Our wee one fell asleep during book time tonight. It was only 6:45pm. Sleep well dear soul!
Category Archives: Parenting
Be at the Beginning (my 501st post!)
Folks… How did I write 500 posts? Here is my 150th post! I wrote it almost a year ago. So, if I do the math correctly, in the last 365 days (which equals one year), I have written just shy of one post per day. Sexy Neck, am I right? Is this possible?
As I sit and write this five hundred and first post, where am I?
I am at the beginning.
The start.
Fresh.
New.
Beginning.
Each day I fully embrace. I feel more alive with deep emotion than I have ever felt.
Life is not about living in Disneyland, but enjoying those Disneyland moment. The exciting rides, the yummy sweet food, the cleanliness and friendly people.
Life is not about running from sadness, grief and hard times, but sitting in it. Living through it. Feeling deeply. The tears, the anguish, the copious amounts of laundry and people who will never make sense.
Life is about a beautiful woven quilt like my mom used to make. The light and dark fabrics making a beautiful pattern.
Life is about forgiving and starting fresh each day. The sun and the moon providing guideposts to help us do this.
Life is about surrounding myself with healthy people who may not understand me but honour me for who I am. People make a difference in my life, both positively and detrimentally. I am a relationship person. They are important to me.
Life is about being positive and focusing on my strengths. I could ‘work on’ all my negative attributes for the rest of my life and not move one mile, but I can continue to concentrate on my gifts and talents and hit the stars. Don’t we all find it easy to do what we love? Imagine if we chose to live this way each day?
Life is about beginnings. Learning to paddle board at sixty-seven years old. Going on a Tour de France Training Camp in Mallorca at age seventy. Being the very best Nana, mom, wife, aunt, sister and friend each day.
Thank you mom for teaching me about beginnings… And for being my guide through the ultimate of beginnings here on earth as a human being, death.
And now I ponder my own beginnings: starting a business, going back to school, new stages with my boys, fitness, health, volunteering, new activities, new friends and new starts with old ones.
Anticipation.
Excitement.
Pondering.
New.
Beginnings.
Be a Golf Camper in 2014
It always amazes me the memories that we hold dear to us. I love hearing peoples stories for this very reason.
My boys memories are especially sweet for me because they often have a profound deepness about them and sometimes they are seriously silly!
Last year I blogged about our oldest experiencing a golf camp here.
Here are both of our boys at golf camp today. JC is seven and CC is almost five. (We snuck him in!) They were very excited to go together and ride in the golf cart, putting the ball down hill very carefully and driving the ball towards a yellow flag.
The boys are waiting for camp to begin. Papa is in the background chatting to the instructor. 
The boys were ready and in the car before any of us this morning… thank goodness the car was in the garage or they would have had to get out because it was hot, hot, hot today! 
The boys getting ready to ride the cart down to the driving range. 
JC brought up a memory from last year. Nana had walked down to the driving range to watch him hit the ball. At the end of the session Nana decided to race the golf cart back up the hill. JC remembered her running fast. And in true Nana fashion, she won the race!
How can this only be a year ago? How could she have been in the hospital only a month later? And DEAD five months later?
Memories.
Tumbling forth.
Beautiful, driven Nana.
Boys who cherished her presence.
Loving.
Determined.
Encouraging.
Present.
Nana.
Be in the Water for the First Time
Our youngest made the plunge and came in our pool today – for the first time, first time!
Refreshing water.
Healing water.
Buoyant water.
Changing water.
Still waters.
Living water.
Blessings to my baby boy as he learns all about water.
Be Asking What You ‘Did’ on the Weekend
As a stay-at-home mom, my Monday to Fridays are weekends and my weekends are a holidays because I have all my boys at home. My favourite quote as I raise up young men, “The days are long, but the years are short?”
My usual weekends involve cooking, cleaning, laundry, driving, encouraging, creating and loving up my boys to get ready to launch them ‘back into the world’ for another week. I feel profoundly grateful that I can be my three boys first teacher and that Sexy Neck supports me emotionally as well as financially. I feel completely content with my ‘job’ but sometimes I cringe at the Monday morning school drop-off where people ask about your weekend.
Tomorrow, I am going to be laughing my head off as I answer the question, “What did you do on the weekend?”.
I did surgery on a bear!
Thanks JC for taking the photo of me sewing on daddy bear’s head. Nana would be proud. We had daddy bear sitting by Nana’s sewing machine since the fall, but we brought him home. I sewed on my first teddy bear head. I can do anything.
New.
Risk taking.
Needle.
Thread.
One head at a time.
Grace.
Peace.
Joy.
Huge smile from JC.
Proud Mama.
Another great day.
Week.
Weekend.
Doing.
Being.
Be ‘Including’ My Children
A few weeks ago, I received a comment, an innocent comment, that I have pondered and chewed on for weeks.
“Wow, you guys always do such a great job of including your children in what you are doing!”
I am surprised by this comment because:
🌀 On a daily basis, I love including my boys bustling energy of curiosity with what we are doing.
🌀 I never imagine doing anything without my boys hovering near by or asking to help. Even when I am just folding laundry they often help or play hockey behind me.
🌀 If we do ‘want’ to do something without the boys, we will plan for one of us to take them on an excursion outside of the house or do the activity during Naptime or after bedtime. I must admit that these times are few and far between.
Here is our family in action over the last few weeks working together on landscaping, pool opening, crib disassembling and dog training:
Sexy Neck moves one load of dirt then one load of boys.
JC heard that we were going to take down the crib… One morning he awoke, got the tools, disassembled the crib and brought it all downstairs. He’s seven and had remembered working with Sexy Neck to put it up last summer.
Loading up the trailer for the dump and then getting a ride in the trailer across the yard.
Laying brick with Papa Bob.
Rolling out turf.
‘Preparing’ the new garden.
Dog training and walking.
Before and after: Taking off the winter pool cover.
Working together.
Team.
Family.
Takes longer?
Yes!
Raising boys into men.
Harnessing energy.
Pouring in.
Pouring out.
Sticking together.
Perfectly imperfect.
Patiently teaching.
Creating lovely memories.
Putting down roots.
Together.
Be Eating Outside
Do you think food tastes better when eaten while camping, on your favourite restaurant patio or simply in your own backyard?
Tonight, I am going to have to say definitely “Yes”! It was our first meal outside since our insane autumn. It was delicious and sunny.
We even enjoyed Lindt chocolates on the lawn sent from our good friends in Germany. Sweet!
Now I am wondering do our taste buds change depending on our location? Hmmmmm… I think we will have to try this experiment again tomorrow.
Be Painting Yet Another Wall.
This wall is a paint can full of love for my boys.
First my man, Sexy Neck:
And then my wee boys:
My imperfect love poured out.
God’s redeeming love making it perfect.
All that I have.
All that I am.
Love I cannot describe.
Rich.
Humble.
Grateful.
A wife.
A mother.
Poured out through paint, through words, through actions.
Freely given.
Love.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
"Be" ENOUGH 