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Monthly Archives: July 2010
Weekly lovebites: little bits of love from our week. Moments I felt inspired to click my shutter.
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I know it’s too early, but I can’t help it. Despite my best efforts to suppress the thoughts and longings, they are there deep within. My longing for fall.
I told my sister today that maybe it’s this instinctual thing that is within us all. The urge to plant our crops. The itch to knit warm things. The feeling that our days are slowly becoming minutes shorter than the one before. A little something different in the summer breeze that now blows.
Although I so enjoy the many great things that Summer brings, it’s brightness is beginning to hurt my eyes. I’m ready for richer colors, cooler breezes, garden harvests and holiday preparations. I’m already knitting new bits for the babes and looking forward to unpacking old knits and hand-me-down gap sweaters (thank you dear friends!) and making more trips to the farmers market. I’m ready to light pumpkin spice candles and turn off the a/c and open windows to let the crisp fall breezes waft through our home. I’m ready to freeze peas and can beans and plant peach trees in our little yard. I’m ready to start new home school lessons and go on more outdoor adventures and to take photos of nature’s beautiful hues of orange, red and brown. I’m ready to throw a cardigan over my t shirt and to take many more pleasant trips to the park. I’m ready for the new onslaught of crafting inspiration and to start planning my baby’s first birthday. Oh how I love fall. How I’m longing for fall.
But here in Central Texas, we still have a while to go.
And as usual this week flew by and we had plenty to be thankful for.
The first bit being….
:: My baby sister’s engagement. It’s so hard for me to believe, but my baby sister is on a plane to Vegas to celebrate her 21st birthday as I type. With a sparkling new rock on her finger and a wonderful guy who put it there.
Congrats Kayla and Philip. I am so happy for you guys and so proud to be your big sister.
We have a wedding to plan and I couldn’t be more excited.
:: Got a lot more done in the garden this week. Due to the blessing of more rain, the weeds/remaining bit of grass were popping up with a vengeance. Got out there and pulled and sweat and pulled till I made some good progress. Then I managed to plant a few more herbs and some seeds in containers. We have spinach, arugula, mesclun mix and some other type of lettuce mix started in containers as well as some lavender, chamomile and zinnia for a little added beauty. I am currently battling an army of fuzzy black moth caterpillars over in our little sunflower garden (and the hens don’t seem the slightest bit interested in snacking or helping in any way, could be a poisonous pillar for them though) but regardless of their swiss cheese lower leaves the flowers are about this close to showing us their sunny faces.
And this was the only photo I got out there this week because I was so busy madly working and trying to keep the kids entertained in their pools/slip n slide.
A few early fruits, but I don’t think there will be many more for awhile. A delish little sampling for the fall harvesting to come!
:: Asher was in three-year-old heaven at Kayla and Philip’s engagement party. He got to spend a whole evening with his self-proclaimed best friend Jordan and his baby buddy (as in they have been friends since birth and are now big three year old boys) Preston.
Three-year- old heaven I tell ya…
:: Amelia’s favorite new baby game is SO cute. Like most of her new tricks, she randomly discovers that she can do something and it becomes her favorite for a bit. And of course we laugh and smile and oooo and aaahh and are rewarded with the cutest of toothy grins. See those tiny upper teeth?
I can never get enough of that sweet smile or those chunky little legs. Oh and have I mentioned that she is perfecting the art of baby steps? She is still a wobbly little shuffler, but practices a lot. Someday here we will get it on video…
:: Can’t seem to keep the house clean this week. Well who am I kidding, our house is more often messy than clean, littered with toys and piles that look like this….
Craft supplies, sewing machines, monster trucks, cracker crumbs….
We shove em aside and sit down to dinner at our table anyways. I’ll try harder at the housekeeping thing next week, promise honey!
:: Our egg supply is plentiful, wow! Nothing like a fresh egg for breakfast…
:: I met up with an old high school mate and fellow photographer this week. It was so nice to hang out with a fellow adult and fellow enthusiast, even with the babes in tow.
She had to buy my starbucks because someone created a fraudulent copy of my debit card and was using it in Ireland to quickly drain our checking account, luckily it all was resolved fairly quickly but my new debit card was not activated like I thought it was. Thanks again Brit! Yes her name is also Brittney and Asher thought it was really strange that someone else had the same name as me. Which lead to a whole conversation about names and well, have you ever tried to explain such things to a three year old? It makes for entertaining conversation…
And ironically, the only photo I snapped while hanging out with my fellow photog friend was this little guy at the park.
Look at that hair!
We agreed to take more photos next time.
:: Brother comes up with all sorts of fun ways to entertain sis. Mama and Daddy are grateful.
A weekend full of fun awaits us! Dash’s birthday is on Sunday so this will be an extra special weekend.
Soaking up the last bits of summer with a grateful heart,
~b
I started writing this little blog exactly two years ago.
san diego 2008
I love how it started- a tiny seed of inspiration in the heart of someone longing to create. An attempt to provide my deployed soldier a window to our life here at home.
I also love what is now has become. A connection to family, friends, strangers. A canvas in which I can paint the beauty of our life. This space has encouraged and inspired me in my journey as mama, wife and photographer. It has caused me to stop and reflect- to look for the beauty in my seemingly ordinary life. And when I slow down, really open my eyes, and find so much that my cup overflows, it is a silent listener and collector, allowing me to pour out my findings, gratitude and amazement in the discovery that this life I’m living is actually quite extraordinary.
Thank you little blog for being ever so faithful and present. As cliche as it sounds, having this space has made me a better person. In my efforts to document and write about all the love I have for the world and my special people in it, I have found something…
I love life so much more.
The more beauty I look for beauty around me, the more I see it in places that I never imagined. In my efforts to capture that beauty in photos and words, I’ve become more grateful, more peaceful, more likely to remember that beyond the valleys there are mountain tops with gorgeous views. Plus if you look around the valleys carefully, you will see that there may be a beautiful flower, rock, or stream running through…
And I really love looking back over past posts, reading the memories and seeing the photos.
I’m so glad that I took the plunge into the world of blogging (even if I couldn’t quite settle on a home at first).
Here’s to the many posts to come!
(and also, happy birthday to my little sis. big 21! love you!)
It’s six something AM.
I awake in a half-haze hearing wimpering. I blink my blurry eyes and spot a mess of bed head and two dark brown eyes peering at me from the far edge of the bed. With a finger to my lips, a silent plea not to wake the tiny angel who is still snoozing next to me, I slide carefully out of bed, walk round and scoop up my first-born, heading back to his bed to cuddle.
Nice try, and wonderful cuddles, but no luck falling back asleep. “Mama, sun is up up” , he whispers with excitement in my ear as I lounge in his bed with my eyes closed.
Instead of dwelling on wistful thoughts of another hours sleep (the baby isn’t even awake yet!), I rise, grab our bucket of chalk and we head out to the driveway to watch the sunrise and color the pavement.
The bad thing about 6-something AM driveway lounging? Coffee is not yet brewed.
But the good thing? Oh, that first morning light. It was soft and luminous, whispering welcomes of another beautiful and blessed summer day.
Good morning sunshine.
Little Sister woke up just in time to enjoy a bit of our chalk dusted frolic.
Then Daddy came home from PT (morning workout with the unit) and we all went inside to drink coffee and eat breakfast.
Best morning I’ve had in awhile. Thank you my sweet boy.
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making the most out of too-early mornings,
~b
Weekly lovebites: little bits of love from our week. Moments I felt inspired to click my shutter.
This has been a week of growth, yes indeed. But isn’t it always so in the forward motion of this perpetual cycle called life? Day after day, everyone grows. Maybe taller or slimmer. Jaded or more faithful. Perhaps older in body, but younger in spirit. In whatever ways it occurs, consciously or unconsciously, we all do it. And sometimes if your not really paying attention, you totally miss it.
And then one day you finally turn and take a look in the mirror and you say “woah.”
Even the small and simple ways in which our family grows are a profound thing to me. Maybe it’s because it’s revealed more clearly to me when I’m capturing the beauty of our growth from behind my lens each day. Or maybe my pleading prayers that I would continually cherish every last drop of this life I’m living are fine tuning my senses. I wake up each morning and blink at my babies, and I swear they grew while they were sleeping. Even when I’m watching as closely as I can, their growth is faster than my senses.
And it doesn’t help that life these days seem fly by like a blur of wildflowers on the side of the highway, beautiful and wild.
And even in the colorful blur, we continue to grow.
:: We grow deeper in love. Especially brother and sister…
It’s almost more than I can bear, witnessing the ever -blooming beauty of sibling love. To save you many ridiculous descriptions of my emotions, I will just say, my cup runneth over.
:: Our garden has grown this week. Although we have sadly lost our pumpkins to vine borers (and are hoping we don’t lose anymore squashes to them), we planted seven tomato plants, four pepper plants, two eggplants, an okra plant, a few marigolds for protection and color as well as a few more herbs. The garden is almost full! We will start sowing seeds when the heat isn’t quite so brutal, but so far our new transplants seem to be thriving. Oh the joy that will be fall harvesting…
it doesn’t look like much now, but just wait until fall
the sunflowers have grown tall and are getting ready to show us their sunny faces
didn’t even realize what vine borers were- once they strike it’s too late
:: We’ve been growing accustomed to Daddy’s new job responsibilities and work schedule, and in turn are growing to love our weekends just that much more. We’ve also grown to love the Texas summer heat just a little bit more with the help from our local water park and a new slip n slide in our own backyard.
The plastic pools were beginning to lose their charm, so after a quick jaunt down the summer fun aisle at Target we headed home with a new slip n slide (which was only six bucks on clearance, score). Ah, the backyard water fun recommenced…
:: Baby has grown to love…….broccoli! Just like her brother.
wish I would have gotten a broccoli face picture,but sometimes a mama has to put down her camera and eat while she can
:: Asher has grown to learn the hard lesson that treats are not on the menu eight times a day.
snapping a photo was the only way I could not get super-frustrated with him at this point
Oh the pains and comforts of growth. There is always beauty to be found in them.
Hope your having a beautiful week,
~b
Posted in days of summer, lovebites
Tags: asher, family, garden, growing, hubs, my babies, sibling love, slip n slide, summer, water park
Weekly lovebites: little bits of love from our week. Moments I felt inspired to click my shutter.
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Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends.
-Richard Bach
Our week was filled with the usual daily tasks and activities, salted with with small victories, peppered with a few sad bits, and sweetened by the moments that family and friends share before bidding farewell. We saw our dear “Uncle Jaen” off today, headed out on another deployment to Afghanistan after just a year and ten days spent here at home since he returned from his first deployment (which he shared with Dash).
He only had about two months in between the finish of career course in Lawton and deployment from his new unit here at Hood, and so he has been our housemate during that time and Asher has grown especially used to his presence around here. The goodbye was hard on his little three year old heart, for he is truly starting to understand the job of a soldier. As we waved goodbye to Jaen, I reminded him that all of he soldiers like Jaen and Daddy have to go away and work hard so that we can enjoy our safe community and our trips to the playground and go to our church and have our nice house. Asher, through his innocent tears added, ” and my messy toys”. And then I shed a little tear of my own and gave my sweet boy a big hug and told him that I love him so much and that we will be sure to keep praying for Uncle Jaen and will send him letters and packages in the mail.
::Take care Uncle Jaen, you will be in our prayers daily and I’m sure you will be receiving plenty of mail from a certain three year old boy.
Dash was going for his goodbye kiss, but they agreed on a manly hug instead
:: We did the famous fish tacos for Jaen’s goodbye dinner and the Hart gang (+ Uncle Phil, your part of the Hart gang pretty much aren’t you?) came up to partake and give their goodbye hugs.
he takes the motherly hugs and kisses like a champ
it’s always a good time when uncle phil is around
auntie love
demonstrating her standing abilities, they are pretty much perfected but she’s still not quite sure about what to do next
“mom, no more pictures, i need pajamas and bed”
I didn’t catch any photos of Daddy cooking them, but the fish tacos were delish like always. How did I get so lucky to marry a hunky chef? (I’m sorry I just said hunky)
:: More summer activities and treats. Like “pink bubbles” (Izze grapefruit soda) and making snowcones with Lola.
a summer fav
doesn’t know what to think of the cup of ice i’ve just set in front of her
:: Early evening trips to the park. They are embarked upon with the highest of hopes, but don’t end up lasting much longer than 30 minutes because the Texas heat is just relentless.
air assault wings like daddy’s on his “lucky cap” (something he got from curious george)
:: Our little henny Penny, the youngest of our newly adopted trio, laid her first eggs this week! They are so tiny and cute. The poor gals have been so hot outside that they have gotten a few special treats to help them stay cool. These gals love watermelon and grapes (and greek yogurt, go figure!)
look at that cute n’ tiny dark brown egg
our babies jane and lizzy are still growing, they look tiny next to their new sisters
:: Out in the garden we are starting to see a few exciting things. In this relentless Texas heat, it truly is hard to start pumpkins and squashes in time for a halloween harvest, but so far ours are hanging in there. We saw our first bloom on the squash and have a sea of tiny basil sprouts thanks to seeds fallen from previously harvested stalks from Poppy’s garden. The cilantro sprouts are also peeking their tiny heads out. And I discovered a beautiful weed that I almost wanted to post a trellis for, but after reading a little more about it, decided I better enjoy the one flower and pull it all up before more flowers begin to bloom and seed. Apparently the sweet little violet morning glory, aka purple bindweed can quickly choke your veggies with their tiny tendrils and are next to impossible to get rid of once you’ve allowed them to flower and seed everywhere.
Sea of basil on the left. I know your laughing at me Dad, quit it. Cilantro on the right.
our beautiful little veggie killer
I’m just going to take the word of the several other Texas gardeners I read and pull it all up before I have a real issue. They are pretty, but we’d rather have pumpkins and squash.
:: Lastly, I was able to squeeze in a sewing project that I have been wanting to do for awhile. Washington tees for my dear niece and nephew. Actually Riley’s is a dress, not a shirt, but they both turned out pretty cute. And as a special touch for Wesley’s, the state of Washington is cut out of a flannel shirt that was his great-grandpa’s.
The tee and dress are from American Apparel. Love their kids clothes and we have an outlet right up the highway, can’t beat organic cotton digs for 50% or more off.
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Prayers for our dear “uncles” Jaen Ramos and Barry Ammonds, both in Afghanistan are much appreciated.
And does anyone have ideas for fun indoor activities that help make their hot summer days pass more pleasurably? Please do tell!
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by mamabrit
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