Gifts That Keep Giving- Part One

Early January brings the after-Christmas-toys-everywhere blues. As if it's not enough to ward off the dim Winter skies, the weariness of Holiday activity and removal of all the twinkle-lights.

But now, there are exactly 32,734 new little teeny ever so important toys sprinkled on the floor. This makes me anxious. My perfectionism kicks in, I don't want pieces to be separated from their home-toy. When we're talking about Legos, Playmobile, sigh. 32,734 pieces.

So this is what I've done this year. While my boys, who were very happily playing with ONE of the thousands of toys they've accumulated, were occupied, I snuck around the house and collected the new & overwhelming toys and have put them away. The new toys haven't been missed. I will give it a few weeks and then sneak one toy out and put it on a sleeping boys' bed so they can wake up to Christmas all over again.

Really, I think it's going to work! My boys have a million new things, and half a million old things (going through those too). They don't miss a thing yet.

Truthfully, the weeks sneaking up to Christmas this year were painful. The boys were living in such anticipation of all the excitement that lands on one day. It was a miserable time for them.

A day after Christmas, I sat visiting with my Mother-In-Law and noticed that my cranky-anticipating-boys were happily off playing make believe with NO toys at all.

I'll be darned if they weren't just relieved.

...and I just made it better. I put away more than half of the gobs of toys, PEACE again.

Peaceful home, peaceful home....

Moving Days

I thought I'd sit down for a minutes and drop a line. We are thrilled to say we got the keys to the house; the movers came Sunday and now the unpacking begins

We're loving the new house. Every.little.thing. Even the creeking of old floors and mysteries that are yet tobe solved, mysteries of a new home. (Does the hot tub work? Where does this door lead to? Was this a laundry chute once upon a time?) The boys are relishing the space, running from their top floor bedrooms to basement and outside. This morning I was getting ready to shower, I peeked into the backyard to see Nate out on his bike jumping a ramp Ralph made on the bb court. At 7:00 a.m. The space is just simply divine.

Of course, my nose has been to the grindstone, emptying boxes as fast as I can and finding places for each thing....everything else goes in the basement for now. A little school here and there but I started early to give grace to these next weeks.

My mom came up to help empty boxes, the boys and I are delighted to have the company (and help!)

I'll be back, posting again sometime soon. Until then...enjoy your almost Autumn! Until then, I found this photo of Eli helping out with our move from VA to OR. He's a little bigger now but man, babies are cute!!...and I wouldn't dare post that one without this sweet photo taken of the boys that same month. Just 4 short years ago. Cutie boys, don't you think?

Now & Then...

...I get all sentimental. Missing my sweet, squashy little babies. And loving my sweet, boy-loving dad.

She's Still Got It

18 years of adulthood
9 years of this blessed marriage
8 years of mommyhood
35 years of adventures....and she's still got it.

"She," of course, being me. "It?" you ask? Skillz. Organizational-kick-butt-getting-that-house-clean skillz.

Alright, alright what's the big deal? I'll tell you what the big deal is.

Sometimes I forget what a full time job homeschooling is. Normal life for me is such that I have time to keep the dust off the furniture, meals on the table and our underwear clean. Just the basics. I spring cleaned my laundry room a few weeks ago (during a school week) and it took me three days.

So I'm reveling in Spring break. I've taken two weeks, and I'm so grateful for the time not just because I've gotten to Spring clean but because I've been horribly sick. Last week I had an awful stomach flu with the rest of the family and this week I've got a knock-down-dragout cold. So the time off is great. I've been resting so much and just being puny little me. And when I'm not so puny, I've been busy;

• steam cleaned all the carpets in the house
• finished painting our study/homeschool room
• deep cleaned my Master closet
• deep cleaned the coat/game closet
• set up a school plan for the rest of the year
• prepped for school for the last stretch
• started organization of the homeschool/study space

It's a good feeling, two weeks have been a perfect amount of time. I've gotten a lot done, and had time to play with the kiddos. And napped nearly every day.

But I digress, what I'm enjoying is the fact that I can get so much done in such a short period of time. When we're schooling, organization and deep cleaning fall by the wayside. Schooling can be relatively unmeasureable, sometimes I don't realize how much I get done in a day. But a comforting thought is that if I can get so much measureable work done, the unmeasureable work is significant and oh so important.

Seeing the look on Nate's face when he realizes he read an entire book
is my reward. When Eli can't get over himself because he was the first
of the three to memorize the American presidents,
there is my paycheck.
Reading another of Joey's detailed and adventurous books,
that's all the milestone I need.

So, I started this entry thinking on how great it is to have some time off to get things done. How nice it is to see that I can still get it done. But I'm finishing like this: the most important work to be done in the world is oftentimes unmeasurable. I tend to like measurable work, but it's the unmeasurable that is most valuable. Loving, teaching, playing, looking our people in the eyes, talking to them...this is most important work.

And so I look forward to back to school next week. And my house is pretty stinking clean. Ahhhh....that's important too.

A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable.
Louis Kahn

Winter Walk

Winter Walk II

Revolt

Please enjoy throughout this post the sweet photos of my now 6 year old photo acting for you all. They are unrelated to the blog.


I've been spending a fraction of my normal time online lately, tonight is a night I'm going to read up a little, and share a little too.

After reading Jen's blog entry on The Holocaust of Time, I lay in bed wondering where my time was being spent frivolously. I made some quiet contracts with myself about television and internet time in order to change the highway robbery I was permitting.

I know myself well, and I know this won't be the last day I visit this issue- paring back, but I'm really grateful for the wake-up call this week and am enjoying more of my time back to myself.
I've all but discarded my facebook account. I'll keep it around because I really enjoy the old relationships I've discovered. But I'm going to let all the chit chat go for now.

Now you might think I was all caught up on my household chores but really I've just enjoyed more board games with the boys and fun like that. Lots of good conversation with my working at home hubby and some good conversations on the phone which are a not a time-thief for me.

I was thinking of how with the economic downturn so many of us have tightened our wallets. We've gotten super frugal here and there in order to make a dollar stretch. Right now my challenge is to evaluate how I'm spending my time.

I'm sure an account of time spent reflects your true priorities....I so much want to look from the outside in on my life and see me playing with my boys, nurturing my home and gardens, loving on my sweet husband, lost in wonderful books, cooking up a storm, shooting timeless moments~ this is who I want to be.

Looking Back

This last week has been a wonderful, luxurious week for me....an accidental staycation.

Our Christmas was wonderful, Mom and Dad Perko came all the way from N CA to stay and were here for nearly a week. We celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with both THE Perkos and the Rammage family, it was great. (We missed you Hazelfamily & Nikifamily)

Needless to say, when our guests left and I got the house kind of back in order, I was so content just to rest. The boys had a huge Christmas, and were happily drowning in trampoline-snow play, Wii play and then the other wonderful toys they got. So I took naps, played a little Wii (because I won't be left behind) , some serious Monopoly, hung out with my kiddos, and played a lot with my new camera...did I mention that Ralph got me a new camera for Christmas? I'm lovin' my new fancy camera and am taking regular breaks to learn it.
You'll see the evidence of it, I promise.

I can't remember the last time I was home and so restful, as if I was on vacation. It's given me a lot of time to reflect on the year, and think about the one to come.

Yesterday morning the boys and I started watching some home videos from the years past. I learned some things from the footage- got some perspective. This is what I noticed;

1. Clutter around the house that might otherwise irritate showed the character of our home and told the story of the season. I smile at things like binkis & boardbooks on the floor, little boys covered in marking pen and stacks of laundry on the couch because that was our life then and I miss it a little.
2. Serious-ness is overrated. I need to relax, ease up on the boys when they're being (appropriately) silly because it's cute now and again, I kind of miss it.
3. Lately I've been thinking on what it means to be a "good" successful mama. Watching these videos made me think it's about being present. Listening to my kids rather than being distracted- even if it's to explain to them that I'm working/reading/writing so they can know they need to tell me later. Being engaged regularly is invaluable. Did you notice the twinkle in your daughter's eye when you brought your face down to hers to listen to her account of the sibling saga? Invaluable...
4. Taking a minute or two of video regularly is a treasure. You'll have it to look back on for years to come.
   
5. I don't love the sound of my voice.
6. "Normal" life and "normal" days are wonderful to catch glimpses of. I need to stop and watch & enjoy my family more often.
7. When you look at your child and think, "You'll never be cuter than you are in this moment"...you're right.
8. Season's come and go quickly. When I'm in the hard ones, remember that.
   

Walking into 2010 I'm going to be more mindful of these things, taking time to enjoy the days rather than tidying them up and correct. This mama needs to relax a bit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This weekend I'm prepping for school next week. I've really enjoyed resting but I'm ready to get these kiddos stimulated and busy-minded again. We are back in class next week, headed for basketball and in full swing. I'm so grateful for the rest I've gotten this week. Happy New Year!

December Part One

Folks without lightspeed internet use, be warned; this is the heftiest of my photo blogs in quite some time. You might just want to go get yourselves a cup o' tea while the photos steep. I promise they're worth it.

Life has a way of flying by this time of year. I've been swimming in Christmas plans, shopping, super-cleaning my house and trying to enjoy the season and just hang with my family in my spare time.
Ralph gives the boys chess lessons while he's stuck off his feet.
Check out all that hair on those boys, dreamy..eh?

On top of it all, we've been sick on and off. Ralph was off his foot (on crutches) for 8 weeks and when he started getting around more he was hit with a small virus but his body took weeks to recover. This week he's feeling better, I'm so grateful because Joey's first play ran (2 rehearsals and 4 performances) this week and we were covering a lot of bases together. What a busy season.

My load was lightened when I decided last week to pull back on school. I've been reading to the boys and playing more games, baking, and that is what school has been. I'm a better mom for that decision.

Going back a little...

Thanksgiving day was Joe's 8th birthday. The years go by so fast (though the days are sometimes long) and he's just so big, and so pleasant. I'm enjoying everyday I get to spend with this sweet boy who is growing up before my eyes. We had a little party for him before Thanksgiving dinner, it was a fun day;
All my boys pictured with their cousin, Zander.

We got our tree, the boys loved decorating and redecorating;


This week I took the boys to run some errands and we had a lunch date, good fun;


The boys are taking private swim lessons too. We usually try and get the boys in a few sessions of swim lessons in the Winter but all our other activities make that harder and harder. Five private lessons have been the equivalent (in learning) to 4 sessions for each boy; cheaper and much, much less time. Eli and Nate can both swim the length of the pool now, and Joey is perfecting his breathing and strokes.

I picked up some 5x7 canvas at Michael's (40% off) for the boys to make Christmas gifts for their grandparents. I covered the table and the boys and pulled out the acrylic paints- let 'em at it. Of course they loved painting every.square.inch of each canvas and I think they'll make beautiful gifts for Grandparents. Easy and heartfelt. :)

This will be the longest blog entry ever.
I'm okay with that.

Nathan's birthday is sneaking up too...to make sure the anticipation isn't lost in the midst of Christmas, I made him a paper chain to count down the days. He loves it of course, but still pouts when he realizes he has 20-some days to go. Every day he cuts off a link and gets one day closer.

Yes, his shirt is backward and inside out 'cause that's how we paint around here.

So that is what's been going on around here. I'm missing all of you and noting that a lot of friends just are too busy to post just now. Looking forward to reading about your lives more later...