PLAYING IN THE SNOW

On Sunday, the snow still covered the ground, and we we ventured out in our gear. 

Four people + four people's worth of snow gear = it takes a while to get out the door. 

Logan was unsure of how to navigate the new world, and she stood for long moments just gazing out into the white landscape.

Sloane tried to help show her sister what this snow business was all about. "Look, feel it!" 

Rusty, of course, was in his element. He is happiest and most youthful when it snows. 

Sloane trying to have a gentle snow ball fight with her sister.

And then Ken got in it.....and nailed Logan in the face! 

She was NOT happy.  Don't worry, she was rescued and reconciled. 

Afterwards, we all took a short walk through the snow, made some snow angels, and then shuffled back inside to get cozy again. 

SNOW DAY (VIDEO)!

After a cozy morning in, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with friends who came over to spend the snow day together. Ken had plans to do a day trip to northern Virginia with some guy friends but when snow prevented them from driving up, the even better thing was to spend it with families. There was grilled cheese, tomato soup, big salads, sound of music, dress-up, playing in the snow, working out, cocktails, Chinese take-out for dinner, and the guys even got in a long soak in the hot tub (with a snow dip in the middle!).  

SNOWY MORNING

We woke up to snow on Saturday morning! It's magic when it snows. The world outside the window is transformed, as if you were transported while you were sleeping to a new land where everything is covered in white. There is a hum in the air: what new thing will happen today? The potential of the day seems different. I recognize and appreciate this, especially with young kids whose amazement is utterly contagious, as long as I can cozy up indoors and watch the white world from the inside. I could (and would prefer to) live in a place with zero snow and find magic moments elsewhere, but here I am, and here I am soaking in this kind of magic.  Sloane was alight with excitement as soon as she saw the snow in the morning and immediately wanted to go outside, but I insisted on breakfast first and held her and Lola at bay with pancakes. We spent most of the morning indoors in our pajamas, eating countless amount of pancakes with turkey bacon, cleaning the house, and gazing outdoors.

I just can't get enough of those pigtails. They start off as little bun ears in the morning and then by evening they turn into these sprouts.

I've been using this recipe for pancakes these days (without the sugar) and it is a hit. 

Maybe due to having a short person complex, Lola loves standing on top of things. 

They spotted Ken outside

Surveying the snow covered land outside.

Then Sloane got a chair too, so they could look out the window together for a long while.

The best.

WINTER PHOTOS WITH THE AGABAS

If you've been following along for any time you know how much I love our friends, the Agabas. It has been so fun capturing special life moments with them, and these are the most recent ones with the addition of their newest darling, Etta Mae. It is amazing when I look at photos we did with Etta Mae as a baby bump back in March and then a few months later when we welcomed her with photos in May. Look at the little light she is now!

You guys, I held this darling girl when she was first born! And then she turned one, and now she is a full-fledged threenager: sweet, spunky, passionate, and smart as a whip. 

NEW YEARS WEEKEND

Howdy howdy ho. 2017 feels good already. It's a construct! But it's the construct we're working with and it tells us it's brand new year. At the least it's an excuse to celebrate, at the most it gets us closer to summer. 

When I sat down to write this my initial recollection of this past weekend was a total blank; that's why I need to keep account. I have a terrible memory and recall ability. It is akin to someone with short term memory loss...and long term. Rest assured after a few minutes of searching my brain, I got it all back. So here they be.

On Friday I celebrated all by myself by stopping by this new store in Church Hill (open currently only Friday and Saturday mornings) on my way to work for a kaloche. Okay, two kaloches. One was stuffed with egg and sausage and the other one was raspberry almond cream. They are dense and filling and I'm sure contributed to properly fattening me up for extra warmth.

My sister and brother in law stopped by Friday night on their way heading west and we cozied up and watched 'O Brother Where Art Thou' - a movie I had thought I had seen before but apparently I haven't and was surprised to discover how good it is. The photography is beautiful, George Clooney is fun to watch and the music is so great, it's worth a watch for that alone. The picture above has nothing to do with the movie but why not! Sloane was showing off some new socks and then Logan stepped in and attempted to do some wiggle dancing of her own. 

On Saturday, we had breakfast with our visitors, I rearranged a gallery wall (it was quite tedious) and then I made some champagne Jell-O shots, as one does on a Saturday afternoon. In this case for a good reason:  that evening we went over to our friends house with our babies and fed and put them to sleep upstairs so that the adults could hang out late into the night. It was  especially exciting because it had been eons since we did anything to celebrate New Year's Eve with friends. It was a great idea: we drank, ate warm soup with bread, put the kids to bed, drank some more, talked...and even made it to midnight to see the ball drop.

 

I went to high school with their mamas! It will never get old.

It was a wonderful night. 

Sunday brought us church, lunch with old friends and then meal prep per usual. Later that night my sister and brother in law came through again on their way back up and the girls were happy to get a double dose of their aunt and uncle. I'm going to say this again later but, all of our friends and family - move closer please!

Monday morning was a respite from work and we spent the morning welcoming friends who recently moved into town (yay!) and local friends who had introduced us all to their realtor. It was a sweet morning of friends meeting friends and kids playing with abandon over my favorite meal of the day. (This refreshing citrus avocado salad was part of the menu.)

The kids put on a dance, as seem to be the norm if Sloane has anything to do with it. Afterwards, we had a meet and greet with the performers, along with a group photo. 

Welcome to town friends! Everyone else, hurry up and come over. 

Later that afternoon, I ran some errands and when I came home, Ken, Sloane and Logan were deep in the middle of reenacting America Ninja Warrior moves in the family room with a makeshift obstacle course made out of sofa and sofa pillows. We moved the operation over to the garage gym where Ken set up a nifty obstacle course there which Sloane did over and over again (and again and again..) I got in some overhead squats, Logan tried to copy all of us, and then we went into for a dinner of the fanciest nachos ever, courtesy of Ken.

When your littlest one wants to do what everyone else in the family is doing.

We ended the weekend with our bibles and CBR joirnal. Ken and I reading and writing on either side of Sloane, and her in the middle doing her best to participate by copying down sentences from the same passage we were reading. 

There we have it! A sweet weekend, collected for the sake of remembering and reliving. 

REFLECTIONS AND INTENTIONS

Currently...

Listening to: Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack

Watching: Portlandia, Season 6 (always while washing the dishes!) 

Thinking about: Cutting back on sugar

Reading: Zodiac by Neal Stephenson 

Dream life: Somewhere warm, where I can walk around barefoot all the time

Eating: Clementines. A lot of clementines

Drinking: Traditional Medicinals Gypsy Cold Care (this is a miracle worker when you are sick)

I started writing down reflections and resolutions on this blog around the time my first daughter was born; I found it be a good way to mark time and a good opportunity to evaluate, give thanks, and look forward to what is to come. I went back into the archives and collected my reflections and resolutions from 2016, my recaps and resolutions from 2015, some thoughts from 2014, & my resolve for 2013. That's another reason to write these down, looking back at these reminds me of where I've been and where I am going. I'm going to continue this tradition! by looking back at 2016 and writing out my intentions for 2017.

A few highlights in 2016:
1. My friend Soonie got married and I got to attend and visit L.A.
2. My sister Sharon got married and we were all together in NYC.
3. We bought this house and did a lot of work on it.
4. Logan turned one and we celebrated her dohl.
5. Sloane turned four and we had a pool party.
6. We made trips to Virginia Beach.
7. We threw a lot of summer parties.
8. The Moon family lived with us for a couple of months and it was wonderful.

I've been thinking about how I evaluate whether a year has been a 'good' year. For me this can be measured by whether I have continued to grow roots and invest in the things that are noble and lovely, all the while holding on to these things loosely.  It's the balance between being faithful to what I have been given, while not expecting that the whole of those activities or relationships are what define my identity. All the achievements and failures of this past year are precious to me, but they are not another brick in a kingdom I am building for myself. It may seem a strange balance, but it works for me - to keep me both rooted and open at the same time. Other indicators that help evaluate this is thinking of whether my relationships have grown deeper, whether I have been reading, and whether I have been in the constant habit of repenting.

Not listed in the list of highlights above are the moments of feeling overwhelmed as a working mother of two, having good conversations with Ken after an argument, and feeling frustrated about not being able to consistently work on my fitness goals due to exhaustion. They also include moments of appreciating the fact that I am in my 30s, elation at Sloane and Logan beginning to play together, and being proud of the work that I do at my job. 

Intentions for 2017:
1. As always - read a lot, and write even more.
2. Be thrifty and live simply, in order to clear up mental space and in order to save money.
3. Make things, like songs and paintings.
4. Keep working towards snatch goal of 135 lb.
5. Work hard at my job and be proud of that hard work.
6. Read the whole bible again. Ken and I are going to do the CBR journal with our church and I am excited about it (pictured above).

When I look forward, I feel hopeful simply in the possibility of another year. What richness it is to have another 365 days! What a luxury to imagine so many days of seeing my family, eating food, using running water, spending time with friends, experiencing the seasons, asking for forgiveness, of hearing a new story.

All those intentions above have something to do with becoming even more comfortable in my own skin. That includes being grateful for this body, taking care of it, using my mind and my personality in the ways it runs best, recognizing my insecurities and dealing with them, and being even more okay with transparency because I have put thought and work into each thing I do. 

And with kids, a new year is an adventure all of its own. It's a year of discovering how they will develop, getting to know who they are, figuring out the new dynamics of a relationship, and learning how to parent the new stages.  It's also more opportunity to work on our family's mission statement. I'm looking forward to all of this, but my expectation for the next year is the same one I have for tomorrow: that it will be new and riddled with grace.