116. Waking up to a rainy morning, so cool and refreshing, low clouds and fog hovering over the sliver of mountain view we get from our backyard.
117. The rain and clouds make for a lazy Sunday morning. I found an unopened Monopoly game in the hall closet when I cleaned it out for the yard sale yesterday. Lily found the game in the living room this morning and asked if I could teach her how to play it. As we opened the game and got it all set up, I thought so fondly of my brother Phil and how, as a kid, Monopoly used to be his most favorite game.
And thank you Monopoly for being a math teacher in disguise! Lily bought and paid for her own properties, and saw the benefit of surprise rewards (thanks to being a beauty pageant winner, passing Go and collecting $200, and more).
118. Enough money from our yard sale today to buy Lily some much needed new shoes and clothes.
119. So proud of Lily today for handling two of her most difficult adventures - the above (trying on new shoes and clothes) despite her sensory processing difficulties. I see her growing exponentially when she is challenged and I hold back. I must admit this is one of the hardest things to learn to do as a mom, and I can't foresee it getting any easier. Seeing the growth makes it worthwhile, but easy to do, probably not ever?
120. Taking the kids and the dog to the tennis courts in the late, sunny-with-clouds afternoon. We had three courts in an entire fenced area all to ourselves, plenty of room to spread our wings; Andy and I had (more than expected) friendly volleys, Lily had lots of great racket to ball contact with her Spongebob Squarepants racket (or bat, as Emmy referred to it) and coached Andy and I on when our balls were "out of balance", and Emmy, after tiring from chasing balls with Molly, found her shadow about five yards long and puddles to dip her hands in to make hand print art all over the courts. I cherish the beautiful differences in my daughters, their ingenuity, and approaches to the same family Sunday fun.
121. Getting my heart rate up, my muscles warm, and my shirt sweaty. Yes, I am a girl who likes a good sweat.
122, Dinnertime. Dinnertime at our house is not always the most pleasant, so when a truly enjoyable family dinner happens, every moment is savored and celebrated.
Our first simple pleasure was a white wine. Bought for cooking last night (we have the MOST AMAZING pork crock pot recipe, of all things) that Andy made. We thought surely this now opened bottle would die a long, slow death in the refrigerator because we usually don't drink white. But for some reason (lack of any other wine in the house maybe?), we poured and sniffed. And inhaled, exhaled, inhaled again with such delight over what our senses imagined - is it honey, is it peach, is it apple? Then sipped, ahhh, we enjoyed the moment, the flavor, and read that it was citrus rind - lime and orange. It's called Simply Naked (not us, just the wine) - Unoaked Pinot Grigio.
Next came Lily and Emmy devouring our family's traditional salad. Nothing came between them and that salad. The dressing has been passed down from generation to generation to generation on Andy's mom's side of the family: olive oil, red wine vinegar, Parmesan cheese, and garlic salt. No measurements, just add as you go right onto your greens and veggies of choice, and toss. So, it may vary from time to time and when it's on, it's ON and there is nothing you can do to stop yourself from drinking what's left in the bowl. Here are the girls completely in the moment, no forks necessary.
After dinner, Andy browsed through the pictures on my phone and found this picture that made us all smile. The tell tale Mom's Best Naturals Mallow Oats in the bowl (Emmy's favorite cereal, the closest I get to Lucky Charms), gave away the photographer. It's the simplicity in the shots, the colors and reflections in the glass table on the patio, and the fact that it was Emmy totally unsupervised this morning that made discovering them this evening so enjoyable.
123. I am thankful for the gift of an extra hour that we get come Daylight Savings, only a one hour time difference in the Fall and Winter to talk with Bumpa and Grammy in Wisconsin. They called this evening, and I am so happy that the conversation took an unexpected turn to a very candid talk on finances. Thank you, Dad, for the support to do what we think is right. It must be that letting go thing that I don't have the hang of yet!
124. While chatting away, I was oblivious to Andy and Lily working on a school project in the other room. The assignment, as given by Mrs. Worthington, Lily's first grade teacher:
Disguise Tom Turkey so the farmer can't find him when it's time for dinner. You will be provided with a blank turkey template and a writing sheet for this project. Decorate/disguise your turkey. Be creative and use any materials you want! Then work together to write a few sentences on the writing sheet about his disguise and how he manages to escape!
It is my sincere hope that in all my years to come, I (and you) think of our Thanksgiving turkeys as hula dancing Hawaiian girl turkeys. Thank you Lily and Andy for your endearing creativity!
125. The last thing I can relish in here tonight is our victory against the garbage disposal. Moments ago, it died and blew a breaker to boot. Upon the smell of something burning under the sink, I had visions of plumbers and dollar signs spinning. I was intimidated by the disposal mount alone and thought, how in the heck would I even go about taking that off? Andy reset the breaker, we tested the outlet, plugged the disposal into another outlet and nothing. We thought surely we were in for a home repair headache or money out of our pocket. But, Andy inspected again and found the culprit - a small stone lodged in the disposal. We managed to get it loose, and to also find the reset button underneath the unit! Neither one of us is the well-versed in home repairs, but one small victory at a time builds confidence in our skills, and in each other; I love the teamwork and high-fives in marriage.
Love it you capture childhood and the trials and tribulations of parenting perfectly, best of all the small successes are celebrated as well. love it.
ReplyDelete