{this moment--slurping spaghetti}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.



Inspired by Soule Mama.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Soule Mama

Sledding

 I don't feel like these photos need much explanation, other than winter has been fairly disappointing this year.  We got a good dumping of snow late in the week and spent most of the day outside.  The kids helped me shovel a bit and then moved on to more entertaining and enjoyable pursuits {actually, I really enjoy shoveling snow...does that make me weird?}.

Ellie decided to free our tiny trees of their snowy burdens by shaking them nigh to death.  Ethan helped her at times, when he was not distracted by geese flying low overhead, snow drifts to jump in, the plow clearing our street and any other of a number of very interesting winter-time occurrences.

Some friends invited us to join them on our first successful sledding trip of the season that afternoon {how sad is that?  No sledding til March?}.

 Ethan was very nervous and insisted I join him the first few times down the hill {not that I'm complaining...I adore sledding}.  Eventually he decided to give it a go on his own.  As I held his sled while he climbed on I heard him talking to himself under his breath, "I not scared....I not scared...".  He whooped all the way down the hill and screamed in jubilation once he reached the bottom, "Guys, I did it!  I not scared!"

 All in all, we spent almost an hour and a half non-stop going up and down these hills.  It was a delightful afternoon {and frankly, one I was very much in need of, there was way too much bickering in our house that morning}.

The time outside worked wonders for our attitudes.

We went home exhausted, a little sunburned and happy.

this moment {strawberry jam}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Soule Mama.

Snow Day

 Due to some poor weather this morning our co-op was cancelled. We found ourselves with an unexpected free day, and made the most of it. 

 The kids and I worked together to make strawberry jam this morning.  I have found myself in a delightful place where these two are suddenly old enough to actually help with my to-do list.  For years I've been finding things to keep them busy so I could cook or clean for a few minutes.  But now they help with cooking, cleaning AND laundry (they actually do good work that I am not required to re-do!)!  It makes a busy mama's heart happy.

I had been hanging onto a big cardboard box from a bathroom mirror we recently purchased, and today was the perfect time to pull it out.  It unfolded to a very large size and already had a window cut out, so we tucked it into a corner of the kitchen and they went to work creating their little house.

Ellie pinned up a fabric scrap for a curtain and pulled some other furniture and dishes into their new place. Before I knew it an impromptu tea party was underway.

It was a lovely way to spend the morning; lots of giggles and completely un-scheduled time.

In honor of Dr. Suess' birthday tomorrow we sat down after lunch and read all of his books we own.  I felt like I might be speaking in rhyme for the rest of the day! I am grateful for little ones who love to read, and be read to, as much as I.  This after-lunch read aloud time is one of my favorite parts of our day.  There is no bickering, the house is quiet and we snuggle up and enjoy each other.  I love quiet.

The storm has calmed, for now, and left us with a couple inches of snow and gorgeous blue skies.  

Valentine's Day

So... I never posted anything about our Valentine's Day festivities.

Here ya go:

The kiddos and I have recently joined a homeschool co-op which we love.  We meet every Thursday with several other families, and are able to attend several hours of classes/social time. The kids and I both look forward to it every week.  One of the amazing mamas planned a Valentine party and we got to make boxes and valentines to pass out, "Just like at 'real school'!"  Ellie exclaimed.

Ellie's was an envelope.  We were lucky enough to get the box in the mail from Amazon, and it required nothing more than white paint and a couple of decorative stickers as the stamp.  Ellie addressed it to herself from the Cache Valley Star Academy {the name of our co-op}.

Her valentines were bookmarks that said "You're a SMARTIE in my book!", with little smarties attached.  

Ethan's box was a "Wobot".  He and I had a blast painting this together, and he stuck on the decorative shapes himself.

His valentines were aliens {I cut out the shape from a green painting he'd done earlier} that say "I've got my EYE on you!"  

We continued the tradition of our cute little family mailboxes.  Ellie, the little writer that she is, sent everyone love notes every day.  Sometimes multiple notes in a day.  I was not as on-top-of-things as I'd like to have been, but did my best to keep up with her note-writing fervor.

I also attempted to decorate, which is not my forte, by making these sweet heart garlands

and a variation of this wreath.

We do not usually spend money on Valentine's Day gifts.  For us the holiday is more about being together, and having fun as a family.  Jason and I decided ahead of time to exchange homemade gifts this year.  The day before V-Day I was making his gift {homemade fire starters for the campfire dinners we all adore} when Ellie came into the kitchen.  

 "Whatcha doin' ?" she asked.  

"Making Daddy's Valentine's Day present."

A long pause as she took in the mess around me: an empty egg carton with dryer lint wadded into each compartment... melting candle wax in the oven...

"No, really.  What are you doing?  What is that garbage for?"

"Really.  It's a present for Dad.  He's going to love it, I promise."

"Mom..." Her eyes are filled with a mixture of horror and skepticism.  She can't decide if I'm teasing her or if I've finally lost all of my marbles.

"Mom..." she finally decides I must be crazy and plucks up her courage to tell me so. "That's nothing but balls of lint in an egg container!"

I explain what they are and show her, in a controlled environment,  how well the lint burns.  Relieved, she dances around the house for the rest of the afternoon singing a song of her own invention.  The line she repeats over and over is: "Balls of lint in an egg contain-ER!"

Jason did like his gift {I gave him the fire starters in a bag with a tag that said,  "C'mon baby, light my fire!"...you know...like the song?}. But I must say that he definitely beat me, once again, in the gift-giving department.  His thoughtful no-cost gift: he let me pick the next three house projects to move to the top of his list.  The only requirement was that we had to already have the materials for the projects.  Yeah, he's the best.

I hope your Valentine's Day was full of love!

Mud

 "Dinner...books...blanket...jammies....dinner...books...blanket...jammies..." Ellie slogs through the mud to the steady rhythm of these motivational words.  She's on her way down from the longest hike we've done in a while.  The Wind Cave trail is a popular destination point in Logan Canyon, and we've never hiked it as a family before. We spent the morning cleaning the house using this hike as bribery, and now Ellie is wishing she'd never cleaned her room so we wouldn't have been able to make it.

The day started out glorious but quickly turned colder, with intermittent snow flurries.  I am grateful that Jason packed his backpack full of quick-energy snacks for the kids.  We stop several times to load their pockets full so they can munch while we walk.

On the last few hikes we've taken, Ethan has developed a fear of walking on the outer edge of the trail.  His patient Papa trades places with him at every switchback, holding his hand all the way.

The sun pops through the clouds every so often, giving us a small taste of the spring weather we're all anxious for.  Though the winter has been very mild, I am ready for more time outside and green growth rather than the brownish-gray bare branches.

As we trudge along, we discuss which kind(s) of magic would be best to possess.  Ellie ultimately decides she'd like a mixture of fairy magic ("where you just think about things or nod your head and it appears"), Harry Potter magic (requiring a wand) and the ability to make rocks and dirt come alive (like Hugo, the golem in Fablehaven).

Once Ellie decides on her magical preferences, she is quiet for a while.  The sloppy mud and occasional snow-covered section of trail makes hiking treacherous.  She suddenly loses patience, and in an effort to restore harmony before long-lasting damage is done to our hiking memories, I attempt to distract her with one of her favorite games.

Ellie is a word-lover, like her Mama.  One of the most effective ways to help her communicate, express her feelings and bring her quickly out of a bad mood is our "Name This Feeling" Game.  To play, just make one word out of the mixture of emotions you are feeling.  Tired and Hungry becomes Tungry, or Hired.  Angry and Disappointed becomes Angrappointed or Disappangry.  In an attempt to lighten the mood, I say, "Ellie describe the trail...is it goopy and sloppy equals gloppy?"  I am surprised by her response.  "It's detestable," she says,  "that means horrid."

She's not the only one worn out by the trek.  Ethan, who walked the entire way up the trail, is now riding on Jason's shoulders.  He is trying to find a comfortable spot on the top of Jason's head to lay down.  Sweet Daddy readjusts the tuckered-out boy and before long, Ethan is asleep in Jason's arms.

As I watch Jason carry our son down the trail, I am happy.  Happy to be outside with my family in the somewhat-sunshine. Happy to be able to discuss important things like magic, and the remains of an animal we discovered along the trail, with my daughter.  Happily and overwhelmingly in love with this man:

He gave his jacket to Ellie when she complained of the cold and carried Ethan's dead-asleep weight down the entire trail.  He has mud on his forehead from Ethan's shoes as the boy clambered onto his shoulders.  He is our hero and provider.  He has dreams in which he is a ninja.  On the way home from our adventure, he tells me that not only was his backpack filled with water and snacks but he also threw in a hatchet, matches and rope. 

Just in case.

How lucky am I?