Belly laughs from my babies watching Home Alone for the first time, curled up, first side by side in sleeping bags and then both of them stuffed into one small sleeping bag in front of a warm winter fire.
Giggles and hysterical laughs as they watch the antics we all remember so well from this classic movie. They laugh and my husband and I glanced back and forth at each other and smile at this wonderful little life we’ve created and this small sliver of life’s perfection.
~K
Smoked Turkey.
A day of decorating.
Holiday music playing.
Kids excited and full of holiday magic.
Most importantly - a table surrounded with family.
~K
…. wonderful holiday
…. safe travels
…. peaceful moments
…. 40 years
…. b.enadryl
…. sunrises
…. overdue smiles
…. sunsets
…. family
We end our Thanksgiving holiday today with so many thanks and so much to be grateful for.
Sweet girl~
Run and play… continue to love life. Smile and keep this joy close to the surface at all times. Always be yourself… there’s no one better. Trust me.
Love, Mommy~
So grateful for the gifts in my life….
~K
I could look at this picture and smile forever…
… and that still may not be long enough.
Zero complaints. Life is amazing.
~K
Let your worries wash away, my girl. Relax and enjoy the sun on your face and the sand in your toes.
~K
“Mama? Can we cuddle and watch the sunrise again this morning?”
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We did. He and I, snuggled together, looking over the ocean as the sun began to light the morning sky.
It was 7am, and already the day was perfect.
~K
Good Morning, Mama… I love you.
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When your day starts like this, it’s easy to find the high point.
~K
It’s dreary and yet peaceful.
There is no sun in the sky which usually drags me into a weird slump on days like these with their lack of light and excessive gray.
But as I sit and write, I can hear the wind outside and my boy singing himself to sleep. My daughter observes this and excitedly asks me if this is finally a good day to dust off the kite in the garage who has been waiting several long months for a day just like this.
Fall is in full force here and I look out the window and see the rainbowed confetti falling with each new little gust of wind.
I’m not bothered by the blanket of leaves on my grass nor the gray in the sky today. Rather, I’m enjoying this peaceful dreary and appreciating what it has to offer.
I will dance in the leaves and smile at the sky. I will enjoy the cool air and appreciate the change. We will fly kites and sing songs and notice only the good… and there is so much.
Thoughts for today….
~K
Though you can acknowledge the amazing feat of birth, you’re still never prepared for how the miracle of a beautiful healthy new person entering the world, and your family, and your heart still manages to take your breath away every time.
Happy Birthday, beautiful boy, Henry.
I’m so grateful for you and love you with all the love a heart can hold.
~K
I’m feeling a little grumpy day for a million and a half reasons.
I began to write and then to cook and then to do some yoga.
I remembered the last yoga class I went to and how this woman talked on and on about joy. She looked so energized and thin and beautiful and well, joyful.
Beyond all of her external perfections, was what she chose to talk about and what came back to me today. Rather than to say what’s wrong, why don’t we try to reverse things into a different form in that, what’s not wrong and therein find joy.
I came back to that today and focused on it. I mentally began my list and within seconds realized that there is far more to be joyful about than to be grumpy. And perhaps it is time I start to find that.
There is so much that is simply, not wrong. On that is which I will focus.
~K
“Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. ~Alex Haley”
One of many special moments to be thankful for.
~K
Innocent and beautiful and true.
There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship. - Thomas Aquinas
~K
We had a family day… pumpkins, corn mazes, colorful trees, hayrides and play sets. They jumped over hay bales and yelled ‘hee haw’.
It was a perfect day. And I have so many pictures to choose from. Precious pictures of the two of them running through corn. Lovely pictures of the group together smiling with pumpkins. Awesome little fingers gripping pumpkin stems.
I think instead, I’ll share this one.
A granddaughter and her Pop. He’s tying her shoe. She’s thinking of where she’ll run next. She’s wiggling. He’s concentrating. She’s balancing. He’s trying to go quickly.
And the caption, if you were there:
Watch my head there, honey.
Does that hurt, Poppy??
Well, I mean, yes, a little bit….
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A wonderful day. Filled with many picture perfect moments and then there’s the others, -- just like this,-- the good stuff, that of which fills our lives.
~K
… with my boy.
… and my girl
… with my family.
… Friday nights together.
….laughing
….running
……learning
and then…..
….TEMPER TANTRUMS!!
… meltdowns.
…warm baths.
… goodnight kisses.
I want to be sure to be grateful for all of the moments. Even the temper tantrums. They remind me of where we are at just. this. moment.
And I don’t ever want to forget.
~K
“Oh, I’m alright. Got a good old friend here with me tonight so I guess I’m doing alright…”
Many years ago, a young bride called her best friend to the bridal stage to share a dance with these lyrics.
Over a decade later, embracing all that life has given, I’m grateful for this good old friend and his presence in our lives.
Here he is playing hangman and building helicopters….
~K
I always try to keep perspective in mind. Things can look different depending on how you choose to look at them. I think it may be wearing off on my children and it makes my heart smile.
My daughter had a friend over tonight to play. The two were in the front yard and they were running around, riding bikes, getting dirty,… just being little girls. It began to rain, slowly at first and then quickly picked up. Her friend grumbled and began to pout, ‘Oh no! Let’s get inside quick! It’s starting to rain.’
My daughter looked at her and said, “Yes! That’s perfect… I love to dance in the rain!”
Perfect Perspective.
~K
We slept with the windows open on Friday night.
Sometime throughout the night, my son curled up in bed with us, snuggle in the middle of my husband and I and stayed.
Dawn was breaking… the outside was waking up…. and then… in a squeaky little morning baby voice, I hear, came the most cheerful and genuine words….
“Thank you, my birdie friend, for waking me up this morning!”
The first words I heard this morning. He sat up in bed and smiled and then spoke the most beautiful, sincere and precious words of my day.
~K
My little boy and I were playing outside today after a few days of wild and crazy rain. We’d been closed up inside for too long and were happy to be sitting outside in the sun for a minute.
It was just then that we met this little (well, rather big, actually) lady….
There she was, about a foot away from us, working hard.
Obviously she too had had enough of the rain also and was glad to be in the dry air again.
She was starting a web and moving back and forth, her legs so delicate and yet so precisely creating this intricate pattern.
I’m not a spider kind of girl and we most certainly didn’t touch it but I must say, to watch the web being created literally before our eyes, was absolutely incredible.
My son moved closer and then onto my lap as we watched her work. You could actually see her spinning her web, letting out each piece and working it into a beautiful artwork. He cuddled up onto me and we watched together.
It was then that my boy snuggled in closer and began to quietly sing. He put his chubby little hands together and began….
dee ittseey bittsey pieder…. went up dee water pout.
I began to sing along. He showed me the right way to place my hands, just as he’s learned in school and asked me where the spout could be. Our friend the spider, continued to work, and to dance along to our voices.
And somehow or another, on a cloudy day, after an enormous rain, a busy ol’ spider, my boy and I, created a marvelous moment of genuine curiosity and peaceful wonder.
For today….
~K
"Life's not about waiting for the storms to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain." ~ Vivian Greene
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My husband was watching the children the other night as I was working out of the house. There was a wild storm outside and the rain was coming down in sheets. I glanced out the window and then grabbed my camera to capture this…
Yes… that is my children. And yes, he is driving his power car. And yes, she is doing the Macarena.
And yes, even over the sheets of rain coming down, you could hear their giggles.
~K
While not a personal photo of mine, a personal note today; one of which represents hope, peace and positivity….
Tumbleweed Tuesday….
~K
“How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. ”
~Wayne W. Dyer
… I love what this man has to say and just because any chance I get it’s important to remember so much of his wisdom. Happy Monday!
~K
An early bedtime.
Movie for two.
Open windows.
Lots of sleep.
Catching up with life.
~K
A sampling of my to do list:
1) Daily Yoga.
2)…. anything else….
My goal for the week. Putting myself on the top of my list… for one hour each day.
Above vacuuming. Above running errands. Above catching up on laundry that is piled up in baskets to be put away. Above everything else that will be there in an hour….. Above all of that is one hour for me to do something that is just for me.
And I’m Loving it.
~K
Ten years ago, on a bright September morning, we held hands across the center console of the car as we drove back from our honeymoon. We were excited and in love and anxious to begin our life together. And as we sat there, full of hope and anticipation for our beautiful new life beginning, we also began to slowly realize the world as we knew it was about to be forever changed.
It was a strange dynamic, our lives transforming into that of now a young married couple, full of love and potential and at just the same moments the security in the world around us was being completely devastated through the events of what we now all know as simply: 9/11.
Because we spent the day driving, we never saw the footage everyone else saw. We felt the quiet and somber disconnect as we drove along, our car a surplus of goodness, so to speak, filled with wedding memories and gifts -- as we listened on the radio to the overwhelming and uncontrollable destruction unfolding in our world, an absolute barrage of misery. Coming to terms with the reality that both emotional extremes could in fact coexist during this time and in the months ahead wasn’t easy.
:::::::::::::::::::
Ten years later today.
We still didn’t watch the footage. We intentionally removed ourselves from all media and chose instead to fill the day with happiness, remembering ten years of marriage, sharing wonderful memories of a honeymoon together and enjoying and relishing in the two beautiful children that we have. It was certainly deliberate, but not done out of disrespect for the magnitude of the day, as much as a conscious choice to not submerse ourselves in the obvious sadness. We had a choice of how to spend the day, and we chose to spend it … happily.
:::::::::::::::::::
I’m not a believer of letting the date of something terrible destroy your life, year after year after year. While there is an absolute awareness of dates, always stirring with correlating events, life… or death… to me… aren’t about the dates. The memories, good and bad, will remain and from there, it’s up to us. How we live each day moving forward is a choice. Some days, it’s a harder choice to make, but the choice is always there. And I believe it’s ours to consciously make.
9/11/11: Spending the day being smothered with kisses!
Thoughts for today. September 11th. Ten years later.
~K
The courage she displayed today filled my eyes with tears.
The enthusiasm she has engages everyone around her.
The beauty she is unaware of, stuns me.
The kindness she has with others amazes me.
The excitement she has for life… I’m glad to share.
My girl, … a brave, courageous little lion today.
I couldn’t be more proud.
~K
Today I spent the day doing ordinary things. Nothing fun particularly, but all necessary.
I cleaned the house, took my car in to get new brakes, dropped off kids, went to the grocery, made dinner, picked kids up, stopped to the pharmacy… on and on and on.
It wasn’t a special day, or even an exciting day. It was simply ordinary. Sometimes these ordinary days are just what you need to be thankful for. Because even though it lacked excitement, it also lacked drama or sadness or distress.
It was a simply ordinary day. And that is wonderful all in and of itself.
~K
Today, I had a breakfast date with one of my favorite people.
The last time we caught up for breakfast, just the two of us, was about 8 years ago.
It was long overdue. And just perfect.
:::::::::::::::::::
Today, I had breakfast with my husband.
Just the two of us.
In our kitchen.
With fresh vegetables from our garden. And visiting quietly over morning coffee.
There were no kids screaming or singing or whining or talking.
And that wasn’t lonely as much as it was just fine.
:::::::::::::::::::
Today, in our kitchen, was a breakfast date for two.
I think we’ll do it again tomorrow…. there’s a lot of morning coffee mornings to make up for after eight years.
~K
My yoga instructor uses quotes from Wayne Dyer often.
Though there was no time for yoga today, one of my favorite quotes from him is below.
“When you judge another, you do not define them; rather you define yourself…”
- Wayne Dyer
Interesting to keep in mind.
~K
I love it.
I love finding myself again… for just a few moments a day.
I love the children happy and learning and finding their independent selves as well.
Preschool. Welcome to our world. Who’d have thought?
~K
I’m not a paranoid traveler. Rather, I’m fairly comfortable. The girl sitting next to us on a flight today, however, was a little paranoid. I could tell with her body language.
While traveling doesn’t bother me or fill me with worry, the day was, in retrospect, full of prompt, effortless and safe travel. And there’s nothing wrong with taking a moment to acknowledge and to appreciate it.
~K
“All you need is love…. love is all you need.”
- McCartney & Lennon
Beautiful moments….
~K
Who moved my Cheese?
Have you ever read that book?
It’s all about change and life and how to act and react to change.
My cheese moved today.
Looking for the direction intended to take. Believing in the path of peace and positivity and having faith in the goodness of people.
It will be okay.
~K
How can you top that?
~K
That was her answer to ‘how was your first day of school?’
She could be a poster child for positivity and for embracing the good in life. She is full of joy and laughter and happiness.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;
I am so glad her day was ‘simply awesome’ and am so glad this little sunshine spends the rest of her days with me.
~K
I love back to school. Not because I can’t wait to get my kids out of the house because really, that part of back to school I personally dislike.
I’m not one of those ‘counting down the days until summer is over’ kind of moms. I genuinely enjoy being with my kids and having them here with me is typically my preference.
::::::::::::::::
It’s back to school now though and what I love is the organization of it. Stacks of supplies, neatly labeled for delivery and fresh clean backpacks, lunchboxes and school clothes, waiting for wear. Everything is in it’s place and ready to go.
From the anticipation in the air to the smell of the clean hallways and orderly spaces waiting in peaceful silence for little bodies to come into and fill with laughter and learning… it’s the beginning of a new season of life and I love the excitement of it all.
~K
The only thing worse than being behind the times is typing a post about it and losing the post you’re explaining your tardiness through.
Yep. That’s what happened.
I typed this a few minutes ago and apparently made an error… it didn’t publish.
::::::::::::::::::::
I suppose the good thing is the post was about the busyness… the where in the world have I been except for not HERE for a couple of weeks.
The busyness of the end of summer, of school starting for the kids, of travel and the preparing of one more trip ahead…. it’s been days full of planning and packing and getting ready and going to and from…. and very little time for writing!
I’ve been doing my best to keep focused and to mentally keep track of what needs to be backlogged here, so bear with me.
Until then, here’s to forgiveness for forgetfulness, and the importance of positivity and peace, even in the most, or perhaps especially in the most demanding of times.
~K
Somebody’s keeping the tooth fairy busy!
Loving the milestones and the memories as they grow.
Such fun~
~K
There are some things you can’t put a price on.
Some things are so rare, so precious, so wonderful …
Do you see this?
Four generations apart.
Her namesake.
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Can you imagine sharing this kind of full on smiles, belly laughing, lemonade sharing, squeeze your cheeks kissing, best friends forever calling…. moments…. with your great grandmother? Or great granddaughter for that matter?
Absolutely priceless and absolutely precious.
~K
“And when she wraps her hand
around my finger
Oh it puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about” – James Slater
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I always knew he was amazing. She had to take my word for it. And he’s never let her down.
~K
Keep questioning, my dear, and keep learning. Stay interested and curious. You are such a bright star and I cannot wait to watch your destiny unfold.
~K
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Taken from a dear friend today- Exactly what we all need to realize and to remember. ~K
Often times, in life, you’ll find there are some moments you never ever want to forget.
This is one of them.
He is my joy. And my number one working main.
~K
A Lazy day.
A stay in with your family day.
A cook soup all day, day.
A fix up around the house day.
A nap in the rainstorm day.
A fall asleep to a movie day.
:::::::::::::::::::
Once in a while… a lazy day is the most perfect of all days.
~K
Birthday fun. Boys and girls giggling. Barbeque.
Super fun. Smiles. Silly kids.
Poolside. Pinata. Pretty views.
Friends. Fun. Fabulous.
Lots of good today. So much to be grateful for.
~K
It’s been an overwhelming week. Lots of unexpected added to an already bursting at the seams to do list. I’ve been doing it solo as my husband had to leave town (Disclaimer: he’s back now too, just in case there’s creepers out there in the internet world… he’s back in the house and in case you doubt this, know I have two tasers, police grade mace with a 90 foot range, an 80 pound dog and 2 shotguns.) Just so you know. Oops. Back to Peace of Mind. Because for a moment there, you saw a little MFP and ‘she’ rarely makes appearances here. ;)
It’s been an overwhelming week and he has been gone. I’ve had the kids on my own, construction work in the home, a work schedule of my own, appointments to keep, no babysitters, etc. Not to mention my son refused to urinate for the first 3-4 hours of his daddy’s absence in protest. And my daughter slept on top of me just about the entire time he was gone due to mysterious ‘spider bites’ developing on her torso. Even the dog, who is usually a general fool anyway upped her ante. I found her twice today standing, all 80 pounds on top of the outdoor glass table, barking into the sky at who knows what.
It’s. been. an. overwhelming. week.
We walked into get some dinner tonight and I looked at my kids following alongside of me. Neither have been bathed in 3 days. (I’m an everyday- you –must- bathe -kind of parent) I looked at my daughter. Her forehead has a golf ball sized bruise, rainbow in color, she’s missing a front tooth and she was chewing on the side of her hair, which looked as though it may be starting to dreadlock. (I’m usually a let’s have coordinating hair ties to dress to shoes kind of parent) My son was sitting on the asphalt of a parking lot whining and waiting for me to lift him.
I began to laugh.
Look at us, guys! What would your daddy say? Well, I’m sure he’d just have to understand that we’re doing all we can to keep our head above water here this week, don’t you think?
My daughter, who is far older than her barely 7 years and far smarter than me, took her hair out of her mouth and smiled.
What are you talking about, mommy? There’s no water here and we don’t have to keep our heads above it. Heck, we’re not even swimming!
Sure, she’s a kid and she was taking my words literally and being funny. But her point resonated far deeper within me.
We’re not even swimming.
She’s right. Perspective. Our life is fine. Fabulous even. I’ve had friends helping, a roof over my head, extra money to take them to dinner, healthy babies curled around me each night, a wonderful husband returning safe and sound and sunshine filling my days.
We’re not even swimming.
That’s the truth. Absolutely.
~K
Last night, on the edge of my bathtub, I neatly placed four small seashells. One my daughter found and it’s a perfect circular cream. I watched, several days ago, as she sat, in her new purple suit deep in the sand and took her time, a trait which doesn’t come easily to her, searching out and finding seashell treasures to bring to me, this being one of them. The second treasure on my bathtub, my son discovered, and though it’s not much more than beach rock, it’s a gorgeous smoky gray in color and every time I look at it, I remember his face as he held it proudly in his hardly anymore baby hands, passing it over to me with a proud smile. The third, scalloped shell, I took from the top of a sand castle my boy and I made together and remember the wonderful time we had, just the two of us, buried into our ankles and imagining the sand city we were creating. And the last was an unflawed spiral I found as the four of us walked hand in hand off of the beach together, content and full of sun, sand and love.
They are my seashell treasures, sitting on the side of my bathtub. They are not in a dish, nor organized in any particular way. Perhaps someday I will. Or not. For now, they sit. Tiny and precious treasures, serving as the memories of a beautiful day together.
~K
I see all that makes me happy. Crystals she spent her ‘very own’ money on, waiting to grow in plastic containers and being carefully monitored each day. They sit next to painted rocks that are lined along the window’s ledge like matchbox cars, colorful and reminding me of an early summer lunch with chinese take out ,stone painting and my babies. Through the glass, are the rainbow birdhouses we carefully crafted over an old sheet while music played in the front yard in early spring. Hanging next to the homes are the feeders he graciously refills for us each week without complaint so that we may watch and identify our feathered friends as they play and frolic while we eat together below.
Some may call it clutter… but to me, looking out of my window are all of my beautiful, peaceful favorites.
~K
I went to a yoga class tonight where the focus was on gratitude. What I love so much about yoga is, first, I leave feeling 100 times better than I entered… every time. And then, I love that if you open yourself up to it (and thus anything), there is something to be learned always.
Below is the quote our instructor referred to several times during class. I have been thinking of it since and knew this was where I would share it as soon as I heard her share it.
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
~William Arthur Ward
Enjoy ~
~K
Sandcastles…
with this special little boy.
Riding the waves hand in hand …
with this beautiful little girl.
Beautiful moments. Forever memories.
~K
It will never get old. Or familiar. Or ordinary.
I will always appreciate this.
~K
I have so many memories on this beautiful land in the middle of nowhere.
Much of my childhood was spent here. I knew every divot in the ground, every bush with a prickle, every curve in a trail, every fish in the pond.
It was my beautiful open space. It was where the air was quiet and clean, where I could ride with the wind in my face and the sweet wet smell of the trails in the mist. It was where my childhood lived.
I love going back here. And I love now even more sharing it and reliving it with these two wonders of my life.
~K
Some pictures will be etched in my memory forever and this is one.
I wish I could freeze time. Life moves on far too fast for me.
I can’t freeze time, but I did freeze this moment that I will go back to over and over… remembering my big fisherman, this little bluegill and my boy’s beautiful smile full of happiness, wonder and pride.
~K
A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving
Thank you, Mom. Happy Birthday to You.
~K
My daughter. Her grandmother.
At the end of the day, this is really what it’s all about.
May they each always feel such love.
~K
