This is a video that my brother in law shot at the party at my parent's house last weekend.

Something about it makes me want to watch it over and over again.

People tell me all the time that these are the best years of my life, that while my children are small is the very best time I'll ever experience. And something about this video captures that for me.
It's only 16 seconds long but in that 16 seconds you can see a lot:
 

There I am, young and healthy, holding a birthday cake for my beautiful tiny daughter on her 6th birthday. We are at my parent's house and she's being sung to by both my immediate and extended family- all the people that I love. At the far left side you can catch glimpses of my wonderful Mother, fixing food. My brother, Jason, is in the shot and I never get to see him enough. You can hear my Uncle Don's voice singing clearly and at the end my sweet Grandma Phyllis sings "and many more!".

 

I love it.

 

I know that in 10 or 20 years my children will be grown and gone and things will be different.

So I'm glad that I have this little video to remind me of a moment in time when things were just right, and I'll kiss my babies a few extra times and try to savor these moments just like everyone tells me to.

Christmas 2012

playing tic tac toe with Dad

 

One of the major positives of Justin being a student right now is that he gets a big Christmas break and we get to just hang out together for some time around Christmas. We're loving every minute of having him home.

 

We had dinner at a cute little diner here named "Uncle Jim's"

 

 

we worked on a big puzzle

 

 

wore old Christmas gifts to church (Ariane made me this necklace a few years ago- love it!)

 

 

watched lots of Christmas movies

 

 

made sugar cookies for Santa

 

 

Davy's frosting job:

 

 

 

 

 

we got ready for our 2nd annual formal Christmas Eve dinner

 

 

 

 

I took this picture about 2 mintues before Davy spilt his sparkling cider all over the table

 

Santa came!

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

we went to Grandma and Grandpa Bunn's house where David helped get the chicken feed ready

and Audrey made some beautiful yummy mini pink cupcakes

 



 

 

It was a great Christmas!

 

family time

 

My favorite time of day is mid-morning. Right after I've taken Justin and Audrey to school. Davy and I come home and walk from the chill of the outside air into our warm house. We leave the tv off and I start straigtening up. There are dishes from breakfast to be washed, beds to be made, pajamas left on the floor and hair brushes left on the table from the rush of getting out the door in the morning.

 

Davy follows me from room to room "helping". Yesterday he had the broom with him and "swept up" wherever I went, swinging the big broom around, narrowly missing the tv a couple of times.

 

We get the house all put back together and then read some books on the couch and have some lunch. I love that he gets some one-on-one time with me while his sister is at school.

 

But I also love it when it's time to go get Justin and Audrey from school. When Davy wakes up from his nap I ask him, "should we go get Daddy and Audrey?" and he gets all excited and runs to go grab his shoes. We stand outside and wait for Audrey by her school and he collects and throws pinecones until her teacher walks her out the door. I hear all about her day as we drive down to ISU to pick up Justin. We park and wait and when Justin walks out of the library I say "there's Dad!" and David points out the window and yells, "Da!". And, once or twice a week Justin gets in the car and says "should we run over to Great Harvest?" My diet is blown for the day, but it's worth it as we sit all together eating brownies and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and telling each other about our day.

Then there's 8:00 pm when the kids are in bed and I don't have an apartment to clean. That's another good time of day. Once David is asleep and Audrey has been read a story I hop in the shower while Justin works on homework. We turn off most of the lights in the house except for the lamp in the living room and the light above the oven in the kitchen. I usually have a spicy fall candle burning.  I sit down on the couch, clean and in my pajamas, and read while I wait for him to finish whatever paper he's writing, then he comes in the living room and joins me and we usually read or talk or watch some television together. It's cozy and quiet and we're constantly tempted to stay up way too late just to get a little bit more time together uninterrupted.

 

I guess my favorite time, is any time, with these three.

my Mother

image source

my mother's scent: no purfume, just clean. laundry detergent and lotion.

my mother's hands: functional. quick, precise movements. never sloppy. wiping crumbs off counters carefully, administering care at the hospital, making crisp corners, shelling peas. crimping the edges of a pie just right.

my mother's voice: authoritative but soft. refined. smooth and reasurring. polite.

my mother's attitude: humble. no nonsense. never shrinks away from hard work. witty. loves to laugh with the right people. always, always puts her children first.

my mother's example: the little things matter. taking the time to do it right matters. playing by the rules matters. being kind and thoughtful matters. hard work matters.

I love you Mom, Happy Mother's Day!

Davy boy

green everywhere

cheese plate

foliage

ceramic bowl that I made in high school

my lunch

Audrey's ball

glasses

bathroom towel

my shirt (this pose makes you look skinny, try it)

lotions and potions

Justin's new burton hat

necklace

Olivia

measuring cups

parmesan cheese

painted chairs

Irish soda bread

(not green but definately irish and also pretty tasty)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!