TIME for a change....

The days have been full lately. iPhones, just six days old, found in the bottom of a potty. "Check engine" lights on in the car, and then back off. Clothes that suddenly don't fit on children and piles more to be stored or given away. Meanwhile there is always a pile in the laundry room, always dishes in the dishwasher and always someone who needs "something else to eat". So I took the picture above today, when I looked down to check the time and realized I was wearing two watches. It's not that I am that time conscious...I have no meetings to go to, no appointments to make. It's just that I have been that overstimulated by life lately. Don't you love the little messages that life sends you when things have been too full? Better to listen to the little signs than let them grow and morph into ones that show up in more pronounced ways. Looks like Momma needs some downtime!

This is a fun picture of Hannah at the Children's Garden near our new home. It is my new favorite outing for us during the week. Sand for little ones, big play houses for bigger ones, and lots of benches for the biggest one to sit on. Plus creeks and woods to explore on trails not far away. And here is a recent picture of William. Do you see the determination in his eyes? He has recently learned the word "no" and he says it with a strength that tells me we will get to deal with a lot of things "head on" and quite soon too!

Sugar and Spice

I think I might want to be a seven year old girl again. It has been so fun to watch Caroline and her friends lately; they are so lovely in their work and play. Seven year old girls seem to enjoy their beauty, regardless of who they are or what they look like. It is not competitive in spirit, simply fun and expressive of the excitement they have in being able to be a girl. Nail polish, new braids, a sparkly shirt....they are all simply fun new things to enjoy, and they are glad to share and tell each other of the fun new thing they have discovered in the world of beauty. Girls this age are also very nurturing. They adore small babies and stop to coo at them, or ask to hold them. They think that being a mother is a high calling and they constantly mimic it in their games. They are not pretending to be business CEOs or accountants or even doctors as much as they are pretending, and maybe even arguing over who gets to be "the mother". And there is such beauty in their friendship as they play! They run to see each other, hugging and often holding hands without a thought. They write notes to each other, make art for one another and dressing alike is a great treat. Caroline is seven and a half right now. She is writing letters to friends near and far away almost daily, giving away lollipops to her siblings for Valentines and she is most excited about a planned trip to the American Girl doll store with her parents for her birthday. She adores her baby brother and is patient with her two year old sister in a way any mother would want to be herself. She giggles with her friends and is so glad to be "playing family" with them, or "country house". And I feel so lucky to watch it all. I know this beauty will have to change and transform, but even on dark days, I will know that it is there.