A Twisted Life ;o)

Maia spent a lot of time recently, over several days, twisting her hair.

(As a comical aside, she was about halfway through on Day 2 when it came time to go to an SAT prep class, and she had to quickly come up with a creative style of half twists/half fro...a bit challenging, but she managed...um, how shall we say...interestingly.)   :o)

Her twists are lovely and funky, much better I think, than when I have spent the hours styling them into her hair.

Everyone keeps asking her where she got them done, wanting to know the hairstylist she uses! Ha! Go Maia!

They make daily life so easy for her, especially now that school has started...just condition, spritz, fluff a bit, and go!

While I am delighted that she can do them now herself, I did always end up with a great feeling of accomplishment whenever I styled them for her...but the whole process just takes soooo long that I found myself dreading it rather than welcoming it as a time for shared mother-daughter intimacy.

However, I must say that whenever we were not hurried to meet a time deadline for completion (...boarding a plane for California in a few hours...heading off to perform in a play in a few hours, etc...you get my drift...) or pausing repeatedly to entertain/mediate/snackalize/bathe/chauffer/insertyourchoiceofmotherlytaskshere the littles, the process has really been quite fun. We usually watched reality TV marathons (Top Model, Think You Can Dance, House Hunters Int'l, Housewives, Top Chef, you name it...) while we styled and laughed and enjoyed some great TV peanut-gallery commentary along the way! I think I will miss that time...hmmm...

Wait Maia, WAIT!...please let me keep on doing your hair!! 

Just kidding...

...ummm...

...I think?

Isn't she beautiful!

My little Mai-Mai is growing up! (Sniff)

Much Love. Take Care.

Feet Seat POP

I love this photo of Josiah,
a POP (Post of Previosity) from mid-October 2006.

He was playing outside at our old house, still in his school uniform,

barefoot, and fresh from a round on the tire swing. 

I think it just captures his cheerful essence so well.

Much Love. Take Care.

 

Teddy Bear Picnic

Gommy is a very good mama to her teddy bears... 

...we just sometimes wish her tender loving care didn't require whole floors!

Much Love. Take Care.

Love in the Shadows

I was standing near the second floor landing recently, rebooting a load of clothes (our laundry nook is just off the landing), around Montgomery's bedtime (well...really significantly after Montgomery's bedtime), and heard muted excitement from nearby. I glanced into my bedroom (yes, that's still where Montgomery starts out sleeping most nights) to see Maia and Montgomery making shadow puppets on the wall.

Gommy had apparently noticed how my bedside lamp casts just the right spotlight on the wall for a center stage, and then her imagination took flight...it tends to do that quite often   :o)

Was that a big hairy spider?

Maia had come along and helped Gommy figure out some new characters...is that a unicorn?

And the two of them created some dramatic sceneplay quite befitting such interesting creatures.

Is the unicorn being chased?

Or was that a horse (or two) being chased by a dragon?

They knew, and that was all that mattered.

Much Love. Take Care.

Swinging...?

This past spring on a playground junket, I turned around

and found Johngideon like this!

So, while Montgomery was playing in the standard playground fashion...

...doing things like this...

...and this...

And I thought Johngideon was playing like this...

...and this...

I paused to inspect some crawly bugs with Montgomery,

looked back around...and Johngideon was like this...

...joyfully stuck -- and I do mean stuck -- in the infant swing!

It took me and a total stranger dad who had pity on my struggling efforts

to get him pried out...to actually get him pried out!

(There are, of course, no pictures of this comically bizarre activity,

because every limb and appendix I possess was actively and strenuously 

engaged in the prying out effort!)

So, I thought being really stuck

(and him knowing he was really stuck)

would easily communicate the lesson.

Can you believe he actually seemed ready to try it again!

What next?

Much Love. Take Care.

 

A Beautiful Sight

When you've been without electrical power for nearly 72 hours, the electric company's truck in your alley is a beautiful sight indeed!

After a two-day Hurricane Irene delay, our city schools finally will open tomorrow for this school year. The kids are not particularly excited and have really enjoyed the unexpected extra days of summer vacation...swimming, teepee-building, hide-and-seeking, Monopoly-ing, Bey-Blading, water-hosing, scootering, playgrounding, Manga-reading, scavenger-hunting, and the list goes on...its amazing how creative kids (and their parents) can be when their electronic world comes to a screeching halt. As inconvenient as the ill-effects of Irene have been, they have also served to shine a light on our often too-plug-dependent-Westernized-world way of life. All in all, I realize I am grateful for the pause.

We live in a very neighborly community by any standards, but the past few days have brought about even greater degrees of neighborliness, as we have conversed at length with neighbors we usually only greet briefly, frequented local public places chatting while charging our phones, and wandered our nearby blocks to gape in unified amazement at the huge 100-year-old trees that were ripped up by the roots and crashed to the ground -- outrageously blocking streets and sidewalks but not even grazing houses. We are blessed, no?

The enhanced neighborliness was especially visible in the many orange utility cord lines extended across several streets as neighbors with electricity intact on one side of the street reached out to extend (literally) electrical service to those (like our family) on the other sides of streets whose electrical lines were down. Thanks to a wonderful neighbor on the other side of our block, we even managed to get in a little Disney Channel Mulan movie-watching for Montgomery and a friend today (not to mention salvaged refrigeration!).

So, what are my final reflections tonight? Hmmm...

Many things, indeed, but especially gratitude for human kindness, increased appreciation for our western world modern conveniences like electricity and the appliances it powers, and, mostly, thankfulness for a loving God who knows when we need a pause to better remember the simple joys of living in community...and who makes sure we get it.

Feeling blessed and grateful tonight.

Much Love. Take Care.

A Little Light Humor

I tried (and thought I might have accomplished) posting this late last night via text message from my cell phone. Guess it didn't work out (gotta figure out why), so here I go now, a day late and an electricity supply short, gratefully juiced up on public library wi-fi  ;-) ................

What in the world are these?

And these...

...and these...

They are small children in a house without electricity (still!) playing with glowsticks...just before their mother sends them off to bed.

Our electricity is still out...and the word on the street is to plan for 72 hours. City schools have even been closed for tomorrow because so many people are without electricity due to Hurricane Irene. The kids are happy, but it seems a bit strange to have the first day of a new school year postponed. We'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow holds.

In the meantime...

...it's nice to have angels in golden halos in the house tonight.  ;-)

Take Care. Much Love.

Hurricane

Our power just went out, thanks to lady Irene. Rats...I think.

Quiet, calm, dark...peaceful. Just the sounds of the wind and the rain.

Hmmm...grateful.

Thank you Father for your peace.

Prayers for safety for those on the east coast. Trusting a faithful, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, loving, kind parent, we sleep in peace.

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord..." Psalm 33:12a

Take care. Much Love.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ballerina Princess Corner

Every ballerina princess needs a little corner to hang her tutus and toppings.

This is Gommy's.

It always makes me smile.

Much Love. Take Care.

 

Important Ability? Hmmm....

Heard recently from the lips of Johngideon:

"I know how to spell ALL the bad words!"

Dubious talent, no doubt, but better appreciated in context...(I think?)

Grandma Tee was visiting from New York for a few days, and Johngideon was sweet enough to keep me company while we ran an early morning errand with her. She and I were having a conversation in the front seat, when I heard Johngideon pipe up indignantly from the back, "I am not!"

Surprised by his outburst, Grandma Tee and I exchanged befuddled glances and I asked, "am not what, Johngideon?"

"What you said," he responded, "the 'B' word!"

Well, you know what "B" word immediately jumped to our minds, and not being a curser, I racked my brain to see what word I'd used in our front-seat conversation that could have sounded like the "B" word. At a loss, I asked Johngideon what the "B" word was.

"You know," he said, spelling with great emphasis, "B-A-S-T-A..."  Ohhhh, I thought, that "B" word. But knowing that's a word I never use, I looked at Grandma Tee in puzzlement. She reminded me that we had used the word "pastor" in our conversation, and I realized Johngideon thought we'd said his "the 'B' word."

Amused, I explained the misunderstanding to him, but thanked him for choosing to spell the "B" word rather than say it. Delighted by my compliment, he proudly declared these infamous words...

"I know how to spell ALL the bad words."

That really brought a smile to my face. Parentally appropriate? To tell you the truth, I'm still not quite sure.    :o)

Take Care. Much Love.