Posts

Snow Days

Image
 Do I have pictures of the kids playing in the snow day after day after day? No. I stayed indoors cooking, baking, cleaning, reading, playing the piano, writing, and organizing . . . generally creating a safe, warm haven for the kids to return to after being out in the cold and wet. I wish I'd gone outside. But . . . I am glad for all of the things that I did because I am finding my way really happily. I found something so mind-boggling while I was reading one of the 10 books I've been reading this month that I stopped to think, but I didn't ever think to write it down or mark where I found it. All I have now, as I write, is a memory of what struck me. Part of my reaction to trauma has been to numb my brain. I've been so frustrated with myself about how I always seek some way to be mentally un-present--staring at my phone, eating too many snacks, feeling incapable of connecting . . . I've been angry with myself. But then I read a line somewhere that made me realize ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Happy New Year!

Image
Could there be a more peaceful scene in late December? We had a blast meeting extended family at Union Station to donate at The Giving Machines . But then the kids were a little riled up later in the day, and I stopped them all in their tracks to do a progressive muscle relaxation exercise. Why he didn't move to carpet is beyond me, but he said he was happy where he was! Baymax was so ornery, he wouldn't lie on his back, but he was otherwise cooperative, so I called it a win. The kids all got up saying, "I thought I was going to fall asleep!" "That made me too tired!" "I didn't know how to tighten my ( insert name here ) muscle." But they all got up from the floor capable of following directions and moving safely through the house, so I was quite pleased with the result. We dropped Pixie off at the airport by noon on the 31st.   In the afternoon, the boys went to a friend's house to play football and video games. In the evening, Belle drove...
Post a Comment
Read more

Merry Christmas!

Image
 We made cookies. Lots and lots more than are seen here, but I mostly didn't have my camera with me. We did our family nativity. I'm not including the whole performance. It was a doozy! This might have been our last year of a full nativity production because everyone has outgrown the costumes.  Lola barely fit in our Mary costume, and the arguments  discussions it took to decide who would be whom were almost traumatic. Maybe it's time to pull out a nativity set and have kids move the pieces around as we read together. Over 20 years of acting it out in person will be hard to put away, though. Maybe I should just sew some larger costumes! We finished our Christmas picture book collection.  I didn't count them, but there were 24 gift bags and many of the bags had two or more books in them, so we might have read as many as 36 picture books together this December. On Christmas Eve the weather was very mild, so we had a fire in the yard and roasted hot dogs and s'mores fo...
1 comment
Read more