Just Dropping In....

We have a whiteboard on our fridge that I use as a to-do list holder and a blog idea gathering place. Ideas that I want to capture and write about in this space are quickly jotted down in the midst of the hustle, as so often the best ideas emerge in a moment of domestic grace. The white-board is now overflowing with borders full of stories and thoughts I want to share and yet.....our summer has been so full, so blessed, so challenging....basically we have really been living and this poor space has remained neglected. Alas! C'est la vie! We are blessed!

Still, I don't want  to forget the glory of these days in all of their simplicity. I don't want to forget the wonder of my children at these specific ages and stag
es, nor the way I've marvelled at our marriage and what it is now after these 5 years that passed in a blink.

Liliana Joy, our eldest, our tenacious and feisty darling, our emotionally perceptive and incredibly imaginative daughter. What a summer this has been for you! You've grown like a sweet little weed, both physically and intellectually. I stand watching you sleep and marvel over this tall little girl with pierced ears who was once my 6.5 lb peanut. Similarly I marvel at you when you stomp away and yell that "I don't like you, I don't want you," or embarrass me in public with your crossed arms and pout.  'They' warned me the day would come when your daddy and I weren't all you needed in the world, but I didn't want to hear it. You start school this September. Again, I cannot imagine such a day has come. This summer you have absolutely amazed us with your athleticism. Whether it has been tenaciously hiking up mountains, running around our golf course, or morphing into a little fish during your swimming lessons, I shake my head and my heart swells with joy to see you SO HAPPY and so challenged.  You are such a good big sister to Judah, so tender and so deliberate in your inclusion of him. He literally worships the ground you walk on! 

You have a sweet love for Jesus and just now I am starting to search a little harder for resources to teach you more about our faith. You have a very real devotion to St. Michael the Archangel and find much comfort at night from faith in his protection. I smile to see the faith of a child, for whom Jesus is just so real and the concept of faith is so natural. We yearn to foster a faith and a deep love in you of what is good, true, and beautiful. I wonder aloud to your daddy how we will accomplish this as we send you off to school. I worry (because I worry always) about all that you'll be exposed to, but your solid-as-a-rock father reminds me that we work very hard to prepare you to be a light.  Oh how we love you!

Canmore, a perfect place for a hiking fairy princess church-goer....

Such a sweet sister, a tender moment captured

***melt***

I love capturing these moments when they don't know I see them....look at those beautiful earrings :)

Judah David, you are so, so darling! You are our incredibly determined, intelligent, musical, temper-filled, sensual and affectionate sweetheart. Because the many months after your birth were so difficult for me and such a blur, I look at you now and just want to snatch you to my heart. Something about a sweet boy's love for his mama, you just love me so much. You have had such a happy summer. You fell in love with your Nonna and Papa who were visiting from Texas and are at the perfect age to remember them with much nostalgia. You just loved every moment with them! You are at that magical age where you are simultaneously a little boy and baby, both so so needy and so desiring independence. I just weaned you which was very sad for me and very dramatic for you, but you were truly addicted and I never got any sleep with your acrobatic nursing so, alas, another chapter closes. However, with each chapter closing a new one opens and new for you is that your daddy is the coolest person in the whole world. You are absolutely OBSESSED with motorcycles, helicopters, and balls of any sort. You've developed so much over this summer, from your vocabulary explosion, to your physical ability, to your overnight self-toilet-training! There was something magical about watching you learn how to jump on the trampoline. One day you couldn't leave the ground, and the next you were flying. Hearing you laugh as you took in the new experience made my heart want to explode. Your daddy and I face the challenge of balancing your extreme attachment to me with our need to be united and your need to learn that you aren't the centre of the universe. We will get there, I hope! You absolutely adore your sister. She is quite literally foremost on your mind at all times. We melt over the fact that whenever we offer you anything your first concern is that Liliana is also considered and taken care of. What a little gentleman you already are. Oh, how we love you!

Look at that tall slender little boy! 

His first haircut, which he was very solemn for!
I was afraid his curls would disappear but thank goodness they are still here!

Playing "house"...best buds!

 (singing for mama in a whisper at the optometrist)

I have much to write about my Love Joseph and the celebration of our 5th wedding anniversary, complete with stomach flu on the airplane and how the reality with all of its messiness is so much better than the fantasy. 

Alas, reality calls and dinner must be prepared. It is meet the teacher night at Liliana's preschool (GULP!). As always, with prayers and much love,