Slow Down Already

This is a two-fold title, you see: 

First time painting her own toe nails, and yes, she also likes fleece jammies in August!

 1. My kids are growing too fast, I cannot stand it. Sentimental-ness is in full swing at this house. ( a later post: I am framing some of Jack's old shoes with holes in them, yes, framing them, yes, I love them, think hair blowing, legs extended, racing on his red Radio Flyer race car, I LOVE these shoes for that memory, and always will)





2. I race around with a list 2 miles long trying to keep my head above water and it is still 2 miles long...sigh.

No, it doesn't bother me to race around on most days, or rewrite lists to prioritize my to-do's. I've accepted the list as a challenge, and I love those. But there are the little moments when you say, hell with it, it can all wait because playing with diggers in the mulch seems much more important....

a nature ride with Dad!

 See, while 2 of the 3 slept today, I weeded a huge flower bed and mulched the heck out of it. So...I'm sweating, in wonderfully cool feeling 90 degrees, while Grace brings out a lawn chair, drink with a straw, snack, and bunny. She plants herself in the 4 square feet of shade that our small Live Oak in the front yard provides and proceeds to tell me "I'm going to help you mom."  Me: "great"  Grace proceeds to tell me stories while I work. In all actuality, it was quite helpful. She entertained herself, me, and I was productive! Amazing! Nonetheless, my true focus was on the flowerbed. Lately I've been all business...getting back to the routine, getting stuff done, and on and on. I've been quite successful- though a simple peek in my windows would tell you a different story. So don't peek.





Anywho, Will and Jack wake up, full of energy and ready to play. Trent tries to entertain them a bit but dirt, mulch, and a mom with garden tools is much more enticing. I forge ahead. But wait, I see a light go off in Jack's head as he races to the front door. He re-emerges with a bulldozer and a digger, runs-and I do mean runs, to the freshly laid mulch and digs in, literally. Well, I think, not exactly the look I'd envisioned for my crisp, clean flowerbeds but how creative! and Grace jumped right in, Will started chewing mulch...and again, all are entertained...




I forge ahead. Grace gets bored and goes in for another snack (shocking!), Trent decides Will has had enough mulch and takes him in too. My smooth flowerbed mulch now looks like a miniature nursery with large mounds of mulch for sale by the truck load. No problem, I forge on. Then, drumroll,  I'm done! I did it, I stand back and admire with satisfaction! The neighbors will be thankful, and I hear Jack "mom, will you play with me now?" .....pause....I want a shower, a glass of  water, need to clean up....but his cute little face and sweet little voice are so sincere...so, I squat down and grab a truck. "No, mom, sit down like me so you don't get up." He knows me too well I guess. So, I sit --in the flowerbed. We play. We imagine. We create. We get smiles from passing neighbors (although they may be smiling that the weeds are gone--in one flowerbed anyway). It was great. I wanted my camera so badly, but going in to get it would have ruined our moment.

Exploring the pantry! look at those feet :)

In short, I've caught many moments lately, and I'll share them with you. Not because you need to "feel" my moments, but be reminded of your own. We all have them. We rush past them most times because life is fast with lots on the schedule. I really wouldn't have it another way though. Those schedules fill my life, and hopefully theirs, with memories and good experiences. But in between, are little moments, that I want to remember forever, so my camera helps me. Get yours working and snap a few photos, even if they are pictures of inanimate objects or random events. You know that when you look back at pictures, you are immediately there, in that place, for another brief moment. You feel  how you felt, you may laugh, cry, or whatever, but you feel it. And if you have siblings or best friends, coworkers or a pet, and you share that moment with them, they also, have that same feeling, same memory. How cool is that? And memories alone are great, but come on, seeing it in a photo is like memory in high definition...


 And one more thing....who cares if you look tired or unshowered (I have for years now :) in your pictures, if the floor is dirty in the background, someone isn't looking and smiling perfectly...that isn't the point...and if you wait for the perfect moment, you'll never catch any...capture life, the way it really is, it is awesome just the way it is if you find those little moments tucked in all throughout your day. 

 

 Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart. Piglet

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, love the people who treat you right and forget about the ones who don't. And believe that everything happens for a reason...if you get a chance-take it; if it changes your life-let it. Nobody said that it would be easy...they just promised it would be worth it."

Harvey Mackay

I love you all, M