I Took His Hand and Followed

My dishes went unwashed today,
I didn't make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.



Oh yes, we went adventuring,
My little son and I,
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky.



We waded in a crystal stream,
We wandered through a wood;
My kitchen wasn't swept today
But life was gay and good.



We found a cool, sun-dappled glade
And now my small son knows
How Mother Bunny hides her nest,
Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.



We watched a robin feed her young,
We climbed a sunlit hill,
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,
We plucked a daffodil.



That my house was neglected,
That I didn't brush the stairs,
In twenty years, no one on earth
Will know, or even care.

But that I've helped my little boy
To noble manhood grow,
In twenty years, the whole wide world
May look and see and know.

-Author unknown

Collin the Great

Hey there! I am Collin and I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come to my ever-so-impressive, end-of-the-year gymnastics demo meet. (Actually, my mom made me say that, but I am glad you are here!)



These are my paternal grandparents, Daddad and Grandma. They used to live in South America, but now they live here in my neck of the woods.



And this is my mom's dad, Pop. I think those are my big sisters fingers pinching his cheeks... I would never do anything like that.



I think you may have met this lady, just a blog ago, but she is my mom's mom and her name is Gram. She's really not as scary as she looks.



You may not know this, but a kid has to have a lot of patience in between turns, so here I am being patient.



And here I am on the bar. You can tell I was working really hard because of my very red face.



Yeah, my coach, Gib (short for Gilbert and not to be mistaken for my brother Gibson) must have grabbed my ribs too hard when he spotted me because as much as I love the rings, I should be concentrating before I begin this event.



Some people say this is super hard, but it's easy as pie for me.



I love the tramp...oline. That's what we call it at the gym. It's probably my favorite event.



When we finish the meet, our coach gives us real medals and a certificate. My sister took this picture and she made me act super excited, (but I really didn't mind).



Thanks for coming! I'm sure I'll see you again soon because my mom always seems to be taking pictures of me, and my brothers and my sisters, and my cousins and my...

Preschool days

Oh, the songs and dances they learned...



Thankfully, after all the faces - I mean performances, they were rewarded with...


CAKE!



As a celebration and farewell reflecting another great year, Ryan's preschool had their annual picnic. This tradition is something we always look forward to.


Here is E.O. with her boys, and yes, that is four month old Ian on her lap sporting a tiny bit less hair in the back. I still can't believe our kiddos shared a school these past couple of years. It was a long time coming, sista!

Life is good.


Don't you agree, Mrs. Emory?


My friend from the hood, Susan, came for the party too! Her youngest and Ryan were in the same class this year.



And here she is greeting our neighbor and favorite adopted Grandmother, Floy.


What a trooper you are, Floy, with your 88 year old self!



Gram and Ella, just taking it in.


"Hmmm", Ryan says, "I need to do something,"...


"Do you know what it is, Ella? You are so funny... and when did you learn to read? Oh, that's it! All this laughing helped me remember,"...


"When a boy has to go, he has to go! Trees and bushes at the park sure come in handy, don't they, Gram?"

Wanted to give you fair warning. It is nearly the end of the school year, which means all these little children will have performances, shows, award ceremonies and enough attention to last until well, next May.

Ladies and gentleman, let the postings begin...

carpe diem

A few weeks ago Gib, Ryan and I took an impromptu field trip to my dad's office. Downtown. On the 52nd floor. Now, let me start by saying, heights have not always been a favorite of my dad, to the extent that when he learned his company had leased space for their new offices in a building that stood fifty four stories high, he considered submitting his letter of resignation. After some time though, he embraced the decision and we are so glad because his office is a great place to visit, selfishly speaking (and I'm sure the location has been a benefit to the company too.)

That day, after greeting his colleagues and hearing all the, "Oh, how you've grown!" comments about the kids, Dad walked us back to the parking garage - just to get some extra visiting in... because that's the kind of guy he is. And btw, I have to mention, this is where I saw for the first time, hybrid parking spaces right next to handicap parking! Who knew? Anyway, I brought my camera so dad thought it might be fun to take a pic looking from the garage over to his building. You can see the reflection of the flash in the 20th rectangle counting from the top left.


Then Gib and Ryan found some play equipment, well, not really, but the plastic coated reinforcement wires seemed like a fun idea so they jumped on and gave us some circus-like entertainment.



Oh, to be a kid again, so carefree, so mindless and then, it was apparently too much...suddenly my dad, aka Pop, hopped aboard and bounced like Tigger from a Winnie the Pooh movie.



With camera in hand, I snapped away and tried to catch as much of this as I could. But because we were in a garage, many of these pics were too dark to post, and it's really too bad because although these are wonderful, just picture the three of them back on solid ground, smiling from ear to ear, embraced in a goodbye hug... a sight that will forever be engraved in my memory bank.

Seize your day. Today, tomorrow and always.

Isn't this a brilliant book cover? Everything about it is appealing. Her hat, the wheat field, the title, the hen in the O. I discovered Amy Butler on a site called Knack Studios a few months ago. Her fabrics and designs are amazing. I've never been anything close to a seamstress, but for some reason I have always been drawn to beautiful fabric. I secretly have a closet stash of many different swatches and scraps. To me, they are like mini pieces of art waiting for their installation into a famous gallery some day. Hmmm...

Genetics

There they are, looking so lovely; Maren, the one wearing lip gloss and a shirt from her Hollister collection and Ella dolled in polka dots and floating blonde waves. Now, take a minute to look at their eyes and noses and smiles and skin. This is a perfect example of cousins with an undeniable stronghold on my father's gene pool. In addition to appearance similarities, Maren is my second daughter and Ella is my sisters second daughter. Their birthdays fall one day apart in consecutive months and even though they didn't live near each other until a couple of years ago, even their mannerisms are the same. All of this is so interesting to me, but mostly my curiosity stems from how this is at all possible because my sister and I were so incredibly different as kids. I mean, the standing question was, "How well did your mom know the milkman?" We were polar opposites I tell you. The only thing we did agree on was how difficult it was finding a single redeeming quality in each other. Then, one day, we grew up and procreated and somehow, in the world of DNA, these little human beings, better known as our offspring are presently toting all that she and I fought so hard to individualize for many years. And the truth, well, watching this little cloneship is as delightful as eating chocolate everyday...which both of them make every effort to do, by the way.

*I'd like to note, that eventually, into early adulthood, I realized that the world did, in fact, not revolve around me so I gave the relationship with my sister a second chance. Today she lives just a few blocks away and we spend as much time together as possible. It's funny, but now we can easily pass for sisters - our voices sound nearly identical (which fools our husbands on any given phone call) but best of all, she is my very closest friend.

This year for Mother's Day, Sam was so sweet to give me a day full of honey do's, starting with a new gate for our fence. He and Gib built the fence about a year ago and ever since, we have searched high and low for the perfect wrought iron gate, without any luck. So yesterday, he decided a wooden one would have to do. After a day of measuring, sawing and bolting, the end result was fabulous, of course. Now, one would think his labor of love was complete, but it didn't stop there; next, we planted some grass and flowers (hence the dirt), he hung new light fixtures in the front and then we enjoyed a delicious Thai dinner as a family. You know, I always thought my love language was something other than acts of service, but today, I stand corrected. Honey do's are just golden in my book!

Happy Mom's Day

To all my favorite angels out there...




A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?' God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.'
The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.' God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?' God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'

'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?' God said, 'Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.'

'Who will protect me?' God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.'
'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.' God said, 'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.'

God said, 'You will simply call her, 'Mom.'

Sherman

Allow me to introduce our new fish, Sherman. Ryan is taking a closer look behind the glass here and fortunately my incredibly gifted photographer of a daughter, Anna, captured the moment on film. It was good timing, for our scrapbook at least, because when we woke to greet our new swimmer this morning, he was not...umm...swimming.

A Petition

Today, I am going to write a prayer of petition. If you are familiar with the book Eat, Pray, Love this will make sense and if not, it still may make sense. As with any petition, signatures are an important ingredient, so if you feel inclined, please sign in thought.

Dear God,

What a lovely house you have provided us. For nearly five years, it has given us not only shelter, but rest, peace, beauty, a true haven and we are thankful. As I look around and see so many without a home at all, I know we are blessed. When we first moved in, we knew it was small for our venti sized family but we also knew it was a gift and needless to say it has worked amazingly well. As the kids grow though, so does our need for space, and more specifically, personal space. As you know we are quite limited here, so I just ask that we could find something bigger, so that we could focus on more positive things rather than the negative. By this I mean; larger closets would give us space to put what we have away, a fully functioning kitchen would allow us to prepare our meals together in a more efficient way, more bedrooms would give the kids a place to quietly retreat ( I know...not likely), more bathrooms simply equals less stress and if the beauty of nature could surround the space, it seems to always bring us closer to You. Also, as if I haven't requested enough, I hope that our new house would be in a place so that our schools and jobs and friends could still be near. This community has a certain appeal that we have grown comfortable with and while we were busy dreaming of other places, it has become home.

Thank you so much for listening.

Love,
Jen