It will be fine

Owen came in a few minutes ago and asked me if he and his friend could dig a hole.  First of all, thank heavens they came in and asked, so, they asked and I gave them a place to dig. 

I am sitting here now at my desk, gazing out the window at the two kids digging.  I can promise they have deviated from their very small allowed space.  They are flinging dirt all over the place and laughing.  

My first thought is, oh, please don’t do that, wait, don’t dig there, watch out for that plant… Then I think, they don’t care about the plant or the flying dirt.  They are having fun being kids. 

And so I will let them dig too close to my plants because I love him and I love that laugh. 

Lack of Groceries

I don’t grocery shop in the summer.  I stop a time or two each week for an item or two, but nothing major.  I don’t think we have shopped, really shopped for groceries all summer.

This is evidenced by the fact that we have no milk, butter, cheese, bananas or bread, oh and we just ran out of dish soap.  Who doesn’t have that? And for heaven’s sake, what are we eating?

Well, for dinner I had graham crackers with vanilla frosting, both of which lack dairy and eggs – hooray.  (I only have these after an impromptu stop at the store after yoga tonight, they sounded delish!)  Owen had macaroni and cheese for lunch with the last of the butter and the last of the milk.  I had to add water to replace the milk I didn’t have.  Ivy had black beans for lunch with avocado.  (not bad on that one!)

Owen’s friends were asking for some snacks today, I kept hearing Owen say, “we are all out.”

I just keep wondering if the lack of groceries is a sign that I do a little of everything resulting in a lot of nothing.. or perhaps a sign that we are thoroughly enjoying the warm summer time.  I vote #2, even if the answer is #1. 

Yes, 2 it is!

Happy

I am loving these things right this minute:

1. A summer day in the middle of July in Seattle – 75 degrees, with a slight breeze and the sound of my wind chimes outside. (rather than the 95 degrees Emilee just reported to me).

2. The Edmonds summer market – lots of fresh, local, organic fruits and vegetables.

3.  The sound of Owen upstairs playing with his friends.

4. Greg lying on the couch watching baseball….no wait, I don’t love that at all.

5. Cousins.

If you say so.

I told Owen to put on a hat today to go out in the sun.  He put on his orange hat and said he would wear that one because he looked like a delivery guy. 

Not sure I see it, but ok, I will go with delivery guy.

1 Year!

My little sweet is 1. 

18 lbs 1 oz.  - 8th percentile.  27 3/4 inches tall – 12th percentile.  46 cm head – 77th percentile.

She doesn’t want to talk but understands everything.  

She loves shoes.

She still spits at animals.

I love you baby girl.

 

Innocence

Being 4 – almost 5 – must be so great.  I know it has its troubles, like having to wear jeans even though they don’t feel right cause your mom hasn’t cleaned the non-jean pants yet, or having to wait a day before playing with your friends cause you refuse to leave your sister alone,  or having to pick up the dirty laundry against your will to put it in the basket.

But, oh how nice would it to be a 4 year old boy and decide that you need a purse, cause a purse is used to carry things.  And what would a 4 year-old boy need to carry? Well, his mom’s ipod of course.  In fact, my boy thinks he can have my ipod touch and I should get a new one.  Or better yet, he is going to buy himself one for his birthday, and once he buys his ipod, he is getting a purse to put it in.

It is all so simple.  So free of judgment and worry.   His $9.00 is enough.  Boys and girls can have a purse.

(Oh, and as I type this, he just told me that he needs a phone too – he needs one and he is going to put his friend’s numbers in it.)

I love 4. Although, his gifts at 3 were much cheaper. 

It’s Official.

You know how deep down you always hope that you are doing things right for your kids and that you are being the mom that you always want to be? Well, I have always thought that despite my faults, perhaps I still do a good job. 

It was brought to my attention the other day, that I may have officially failed at being a mom.

Me: "Owen, let’s draw some pictures and write some letters.”

O: “OK”.

O: “Mom, I drew a snake, now I need to color it in, what should I use?”

Me: “Find your crayons.”

And here comes the bad part…

O: “What are crayons?”

Me: “Owen, you know what crayons are.”

O: “No, I have no idea.”

Me: “I know you know what crayons are.”

O: “MOM! I can’t remember! Can you find some and remind me what they are?”

Me: “Ok, but I know you know.”

J finds some crayons and says: “This is a crayon.”

O: “OH YES! I remember now.”

So the good news is he remembered.  The bad news is that my child who is almost 5 claimed he didn’t know what crayons are.  What soon to be 5 year old doesn’t know what a crayon is?!!

And so tonight, and each and every night, we shall color a picture, with crayons, before we head off to bed.

(and my other one thinks crayons are an after dinner snack)

(A BUFFET Of CRAYONS)

And look how enjoyable the moment was….