Dear January

My Sweet Kids,

January kicked my a&s.  

From some of the behavior we saw this month, I would say it kicked yours too.

I wish I had nicer words but when I think back to New Year's Day- i

t was about an eternity ago.  

Really really long month, but we made it.  

I actually feel like I might fall flat on my face Feb. 1, but no time for that.

We tried to keep it light and easy this month. 

Good news, we have a lot of room 

for improvement next month! 

Way too much!

 I looked back at the month and I am tired from the pictures.

We painted most of the house.

Went to the beach a few times and explored our city.

Hubbie had her surgery and we nursed her to healthier, but not 100%.

The dentist. Flu shots. A lot of OT and PT.

A lot of football. Still sad for our 49ers.

Open House, school projects, math tests for Anna and a first book report.

Back to the swing of school.

No rain, but super cute rain boots.

Everyone has had some sickness this month.  Coughs, colds, etc. 

We had a plumbing back up, disposal break, garage door break, cable/internet/phone go down.

Oh, and we locked ourselves out of the house.

HELLO FEBRUARY!

We love you already.

xoxo

mom

Open House

Dear Taylor and Anna,

Every January, in recognition of Catholic Schools Week, 

we get to peek into your classrooms and see some of your work.

This year, Taylor, your class worked on Native American reports- all in class, all on your own.

I am so proud of you and your hard work.

Your diorama.

 Your report.

 I am not sure what this is, but it is beautiful.  On either side are children's food chains.

Taylor, you got to walk yours up and put it on the altar at mass.

 You and your cute friend Sophia.

Anna you had some incredible hard work on display too!.

 I am not sure what this represents.

 Your Martin Luther King Jr project.

 The back of your Snowman Project

Your stunning snowman!  I just love that she has a broom.

Your math family....

 Clearly we are still working on math fact families.

Love you girls so much and I am so proud of you!

xoxo

Inspiration and Grace

My sweet kiddos,

Saturday morning we packed into the car and headed to Grace Cathedral to see "Graced With Light." 

Grace Cathedral describes this as :

Graced With Light

As a part of 100 Years of Music at Grace Cathedral, visual artist Anne Patterson created Graced With Light, a stunning, music-inspired installation that incorporates Grace Cathedral’s vaulted ceiling arches and video projection. Ms. Patterson envisioned a series of light pathways, connecting heaven and earth, manifest as ribbons. The ribbons carry our prayers, dreams and wishes skyward, and, in turn, grace streams down the ribbons to us. The video projection component runs daily from 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. and until 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, during Yoga on the Labyrinth. The projected video was created by artist, projection designer, and filmmaker Adam Larsen.

 

Graced With Light is constructed of nearly 20 miles of ribbon, and has been hand-assembled by Ms. Patterson and the Grace Cathedral community. 

I love that members of the community wrote their prayers, dreams and wishes, which travel to the sky and grace streams down on us.

The experience was inspiring, soulful, almost magical.

 I was walking up the isle and saw you Anna.  

You were kneeling in prayer and then looking up at the huge altar. 

You looked so sweet there by yourself.

 Ummmm.  Mr. Hudson. We need to have a few words about church behavior.

Your behavior was much better than Christmas Eve, but the bar was low.

 My sweet angelic Taylor.

 There are no words to describe the beauty in this.  

The light in the cathedral is so beautiful.  Hudson, while you would not sit still, I love this photo.

 More prayers.  

We loved this explanation card.  

All in all, it was a magical start to a VERY long day.

xoxo

 mom

Looooooooove

To my little loves,

How is it that we are deep into Valentine's Day planning already?  

I am still packing up from Christmas....literally.

There is something sweet about Valentines day with the three of you.

(Love this darling picture you made for me during free time at school Taylor).

It isn't about romance.  

It is about candy, classroom valentines, 

fun red and pink clothes and our "heart attack."
 (I first got the idea to do this from this blog here.)

It is a day of celebration.

What I love about doing the heart attack is spending the time 

to think about what we love in our life.  

As it is today.

There is a quote by Jennifer Gayle that says

"When you look at life through the eyes of gratitude,

the world becomes a magical and amazing place."

So, what do I love today?  What will be on some of my hearts??

-Snuggling with my babies-

I realize that I am down to one that will fit comfortably on my lap

 and I almost burst into tears thinking about that.

-The end of every day-

It is chaotic and crazy, but it feels like the heartbeat of our home.

Taylor, you are chasing Hudson.

Anna, you are dressing up for the occasion.  Putting on lip gloss and getting your purse.

I am yelling because NO ONE listens to me.

We are late. For every single thing.

Homework is out.

Uniforms are everywhere.

I hate it and LOVE it at the same time.

This is one of those things I am certain I will miss when you are all out of the house.

-Projects-

Daddy can tell you that I love a project.

Painting- check

Organization- swoon

Crafts- yep

I think I like to have something I can dig into without a real deadline or consequence.  

Daddy will tell you that I also tend to finish things in a day 

but leave all the little tidy up parts for weeks. (rehanging pictures for example)

-Love-

Quotes.

Sayings

Poems.  If the "Love Letters From Great Men" book from Sex and the City was really a book,

I would read it daily.  It isn't though. :(

Silly but darling things like this bracelet. 

(which I may have gotten myself from the three of you-

you kids are so good to me, thank you)

More on this later, but I wanted to tell you how much I love you.

xoxo

mom

Perfect January Beach Day

Well cuties,

We have been having some perfect weather.  

It is sunny, warm, and only January! 

We are having a draught too.

The warm sun on your face is cathartic.

We spent Monday at the beach.  Boy, nothing could be better, and it was such fun.

 You ran in and out of the waves.

 I just never tire of looking at this view.

  I see this and remind myself that we really live in one of the greatest spots on earth.

 One more because I just love Anna escaping the "huge" wave.

 Anna, you diligently collected rocks and shells.

 Hudson, after much coaxing you were willing to join a bit of the fun.  

At first, the sand was more than you could take.

Then you slowly worked your way towards the water.

Getting wet is your worst nightmare.

Then, while waiting for your sisters to fill your pail with water, a teeeeeeny tiiiiiiiny bit washed up and your pants got just a little bit wet so you took them off immediately!

 Underpants at the beach are the BEST!!

I just love seeing the three of you playing together. 

For just a moment, no one was yelling at anyone else. 

No one was bossing another person around.

You sat and played in the sand.

You sat and played in the sand.

I was so so happy to spend the day with you.

xoxo

mom

#TBT

I am not sure when this picture was taken, but it is one of my top five favorite pictures of you girls.  

I know it was a Feb. or March day, the weather should not have been so warm.

The sun was shining, the bridge was beautiful.

A perfect day.

My sweet baby boy.

 Maybe 1-2 week old Hudson.

Love these oldies but goodies.

My Tay Girl

Dear Taylor,

I have noticed in the past few days that you have matured so significantly, right before my eyes.  

If I were to describe you in a few words, 

I might say you are so smart it blows my mind, 

your memory is unfailing, 

your voracity as a reader is like I have never seen, 

and you are slowly finding your way in the world.  

Most of these things describe you perfectly.  

You are starting to find your way amongst others.  

You are settling into a group of friends, you are finding hobbies that you enjoy,  a

nd you have found your rhythm as big sister and leader.  

As a sister you are funny as anything, silly, patient and kind.  

You make Hudson laugh so hard he aches, 

you play games that are so silly it surprises me, 

and with Anna you are gentle, caring, kind, and best friend.  

You were our first baby and I always wanted you to have a sister so you could have the built in partner in crime that I had with Meggie and Daddy had with Pat Pat.  

We often hear other parents talk about the non stop fighting and bickering, 

and while we certainly have that, it is very mild.  

I think this is because of your temperament with Anna.  

You let the little things roll off your back.  I am grateful for this.

I am so so proud of you every single day.  

I am so proud to be your mom. 

I love you so much.

My thoughts on being your mom....

Dear Taylor, Anna, and Hudson,

I have been so slow in writing to you these past few weeks, though you have weighed heavily on my mind.  Winter break was long but lovely.  It was so nice to spend time with each of you playing board games, reading books, lounging around doing not much of anything.  We are trying hard to preserve that pace, and while I have said here before that some days will be a failure at this, others will not.

In the past week, I have once again been enjoying my spot in the middle place.  I have been caring for my mom/Hubbie, and caring for each of you.  I think that so far, this has been one of the most difficult things I have done, and at the same time, the loneliest and the saddest. You see, I only have one parent left, and I need her.  You need her.  We count on her to fill the gaps.  I am not the softest person, she is.  I don't make charts with drawings on them and stickers and rewards, she does.  She can sit and listen to you read and sound out words for hours.  She can practice math facts with the patience of Mother Theresa.  I bring different things to the picture, but we both add value.  While I sat in the cancer center last week waiting what felt like an eternity for her surgery to finish, I felt alone and I missed you so much.  I craved the routines of our day.  I watched time tick by.  I wore my mom's watch with mine, mostly for comfort.

 I watched a beautiful sunset.  The crowd in the waiting room dwindled throughout the day to just three of us, sitting there long past dark.  Waiting. 

We just did this a few months ago (more here). This time, after days and days in the hospital, I brought her home to recover at our house.  Daddy is gone, Hubbie needed me, you three needed me, and I needed you. You three bring joy and distraction, which I think helps heal.  

Once again, we blended and pureed.  This time, the end of the day looked like this.  

You caught us up on your day, Hudson brought his bucket of trucks to play.  

There was noise, and with that came a bit of joy.

While I know my mom won't live forever, 

she is ours to care for and appreciate as long as we have her.

I am so grateful to have the chance to do so.

The days were hard and long, and boy am I tired. 

I am so grateful to each of you for your help.

The hugs and kisses at the end of the day.

Your sensing that I was struggling and doing your very best.

Thank you.

xoxo

mom

A long promised coat of paint.

My dear sweet Anna,

I am not sure if it was that you are very patient, or completely forgot, but you have waited years for me to paint your room for you.  I have been actively promising for at least 2 years, but kept putting it off.

So, over the break, I decided it was time to paint!  Anything and everything, but especially your room.

We tried a few different purples and ultimately, I settled on one that was a smidge lighter than we started with.  Daddy took the three of you off to a birthday party and I got busy!  

 Here is the finished product!

Goodness gracious I love this Ikea shelf.  It looks so much better than before. 

Your dresser also looks much better in this space. 

 I pulled your bed canopy out again and put it back up.  It looks almost etherial.  

 We have one panel from your baby nursery and sadly this fabric is gone.  I can't find it anywhere. 

Well Anna.  Your room is now as beautiful as you!  It is peaceful, pretty, and perfectly set-up for you.

You are thrilled so far, and I hope that we can keep it neat and organized.

xoxox

mom