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.

6-Hour-Car-Ride Prep

We are embarking on our first road trip since Henry was an infant and Audrey was in diapers. These kids are now old enough to need potty stops. Conversation. Entertainment. *gulp* My Type-A personality is freaking out a little. How am I going to keep the peace and not loose that fun light-hearted vacation vibe the whole way down to the beach?

I decided I'd better craft a plan. I tried to look up road trip entertainment ideas on Pinterest, but quite frankly it was overwhelming and many of the ideas were geared toward the wrong age group for us.

So I bought some basics (play dough, pipe cleaners, fresh new washable markers, clip boards) and I made up the rest.

First I drew up some 'I Spy' sheets, with words and pictures so both kiddos could play. They tend to play this on their own but they get stuck on the same thing over and over (I spy something big and blue! The sky? Yes! My turn! I spy something big and blue........) Along with these sheets I also found some free mazes, connect-the-dots, letter trace pages, and beach-themed coloring pages from a Google search, printed them off, and clipped them to the boards.

Next I bought two cheapie blank pads and filled them with sections of activities, followed by sections of blank pages for whatever they might want to create. Mimmy, Pappy, and Gramps added some pages, too, and now each kiddo has a custom activity book. Some of the activities are 'complete the picture' (using magazine clippings), 'Ocean Books' by Mimmy that slide out of a pocket so they can sketch what they find on the beach, 'draw yourself as...' using printed photos of their faces, and landscapes they can elaborate on. There are also little treasures sketched by the grandpas that the kiddos will have to flip through to find.

Finally I converted two shoe box-sized boxes into finger puppet theaters using scrapbook paper and Washi tape to cover up the brand logos. The finger puppets came from Ikea.

We also went to the library where we refreshed our book bags, and we're saving all the new books to look at in the car. The kiddos will of course bring a backpack of their own treasured toys, too, and that'll about do it I think.

My backup plan if all else fails are these 'Bribe Boxes,' for that extra element of hush we may need toward the end of the road...

...and that's that! Wish us luck, they say it'll take us about 6 hours in the car before we're sinking our toes into the sand...

And We're Off!

Our bags are packed, our car is packed, and at the crack of dawn we're hitting the road- off to spend a few days way down south at the beach with some family. It'll be the first significant road trip with the kids since they were in diapers, and boy howdy are they excited about it.

Wish us luck!

Right Now, Tuesday

Right now, I'm loving a busy weekend that saw...

...family visits, a good movie, two pies and a cake.
...a successful trip to a new thrift store, some new stuff for Mama, and some really cool old books.
...two days in a row with 10 eggs from the girls each day.
...more meals at restaurants than the last two months have seen put together.
...really, really hot afternoons.
...the kickoff to my 32nd year, a happy birthday song that was practiced multiple times in the preceding days by very excited kiddos, and very sweet and thoughtful treats for yours truly.

Right now, I'm looking back at the weekend (and Monday!) that kept us so wrapped up and busy that I barely paused to capture a few moments here and there... and we're only getting started! We'll be prepping for a trip out of town today, then hitting the road for a little beach time before the close of the summer.

My multiple lists are calling me, as is the laundry, cooking, and suitcase packing, so off I go! Happy Tuesday!

Weekending

Checking in on this quiet Saturday morning, with a steaming cup of joe and morning prisms on the floor... and a raft, tree house, and horse parade, too. 

Have a good one, y'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.

Helping

It is a rare moment that I find myself alone in the kitchen for any reason really; be it dishes, dinner prep, or a project like making bread, I always have company. It is endearing (most of the time) and a great punctuation mark to these fleeting days when my company actually wants to be helping.

I will take a moment here to make a confession: I am a control freak. I'm sure that comes as a shock to a lot of people who know me *ahem*. But I count among my successes of Letting Go my ability these days to turn over the whisk, measuring cup, or ball of dough and give way to all the Help that's always pleading for something to do. There's always a mess to clean up afterward. There's frequently bickering over who's turn it is or how many times someone else got to do whatever. However, there's also an unmistakable feeling of accomplishment, importance, and joy right along with all of it.

It's the same feeling I get if I really think about it- the same sense of accomplishment and joy I find in producing something from scratch that nourishes and grows my family. The same feeling of importance we put in the things that can be produced from the labor of our hands... and the love behind it all. I guess it's only natural that my Littles are drawn to the tangible processes that hold so much love in their environment. And that is what I try to remember when they're begging- and bugging- to help. They want to contribute. They want to learn. They want to be a part of the whole. After all, like Julia Child says:

"...no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing."

So true in so many arenas, not just cooking, don't you think? Thanks, Julia.