Musings on Life and Beauty Archives - Page 21 of 146

Laundry

October 10, 2013 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

Today I am racing around trying to get things done around the house. I wrote on Sunday about how it feels for me to be out of the house more lately and I feel like if I run a little faster I might be able to fix it?

I was talking to a friend and she mentioned laundry. It made me laugh, because at our house the first sign that we are out of balance is the laundry. Not that it doesn’t get washed; I don’t have that option. But the concept of laundry as a beautiful process that contributes to order and tidiness goes right out the window while the clothes land on the floor.

I’ve said before that 15 minutes can work wonders, and I got a lot of folding done in 15 minutes… just in time to walk out the door for 2.5 hours of carpool driving. I have a feeling it took my 4 year old much less than 15 minutes to undo the neatly folded stacks of clothing I had waiting for several children to carry to their rooms and put away. Sigh.

I’ve worked so hard on routines since school started, trying to help my children improve their habits, and many days I’ve felt good about what I’m accomplishing, but sometimes sights like this make me wonder who I was kidding. The past few days are making me humble and sending me back to the drawing board (my knees).

Another tell-tale sign? My kitchen counter… the end of it, where the papers stack up if I don’t deal with them right away. That hot spot needs attention as well.

Do you have a spot that always goes first when life spins out of control?

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Number Eleven

October 8, 2013 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

Eleven years ago we became the parents of four children. Her birth was swift and frightening, and at the end of the experience we were grateful beyond words for good doctors and a baby who made it. A beautiful baby girl – the biggest of all eight – weighing in at 9 lbs 4 oz. On the way home from the hospital we stopped to buy a birthday cake at the insistence of our toddlers at home awaiting her. I vividly remember walking into Dairy Queen with a two day old baby to buy a little ice cream cake and have her name put on it in frosting. My mom laughed when we arrived, but her older brothers and sister had been talking for weeks about how a baby couldn’t be born without having a birthday cake!

Now she is eleven, and I must say that the same word I used to describe her as a baby and toddler still fits today, and has fit every day of her life. She is a delight.

She requested the lunch that has become a birthday tradition in our family. I purchased her favorite snacks, foods and treats and wrapped each one individually, putting it in a gift bag for her lunch. For dinner, her first request is a dish that has, in my mind, become connected with thoughts of her. She wanted black bean tart , and as it is one of my best but most time consuming recipes, she has been my #1 helper with this recipe for at least a year now, often making it herself. I made four of them today for dinner, and must confess to accomplishing little else this afternoon. Was it worth it? For her smile of surprise and joy, yes it was.

And while she never tasted that first ice cream cake eleven years ago, it continues to be her request EVERY year.

A kind and gracious sister, it was sweet to watch her open gifts. I realized tonight how pleasant it is to give gifts to one who is naturally inclined to be appreciative.

She is so many things: helpful, hard working, thoughtful, sharing, intelligent, responsible. I am so blessed to know this dear, dear girl. And so happy for all the delightful years we still have with her.

Happy birthday to my beautiful, precious daughter.

I love you, Mom

She’s growing up…

September 30, 2013 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

Last week my oldest daughter curled her baby sister’s hair and took her to a nearby reception center for some pictures.

Some of them capture this little (or not-so-little) personality so well…

They also give me a glimpse at the artistic eye of the beautiful girl behind the camera, and it’s fun to see her experiment. I look at these photos and think, “She’s growing up.” Both of them. It’s wonderful and painful all at once.

This last picture is SO. HER.
As I type this, I sit in a quiet room with her on the couch nearby. She seems to be sound asleep, but if I move to leave she wakes to insist that I stay. I think of the things on my list for today and sigh inwardly, but it’s nice to be needed. It’s nice to have someone who still wants me here. I know the common feeling is that the youngest in every family ends up spoiled, and I suppose in some ways they are. But I watch her sometimes and ache for her, setting aside things she should love because everyone else has grown out of them, trying so hard to live the schedule of the older children in a body that needs much more sleep, trying to understand their worlds so she won’t be seen as ignorant, trying to be older than she is, and on these mornings I see what the keeping up costs her. She is adorable, clever, funny, sweet, mischievous, and exhausted. In the quiet of just the two of us, she can be who she really is, a tiny, growing four year old.

So I guess the housework will wait while we sit, my precious little girl and I.

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