For the love of running

I laced my running shoes at twilight, instead of the usual break of dawn.

I left my running watch at home, for the first time in months.

Instead of staring at my running stats, I delighted in how pretty the road is to our house.

And for the first time in ages, I remembered why I had started running in the first place.

A Few of MY FAVORITE THINGS, 3

                                         An organized pantry is a beautiful thing.

Mason jars are practical, timeless, and lovely.

A Short Season

While we sat there watching them play, we talked about the years to come, when we won't be bringing floaties and swim diapers, when we won't need babysitters or be confined by nap times. 

We know that when we get there, we will be remembering these days wistfully.

Sometimes, looking forward helps us appreciate the here and now.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS, 2

Soaking up the fresh air and sunshine with my boys on a quilt. When I am feeling overwhelmed or frazzled, a few minutes in the sunshine does wonders for morale.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS, 1

When the baby stops nursing to look up at me and smile. Those are some rich moments in motherhood.

TIME FOR PLAY

Today, I was sad.

Sad that my children are growing up oh-so-fast.

Sad that I so often put priority on the to-do list, not on relationships.

Laundry comes before reading 

Dishes are more important than playing a game

Vacuuming and dusting and cleaning toilets and let's be real, checking Facebook, 

come before riding bikes and catching lizards. 

That's not what I would say, of course. If you asked me, I would tell you that building relationships with my family is the priority. But that's not what my life looks like, too much of the time.

And it really stinks because I already know that someday, I am going to look back, and I am going to really really wish that I had picked my boys more and accomplishing less. 

So today, I put down the broom, picked up the baby, and headed outside. We jumped on the trampoline and we were happy. If you haven't jumped on a trampoline recently, I highly recommend it. I felt so free and youthful and like I was really living my best life, you know? 

And my boys were so excited that I was playing with them. After thirty minutes, they headed for naps, and I returned to my work but it felt different. I think the subliminal resentment, theirs and mine, had receded. 

The lesson is so simple, but I must learn it over and over and over again.  

JUST A QUIET MONDAYI try to stay home on Mondays. The kids are always tired and out of sorts from a long day at church the day before, and the house needs some attention to bring it back to order. Today went the way that I wish all Mondays did. We had a nice balance of work and play. The sun was shining and we hung laundry out for the first time in months. We picked up toys in the yard...I tiptoed around big muddy patches while the boys, of course, made sure to go straight through the wettest puddles.

I started back in earnest with flylady this morning. Oh my goodness, you wouldn't believe the layers of grime that is on the windowsills, fan blades, and baseboards of my house. GROSS. How have I not noticed?! Too tired, I guess. I am not freaking out though. I started on the current zone, the living room, worked in 15 minute increments of time and can already see a vast improvement. The kids were armed with feather dusters and rags and spray bottles of cleaners and had a big time.

I finally feel like I am living my old life again. I never realize how hard pregnancy and having a newborn is until afterward. It isn't until I am doing all the things again that I wasn't doing while I was pregnant to even realize that I wasn't doing them at all. Does that make any sense? It struck me, as I was hanging clothes on the line this morning, that it has been probably a year since I had done that...but I didn't realize it had been that long, until I was doing it again. It felt really good.

Now it is time to bring the laundry off the line and remake the beds. Tonight, we will have sweet dreams under sheets that smell of sunshine.

RESTIt's raining outside, which makes it feel even more cozy indoors. An easy dinner is cooking in the oven, an ale-brothed venison stew that makes the house smell all yeasty and delicious. Paired with the pumpernickel bread that is rising on the stove top, it should be a warm and simple winter supper. Hearty, one dish meals are my favorite way to eat...and cook. Everyone is home this afternoon, engaged in our own activities but enjoying the proximity of each other's company.I bake and cook and putter in the kitchen, reading the paper, nibbling on dark chocolate and thinking about what I am reading in The Supper of the Lamb and Grace Based Parenting. I fold a little laundry. Nurse the baby and kiss his fat baby cheeks (oh, those cheeks!!). Some play video games or work puzzles or read the paper. Others nap. After a busy week, the slow, unhurried week-end feels like a long exhale.

Today, home feels like a sanctuary rather than a pit stop, just the way it should.

I hope your week-end is restful and restorative too.

A RAINY, STAY AT HOME DAY
Baking Bread
Reading on the couch
Homeschooling
Folding laundry
Sipping Cider
Long naps
Stacks of books
Nursing
Chasing the dog
Listening to bluegrass

Just a few of the things that we are doing on this rainy, cozy, ordinary-and-lovely day at home. Lots of thoughts swirling in my head but getting them from brain to computer has been quite the challenge. We are finding a new rhythm and things are settling in. Hope to find time to write here more soon.

A QUIET FRIDAY NIGHTI love that time of night when everyone is sleeping and the house is still. It is some of my best thinking time. And, domestic chores that can seem like drudgery in the daytime, become peaceful meditations when done by the light of a single lamp while the mind is allowed to wander freely without interruption.So I spent my Friday night standing in my laundry room, folding the mountains of clean sheets, shirts, shorts...
And when I was done, I was able to enjoy this rare sight...an empty laundry hamper.

CELEBRATING THE ORDINARYToday is a beautiful day. After a conference with the boys, we came to the unanimous decision that we should have a celebration.
What are we celebrating?
Well, it is Friday.
Our newest member of the family has now been alive for 23 weeks (only 16 weeks until we meet him!).
Our church is celebrating 25 years this week-end.
It is beautiful outside.
The house is pretty clean.
What more reason do we need?!

The menu was quickly decided:
Hot Tea (with lots of cream)
Cheese and Crackers
Orange slices
Funnel Cakes I started on the funnel cakes while the boys went outside and gathered flowers, grass, and hydrangea leaves to decorate the table. I gave them free rein, and they eagerly pulled out linen napkins, silverware, candles and candlesticks, platters, and vases. I filled the teapot. As we ate, we talked about who the boys enjoyed spending time with. We talked about the weather and the food. We talked about table manners. I so often feel like I am racing the clock to try and clean the house, cook, teach Caedmon, etc. And lately, I have been really frazzled. So, it was nice to spend the morning just connecting with the children and celebrating the everyday joys of our life. I am not good at just naturally doing that. It takes real effort on my part. But I am always so glad that I did. Sometimes it surprises me that I have to actively work to engage with and enjoy my children. It doesn't always come naturally, as I had expected it would. Often, caring for their physical needs leaves me feeling exhausted. But I want more than that for us. I want more days like today. I am thinking of ordering Blue Yonder's Book of Days. I think it would help me be more creative and interactive and celebratory on a daily basis. So here's to enjoying the everyday. There is beauty and wonderful things to celebrate all around us. We just have to take the time to notice.

A NEW DAY (Above my dining room window: "This is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24)
(Sara sent me this picture of my wall words, and I love it. Thank you, Sara!)

I am slowly resuming normal life, much to my husband's relief. Not quite as sick as I was, not quite as tired. I am still on (modified) bed rest, for a blood clot on the placenta. I will go back in a week to get that checked out. For now, I am lying low and just trying to get a few things done every now and then.

I woke up this morning, and my first thoughts were "how am I going to get through this day?" I immediately started thinking of things I could do to escape...a long shower, facebooking all day, send the kids to my mom, etc. That has pretty much been status quo for the last 5-6 weeks. And frankly, we are all sick of it. I am tired of just trying to survive, of not enjoying my kids, of just trying to get through the day so I can go to bed again. And I made a DECISION that today would not be that way, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, as my mother says.

So, I called the boys in for a pow wow. I apologized for being a negligent mommy for these last few weeks. I thanked them for being helpful and patient while I have been sick. And I told them that today was going to be different. I would not be angry. I would not yell. I would expect good attitudes and quick obedience from them. I told them that we were going to pitch in together and clean the house, bake some strawberry bread, read books, and enjoy our day.

And we have. The kids have been (mostly) great. They have cleaned without complaining. They ate their weight in strawberry bread. We read books upon books upon books. We had long in depth discussions about Star Wars (the current obsession around here). I actually ENJOYED my children again. I have really missed that over the last 6 weeks.

And I wonder, for the 385,670th time, why I can't grasp that the mama's attitude really does set the tone for the home?
Today, I made a decision that I was going to enjoy my boys and that I was not going to view the day as just something to survive. And, as a result, the day has been lovely. But I had to mentally decide that I was going to look for the good and minimize the less-than-great. Seems like this lesson would start to sink in. I am not going to spend time crying over the days we lost...they mattered too, of course. I AM going to be thankful that we had today, a bright, happy, snuggled up at home day...that started out just like the others before it, but then made a U-turn.

Now, you will have to excuse me. A certain sweet little 3 year old wants to snuggle.

THAT MARATHON WILL HAVE TO WAIT......until 2010. About a month ago, I laughingly said that I would probably get about half way through my marathon training, and get pregnant. Well, I didn't make it to quite the halfway point, but I am pregnant! Due around the middle of August.

Caedmon and Landing promise that they are going to cry if it is another boy.

Matt has been dancing around the house all day.

Grandparents are speechless.

Bauer is indifferent.

I am surprised.


(And no, this picture has absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter. I just wanted a picture up)

GOOD, SIMPLE FOOD, MONASTIC STYLE

"Gourmet cooking means food that truly satisfies the server: food in which the balance of texture and flavor is exactly right, food that looks and tastes delicious. And contrary to what many people believe, such foods do not have to be elaborate." -Rose Elliot, The Festive Vegetarian

A few months ago, I purchased a cookbook called Twelve Months of Monastery Soups for $1. I don't remember where I found it, only that my mom and I were together at the time, and we both reached for it. I reminded her of the quilts. I got the cookbook (but agreed to share, of course!).

Anyway, I was drawn to this cookbook because I find monastic life very interesting, and I really loved that the the recipes in this book were organized according to the months. I like having that starting point for finding a seasonal recipe. Of course, seasonal foods can vary greatly by region and sometimes I want to use an ingredient that I have canned or frozen, so I might look up the month that the particular item would have been fresh.

I have had a bit of a cold the last few days, and with Matt being sick, I thought a nice pot of vegetable soup and cornbread would be good. The recipe below, from the September section, will be made later today (with a lot of modification to suit what I have on hand). Maybe with some warm homemade bread instead of the cornbread. Hmm, tough call.

Potage du Jardin
(Garden Vegetable Soup)

2 quarts water or vegetable stock
2 bouillon cubes (if stock not used)
1 onion
1 zucchini
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
2 swiss chard or cabbage leaves
1/2 cup pastina
salt and pepper to taste
6 tablespoons grated Gruyere cheese

1. Cut the vegetables into small slices julienne style.

2. Place the water in a soup pot. Add the bouillon cubes and vegetables and cook over medium heat for 40 minutes.

3. Add pastina, salt, and pepper and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.

4. Serve soup hot, and sprinkle grated cheese on top of each serving.

OUT OF TOWN...

We are heading back to the beach for this next week. The house we are staying in doesn't have internet, but I am hoping to steal away to a coffee shop a couple of times, and finish up my Bringing the Beach Home Series.
I am hoping to spend lots of fun time with the boys, playing in the sun and sand, as well as spend a few hours running on the beach, praying, planning for our fall, and catching up on lots of reading.
I hope you have a wonderful week!