One Moment

The final preparations for camping.
Getting the discovery boxes clean and ready to go.

Tides

I've been thinking a lot about permanence lately.  Which things endure, which things fade. The power of change.  The nature of still.  Nothing lasts for ever.  This too will pass.  And yet, that's not really true is it?  I'll always be their mother.  That's something.  It may not be profound, it probably wont mean much to anyone else.  Somethings never change.  The tides roll in and roll out.  The world turns.  The sun shines, and sets.  People live, love, and die.  There is loss and gain.  There is balance and imbalance.  There is unendurable pain, and there is extreme ecstasy.   There's always more to learn.  There's always something best to forget.  Growth.  And I will always be their mother.

W.I.P. Wednesday...

I've never written a WIP post before.  (Full disclosure: after years of reading blogs it was only recently that I found out that WIP stood for work in progress.  I always assumed it was a knitting or crocheting term.)  I started working on these color tiles after being inspired here, here, here, and here I knew that I really really wanted to make a set for my family.  They are so pretty!

I started with some paint stirring sticks.  I used the larger kind used for stirring buckets.  I had my mother in law chop them up for me with her table saw.  She's excellent that way!

I sanded the edges to give the wood a softer feel.

 

For our color box I want Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, and Pink.  Seven shades of each color.  I went through the paint department at home depot and found colors that were a cohesive group.  I took two sets of each paint chip. I used wide paint chip strips (Behr brand) and chopped off the names and numbers, leaving enough width to cover the wood.  One set I'll leave together, and they will eventually become the control strip for checking work.

 The other set I chopped into size.

I used watered down wood glue and a paint brush to adhere the paint chip to the wood.

 I have a few strips almost done, and I am really excited by the results.

So between this project, and reading yet another book series... Um... what was that I was just saying yesterday about having SO MUCH to do?  riiiiight.  I'll get on that.

Vacation Rainbow

Red~

Orange~

Yellow~ 

Green~

 Blue~

 Purple~

We had such a lovely trip to San Diego.  Each day was a gift.  Soon I'll be taking my babies to the mountains.  When we return we will have our official start to our school year.  There are so many wonderful things happening, so many moments to treasure, so many things to get ready...  I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do with this space.  In the next few weeks I may be silent, I may add some of the fourteen hundred vacation photos, I may keep up blogging.  I just don't know.  I do know that by mid September I should be back into a normal rhythm.  That sounds about right.

Gratitude Mondays...

Here's what I am loving today...

~First family vacation...

(not including trips with parents, siblings, or friends)

~Coming home to my own sheets.

(hands down, this is paramount to my comfort)

~A baby who chokes on the amounts of sand he insists on eating.

(little sandy mouths and faces are an adorable side effect)

~A little girl who builds beautiful cities in the sand...

(and learned to let go of them at the end of the day)

~A little boy who learned to love the big waves...

(even if on the last days)

~A partner who takes us on dream family vacations...

(worth the wait, worth the savings.)

~One Thousand Three Hundred and Two photos of our first family vacation..

(not counting cell phones.)

Here's to a new week.  

And a week of me trying to sort through thousands of vacation photos!!!

In loving memory of

Aunt Betty.

I will always remember

you.

One Moment...

He's trying so hard to grow.

I just want him to Slow down.

Baseball on the Putting Green...

 

Grandfather, father and son.

2nd generation glove.

A few rounds of toss, hit, and catch.

110* in the humid Arizona monsoon afternoon.

Priceless time spent together.

Abracadabra...

Recently I was treated to a Magic Show!

The stage was set...

No peaking...

And I mean, no peaking was allowed...  We (the audience) all tried at least once.

l

After much anticipation it was time for the show to begin...

 "watch as we reveal the hidden secrets of this plain peanut!"

"Now you see it...."   (whispering)  "close your eyes"....

"Now you don't!  Open your eyes now!!"

"where did it go?!?"

"what could be under this cloth?  Is it one flag?"

"NO!  It's two flags!!!"

 Ta-Da!

(All of Cyrus's tricks involved us closing our eyes until the trick was completely finished... )

Bravo!  My darlings, take a bow!

It was an excellent show indeed.

Talk about Mobiles....

Ava loves beautiful mobiles.  It really shouldn't surprise me that she would set about making one for herself, and direct her little brother to follow suit.   With only their imaginations and ingenuity to guide them, a little help from their father to hang them... et voila... Mobiles!

I just Love being their mother.

Gratitude Mondays...

Here's what I am loving today... 

~Fruit salads.. 

~Summer lightning storms...

~A little boy who says "light-ten-ing"
(I'd like to never forget how he sounds at this age)

~A little girl who is developing her sense of story telling...
("Mom! Did you hear about my adventure in the restroom?  
Oh my goodness, let me tell you all about it!) 

~A baby who seems utterly delighted to have mastered walking backwards...
(it makes him LAUGH!)

~A partner who's decided to take a chance on a future change....

 ~Getting ready for exciting vacations....

~Rousing renditions of Old MacDonald to pass the time on car trips...
(I super big love my family)