way the hubs can't mow solo anymore- as soon as the kiddos hear the mower fire up, they grab their gear and run for the trailer.
...devouring the Little House series that I loved listening to as a kid while my mom read it aloud (and yes, it's still just as good as I read it to myself, though I miss hearing mom choke up here and there).
...wondering where Sister's new obsession with hiding around the house came from.
...enjoying some of the mid-summer fruit that came in our late spring co-op share, despite the off-season-ness of it all.
...cautiously beginning to feel like maybe, just maybe, Henry is getting the hang of being in his Big Boy Bed, free to roam his room at will, and not screaming the entire time... now if only I could get him to keep his pants and diaper on while he's at it (oh well, baby steps).
...loving the chance I got to sit down with the kiddos and the box of ancient Crayons (seriously, some of them are from my childhood) and just color for an entire Sunday morning.
...wishing all a great finish to the week, and a happy Wednesday!

23/52

A portrait of my kids every week for 52 weeks.

Henry waiting to 'help' mow on Daddy's "track-tohr."

Audrey making a beautiful portrait of Mimmy.

Turning A Page...

Oh, where to start with this seemingly arduous tale?

I've hinted at something in the works for a while now (like here, here, here, and here). Vague, persistent little hints sprinkled throughout this space for almost 6 months, then (for those who noticed) no resolution and no more hints for the rest of the year... and now- finally- almost a year and a half since that all began, there is an ending to a tale I haven't even told yet.

So I guess the best place to start is at the ending (which is really just the beginning): we've sold our house.

[insert trumpets and general fanfare here]

We were kicked into relocation mode by a change in job location, but ultimately that led us to the realization that the place where we were just didn't fit us anymore. Since opening our minds to making a move, we have better defined the goals we have for our family, the ways we use (or don't use) the spaces we live in, and what we actually want for the space we call Home.

All of a sudden, we weren't selling our place to move closer to a job, we were selling our house because it wasn't the right place for us.

Unfortunately, it took half of a year and a lot of hair-pulling, effort, stress, and parading strangers through our house to get to that point of realization. We listed our house for 6 months with a Realtor (who did a great job, it just didn't turn out to be the right time for us), then we withdrew from the marketplace for a rest and regrouping, and this spring we went back at it with the increasing light in the new year (this time By Owner).

Now, almost six more months after the launch of our second attempt, we have a solid contract, we're packing our boxes, and we're on the hunt for our next place in this world.

It really puts into perspective how long this process took us when you look back at some of the original photos I took when we first listed our house, and were optimistically undertaking the tedious process of packing those first few boxes...

Holy cow, right? I know!

It's been bittersweet, this journey we've been on... some of the bitter coming from unpacking the pre-packed boxes because, well, we needed our stuff back, and we still hadn't gotten anywhere! And honestly, there are still enough hurtles between where we are now and when we actually hand over the keys to the next family that will live in this space, that we could see another round of unpacking and re-listing. However, we just have to keep our chins up and believe that if it's meant to be, it can't be jinxed, and come the end of the month, we'll be turning the page and moving forward!

At this point we're thinking about heading to a rental property to pause and collect ourselves once this deal closes, then from there, who knows?

Will we renovate?

Will we build?

I can honestly say I'm quite looking forward to finding out.

No question, though- we've been waiting for this moment for so long, and we will be even more grateful for all it brings because of the journey that's brought us here.

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.

Keeping It Real

I've noticed something about the blogs I follow: almost every post from each one of them is depicting perfection. Familial bliss. Precise craft and project execution. Sibling harmony. Beautiful light.

I do it too, I know.

But let's be honest... no one's life is that good. Don't get me wrong, life is good... but we're all just human, and with a human existence comes strife, struggle, hurtles, clashes, stress, arguments, and heartache.

In this space, I choose mostly to capture and preserve the best of the best, because I want to remember the absolute best of times, even in the smallest of events and goings-on... and even in the midst of my fair share of tantrums and failures and frustration.

Also, how much fun would a blog be to read if every-other-post was detailing the woes of life? Um, bleh.

However, I do believe there is merit in keeping it real. One day it will be fun to revisit the archives in this space and reminisce about The Good Ol' Days, but for the sake of posterity, let's not forget what's going on behind the scenes...

Pictured:
-Fresh flowers from around the creek, where I picked wild bee balm and black-eye susans with my kiddos, and then later found the first blossoms of lavender in the garden.
-Clear morning air, the garden (which is actually doing a lot better this year than I would have guessed), and a moment of silence and still wherein baby bunnies were spotted along the fence line.
-Early light coming through the blinds in the aptly named Sunshine Room, cleared of toys as the kiddos had yet to descend and where, a few feet lower, the cat takes his morning nap.

Not Pictured:
-The screams of protest from a boy who simply will not accept the fact that he has to stay in his room until a reasonable rising hour when Mama comes and gets him.
-The speeding ticket beside my computer, waiting for my attention.
-The three page to-do list that consists mainly of phone calls and chores that are by no means beautiful, poetic, or blog-worthy, but must be done anyway.
-The large load of laundry waiting for it's turn in the washer, made larger by the 3am sheet change for Sister who is still struggling with nighttime accidents.
-The welts all over the family from the increasingly voracious chiggers, and the burden of realization that it may be the cat that's bringing them to us in the night, after his daily romps in the long grasses... now what to do about that?

Without the bitter, the sweet would not be noteworthy, and on that note, I head out to tackle the day... a day that will have both beauty and ugliness, but a day that I will choose to remember for the beauty of it all.