99!

                         Around here we call her Grandma Tillie, but she's actually my Great-Grandma, and the kids Great-Great Grandma. And yesterday she turned 99!

                                     Happy birthday to a lovely nonagenarian. Can't wait for next year!

Odds, Ends

                         The battery in my camera is dead and I need to charge it. The sun comes out for a minute and then when we go to the park, it starts raining on us. I'm almost done with my sweater but, once again, I'm racing against the end of the yarn. Oh when will I learn?

So here are some odds and ends of photos. No real story to tell just stuff I like.

  I'm working on pieces of plans and ideas, but nothing that is finished enough to tell. Maybe it never will be. I guess we'll see.

                                        I'm reading a very inspiring book, A Persistent Peace by John Dear. I saw him speak a month or two ago and he was very good. He has been arrested more than seventy five times in his peace witness and been to war zones all over the world. I'm not Catholic, but I am in awe of this strain of amazing service and witness that comes out of that faith. It does makes sense to me that it would be easier to do the work he does as a single person, it's hard to imagine getting arrested all the time if you have a family at home. Though I know people have done it, in the Civil Rights movement for example. Anyway, it's a great read.

Thankful

Today I'm thinking on all the wonderful blessings in my life and really feeling grateful.

Hope you are too.

I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.

-George Fox

Spring Kids Are...

                                              So they are five now. Five!  This group of kids who have known each other pretty much since they were born.

                                            It's something that I am constantly thankful for, this community. How we have listened to each other and reassured each other. We watch each others kids and share tips on schools and playgrounds.

                                 We've swaped books and recipes, trick-or-treated together, welcomed new babies, warmed new homes and danced at birthdays.

                                  And our kids- they grow into each other, and away, then back again. Discovering new games, and delighting in old ones.

                                                                    
                                    Younger siblings are bonding too.

                                 
                                 Parenting, whew. It's such a strange and consuming trip. All the more reason to celebrate those moments. The ones where we sit back and enjoy each other, our kids and all the crazy wonder they bring to us, to our city, our world.

                                It's like a beautiful spring day when you realize you don't need all those layers after all.

                                        
                                     So three cheers for the Spring Kids.

                                           Keep making your magic.

This Moment

Ok, fine

                                     I guess it is Spring after all. For now anyway.

Yarn along- sweater sleeve

I finished the first sleeve on my first sweater! I honestly just didn't understand how a three dimensional sleeve was going to come out of my two straight needles but now I get it- seams! I am having so much fun watching this whole thing take place and figuring out all the different parts.

As for books, I read Mockingjay. I wanted to finish the series before the movie comes out, which I'm sure I'll see at some point. I'm curious to see how they will adapt the story and still keep a PG13 rating. The other book I'm reading is Friends for 350 years by Howard Brinton. I'm taking a Quakerism 101 class with my Meeting and this is our main book. I really love reading about the beliefs and philosophies of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and everything I read makes me so happy to be a part of it.

Linking with Ginny  for lots more yarn and books.

a souvenir

 

One of Chris's co-workers just came back from a week in China. (They sometimes say they'll send him there but they never do, thank goodness. I don't know how you parents who travel for work manage. ) He brought the kids a funny souvenir for the dress up box.

a sudden frost

                                 We woke up to an unexpected frost coating everything. How is it
                                 80 degrees in Chicago and here we have this? It's really not right.
                                 Shudder.

                                  It's sad to see the delicate spring flowers dealing with this. I hope
                                   they pull through.

and our starts! Well they are all brassicas. I guess if they make it, they'll be extra tasty.

Also- Chris and I watched an amazing documentary last night. It's called the Interrupters and it's about former gang members in Chicago who go out and work with young people to resolve conflicts and stop violence before it starts. It was one of the most powerful examples of peacemaking and reconciliation that I have ever seen. Watch it!

Sibling magic

Brixton saw this picture and narrated it. "I fall on the head. I rock with Ti-Ti and I not sad."

There are times when they would fight over anything. Some old broken toy that no one's touched in a year. But they are howling with rage and need, clawing each other over it.

There are times when they spend the whole afternoon playing long elaborate games together, packing up possessions and paddling in their laundry basket boat.

The age and gender difference are so similar to myself and my brother that it gives some of us pause. When my parents were here for Unity's bithday, my dad caught himself calling Brixton by my brother's name. It does give me insight to what parts of my childhood were like, what it was like for my parents. Seeing it from the other side.

My first journal, begun when I was seven, is full of scrawled entries, messy with fierce anger towards my brother. He was my rival until suddenly he was my friend, my dearest. We've talked about how amazing it is to have a close friend who knows your whole life. The entire thing. How we can walk beside each other with that knowledge and that closeness.

I watch them as their game turns from screams to laughter and back in the space of a few minutes.
I can only hope.

Yarn along- sweater front

                Well my first sweater is coming along. The thing is, I'm running out of yarn. Again. But my yarn store is ordering more so it's going to be ok, I think. Next up is working the shoulders, and when I read the pattern I have to admit it made no sense to me. But I assume it will work out once I start trying it.

I read such a good book this week- Wild by Cheryl Strayed. I was a fan of her annonymous advice column Dear Sugar and then she announced that she was going to throw a party on Valentine's Day and reveal her identity. Part of the reason for that was this book. Which is honest and funny and lovely. It's a memoir about a young woman who has everything with the early death of her mother and decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. The wilderness takes over and batters her and eventually heals her. Oh it's so so good.

I'm also reading the next Susan Cooper book, The Grey King, for my online book club. Which is fun and maybe a good palate cleanser after such an amazing intense read.

More yarn and books at Small Things.

Weekending- building

              Well I think we are still getting settled after all that birthday. Don't get me wrong, it was great, but now we are just relearning our old routines.

                                                  Finding homes for our new little sprouts of growth.

and building new structures with new tools.

This moment- a birthday circle

Snuggles with Grandparents

            I'm so thankful that even though all of our family is scattered across the country, we are still able to get together for important occasions. Birthdays, Christmas, we managed to travel across the miles that separate us and have those important snuggles.

In the months to come we suppliment with phone calls and skype and letters and whatever we can, but it's so good to have these visits. I am so thankful that we manage to keep pulling it off.

The distance in miles is large (Florida to Seattle- can you get more cross-country?) but our heart distance is always small. Thanks for the visit guys.

Happy birthday!

Five years ago today, I woke up in the middle of the night. She couldn't wait to join us. Five years ago my world was remade, and she came to teach us who she is and how to love her. Happy birthday my Unity Jane.

Party!

                                    Oh my sweet muffin is turning five! I say this every year, but I really
can't believe it. Five seems like such a threshold, such a big transition.

                                 She's grown  about five inches since last year. Huge!

                                   Yesterday we had a fun fancy ocean tea party with crafts and games.

                                    Friends- Jordana, Ginger, Mimi, Beatrix, and Ilana. Alice and Nevia didn't want to be in the picture. Mimi and Beatrix are sisters, in case you can't tell from the squeeze.

Oh my love. We are so happy to have you.

This moment- bubbles

Linking with Soule Mama for lots of wonderful moments.

Teeth of Glory

                Molar. If you are parent that word will inspire looks of terrified horror. If you are not a parent, it might seem strange. Molar...a kind of tooth?

                                 The kind of tooth that turns your child into a miserable screaming wreck while they are acquiring it.

                                  Last night the only place he wanted to sleep was the kitchen chair. I kept putting him in bed and he kept getting out and saying "I need to eat my corns" and then promptly curling up on the chair and going to sleep.

We'll get through it though. After all we've got some special visitors coming and some big events planned.