Caterpillars

We carefully opened the package we’d retrieved

from the mailbox and there they were:

so tiny!

and so still!

but we’ve found them to be the perfect little pets-

We don’t have to remember to feed them or take them out

and yet they really DO get bigger each day.

now they are furry and active

So we watch and marvel at what they’ll soon become.

Spoiled

Today is my birthday and I am so abundantly blessed:

With a wonderful husband

who loves me more than I could ever imagine.

He treats me like a princess and spoils me.

(shopping spree, dinner & a movie, roses, and so much more)

With a beautiful daughter

who loves to share her excitement at being alive and discovering the world. It is infectious.

A day doesn’t go by that she doesn’t

tell me how much she loves me

or how nice I am

or what a great mom I am.

She is so sweet and makes everyone around her

feel special.

With a tender-hearted son

who is quick to say “i love you”, “please”,

“thank you”, “your welcome” and “i’m sorry.”

He finds ways to be helpful without being asked

and kisses my owies to make them better.

And while his icy little hands wrapped around my cold ones may not do the job he intends, the gesture goes much deeper and warms my heart instead.

Yes I am so blessed and I am happy to get older as long as these people are with me.

two

Can it be true? are you really two?

it feels like just the other day we celebrated your one year mark

how soon those cautious first steps turned to confident running

how quickly your baby babbles evolved to clear words, even sentences.

how suddenly you went from “mama’s boy” baby,

burrowing into my shoulder when strangers were near,

to engaging everyone with a friendly ‘hi’ and a happy ‘bye’

you don’t need mom or doggie to help you sleep anymore,

instead you cuddle up with a book or two,

making sure they are tucked into your blanket with you

Yes, babyhood is officially over by your own proclamation of

“me boy”

but some things haven’t changed-

like the way you prefer to be cheek to cheek when carried or cuddled

asking for hugs when you really need one

and your signature dimpled smile

so as we marked your day with pizza, balloons, and your first r/c car

I sat back and watched your joy

content that although you are no longer a baby,

the years can never change you from being

my own little boy

paper craft

Behold my foray into craftiness this holiday season.

I enjoyed creating the gift, rather than purchasing it

and I like the idea of a theme-specific journal

but after 5 of them, I was glad I didn't have more to do

Crafting does not come to me naturally

thank you Kristine Mckay Designs

snow

What is it about the snow that brings out the kid in all of us?

Okay, so pretty much anything brings out the kid in Joe

Whenever I watch it softly falling and accumulating on the grass

Or awake to a world blanketed in white

I feel a familiar excitement rush the color to my cheeks and I start a silent countdown ‘til the hour that I will be able to get outside to play in it.

Maybe this giddiness is a product of nostalgia-

the childhood memories of sledding birthday parties on that dirt road behind our house that was the perfect private hill (until they gated it off).

snow fights with the neighbors, building snow forts and snowmen,

making snow angels

"I'm going to go with . . . myself." She tried it alone and was instantly hooked. 

Maybe it is a product of the season-

white Christmases and the joy of celebrating our Savior’s birth

the warmth we feel inside constrasting so sharply

with the cold that is outside.

the coziness of hot chocolate and firesides

the temporary and fleeting nature of what will soon melt away

Or is it the romance of frost-glistened trees and deep drifted snow out the windows of a cross-country train? The beauty of endless forests draped in white and the pureness that newfallen snow lends to an otherwise drab but dearly beloved Russian city? Could it be true love’s first kiss? first date? first blush of eternity all wrapped up in the cold white blanket that is snow.

Maybe it is just magic that falls down with the snowflakes, whispering for us to live with less worry, enjoy each moment, and notice the beauty around us.

I love watching my children feel the magic. I get giddy with them and from my observations this year, I don’t think I’m the only one.

ornament

I read a column the other day about how ornaments can have special meaning to individuals.

I wonder what meaning this one has for him?

"I remember you from last year"

My first Christmas 2008

happy

Her first (pre)school program:

sandwiched in between two other kids,

sooooo excited to be performing

Up up up and away in Santa’s magic sleigh!

Up up up and away, it’s a happy holiday!

and

jingle bells, jingle bells

(which we sing around the house so much that her brother is picking it up nicely - he adds another intelligible word every day.)

It was short and sweet

and oh so worth her daddy driving back from work to surprise us both.

She was so happy he came.

As was I.