another front entry pictorial essay

thoughts to think

Have you seen The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel?

I think I would recommend it to you. I love films that make you think.  This one makes you think about aging and travel and about outwardly being who you are on the inside.

I struggle with that last one. 

I wrote somewhere on this blog that I often feel like an outgoing person trapped in a shy person’s body.  It seems like all my adult years I have spent trying to change that.  It’s hard!

Anyhow that movie set my wheels spinning about a whole bunch of stuff.

Not all bad exactly but just when I was about to think how gloomy a day it was out I realized what I was looking at out the window was a fat robin.

Such a welcome sight on a gray winter day.

Just a few more weeks. 

Tonight I am making Guinness Beef Pie from What Katie Ate.  I never buy beer and felt like a teenager trying to act cool and nonchalant putting Guinness in my cart. As if I need a reason to buy beer?

Why am I such a dork?!

 

around the house and a black eye (gasp!)

So I’ve been waking early each day with the baby.  He is ready to get up at 5:35 everyday. And I mean ready as I stretch out each possible minute before I go in and get him.  If you asked me at 5:36 if this was a stressful way to start each day I would surely announce YES. (I might also follow that with a sarcastic retort—I am very good at those.)

Once I’ve had a good cup of tea and an egg and I’m dressed and my make up is on and the fires are stoked and the chickens are fed and the children have been dropped at school and the kitchen is clean after the breakfast rush then I might tell you it is a relief to wake early and get the day going.

This past week was marked by the splendor of Valentine’s Day.  My kids were very excited about the hoopla.  Henry had a party at school where the kids made snack bags with cereal and tasty bits.  He ended up with a nasty bug. (Norovirus?) He was so shocked by his illness.  In his world his life is full of exciting things around every corner.  He didn’t like vomiting.  He did good making it into a plastic bowl for the first one but then accidentally wacked the bowl over on the ottoman.  It managed to go in every tuft and crevice.  Is that TMI?  It was pretty gross.

That same night Sam took an elbow to the eye during a basketball game.  That’s all—no fighting or wrestling a bucking bronco.  But he looks like a cool dude.

It is windy and snowy today. How is it where you are?

 

And Today I Shall Blog

Today we watched an old version of Northwest Passage.  We watched it with much enthusiasm as this is the film my husband and I most talked about when he was deployed.  We couldn’t imagine that there would come a day when the temperature would be cold and blustery and we would snuggle with our children and watch Northwest Passage.  This was a book we both read and speak of often.

And now gah we have watched it!  It was a dreamy version..too stately and pretty.  And short.

They never did even venture to find the northwest passage but oh well.  It was cold and snowy out and our kids sat amongst us and watched.  The snow has fallen and we have a lot of it.  Like 36” and drifts almost as tall as me.

This is our car. Guess we aren’t in TX anymore!

hearty days

Six kids on a toboggan…there’s no more room!

We have been keeping warm both inside and out.  These winter days are still fun, the snow is still pretty, the pots of food on the stove are much appreciated. 

Okay that is only half true. We have been trading illness around us.   I’ll give you a cough if you give me that fever.  But really isn’t it best to be sick on a cold winter day?  Blankets and soup? Yeah it’s not  much fun when you have to walk through deep snow to feed the chickens and realize at breakfast there is hardly any milk left. The thought of going to the store makes you feel desperate like you actually have to go out and milk the cow in a blizzard. Even though all you have to do is drive 1/2 mile down the road and walk in the country store with the crotchety  clerk and walk to the back cooler and dig in the way back to get the freshest milk.  When you pay you will tell her to have a nice day even though she will snort and turn around like she is tooooooooo busy to say it back. Secretly I know she is nice somewhere within and she just has a bad habit of rudeness. That is just how crotchety people operate.

Anyway when you see your kids sledding down big hills with their smiles pasted to their face with their runny noses, it makes you happy.

Hadley and Henry making memories.

Nothing is more hearty on a cold snowy day than tomato soup.  Recipe from What Katie Ate.

 

I don’t have a finished picture of the soup because we ate it all But it was Good! Good! Good! The melted feta on the toasted bread crouton? Oye so good!

Stay warm!

My favorite part of 2012

We are a sentimental bunch, us humans.  It’s hard not to reflect on the past year and have some kind of thoughts.  Things have changed, maybe more than most years. Both in the world as a whole and in my own little world.

We received a gift while the year was half spent. A baby! Not just any baby either.

The happiest baby…smiles so big you fear he will hurt his face. 

He brought much joy to 2012. It can only get better especially since his dad is back.

Though he has only been back a couple weeks I feel like a new woman.  I knew I was muddling through but didn’t realize how much of myself was operating on fumes (no flatulence jokes, please).  I’m grateful for family and for each night we are able to sit at the dinner table together.

I welcome 2013 with optimism, with an open heart, and with a wish for each of you near and far for a

Happy New Year!

he came home

One day I woke up and cooked and cleaned like all the other days and then the next day he called and said he is coming home.  It was hard to say words. What do you say?

“Okay!”

“Great!”

It feels unreal to have my husband home living amongst us, his family.

I’m so happy he is home.

He is ours.

We waited at the airport through snow and ice. It seemed impossible he would  walk through that door.

But he did.

He is getting acquainted with the baby, who is sporting new rolls of chub and some tiny teeth.

 

When I walk into a room and see him sitting with the children and everyone is smiley, it makes me so emotional. Missing him has been hard work.

This Christmas has new meaning for me, about what is real and good.

I feel humbled and merry all at the same time.