Category Archives: 52
17/52
Mairi Rose: Trying hard to remember something. Her new hairstyle is just darling.
Seraphina: Ready to see more of the world.
this week – 16/52
15/52
Mairi Rose above: Making cordage (rope). She wants to use it to make herself a sunhat (her idea). Mairi Rose below: In the middle of excitedly telling a story about everyday life, which is pretty much her default state. When I look at this picture I feel like I can almost hear her hurriedly drawing in breath before continuing with, “and then….”
He says he doesn’t know why, but lately he just wants to paint all the time, and talks of building himself an art studio with shelves for his supplies.
The between pictures are from an ice storm a couple of days ago. We’ve been living the “Little House” life this weekend; sugaring off and attending a contra dance. Our littlest love was the belle of the ball; running up to each and every person, showing no fear, no apprehension, no shyness, just pure, unbridled joy. She woke up with one curl sticking straight up on the very top of her head. The kids convinced me that it needed a bow. She wanted to be in the center of absolutely everything, but especially the dancing. I danced with her on my back for a while, which was fun, but really she wanted to get down and go herself, on her own two feet. She would rush into the middle with everyone, where I would quickly scoop her up and shuttle her back, lest she be trampled as all the dancers stepped back and on again. Run around the circle, stop to reach out and touch the fiddle, run across the room to hug Daddy’s knee, listen with awe to the drums, back to the dancers, weave through the lines, and so on, for hours, all while sporting a huge grin.
14/52
The mud pie kitchen is open once again on a limited, but very enthusiastic basis.
This tiny patch of earth in a sheltered spot right outside our back door (the rest of our yard still being covered in a foot or more of snow), is like a whole new world to her. This new world is both thrilling- freedom! bird song! mud to squish! sticks to pick up! and frustrating- clunky boots on uneven ground! mommy’s insistence that mud isn’t for eating!
13/52 Part Two- The Birthday Girl
13/52- Part One
Sibling feats of strength. They were in quite an interesting mood this day!
12/52
After completing the Week in the Life project last week- I took all of the pictures and made some notes, just haven’t finished posting yet- I had no desire to pick up my camera all this week. Half my children had a cold and the other half developed a stomach bug, now they are in the process of switching. I’ve more than had my hands full. A whole week without a single picture, so strange! I’ve been keeping up with the 52 project this year and I don’t want to fall behind and lose momentum, so I snapped a few this morning.
It snowed on the first day of spring yet again this year and it’s snowing again today. I had a theory that dressing my baby in something spring like would be a sort of mental balm. I don’t think it really worked, but at least she looks cute.
Week in the Life, Tuesday
Another all-night nurse-a-thon. That’s how this little one copes with teething pain.
I put her hair into pigtail braids before bed last night and she took it upon herself to finish styling it this morning. This girl is awesome.
Lately her hazel eyes seem to be leaning more towards green then brown.
A bit of morning lesson time before Nature Program. This week they were each assigned an animal to look into. They were supposed to provide one fact that they thought others might not know. Mairi walked around all morning repeating over and over again that red back salamanders have a red back stage and a lead back stage.
Checking the taps and transferring buckets of sap into the big barrels as needed will happen several times a day from now until the end of the season.
The tiny girl and I finally sat down to our breakfast after we got them out the door. We blew kisses to each other in the quiet, in between bites of food (crustless pumpkin pie for me, pumpkin in chicken broth for her).
This was the first day in years and the last in the foreseeable future, that I had several hours basically to my self. I’ve been thinking and planning and dreaming for about a month now. I was going to order seeds! Write a letter to my aunt! Work on Seraphina’s birthday gifts! Transplant seedlings! Get my lesson plans for the rest of the year in order! Actually answer some emails instead of just feeling guilty about them! Maybe take a nap? Watch a movie? Long hot bath??
What I actually did:
fed the baby breakfast. put her down for a nap. gathered all of the laundry from around the house. washed two loads. answered one email. confirmed a dentists appointment. prepared lunch. fed the baby lunch. fixed a snack to meet the kids with when they got back, by which point it was time to get us bundled up for a walk and to pick up the kids.
This does not seem like nearly 4 hours worth of activities, and yet…
Four left and five return. (I watch another child for a few hours on Tuesdays.)
All I see out there is snow, but they seem to have found some mud!
dress rehearsal.
He was home for just long enough to dump the sap, change his clothes and have me thrust some food into his hands. Steve was home for long enough to help dump the sap and kiss me goodbye again.
A bit more school work, house work, childcare, dinner.
The board meeting was moved to our house out of consideration for my lack of childcare. I put Mairi to bed before anyone arrived and she slept not a wink. There was one other tiny person in attendance. The two little toddling folk argued over Seraphina’s carriage, shared chunks of fruit doled out by Galen and stood side by side pushing my yoga ball around the house. If she cried, Seraphina cried.
I have no idea what happened to the lids to all of my teapots and I was too busy to go searching for them.
Her first three little steps three days ago and she’s already crossing full rooms!
10/52
Mairi Rose and Galen performed an African dance to live drumming at a world cultures fair this week. Meanwhile Seraphina has been doing some drumming of her own.
Mairi quote of the week, “Mommy, are there wind chills today? Because my cheeks feel like there are wind chills!”
I’ve decided to give the Week in a Life series a go, if for no other reason then I really wanted to fit one in during Seraphine’s first year and I am rapidly running out of year! We are down to a matter of days now. It may well be less then I usually do. I figure if nothing else, I can take the pictures, make some notes, and post as and when (if?) I’m able.