A whole wonderful field of muddy fun

A makeshift “tree house”

A found the one puddle left to splash in.

Have you ever tried to take a picture of a hummingbird??

PS. A plea : I’ve been getting reports that people aren’t able to leave comments. If you got here from Facebook could you  please try leaving a comment, and if you get an error report, leave a comment on Facebook letting me know? Thank you!

Nature

Did you get outside today? We did, even though it was raining torrentially throughout the day. We didn’t let that stop us, it just meant there were puddles to jump in, and worms and snails to meet!

If you’re taking part in the Outdoor Challenge and posting pictures, let us know so we can check them out! If you’re not taking pictures but just getting outside, tell us about your adventures!

Nature, gratitude

A number of factors have been conspiring to get me off my duff and get my kids outside. Now, I’m a huge proponent of getting kids outside and into nature; there was a time that friends who lived near me knew that they’d find Z and me out on a walk for a good portion of the day. But life has kind of gotten away from me, and it took some reminding recently (from Calm and Compassionate Children: A Handbook) to convince me that we needed to make it priority again.

So beginning this week, we’ve moved our schedule around to get out for a walk first thing after breakfast- before the madness of the day begins. It’s been wonderful! The girls have been mellower, and we even met a lovely little caterpillar friend.

So imagine my amusement when I discovered that this month is “Children and Nature Awareness Month”. How fitting! And to celebrate, this blog has issued a challenge: go outside everyday, rain or shine; then take a picture each day, for the rest of April, of your children outdoors and post it. Just a single picture will do; words aren’t even necessary.

Isn’t that a great challenge? I’m going to participate, and I’d love to know if you’re going to too. If you don’t have kids, get outside and take a picture anyway!

Here’s some pictures to start:

Nature

Someday, perhaps soon, I will have things of my own to write here. But seeing as I was up until 5:30 in the morning with a completely awake and screaming child, I thought I’d share some other people’s thoughts (far more coherent than my own) that jumped out at me today. All of them are quoted in Writing Motherhood, an excellent book that I highly recommend.

“What made my predicament worse was that I had come to believe one of the great American myths- the myth of the natural mother. I grew up thinking that parenting in general and mothering in particular was something a woman could just do without preparation…. We all thought that a “good mother” didn’t need lessons. -Susan Cheever

Motherhood is a job. With most jobs, the more you do it, the better you get at it. There’s a certain learning curve and then you’re fine. Motherhood is a job where the learning curve never ends. You’re constantly trying to figure out the parameters of what’s expected of you. – Kate Moses

It’s easy to lose sight of the larger perspective when we’re caught up in daily life- signing permission slips, making lunches, teaching our children to be kind to one another. It doesn’t always feel as if we’re doing anything truly profound. And yet with each kiss, with each lesson, we are doing the work of the ages. – Denise Roy

Inspiration

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days.”

Anne Dillard

How much do you  schedule? A lot? A little? How specific do you get?

More to come….

Organization

Oh my friends, it’s been a while. The fact is, I’ve been feeling like a bit of a mess on the homemaking front. I have enough laundry to choke a horse (if you were into that kind of thing, although it probably wouldn’t take that much. Choke an elephant? A herd of elephants?), clutter everywhere, and our household schedules are kaput. I feel completely ineffectual and unproductive.

Martha Stewart I am not.

(Although I did make two baby blankets today, that’s kind of Martha S.-ish.)

But as I thought just now about also being such a slacker about posting here, and then thought that posting would just make me a poser, I remembered the Martha we named this site after. And I remembered what was said about her. She was “careful and troubled about many things”. She wasn’t a master homemaker, if she was, she wouldn’t have been so stressed out about having guests; things would have been under control on that front. But she was working at it, trying to make everyone comfortable, trying to nurture, and she was concerned.  And I’m certain that when she allowed herself to slow down and “choose the better part”, she received inspiration and teaching not only for her spiritual life, but her physical-cleaning her house- life as well.

And I’m hoping that with some refocusing, I will too.

Inspiration

Yesterday I posted the following status on Facebook:

“Ever catch a glimpse in the mirror and not recognize yourself? That totally just happened to me.”

My hair is in the process of growing, and I think it’s hit its teenage years, because it is completely doing its own thing. Luckily I liked what it was doing yesterday, it just caught me by surprise.

But this is incidental to my point. My uncle, in response, wrote:

‘Wait until your sister, mother, aunt, or grandmother looks back at you. I’ll post a picture of your great grandmother  — perhaps she is looking back.”

I hear people worry that they’re starting to look like their mothers;  I’ve always looked like my mom, and I love it.  I love the parts of me that remind me of her when I look in the mirror.  When I was little I looked exactly the same as one of my cousins, and in turn one of my girls looks just like her cousin did at her age.  Farther than that, I don’t know where my face comes from. I haven’t looked into older family pictures enough to know who resembles whom among my assorted grandmothers, great aunts and 2nd cousins.

But I love that image of women from my family’s past looking back at me, as the one who currently carries the trace of their eyes, or smile, or nose; keeping an eye on what I’m doing.

Or maybe it’s not a physical trait that we share, but a talent or skill. I think of the Mary Ann  for whom I’m named, who snuck a cutting of her beloved yellow roses in her purse back in the 1800s, and kept it alive all the way across the Altlantic  and through a treacherous trek over the US to finally plant them in her new home in Hyde Park, UT.  I like to think she smiles as she sees our balcony garden, (or me doing something sneaky).

So, on this President’s Day, as we celebrate important people from our country’s history, let’s celebrate those from our own individual histories as well. Who do you look like? Who do you act like? Who’s looking back at you? And how do you preserve the memories of them, to share with those in your family who are younger?

Celebrations, Traditions, gratitude

I know I just posted, but I had to share my morning’s inspiration to add instant spice to our day:

Add chocolate chips to the pancakes.

What’s your recipe for instant spice?

Cooking, Inspiration, Magic moments

I feel like I’ve been in a season of gathering lately. Ideas and inspiration are being found and stored away, to be put to use after pondering and thought. These are some “nuts” I’ve picked up recently:

Steady Days

The Art of Simple Food

Simplicity Parenting

I haven’t really put any of these ideas to use yet; I’m kind of letting them simmer for a while to see what ends up bubbling up to the surface as important.

What’s inspiring you these days?

Books, Catching the vision, Inspiration

Is it raining where you are? We’re in the midst of a torrential downpour here. It was seriously scary to drive today, which meant we were inside for most of the day.  Luckily we have wonderful friends who braved the crazy roads and came to relieve us of the ensuing boredom of being stuck inside all day. After they left and the girls were down for a nap, I got thinking about rainy days when I was a child.

I’ve always loved the rain. I love the different sounds it makes, love watching it from the warm side of a window.  I remember recesses full of “Heads Up 7-up” and board games in the cafeteria at lunch time. I remember grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for dinner while the raindrops pinged off of the tin roof of the deck.  I love being outside in the rain, feeling it on my face, seeing it bead up on my raincoat. I love the splash of a good puddle.  I remember going out hiking almost every rainy Saturday of my childhood (I’m sure it wasn’t EVERY one, but I remember it that way), spying animals running free under the assumption that all the humans were far away.  I remember the invigorating weight of being soaked to the skin, and the joy of changing into warm clothes. Those are some of my very favorite memories.

So I got to thinking- what traditions will I set up around rainy days for my girls? It’s supposed to rain all week, so I’m planning a flexible schedule of making cupcakes, painting, eating grilled cheese sandwiches, maybe watching a special movie,  and, of course,  getting out  in the middle of the downpour.  Those puddles won’t splash themselves, you know.

Do you have traditions around rainy days? Any wonderful memories? Do share!

Celebrations, Nature, Traditions