Cuddle time with Daddy is all kinds of warm.
Especially on sunny summer days at football games. 🙂
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
Tag: Kids
Connect
This is what happens when you connect with a tree:
Our first family sledding trip was somewhat more eventful than expected. We took them out to the lake, got the sleds all set up, and watched with bated breath as the kids took off down the hill. But then Thumper’s sled veered right.
He was flying down the hill and headed right for a stand of trees.
Water
Today’s Photo 101 prompt involves water. I have lots of pictures of water – trying to choose just one was not easy!
But there was an added challenge for this post, and it involved orientation. Vertical or horizontal – which one’s better?
In this case, I like the vertical one best:
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- Water still as glass…
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- …made for great fishing. 🙂
These are some old pictures; Bubbles was only three when these were taken. This was his first-ever fishing trip, and it spoiled him a little bit because he caught a fish just about every time he dropped his line in the water. They bit quickly, too – none of that waiting business that so often goes along with fishing.
If only every fishing trip could be like this one… 🙂
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
Memories and feelings
If you haven’t read Justine Manzano’s post about regrets and Facebook memories, go read it. Now. Without it, the following probably won’t make a whole lot of sense.
Read it? Good.
Her words about how “Facebook Memories are equal parts fun and annoying” sound so, so familiar. Mostly, I really enjoy seeing my Facebook memories because I’ve always tried to be very positive online. But sometimes even the happy memories remind me of a sad time (my youngest son’s birth, for example, was equal parts joyous and terrifying).
I’ll see all that positivity when I’m feeling down and think, “Why can’t I be more like that now? I used to be so positive. What happened?”
The thing about trying to wear such a positive face on the web, though, is that all the smiles sometimes make you see things through rose-colored glasses. You forget all the negative stuff that was going on way back when and how it affected you at the time. How it made you more of a black rain cloud than a ray of sunshine. After all, if everything looks so great, it must have really been that way, right?
It’s on the internet – it must be true.
Hibernation station
Holy buckets, is it cold out there! How cold is it?
It’s so cold that I passed a bunch of penguins on my way to work this morning. 😀
The worst part is that this is an improvement from the weekend. *sigh*
Meanwhile, I’m busy playing catch-up on pretty much everything after taking care of two sick kiddoes last week, so please excuse my probable absence here this week. In addition to catching up on stuff, I’m also in the midst of reading a fantastic new book. Have no fear – I’ll share my thoughts once I’m finished! It’s a book I’ve been looking forward to reading for some time now, so I suppose I’d better get back to it while I still have a few minutes to spare. 😉
Have a great day, everybody, and in case I don’t see ya, have a great rest of the week as well! 🙂
(c) 2016. All righrs reserved.
Christmastime is here…
…Happiness and cheer,
Fun for all
That children call
Their favorite time of year…
It’s beginning to look a bit more like Christmas round these parts:
Every auditorium should have a tuba tree with an eighth note on top. 😉
Time to sing about ugly Christmas sweaters!
The courthouse is always pretty, but it’s even prettier at Christmas.
Looks like Donner’s lying down on the job… 🙂
What would the North Pole be without Santa Claus and snowmen?
I love all the musical ornaments.
Best. Jingle bell. Ever.
Someone said she was NOT going to sit on Santa’s lap. Guess how well that worked out. 🙂
Cricket adores his new train set.
Nativity central.
If you look closely to the left of the moose, you’ll see a little reindeer mailing a letter to Santa…
Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches!
One happy Thumper bunny. 🙂
Cricket wanted to put all the decorations on the piano. 🙂
Finally got our tree up!
A pretty tree for a pretty courthouse. 🙂
I do so love this wreath. 🙂
Advent calendar, take two. This is the one I grew up doing with my parents, and now I’m sharing it with my kids. 🙂
Mistletoe anyone?
“Santa, you’re kinda scary, but you gave me a dolly, so I don’t know what to think now.”
But it’s been warmish and rainy here the last two days. Last night while we were decorating our tree, we had a thunderstorm. That made it feel rather more like Christmas in July.
The kids had their annual 4-H cookie walk yesterday morning and then went Christmas shopping at a local church. We listened to Christmas music all day, decorated last night, and watched Home Alone 2 after the boys went to bed. It was a little bittersweet, though – we always decorate as a family, and this year Seymour wasn’t home to help out. Miss Tadpole took it pretty hard, and I agree – it’s just not the same without him.
Still, I’m feeling pretty cheery after all that Christmasy fun yesterday, and I’m looking forward to working on Christmas cards this afternoon. 🙂
Have you decorated yet? Do you go all out, or do you keep it to a few treasured things? What kind of Christmas traditions do you have in your family?
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
A letter to my son
Today’s Writing 101 challenge was to reinvent the letter. The last letter I wrote was to my husband when he was away for work, so today I decided to write a letter to my son in the future. He may not be a man yet, but he will be one day, and I hope that, on that day, he’ll read this and smile.
Dearest Bubbles,
My goodness, how quickly you’ve grown! It can’t be possible that you’re a man now, instead of the tiny little baby I brought home from the hospital. Surely that was only yesterday?
Oh, who am I kidding? It was last month. I knew I should have tied that brick to your head sooner. 🙂
When I look at you, I still see the happy little boy you used to be. I suppose I probably always will, no matter how much taller than me you are. I hope that someday, you’ll have a house full of happy little boys (and girls?) of your own, but first, some advice:
Cricket’s a fan
Yesterday we had a little Panther (or “Pamfer,” as Cricket says). Today? Today we have a little Packer:
Cricket was so excited to watch the football game with Daddy in his new jersey. There’s just one problem – he’s not watching the game. He’s upstairs in his room, playing with Thumper. Maybe all the football yesterday was enough for him.
Or maybe he just wanted the new jersey. Either way, he’s awfully darn cute. 🙂
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Making a difference
Just because you can’t see how far your reach spreads doesn’t mean you make no difference. –J.C. Rutledge
But wouldn’t it be great if we really could see how far our reach spreads? Because I’m an overly morbid worrywart type, I often wonder about the kind of legacy I’ll leave one day. I think I think about it so much because my mom died so young, and I’ve always assumed (don’t ask me why) that the same fate waits for me.
Happily, fate seems to have other plans in store for me, because I’m still here, creating worlds and refereeing my kids. I’m so very grateful I have the chance to watch them grow up, and I can’t wait to see what kind of people they’ll become.
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
I feel lucky
All kids drive their parents crazy, some more than others. Take Thumper, for instance. He’s my baby, the youngest of my four children, and the reason I can’t have nice things. He’s the reason I started sprouting gray hair before I hit thirty, the reason I’m sick of my own name, and the probable cause for any alcoholism his daycare teachers may suffer from.
But you know what? He’s perfect. He may be stubborn to a fault and have more energy than any one person should ever have, but he’s also the happiest four-year-old I’ve ever met. He has such a good heart, even when he’s feeling ornery, and he’s so stinkin’ adorable that I can never stay mad at him for long. I am lucky to be his mother.
For the record, I am lucky to be mother (and stepmother) to three other pretty fantastic kids, too. But I feel especially lucky to be Thumper’s mother, because I almost wasn’t, a fact I was reminded of last night.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 