Sweet Abby

Now most of you know that read this that Abby can sometimes NOT be so sweet. But here was tonight's conversation after I took a nap on the couch for 2 hrs.

Abby: But mommy I'm really worried about you.

Me: Oh, thanks Abby I will be o.k.

Abby: Do you think maybe you just need to poop?

Me: No, (chuckling) I don't think so sweetie.

Abby: Well what kind of tummy hurt do you have? like you are going to throw up mom? (her

face all worried.)

Me: No just hurting.

Abby: Well, are you on the edge of the bed.

Me: Yeah, but I'm not going to fall off

Abby: Mom, please scoot over, I have a lot of room, remember your tummy?

And that was it. Her little 4 1/2 year old sweetness sometimes just makes me smile.

A Good Book

Its never good when you are thinking about folding laundry at 1am or when you are posting to your blog for that matter. I'm not feeling great tonight and am kicking myself for not having a good book at least to distract me. Somewhere in this house is The Call of the Wild but for the life of me I can't find it. So i'm posting for a request. If anyone has read a great book lately, like the page turning, i can't put it down, the cheerios are in the cupboard- sure you can get it yourself Abby, kind of book. That would be great!

Friendship

You all are what makes this world o.k.
Thanks.

Christmas, etc.

So, I'm not one of those people that is totally into Christmas. I mean I love the idea, the parties, and Christmas itself on the day, and the day before.
We are that family that puts up the tree the week before Christmas and doesn't really decorate until that time, too. I've only just started shopping in the last two days and for some reason feel all this pressure about it. Good God people, why do we have to start shopping a month away, the day after Thanksgiving- which I've never done. People's reader boards in town have the countdown of shopping days. The consumerism/marketing of it all just makes me crazy a little. Makes me want to take all the money we'll spend and give it to Heifer Project International and just stay home. Now some of you reading this are probably shaking your head saying, geez Wendy don't take it so seriously. Maybe I shouldn't but for some reason it really makes me crazy and takes the fun out of it. Ok, not so negative.

The Good Things About Christmas
- I like unpacking the ornaments and getting a new one each year.
- I like singing Christmas songs
- I like finding a present that you know someone will love
- I like frosted Christmas sugar cookies
- I like Christmas Eve service
- I like having tea with honey and milk in it on Christmas morning
- I like Abby's sleepy eyes and messy hair when she gets up and sees the tree and all the presents.
- I like being with my family
- I like how the Christmas lights look in the dark

That's all for now. Happy Shopping everyone!

Abs and I tired after a full day of fun at Animal Kingdom.















All decorated for Christmas the Monday after Thanksgiving, weird if you ask me.






Abby at Splash Lagoon- went on it about 152 times!

Coming into Disney World- Abby was almost done asking are we there yet for the 25th time in 7 minutes.

This is Abby posing with Minnie mouse (one of her favorites) and apparently Roy Disney, Walt's brother. Random but cute.

Goodbye Sunshine

Because we live so close to a very large hill, the sun actually

goes away in the winter, stops hitting our house at all.

So goodbye sun, everything will hybernate until

you return, when I will jump for joy at first sight of the sun

hitting the porch in February.

Late Halloween

Abby as "Fairy Godmother" for Halloween.

She dressed herself right down to the pink shoes that are still too big but she loves them!

Our home grown pumpkins all "Carved Up".

Surfing at La Push

Joe paddling at early morning at the ocean- I think I need a bigger lens!!

A Nice Visit

The Pumpking patch Abby and Lils

Cutie girls in the back seat

After Lils visit Abby wanted to know when she could go to her house and did she need a plane to get to Tacoma? Thanks for coming over Jill and hopefully we'll see you soon!

Dad's and Daughters

Some recent Pics- La Push

We had a fantastic weekend at La Push with the family and seeing our Nephew Cody get married to a super cool girl. The wedding was perfect, small, and on top of a mountain! The ocean was sunny, hardly windy, and so lovely- sunset sat. night was gorgeous. We even got to see some bigger waves Sun. at Rialto Beach- couldn't get much better out there.

The Girls at La Push checking out the waves.




Abby and Angelina ready for the wedding!









07 Toppers Photography Soccer Team










Snider Lookout - Cody and Kaylene's wedding







Abs and her Papa




Abby's favorite part of the whole weekend- climbing on all the driftwood and pretending she was a panther!

Abs and I on a stormy day at Rialto Beach.

Watching

There is something about birth that speaks to the
very core of my being. Watching a woman's belly get bigger and bigger each time you see her, and watching that same woman get more beautiful with each passing month than you thought imaginable. Watching her prepare and seek out other woman to feel the support she needs for this transitional time. Watching her face light up each time she talks of the baby coming even though she is more exhausted than she thought she could be. Finally, getting that call that It has begun. I feel like my every nerve is on overdrive, as close as I could come to actually feeling electric. Until you get there and the hard work for that mother really begins and you feel helpless at the same time you feel amazed. You try and encourage and just be with her as she does this hard work that is birth. The laboring mother is in another place, as close as you could be to anyone who is on a different spiritual plane that you are. You wish you could transfer a few contractions to yourself and give her a break but you know this thought is futile, you just do what her eyes are telling you to do, which is different for every woman, every birth.
Then this life slips into the world and you cry because you just Feel so so much.

Thank you, Jenny for letting me be part of Liam' s birth, I am so honored.

The Day You Are Born

Welcome Liam James Smith. The world is a better place because you are here.

The Day You Are Born by Alice Walker (part of it)
......
Oh, little ones
Who will one day
Be
So much taller than us
Let us pledge
On your sweet heads
To make a better show
Of things
Than we have done.

Let us promise
To take courage
From the mysterious
Nature of your
Journey.
Let us acknowledge
In all humility
That regardless of
Your status in life
It is we
Who are blessed.

We do not know the beginning or the end
We only see the middle of things
Which is our own life.

Perhaps you are a part of
The force
That is coming to help
Us
Rearrange our wold
To make it better
We pray that this is
So.

That you have come back
To help heal the confusion
You left behind
So many lifetimes
Ago.

And that you come
Bringing all
We need
To get the job
Done:

Joy, Hope, Song.

Yummm

What is it about hanging out with women that you care about, drinking coffee and talking about your life, kids, and jobs that makes you feel so damn better about life and love? Is it because you aren't alone, because it normalizes what you feel and makes you calmer? Or does it just link us all together so we don't feel so isolated in this nuclear family culture. Whatever the reason, I am thankful for it.

No Cars

I'm trying to figure out why Abby and I had such a
good day last on Tues. and here is why.
We only got in the car one time- to get food to make dinner.
We didn't have any schedule, nothing we had to do
or GET DONE. We read books and more books.
We drew pictures and colored with crayons.
It was cloudy and rainy outside, we had a fire in the
woodstove, it was cozy, unscheduled, and NICE
to just be with her instead of trying to get all these
things done. Why do I get so focused on the tasks instead
of on the important stuff?