green friday

Among the vast array of motherly intuition and maternal instinct that we as mother's have been given, is the sense of knowing just when our children need to get out into the wide open space of the outdoors. This was one of those mornings in our house and rather than try to tame their energy with indoor activities, I opted to gear up for a morning out in the woods.

I was thrilled to see the sun shining and feel the mild air come in after a quick and intense rain storm this morning. It felt like divine conditions for a walk out and around a nearby pond.

Besides the unseen creatures of the forest, we were the only ones out there walking, skipping stones, digging into the forest floor with our shoes and climbing fallen trees. It felt so, so good to breath in the fresh air and for me to move my stiff body and tired head after such a day of feasting and relaxation yesterday. Seeing the green ferns peeking up through wet leaves, holding smooth stones in their hands and bouncing on fallen limbs was just what they needed.



Here are a few scenes that played out in the woods today...

fulfilled

Our day was filled with so many wonderful things that it's hard to recall the best parts.

A chance to get together with both sides of our families as we do every Thanksgiving
Being able to take part in a family photo session that included four generations of my family
Watching my children and nieces act out their annual pilgrim play
A table full of delicious and soul-warming food
Peace and a chance to sit and talk with family
The blessing of being able to hold my newest niece for extended periods of time (I think this provided a bit of a baby-fix that just might be enough to get me through the weekend)
Coming home with thousands of slides, now on DVD, of Mike when he was young (movie footage too! This is going to be good!)
And now, a peaceful house with children sleeping and a mother who is looking towards, planning and getting ready to prepare our home for the next big holiday!

reflections

I blinked and it has been nearly three weeks since I last paid any attention to my little blog.

It's always so interesting to me to step back and think about what I've been doing with my time during periods of living my life a bit more privately than previously.

Whether it be a lapse in blogging, returning friend's phone calls, visiting with loved ones or going out of my way to write a note or letter, there is always something more pressing at hand than the need to reach out and stay connected.

Not always a good thing.

These past few weeks have simply been filled with living life. Well, obviously you might say! But what I mean is that there has not been any time of reflecting on those daily tasks, taking time to share my experiences with the world or making any meaning out of the things that I have been filling my days with.

Although I have an enormous need to express myself creatively, which includes writing on the blog, I have been choosing the urgent needs over the important ones (I write about this a lot, I know, I know).

Now, briefly, I can look back over the last few weeks and see that yes there has been important work being done!

Things like...

planning, purchasing and preparing food/meals for my family
keeping up with laundry
being diligent about getting my toddler to the potty
helping my kids to learn new chores and showing them the proper way to execute them
helping my kids to read, learn new math concepts, read poetry, prepare their environment for art projects and read them stories
set up a mini bird feeding complex out our schoolroom window with the hope of observing some new winter birds
acting as a sounding board and reflective listener for my husband as he works toward a very exciting and important goal (I will share more on this later!)
desperately trying to keep my house clean in a meager attempt to control my environment, bring me peace of mind and a sense of satisfaction

This last attempt has been pretty much a failure, so I've decided to change my mindset a bit and just accept the reality that I have three children living in a small space and that they are here all day building, playing, drawing, painting, eating, exploring, wrestling, dancing, creating, cutting paper, dropping crumbs and playing with toys because they are children and that is what children do.

I am working on accepting this as my daily mental mantra and succeeding a bit at this currently!