Joining Amanda at Soulemama for this moment.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

Sending special birthdays wishes to a beautiful lady today – Happy Birthday, Mom! How we wish we were celebrating with you today.

xoR

Little girl, we’ve been graced by your peaceful presence now for nine months. For nine long months we anticipated your arrival and now for nine short months we’ve watched you grow. From wide eyed wonder taking it all in to wide eyed full of wonder as you take it all on.

Adored, beloved, darling, you are cherished by us all.

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Mira has popped through two teeth in the last couple of weeks and it would seem as though she is working on more. That hard work mostly bothers her at night but even then she is such an understanding little lady. During the day she is on the go. Not quite crawling on hands and knees but pulling herself along the floor with her arms. With her new found movement Mira is finding all sort of trouble to get into. We’ve had to redouble our sweeping regime as she’s putting all findings in her mouth.

She is well guarded, this precious baby sister. There always seems to be a sibling begging to carry, snuggle, or kiss her. They can always make her laugh. And our little peacemaker has settled many a conflict and dried many a tear without a word, such is the power of her sweet smile.

After her first enthusiastic bites of avocado, she hasn’t shown much interest in food. She samples now and then but for the time being The Mia-Bomb’s quite happy with her milk. And with all that we already have going on I’m quite happy to hold on to our nursing sessions.

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These nine months have passed in a blink but we can’t imagine life without this blessed bundle of joy.

Happy 9th Month, Mira Love.

Last week I missed the yarn along party – knitting was not happening with all the crazy busyness around here. I’ve picked it up a bit this week, hoping to finish the birthday sweater. The birthday long since past but the boy still eager for his sweater I think it’s time I knit those last couple inches of sleeve and worked up that collar. Cast off and finish (all those) ends and I’m done.

And now I’m thinking of easy peasy knitting. A simple project to grab as we head out the door to the new house, pick up while helping with math problems, and work at while I unwind before bed. There are many babies getting ready to make entrances through our circle of friends so I’m thinking something for baby. An owlie sack? Another puerperium? Anyone have a suggestion for me?

And of course with wool from my stash. I knew there was a reason I’ve resisted packing it up.

While my mind has been flying a million miles an hour I’ve been craving comfort. Comfort reads, and comfort foods. The chocolate chip cookies were an experiment, a recipe claiming the title of world’s best but needing some tweaking. Too sweet, (believe it or not) too much chocolate, but comforting with a wide glass of cold milk nonetheless (wide enough for dipping, that is).

The reading has been Roald Dahl with the two big girls and Alexander McCall Smith in my stolen quiet moments. The Magic Finger was a quick read, not my favourite of his books (it was quite mild by his standards) but the girls really enjoyed it. As for me I relished The Double Comfort Safari Club. I like his words: they’re gentle, well chosen, and beautiful. McCall Smith’s books don’t challenge me but they are smart and full of love – particularly The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. His characters are sculpted so well I could forget they are made of words. His love of Botswana makes me ache to see it with my own eyes. Comfort food for my soul.

And as I set up my photo with books, wool, and snacks, thinking of comfort reads and comfort foods I wasn’t even thinking of the title of my comfort read. How silly of me, how apropos.

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joining Ginny for yarn along

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal

into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our

past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

~Melody Beattie

In the name of gratitude and truthfulness I’ve decided to post a little piece of reality here once a week. Likely just a single picture. See my original post here.

Our much loved van is a mess. Full-blown, cracker crumbed, finger-printed mess. We seem to have gathered a collection of pinecones; there is cheesy wax melted into far too many crevices and smeared across the back windows; someone got ahold of a marker in the back seat. We’re taking bets on the unidentified odour.

While we work hard to keep our home clean this space is under our radar.

Every time we rush out of our home for a real estate showing, leaving it is clean as we can manage, scented faintly of lemons and cloves; every time we pile into our van, the land of dropped crackers and lost dinky cars, haunted by the unusual scent of….something; every time, I’m thankful our Honda Odyssey is not part of the tour.

And while I’m at it, I’m also so thankful she’s got that eighth seat we never thought we’d need.

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If you’d like to join in with a reality check of your own, please add a link or note in the comments!

A frappuccino with a friend, the same friend who kindly helped clean the kitchen and wrangle the six into bed.

A Saturday snowday, a first weekend in May tradition, and special bonus for Dan who was helping friends move (and for the friends, I’m sure); hot chocolate, E’s melty butter toast, and PBS for the rest of us. Huge, fluffy, clusters of snow. Dizzying, beautiful, and so ineffectually captured by camera.

An afternoon of roller-coaster emotions, cravings for pudding, surfing for light fixtures, and packing boxes. Dan and many helpers learning (via YouTube) how to skim coat a ceiling while I chuckle at the commentary, “He’s so tall.” “I think he’s tricking us.” “Is it a trick, Daddy?”

A morning lay-in, nail polish on patient toes, Skype chat with Grandpa S and his dog; then Daddy out with the three big littles for a girl’s magic class and reno shopping.

Meanwhile an hour of frantic cleaning for me – a last-minute showing. Thankfulness for the hypnotic power of television as I plop two kids down while I hide cloth diapers and sweep crumbs. Grabbing little sis from her nap and whisking us over to the playground across the alley.

An unexpected hour at the park, an eye out for the showing realtor, gratitude for the (mostly) dry grass after yesterday’s snowstorm. Four-year-old races, rocks in shoes, baby eating grass.

Home again for dinner by daddy, pudding and inevitably macaroons by mommy, and the bedtime marathon.

Finishing it off with a touch of knitting, a new Sherlock, and a cup of tea.

Busyness, full minds, sweet pleasures, full hearts – this is how we’ve spent our weekend.

How was yours?

Wishing you all a beautiful new week!

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joining Amanda for weekending