Kindergarten....

What I really need to know is how this happens. How in 5 short years, does this little boy become this big boy.  How is it that he is now going to be in school all day, everyday and is telling me, "Mom, isn't it cool I get to have Language Arts at school, just like Abby does?"

Wesley, I feel so lucky to have had such a healthy, capable boy.  I am so proud of how strong and capable you are, how you know so well what it is you like and don't like. (ok.... sometimes this is annoying when i'm trying to convince you to wear something or do something that you don't want to do.) I'm sure it will serve you well in the future to be so adamant..... "Oh sorry Sheriff Andrew..... I really just couldn't follow that law, it really doesn't work for me." I digress..... I will miss our days off at home together, watching a show together, doing legos, some chores, and a bike ride to the barn or the "ducks." I adore you baby...your will....your determination.... your ability to do everything your sissy does and how much you love her. I am so proud of you and can't wait to watch you grow this year.  Have fun with teacher Christine!!

Away.....

my stab at random musings....

You know it's been awhile since you left, that even throwing up children in airports doesn't even quell your enthusiasm for traveling.
That the promise of hearing whales talk to each other under water makes you jump off a lava shelf.
When you are on the beach watching your daughter in the ocean and she gets too far away from your husband, you don't realize you aren't breathing until she gets back to him...
That you haven't arrived until you smell plumeria and eat spam musubi.
That you realize how much you move and how busy you are at home.... When the first day of vacation all you do is go in the water and then lay down and not move.
Watching the sun go down even in the rain is always a perfect idea.
Neighbor cats that visit the backyard keep your children entertained for hours.
You always read books that someone you love adores, even if it makes you cry and the sunscreen burns your eyes.

The second application of sunscreen is The most important.
Watching his face as he's about to jump in the ocean makes my heart feel all light.

Most of all.... When you stop moving and you start being, you realize with the utmost clarity that  beauty is everywhere you look.

12 years

Tomorrow she is 12.
Hard to believe 12 years ago she came here to be with us, to teach us about her, about life, and about ourselves.
Hard to believe that SO MUCH can happen in 12 short years.... what of the next 12?
My affirmations to the universe..........
May she handle the next 12 with as much piss, vinegar and zest for life that she has the first 12.
May she never stop being as game for whatever comes her way.
May she continue to grow spiritually and realize the power she has within her to become and manifest what she wants her life to be like.
May she keep working hard at everything she does.
May she get through these next few years of finding herself and separating from us in a way that doesn't hurt herself or us too much.  (mostly her dear Papa...)
May we all continue to learn from each other and grow to get to where we are meant to arrive.

Emergence

Vitamin D like they are candy......

How to Raise a Girl

My Goodness How I love THIS.....

By Jennifer S. White. Elephant Journal.com

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/06/how-to-raise-a-girl/

I’m about to have two little ladies running around my house instead of just one. (I’m expecting a girl.)

And raising a girl is nothing short of a blessing.

But sugar and spice and everything nice? Nah.

I’ll take a sprinkle of naughty and a hint of “likes to roughhouse.”

I’ll throw in a pinch of burn-your-mouth spicy and maybe an occasionally sour too.

Because I’ve been thinking a lot about raising girls and about being one too.

I’ve been thinking about my own experiences, hardships and hard-won lessons, and what exactly being a woman means to me.

So, here we go: a compilation of my memories, self-experiments, personal gender studies, stories and teachings.

How to raise a girl:

Let her pick out pink, frilly dresses—and wear them outside to play.

Throw the baseball with her in the backyard so that she can break in her new baseball mitt.

Be comfortable with her nudity and with your own, so that she can grow to be comfortable in her skin.

Let her take off her teenage bra and not wear it for a year. Don’t freak out if she stops shaving her armpits. Let her disown her girlhood because she’s rebelling against—and mourning—leaving it behind.

Let her cover her breasts and wear baggy clothes—but make sure that she’s not covering more than her body from the world.

Let her eat, but teach her that self-indulgence is not self-care either.

Hold her when she’s fallen down and then help her learn how to get back up, for when you’re not there to grasp her hand.

Make sure she knows that she can date whatever gender she wants. Teach her that nice guys and girls do win, and teach her, preferably through example, to choose partners based on qualities that matter and not what’s between the legs, inside wallets or behind “mysterious” demeanors.

Teach her that she is whole alone.

Help her to be proud of her femininity when (and if) she discovers it, and teach her to appropriately equate this word with strength.

Encourage her to develop her voice. Reassure her that she can be loud and large when she wants to be.

Remember, if you’re also a woman, that she is not you and that just because she’s a girl, this doesn’t mean you will share experiences, perceptions or personalities.

Share your heart and your experiences with her, though, so that she becomes familiar with intimacy.

Kiss her and hold her and hug her for no reason. Let her know that she owes no one any of these things.

Toss her giggling, toddler body into the air. Wrestle with her and don’t tell her to “be careful” when she shows signs of being a daredevil.

Show her how to cook, do laundry and clean—not because she’s a girl, but because it will help her be self-sufficient.

Make sure she understands that “being good” doesn’t mean putting herself last or being small. Rather, it means being authentic and kind (and to herself too).

Dry her tears with your love and willingness to witness her pain, but don’t tell her that her crying should be stopped or that it’s a weakness. Show her that it takes courage to wear an occasionally tattered heart on her sleeve.

Tell her she’s beautiful. Tell her she’s beautiful when she’s just woken up, when she’s sweaty and not only when she’s all dressed up. Tell her she’s beautiful when she’s laughing and sharing her ideas and baring her soul.

Allow her to wear bright red lipstick when she’s old enough, but help her develop self-confidence without it.

And, most importantly, raise her not as a girl, but as the individual who she already is—and love her for it.

~

Gravity

Nikki McClure's answer to what inspires you.....

Moss cities, and salt water's cold fire tingle, and help received, and life noticed, and self erasure, and recognizing a friend in a tiny wave, and risk, and hot scratched skin, and assistance by chance, and trying to save it all even though it is pointless, and existing with and for, and influencing your home by staying put and cementing down.

I like it.