One Word

Something happened in our life recently that made me think.  About the passage of time.  Really, what is time?  Why do we measure it in years and hours and days and weeks and months?  Why not measure it by the life cycle of a tree frog, or of the Lily pad blossoms?  Why not measure time by the beauty and majesty of an eagle's life.  The cycle of a butterfly.  The simplicity of a daisy blossom.  Time.  It moves on, whether or not we wish it to.  I am now officially a year older and was thinking back about my life.  I don't feel my age.  Not at all.  In fact I feel pretty much 6-7 years younger than my birth date says.  It is nice, not feeling my age.  It is a bit of a wake up call though, having these two kiddos.  They would not be this old if I was the age I feel.  So, I guess being this old has it's perks.  I love my life.  I love my wonderful husband.  And I love my goofy kiddos who make me feel young and goofy right along with them.  I'm measuring time with joy.  All those moments that make me smile, laugh, and chuckle.  All of it.  It is my time.

If I Could Live to be 1000, it Still Wouldn't be Enough

I know, y'all are probably sick to death of hearing how much I love being a mother.  Well, too bad, here's yet another post about it.  My kids in all their imperfection are the most lovable little guys ever.  Those just getting up snuggles and good night kisses, random hugs and holding hands.  I love every minute.  Mr O with his creative genius and desire to build robots to do everything for him.  Or the fact that I'm asked for gunpowder on a weekly basis so that Peaches and Mr O can see how different things explode.  For the record, I've never given them gunpowder or explosives of any kind, the thought is a little frightening.  Peaches and her willingness to explore different situations and offer unbiased advice on how to improve different aspects.  The way that these two munchkins work together.  Whether they are getting into mischief or just playing a game, they are working together towards a common goal.  Yes, it has been more prank related lately, but I think that is one of those things that I'm gonna have to accept with them getting older.  I just love the way that they share ideas, impliment the best ones, and come out with a great result.  I almost hope that they go into buisness together.  Then again, that could be disastrous.  Just the fact that they work so well together is something that is amazing.  Two heads whispering together, coming up with a plan.  Two little (or not so little) kiddos gathering supplies on common ground.  Two mouths chattering and giggling during set-up.  And two excited munchkins showing off the final result.  Oh how I love it! 

Orange, lots of it!

Halloween.  A "holiday" that strikes fear into mother's hearts across the nation.  As mothers we know that the kids are going to come home sugar high, bouncing off the walls, and smeared with chocolate.  It is also a time for pumpkins to wish they had chosen a different profession as seedlings.  Although the cool faces may make up for that...not really sure, I've never been a pumpkin.  My personally favorite part of carving is the carving itself.  The gut removal is necessary, the tracing is too.  But the actual carving of the face into the side of the pumpkin is just so much fun!

  The kids were old enough this year to do most of the gut removal and carving themselves.  All mom and dad did was picture transfer and the odd helping hand.  It was so fun to watch those little hands hard at work.  Creating something totally unique and way way cool.  the theme this year (nothing to do with the adults in the house) was cats.  Peaches did a smiley cat face and Mr O did a flower cat face.  They look pretty cool all lit up.

  Now I know in most households that have children Halloween means a night of walking around house to house getting candy from people.  Well, in our household we have a different approach.  You see, after four years of the kiddos hating wandering around, complaining the whole time we were out, and refusing to say thanks to those who freely gave, we came up with a new plan.

  These kids get to hand out the candy on Halloween.  They love it!  Every time the door was knocked on two little bodies raced each other to the door.  One would open it.  The other would get the bowl of candy to hand out.  Two happy grinning faces would then say "you're welcome" and shut the door again.  In all honesty, that has been the best Halloween we've ever had!  Next year I think that they'll dress up, since they saw everyone's costumes this year.

Not Yet!

Today is a day.  Another one, believe it or not.  A beautiful day with sunshine streaming down somewhere.  I'm sure there are rainbows and flowers and nice cuddly kittens somewhere.  But here, there is rain and wind and it really isn't so pretty out there.  But the biggest thing about today is that so far there aren't any mistakes...Yet.  Unless you count my typing, which is horrible.  I do a lot of editing.  Anyways...We had a fantanstic day yesterday.  I mean that literally, really!  Fantastic.  Fan-Ta-Stic.  Oh it was all kinds of lovely.  Lovely that I would love to never-ever-in-this-lifetime-or-after see again.  There was The Fit.  Yeah I know, when I say that you all think of the cute little toddler tantrums.  Really, those are cute.  The difference between the Toddler Fit, and The Fit, is that with a toddler, you cannot reason with them, they just don't understand reasoning.  Where-as, my munchkins are no longer toddlers.  They understand reasoning.  They know what is acceptable and what isn't, what is appropriate and what isn't, and what will get them in trouble and what won't.  They are pretty smart kids who usually follow the rules.  But occasionally we get The Fit.  Unfortunately these kiddos are like twins in a lot of respects, and so one of them going off into The Fit, usually tips the other one off too.  It's fun, lemme tell ya.  Thankfully it was just on the way home from school, and only half the town saw and heard us.  I was so embarrassed, I wanted to disappear.  But no.  And at these ages, blowing in their faces to "reset" doesn't work.  Oh how I wish that still worked!  So I got to haul (literally) two screaming, bawling, kicking, fighting, unreasonable monsters home.  I tried reasoning, loud enough for everyone to hear me (ack!).  I tried just going faster.  Apparently going faster to get out of the public eye means that the volume of The Fit must increase.  So, we finally made it home, 15 min later.  Usually it is a 5 minute walk.  After trying every tactic in the book to get The Fit to stop, the shower was the last resort.  It worked like a charm.  Suddenly my unreasonable monsters were most willing to reason with me.  Oh it was a nice change.  My Munchkins were back!  Oh how I love my munchkins!  They are so sweet and lovable and adorable and cute.  It was nice to see them snuggle up on the couch and read books together.  Oh lovely!

Seeing Red

There is just something about the leaves turning color that makes the change in season real to me.  I know, the days are getting shorter and nights longer.  The weather is cooling down, making it that much harder to get out of bed in the morning.  But there really is something about the changing colors.  The reds, oranges, and yellows.  The crispness of the fallen leaves underfoot.  The beautiful contrast of the brightly colored Maples against a backdrop of Firs.  There is a suddenness, almost an urgency to the wind.  As if it thinks that winter cannot come while there are still leaves on the trees.  There is beauty in this harshness.  Watching the swirling colors drift and fall.  Listening to the crackling of leaves while you walk.  Smelling the scent of fall; fresh rain, the slight mildew of the fallen leaves, and smoke from burning leaves and wood stoves.  The tang of cider and apple pie, soft fresh gingerbread, and hot cocoa.  And most of all the red leaves falling in my own back yard.

The Ragged Edge

One of my all time favorite things about fall is the smells.  The taste of the wind and rain.  The feeling of freedom that falling, swirling, leaves give off.  The smell of freshness and forgiveness that the air seems to give off.  As if to tell us that no matter what we do, Mother Nature will fix it.  Fall is the passing away of all things old to make room for the new.  It is the earth's way of resting, recuperating, and rejuvenating itself for the coming year.  Walking outside you can almost hear the relieved sigh of the nature that surrounds us.  It seems thankful that rest is here.  There is no longer any need to dress to impress, this is time for flannel jammies and cocoa and not caring who answers the door. 

Fall will always seem to me a beautiful woman who just loves to wear those old ratty jeans and doesn't care who sees her.  She is just that much more impressive.  Moving with grace and dignity.  Making way for winter, but not giving up just yet.  Autumn.  Even the name is feminine.  A playful yet serious, beautiful and powerful, sweet and yet full of temper.  Full of contradictions.  Beauty.  Strength.  Elegance.  Slightly tattered around the edges.  Fraying yet still able to hold together.  I think the reason that I love Fall so much is that this season reminds me of me.  I feel at home in this season.  There is the understanding that there are no expectations on either side.  I can show off my flannel jammies and slippers and Autumn comes right back with sunshine and rain.  No one to impress.  People will have their opinions and the opinions don't matter.  We, Autumn and I, are the way we are.

The Midas Touch

Repeating childhood is exhausting.  Trust me.  This will be the third time I've gone through it.  Well, technically the second and third time are going pretty much back to back, so I suppose that may count as just one.  Anyways...I love being a kid!  Waking to a new world of adventure every day.  Fighting dragons.  Saving precious plants because the world will die if we don't.  Being a snake charmer.  Going to the ball at least twice, then skipping out because the Prince has a wart on his chin.  Seriously considering becoming a flying squirrel when I grow up, at least for two minutes, then switching to a praying mantis cause they are cooler.  Saving my money for candy.  Taking off my socks and shoes because the wet grass just feels so good!  Then coming in freezing and having hot cocoa.  There is more, so much more.  Being a kid with my kids is so much fun!  I really can't understand it when parents don't want to spend time with their offspring.  It just doesn't make sense to me.  We have so much fun!  And really, honestly, 98% of the time they are good kids.  The adventures are great!  And the best part: my kids let me come too.