Archives for 2016

Although they had a “graduation ceremony” last week, today was the boy’s last day of school. I knew they would grow and change a ton this year, yet, now that we are crossing the finish line and placing kindergarten in our rearview, it is sort of hard to wrap my mind around how much they have grown and all they learned this past year.

Side note: Based on the two photos above, you can clearly see how I’ve given up on caring what they wear to school.

I’m all kinds of sappy and nostalgic this week. Can we talk about these sweet boys who wave out the window all the way down the drive when daddy takes them to school? I can hardly handle it. I love this age so much. They still love their mama unabashedly and aren’t the least bit embarrassed by me. 🙂

I have a giant pile in need of sorting full of folders and worksheets and art projects that have come home all week. As they came home, I added to the ever-expanding pile. Avoidance is a form of denial, I’m sure of it.

Yet, we are all ready for a break. Ready to sleep in, swim until toes are wrinkly, run barefoot and skip bedtimes. Summer is here and we are all ready for it.

Happy, happy summer, dear friends!

My boys.

Last night you were recognized on stage for completing your very first year of {“big kid”} school.

What a year it’s been.

You have grown and changed and have learned so much.

You read books to daddy and I at bedtime instead of the other way around. You now shower and wash your hair and get dressed on your own. You pour your own cereal and dig through the pantry to find your own snacks. You hold opinions about what you wear, how your hair is styled, what we watch on TV, what we eat for dinner. You help put away the laundry and the dishes. You solve math problems and spell words. You write your own thank you notes.

Mornings find you waving as you run into school. I smile as I watch your backpack bobbing up and down as you confidently enter the building with your friends.

I sometimes feel like bursting with pride and love for you both.

They played the song “Let Them Be Little” last night during the slideshow and I cried.

So let them be little, cause they’re only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love, every day.
Let em cry, let em giggle, let them sleep in the middle.
Oh, just let them be little.

This season is so brief. You are the brink of more and more independence, you’ll continue to step out into the world and find your place in it.

I want you to be so full of confidence and assurance of your worth that you never doubt how deeply loved and treasured you are. I want you to be a light in this world – a light shining others toward the tender, gentle and mighty God who created you so intricately.

I want you to trust that you are here at this time, in this place, a part of this generation for a very important purpose.

I want you to walk in a faith that is fully your own, not passed down from daddy or I. I want you to have a deep friendship with Jesus, one where He guides you and you lean in to listen to His voice.

Oh, my loves. You are truly the very best of me. You inspire me and remind me to see the world as a bright place full of opportunity. You love unabashedly. You see the good in others and genuinely care for your friends. You are silly and wild and loud – all things a six year-old boy should be.

Before I know it, you will be on another stage for yet another graduation. Next time, you will be graduating from high school and venturing further out into the world. My prayer for the next twelve years is for this to be a time where you can learn and stretch and grow and feel safe enough to make mistakes. I want you to know you have a safety net behind you; encouraging you, loving you, helping you back up when you get knocked down.

Ben and Nate, you are going to shake up this great big world and I can’t wait to watch the stories of your lives unfold. Along the way, I want to soak up each moment. I want to treasure these big milestone moments as much as the everyday ones.

Shine bright, sweet boys. Happy Kindergarten graduation. Daddy and I are so very proud of you both!

I try to be intentional with our schedules and am incredibly protective of unscheduled family time at home. Even still, all of the things that make a life – laundry, doctor appointments, field trips, birthday parties, conference calls, backpacks to empty and papers to sort, a full calendar with too few days lacking commitments- have been abundant here lately.

I have been craving slow and simple. I’ve found myself yearning for unhurried days at home without piling in and out of the car, constantly running.

May is always a bit of a whirlwind around here. We have had a sweet season of celebrating little loves. First, Charlotte turned two and then my boys turned six. SIX. I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the pace at which my babies are growing. I think this has only fueled my desire to slow down our daily pace.

This morning, we had a slow start with nowhere to be. The rain softly falling forced us to pause from the endless tasks demanding attention around the farm. It was exactly what we needed without our even realizing it. After the rain cleared, we took a long walk through the blueberry fields. We fed the chickens and collected eggs. We splashed in puddles and threw rocks into the pond. We scooped up and devoured barely-ripe, tart blackberries.

I realized as I walked alongside my favorite people in the whole wide world that sometimes we really, really need to be unproductive and unhurried. The earth will continue to spin if we step away from the noise.

Our souls yearn for stillness.

Go outside. Don’t tell anyone and don’t bring your phone. Start walking and keep walking until you no longer know the road like the palm of your hand, because we walk the same roads day in and day out, to the bus and back home and we cease to see. We walk in our sleep and teach our muscles to work without thinking and I dare you to walk where you have not yet walked and I dare you to notice. Don’t try to get anything out of it, because you won’t. Don’t try to make use of it, because you can’t. And that’s the point. Just walk, see, sit down if you like. And be. Just be, whatever you are with whatever you have, and realise that that is enough to be happy. 
There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it.” 
― Charlotte Eriksson

Here’s to a weekend bursting with moments of stillness and contentment and freshly picked wildflowers!

One of the most surprising aspects of motherhood is the way time seems to slip between my fingers at lightening speed. Granted, the old saying “the days are long but the years are short” is incredibly true: some days feel like an eternity yet every passing year seems to fly by at record speed. As we celebrated our Charlotte-girl turning two this past weekend, I honestly couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that my baby girl has grown into this hilarious little person.

This age is so fun. The funny things she says {particularly when she is trying something new, “I’m too little!” or when I do something that she disagrees with, “Mom! Why did you do that?!“}, the way she throws herself on the floor in dramatic fashion when upset, the way she has to give her brothers a hug and a kiss each morning before they leave for school and shouts after them, “I love you Ben! I love you Nate! Have a good day!” and the way she climbs onto my lap and cuddles when she is sleepy.

We celebrated all weekend long. Two years is a big deal and she deserved extra cake and ice cream and dances with daddy at sunset.

I know all too well that I will look back on these days through the lens of nostalgia soon enough. I will smile knowing how our girl has filled our home with joy and laughter and sweetness.

Isn’t that what makes motherhood so sweet? Scoring a front-row seat to watch these little ones grow into the future versions of themselves right before your eyes. You know these years under your roof and in your care are precious and few. You try your best and you pour out as much of yourself and your love as you can. You want to fill their cups to overflowing so they can go out into this great big world and leave their mark.

Even on the days when it feels mundane and ordinary and repetitious, you know your job is so incredibly important. You’re in charge of shaping the hearts of these little people whose names are carved on the hand of the Creator of the universe. You get to love on them and change diapers and prepare meals and wash laundry, all the while praying they will be ready to go out and do the good works prepared for them before the beginning of time. What an incredible privilege that is. I hope to never take it for granted.

Happy second birthday to my beloved Charlotte. You have rocked our world in the best possible way – we couldn’t have dreamt of a more perfect little person to be our daughter. You are sweet and sassy and independent and silly and smart and adorable. Daddy and I love you to the moon and back times infinity. All my love, Momma