He said, "This is what the sound of my drumming looks like."
Monday, August 17, 2015
Henry's Noisy Painting
This may be my favorite painting so far by Henry.
He said, "This is what the sound of my drumming looks like."
He said, "This is what the sound of my drumming looks like."
Sunday, August 16, 2015
10: This Girl Is Ten Today
My middle child is 10 years old today. Believe it.
10 Facts, 10 Photos:
1. She has no need for a clock or calendar, because isn't Time just beautiful? Let's just love it and be in it. We will show up when we need to. Or something.
2. Her version of order involves motion and maybe a detour through the kitchen to conduct an experiment involving the blender and some water and cinnamon. And maybe some leaves. Whatever.
3. Her voice can mimic anything she hears. It's amazing.
4. When stressed, she escapes into scenarios that involve dolphins, unicorns and sometimes rainbows.
5. She makes charts that match different hairstyles with different earrings and options of color schemes of clothing.
6. When she grows up, she has said she wants to be a fashion designer, a mom, a teacher, an artist, a poet, a singer, someone who helps others shop and put outfits together, a painter. She is already all of those things.
7. Her favorite foods are all in the brown-orange-yellow spectrum of the color wheel: Macaroni-n-cheese, chicken fingers, butter noodles, plain hamburgers, bread. Her mother is freaking out.
8. She is the perfect candidate for everything Disney channel and has figured out how to channel its relentless information through any mobile device. Scary.
9. She wrote 5 screenplays this summer, fit with suitcases of props labeled for each movie, and is working on learning the intricacies of translating that art between iPhone, Movie Maker, iMovie, Google docs, You Tube, the actual written word with a pen on paper, and archaic acting with no microphones using improv lines.
10. This amazing child of JOY came into this world petite and quiet and has grown into her large spirit of love and truth, amazed by beauty and confused by pain. She teaches us every. single. day.
There is so much gratitude in my heart, in this house, in the yard, in the trees, in the sky, in the clouds alongside the biggest dreams she could dream alongside those clouds, for her, for Her, for HER - this amazing beautiful girl.
Happy Birthday.
10 Facts, 10 Photos:
1. She has no need for a clock or calendar, because isn't Time just beautiful? Let's just love it and be in it. We will show up when we need to. Or something.
2. Her version of order involves motion and maybe a detour through the kitchen to conduct an experiment involving the blender and some water and cinnamon. And maybe some leaves. Whatever.
3. Her voice can mimic anything she hears. It's amazing.
4. When stressed, she escapes into scenarios that involve dolphins, unicorns and sometimes rainbows.
5. She makes charts that match different hairstyles with different earrings and options of color schemes of clothing.
6. When she grows up, she has said she wants to be a fashion designer, a mom, a teacher, an artist, a poet, a singer, someone who helps others shop and put outfits together, a painter. She is already all of those things.
7. Her favorite foods are all in the brown-orange-yellow spectrum of the color wheel: Macaroni-n-cheese, chicken fingers, butter noodles, plain hamburgers, bread. Her mother is freaking out.
8. She is the perfect candidate for everything Disney channel and has figured out how to channel its relentless information through any mobile device. Scary.
9. She wrote 5 screenplays this summer, fit with suitcases of props labeled for each movie, and is working on learning the intricacies of translating that art between iPhone, Movie Maker, iMovie, Google docs, You Tube, the actual written word with a pen on paper, and archaic acting with no microphones using improv lines.
10. This amazing child of JOY came into this world petite and quiet and has grown into her large spirit of love and truth, amazed by beauty and confused by pain. She teaches us every. single. day.
There is so much gratitude in my heart, in this house, in the yard, in the trees, in the sky, in the clouds alongside the biggest dreams she could dream alongside those clouds, for her, for Her, for HER - this amazing beautiful girl.
Happy Birthday.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Summer 2015...
...is OVER!!
Some of us in this house start school tomorrow.
In reflection, I am looking at some pictures and remembering some memories (which is always a little bit dangerous).
2015 will not be the year I win any parenting awards, yet I aspire.
For now,
Lessons Learned Summer 2015:
1. Don't cut your friend's hair and give her bangs when she comes over for a playdate.
2. Use eyes and ears before mouth.
3. When you see cash money in a drawer at somebody else's house, don't think to yourself, "Hey! Free money! I should take that."
4. Hormones are weird.
5. Do not begin any sentence with, "But..."
6. When tattling on a sibling or friend, you cannot use the words "always" or "never."
7. Humans over screens. Always always always.
8. Art is every.where.all.the.time.
Some of us in this house start school tomorrow.
In reflection, I am looking at some pictures and remembering some memories (which is always a little bit dangerous).
2015 will not be the year I win any parenting awards, yet I aspire.
For now,
Lessons Learned Summer 2015:
1. Don't cut your friend's hair and give her bangs when she comes over for a playdate.
2. Use eyes and ears before mouth.
3. When you see cash money in a drawer at somebody else's house, don't think to yourself, "Hey! Free money! I should take that."
4. Hormones are weird.
5. Do not begin any sentence with, "But..."
6. When tattling on a sibling or friend, you cannot use the words "always" or "never."
7. Humans over screens. Always always always.
8. Art is every.where.all.the.time.
Thank you Summer 2015 for so many spoken and unspoken lessons!
Monday, August 03, 2015
Creative UP.
The husband bought a Ford Bronco. It's from 1974.
He found it somehow in somewheres from some great guy and took our son with him to pick it up. The son, of 11 years, calls me after the acquisition to tell me about it...except he forgets to hold the phone rectangle thing to his face because he is of the Wifi generation so I am screaming to him to keep the box on his cheek so that I can make sure that husband is still alive.
All are alive and well.
That is the good news.
The bad news is that the roof of the Bronco flew off early in the ride home, neighborly drivers helped retrieve it, a neighborly hardware store provided new bolts, and MORE GOOD NEWS when the roof blew off it knocked the wasp nests loose so no more stinging!
I was up in the wee hours of the morning examining the situation in my mind over a bowl of homemade cheese grits.
Here's where I landed:
In my marriage, I must maintain the Creative UP.
We have our linear lives - to work and back, care of self and close family, email this, call that, text here, receive there - it's all Two Dimensional. The Creative UP is the third thing that brings us up and out of ourselves, making us Three Dimensional, full and happy for our people.
I would (and did) argue that our family's time, resources and energy would be better spent in this phase NOT on a Bronco.
I am grateful to yoga and meditation for helping me clearly state that.
There is a cost beyond acquiring this vehicle (which does not, in fact, actually turn on and drive anywhere yet). Husband is aware of that cost, the ripple effects and the emotional equity involved.
I can't be in charge of all that.
I need to stay Three Dimensional too.
What I am understanding is that I get most angry about these seemingly-crazy, random, potentially dangerous purchases when I am not in my best, balanced place, hanging out in my own Three Dimensions to keep perspective. It's my job to stay 3-D (responsibly and not over-justifying or making excuses, puh-lease).
I get a big buzz by creating order out of chaos - like organizing closets, repainting canvases, making purses out of wine bags and coffee bags. I love pulling out broken parts of toys and games and seeing what the kids and I can build. I love laughing in a yoga class...and pretty much anything in a yoga class.
Glennon talks about clinging to grace with both hands, and that's how I feel. I cling to the grace that comes from staying 3-D which strengthens my marriage.
I got some messages of sympathy and solidarity yesterday from beloved souls who know my heart.
Some of you out there are married to partners who like fun projects which sometimes inconvenience others or seem crazy...and it's easier to discuss this with other people instead of examining why you feel the way you do. I know this because I have been there, witnessed it, experienced it, even joked about support groups to get through it. I need a new path, one where we stick together and try hard to learn the ways that keep each other Creatively UP (with humor, without judgment).
This Bronco is hard to understand, seems irrational, is creative and interesting.
Over cheese grits and the rising sun, I wouldn't have my marriage any other way. On any given day it seems hard to understand, irrational, creative and interesting.
I don't want to lose quality time as a family, to live in debt, to hoard and stack cars and trailers in our yard, nor start projects without finishing them. I also don't want to live a linear, two-dimensional life in a marriage more concerned with bottom lines, practicality and retirement. That's just me.
But it's me on this side of the marriage.
Here we go.
We will continue to celebrate whatever "Bronco" may come. The hard work, the exciting work, remains in the Creative UP-keeping of this family. That's where I want to stay busy.
Amen.
He found it somehow in somewheres from some great guy and took our son with him to pick it up. The son, of 11 years, calls me after the acquisition to tell me about it...except he forgets to hold the phone rectangle thing to his face because he is of the Wifi generation so I am screaming to him to keep the box on his cheek so that I can make sure that husband is still alive.
All are alive and well.
That is the good news.
The bad news is that the roof of the Bronco flew off early in the ride home, neighborly drivers helped retrieve it, a neighborly hardware store provided new bolts, and MORE GOOD NEWS when the roof blew off it knocked the wasp nests loose so no more stinging!
I was up in the wee hours of the morning examining the situation in my mind over a bowl of homemade cheese grits.
Here's where I landed:
In my marriage, I must maintain the Creative UP.
We have our linear lives - to work and back, care of self and close family, email this, call that, text here, receive there - it's all Two Dimensional. The Creative UP is the third thing that brings us up and out of ourselves, making us Three Dimensional, full and happy for our people.
I would (and did) argue that our family's time, resources and energy would be better spent in this phase NOT on a Bronco.
I am grateful to yoga and meditation for helping me clearly state that.
There is a cost beyond acquiring this vehicle (which does not, in fact, actually turn on and drive anywhere yet). Husband is aware of that cost, the ripple effects and the emotional equity involved.
I can't be in charge of all that.
I need to stay Three Dimensional too.
What I am understanding is that I get most angry about these seemingly-crazy, random, potentially dangerous purchases when I am not in my best, balanced place, hanging out in my own Three Dimensions to keep perspective. It's my job to stay 3-D (responsibly and not over-justifying or making excuses, puh-lease).
I get a big buzz by creating order out of chaos - like organizing closets, repainting canvases, making purses out of wine bags and coffee bags. I love pulling out broken parts of toys and games and seeing what the kids and I can build. I love laughing in a yoga class...and pretty much anything in a yoga class.
Glennon talks about clinging to grace with both hands, and that's how I feel. I cling to the grace that comes from staying 3-D which strengthens my marriage.
I got some messages of sympathy and solidarity yesterday from beloved souls who know my heart.
Some of you out there are married to partners who like fun projects which sometimes inconvenience others or seem crazy...and it's easier to discuss this with other people instead of examining why you feel the way you do. I know this because I have been there, witnessed it, experienced it, even joked about support groups to get through it. I need a new path, one where we stick together and try hard to learn the ways that keep each other Creatively UP (with humor, without judgment).
This Bronco is hard to understand, seems irrational, is creative and interesting.
Over cheese grits and the rising sun, I wouldn't have my marriage any other way. On any given day it seems hard to understand, irrational, creative and interesting.
I don't want to lose quality time as a family, to live in debt, to hoard and stack cars and trailers in our yard, nor start projects without finishing them. I also don't want to live a linear, two-dimensional life in a marriage more concerned with bottom lines, practicality and retirement. That's just me.
But it's me on this side of the marriage.
Here we go.
We will continue to celebrate whatever "Bronco" may come. The hard work, the exciting work, remains in the Creative UP-keeping of this family. That's where I want to stay busy.
Amen.
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