crash!
March 2, 2010 | Filed Under extraordinary, familial | 4 Comments
we had our first experience with kids and doctor-necessary injuries yesterday afternoon. i wish i hadn’t seen it, but i did. henry doing amazing four wheeling tricks with speed down the hill, jude running alongside, the pup and lola at my side. then a slow-motion crash over the handlebars and onto his chin on the pavement. thankfully granddad is here, always here when we need stitching (last time it was my hand, cat food can), his skills at stitching the face coming in most handy yesterday, on the kitchen counter, dinner on the stove (a pic of this can be seen on ernie’s blog). granddad was here, ernie’s EMT cousin was around the corner with his emergency bag of supplies. henry only busted open his chin and only needed eight stitches (which should provide him with a handsome scar) when there could have been a broken nose, broken permanent teeth, a broken bloody jag across the middle of his face.
it’s really easy for me to sing the doxology and not listen to any of the words or think anything about it at all. but today i know that God is always good to us, we have handfuls of blessings for which we are thankful, and that every so often we really see that he loves us, little sparrows that we are.
star atlas
February 20, 2010 | Filed Under familial, ordinary | Leave a Comment
saturdays, easy and free. i hate the grocery store on saturdays, but somehow, today, it wasn’t too bad. later there was pizza and lots if olive oil, a pretty loaf of bread and the sounds of laughter from the kids in the gathering room.
saturday nights, sleepy and slow. henry in his bed reading books, drifts away into stars and dreaming. jude in his bed, sprawled out, mouth agape, his early morning a mere blink away. lola in her pajamas, curling hair on the pillow, covers kicked away, the world hers for the taking.
into a thousand lights of sun
February 19, 2010 | Filed Under familial | 2 Comments
working in the sunporch has a great sunny advantage. the studio with ernie had amazing morning sunshine, but this room is bright all day long, even on dreary days when the bright is gray.
we went to dinner with the kids, which is always fun and makes us feel like superstars. and then ernie gave me coffee and took us to the folk art show at art & light. i don’t know who else was there, but kent ambler was, along with his woodcuts. what’s a body got to do in order to have money around for giant woodcuts to hang upon the wall? i really must know.
the pink one
January 29, 2010 | Filed Under familial | 3 Comments
my niece vienna turned three on thursday. lola wore overalls and a tutu to the party, as she should, i suppose. the boys ran wild with nerf guns and cousins and friends in the back. there was also pink galore, for vienna is apparently quite fond of this color. my sister in law janell is very good at throwing simple parties that are unstructured but have just the right amount of magic and mayhem for the littlest among us. i should learn from this, although i don’t think i could ever conjure up so much pink.
countenance enhancing
January 12, 2010 | Filed Under familial, inspired, ordinary | Leave a Comment
chris sent this to us and the kids think it’s hilarious. what is that tire-necklace for? framing the face? i really don’t know.
it’s kind of mind blowing that people have been having that kind of competition for 800 some years, in and out of centuries, humanity connected always by the simple and every day, even the making of faces just for a laugh.
christmas surprise no. 3 :: bunk beds!
January 11, 2010 | Filed Under familial, ordinary | 3 Comments
bunk beds of generations, these are, slept in by now three generations of rambunctious, whispering, crashing boys. freshly painted, and also freshly dinged (my fault for some of the dings: i’m terrible at carrying my end of a piece of furniture, really: don’t ask me to help you with anything important). grammy sent bedding for christmas, and lights, and we’ve been tucking them in since assembly. what a great invention, the bunk bed. really now, a great invention.
so long, wiggy.
January 8, 2010 | Filed Under extraordinary, familial, inspired | 3 Comments
for a long time now, since his hair got darker and lost almost all hope of curl (good grief, he looks like lola there), we, being curly heads, have had trouble with cutting his hair ourselves. enough was enough, and jude danced his dancing pants into the chair and got a haircut by someone who knew what to do, who coincidentally does a fantastic job cutting my hair, and ernie’s hair, and, this isn’t a commercial or anything, but wilson himself of wilson’s on washington is a whiz of a hair stylist.
and now jude thinks he’s all that, as he probably should. i just want to kiss his forehead constantly. it’s a very good forehead. he is very much against anyone touching the hair, but he will have to get over that.
we were inspired by the cookie spread on good kid hair cuts, but when we went back to take a gander, we realized that we were merely inspired to get this poor kid a good haircut, and not necessarily inspired to give him a haircut as pictured in the mag. i do like that cute little bobbed hair with bangs. lola could rock that, and maybe she will. i just don’t know if i can give up having her in pigtails. and then we were totally glad that david beckham kicks and runs around with good hair and has his picture taken, because that made the whole explanation of what we were thinking that much easier: david beckham’s faux-hawk. or is it fohawk? more pics of jude loving his haircut can be seen here.
henry is a bit envious, he being a curl hater, having curls that everyone gushes over. any seven year old boy would want to cut his curls off after all of the hair tousling he’s put up with. we don’t blame him. but i really feel sad about that, as deeply and motherly sad as i was when jude’s hair went smooth and darker than the white gold blonde ringlets he had from the first. can i have two boys with rad hair that isn’t long and free and curling? oh, these boys: they grow in blinks and blurs and in the most terribly frightening lightning flashes.
neighborly gestures
January 6, 2010 | Filed Under familial, ordinary | 5 Comments
there are new neighbors unpacking next door, heaps of boxes piled at the road, cable vans in the drive. they have a long backyard with an empty doghouse that has an arched doorway, cartoon style. they have a mini-van and a skirted mother and have pierced a flower pot with an american flag. we watch from behind the doors and windows, i am this kind of neighbor. later in the week we’ll take them bread or cookies and go over and introduce our boisterous selves to them. for now we will just peek and take notes.
they do not have a volkswagon bus, this is the car of a neighbor across the street, one who works and comes home for quiet evenings. we’ve not yet met, but they sure do have a great vehicle.
there is another neighbor a few doors down that told me the history of the street, the perils and children and gossip of other residents. she claims the inside of our house was once the color of the ocean deeps and decorated with seashells and fishermen’s nets. there are remnants of this behind that cause me to believe her: the blue of the boys’ closet, the oyster shell shaped sink in the bathroom. the neighbor told me these and other details while my tea kettle burned dry on the stove. i have forgiven her, but no longer linger at the mailbox, and often send the boys out to get the mail, instead.
the people behind us have a young boy who told my boys he was going to chop our dog with sharp stick. we don’t see him much and this is all that can be reported about him at this time. i’m sure he’s just being a boy and nothing will come of his threats, but i did ask him to please not speak of our dog like that, and to, by all means, put the stick down.
greeneness
January 2, 2010 | Filed Under familial, inspired, ordinary | 1 Comment
the show last night went well, especially for a holiday and for being the only gallery open last night. ernie posted to his blog some great photos early on in the evening. the kids got to be a little too rambunctious to stay much longer, so we scooted on out about half way through, but it was great all the same.
annie brought me some good chocolate from chicago and when i was eating some of it last night i was wishing i was a chocolatier, or just living the movie chocolat.
also, at the show, i met kent ambler, who was very humble about his amazing work in person and then when i went to his website i was blown far and away. he does some incredible things, those woodcuts: i die.
this weekend we’re setting up bunk beds in the boys room, the bunks that ernie and his brother slept in, that their dad and his brother slept in, newly painted and otherwise spruced. i do fear collapse, but i also have, on occasion, a very morbid imagination.
christmas surprise no. 1 :: maximus
December 24, 2009 | Filed Under extraordinary, familial | 2 Comments
a little max in the house. we wanted the kids to find him under the tree on christmas morning, but we couldn’t work it out to hide him for that long so we brought him home on saturday. he was still a great surprise, and saturday (take note) was, according to him, the greatest day of jude’s life. everyone is being gentle with max and responsible, even lola, who spent the first two days shrieking and running and sitting up high in a chair to watch max from afar. she has now moved on to holding him in her lap and using the leash. it’s very sweet and i’m so glad ernie and i decided to go ahead and do it. we enjoy kahlil, but due to her rambunctious and hard-to-train self, she romps about outside with the kids and then stays there. so a little inside-the-house-to-snuggle pooch was in order, don’t you think?
i always hope for christmas eve to be simple and easy, everything done, slow mornings, maybe a fog over frost in the yard, coffee in hand, music around, sock feet that aren’t stepping in toast crumbs. alas, it is not to be. we are still running a bit behind and i have to break my rule against venturing into a store on christmas eve and go out this afternoon. henry sings at church and lola is asking if she, too, can wear a robe like henry does. hopefully tonight, after the running about and grinch watching and choir singing and present wrapping (and stocking! making! poor lola still needs one!), i will get to sit by the tree, the fire, with ernie and feel warm and christmas and blessed all over.