Riley Amber
Not all those who wander are lost. - J.R.R. Tolkien
-
five finds friday (why I’m sticking around for fridays and shows that make me laugh)
You know what’s discouraging? When you type a whole post and then your son unplugs the internet connection and your computer doesn’t save what you typed. That’s a bummer. Also, it’s a bummer when you are so old or distracted or tired or distracted or distracted that you honestly can’t recall the words you typed mere minutes earlier. I think I said something about how I really don’t know how much time in this new year I can commit to writing in this sweet space because I really do want to finish that book. And how Ruth, my writing coach, said that it will be hard and that I will…
-
The Things That We Keep Doing
It doesn’t matter if I am suffering from writer’s block or insomnia, if the laundry gets finished or the meals are full of protein and vitamin-rich choices. Whether those things happen or those things don’t happen, Life Keeps Marching Along. Last weekend Saylor turned one. We celebrated with cake and streamers and sunshine. We drove to the beach for a day with Hannah because she’s moving to Kentucky next week. (I found my first sand dollar and the waves were the calmest I’ve ever seen.) I convinced Beth to finally get the Marco Polo app so we could keep up more quickly. The beautiful mural in our town is officially…
-
The newest little human.
This weekend my daughter gave birth to a little girl. A miniature tiny picture of hope and love and legacy. Healthy, safe and doing well. A miracle that is not to be taken for granted. Saylor Rae. Maddox and Porter stayed with us this weekend while Riley had Saylor. They were thrilled to meet their baby sister (or baby “kicker” as Porter pronounces it). When I told Maddox that his mommy had the baby he literally stood up and clapped and said, “Hooray – I have a sister!” I’m too sleepy to think of all the words to describe the surreal nature of your children having children. But mostly, I’ll…
-
Five Finds Friday (the best worst photo & a lot of Lauren Daigle)
I’ll keep saying it all the time. As many times as I want to. IT’S ALREADY THE END OF OCTOBER!!??! And I’ll use excessive exclamation marks if I feel like it too. Whatever. I guess I’m feeling a little sassy. Which is a silly word. Actually, it used to be my daughter Riley’s favorite word. What should we name this cat? Sassy. What are you going to name your new doll? Sassy. What do you wish your name was? Sassy. It’s Friday though, and it’s been a while – so maybe I can rally up five finds this week ….. funny We had rain tickets to…
-
Five Finds Friday (chocolate pudding and head wraps on sale. also cookie pigs.)
Friday comes in on little cat’s feet. No – wait, that’s the fog, right? It comes in on little cat’s feet in a poem – correct? Yeah, who knows. That was probably a nerdy literary reference that only I think is funny. That’s fine. Let’s not mention it – okay? FUNNY This is a real cookie that one of our favorite bakeries sold to us. What is happening here? I don’t even know what it is I am supposed to be looking at. A mama pig? It’s too weird to consume. FASHIONABLE Babies need fashion too. And babies need spit/drool/sweet potato puree…
-
Five Finds Friday (fifteen) (loose tooth and BBQ sauce. unrelated.)
Hooray. It’s Friday. FUNNY I have six children. They each have a mouth. And in those six mouths you would find the normal human amount of teeth. And – during the course of five of their lives – they have all lost the normal amount of baby teeth. I’m not great at math and I’m unwilling to figure out the exact number but you can assume with me that the baby teeth lost numbers are high in this family. Yesterday Otto – the baby of the family and the Keigley with the most baby teeth still in his mouth – lost his FIRST tooth. It was perfect poetic justice that the…
-
a little weekend whatnot and such
Some seasons of life feel like they are rolling through via slow motion. Some do not. Right now everything feels a bit like Fast Forward with the windows rolled down and the radio turned up really loudly. It’s not bad. That’s not what I’m saying. It’s busy. That’s what I am saying. (And. I know it can change faster than I can flip to a new radio station. So there’s that.) This week we had a handful of fun family moments that really should each have their own blog post. (Who knows? Maybe they still will.) My brother and his family are visiting from New Zealand and I cannot get…
-
Five Finds Friday (four.)
FUNNY Looking forward to the delicious treats that are being prepped for Thanksgiving, Otto had a unique (and admittedly a tiny bit bizarre) response. When he saw a tray full of homemade peppermint patties, he exclaimed, “That makes me so happy I’m going to toot!” FASHIONABLE I mean, I don’t want to just keep endlessly talking about all the fashion over at Noonday so I’ll spread the love around. About ten or twelve years ago I purchased a lot of my clothing (and clothing for children) from Old Navy. And then their style, for kids in particular, got kind of weird and I stopped purchasing primarily from them for a…
-
that peach crepes recipe
I told you I would share our family’s peach crepes recipe. And being as it is peach season all over the south, I think now is a good time. When Riley was in elementary school, she attended a cooking class. (The instructor held the class at her home and I honestly thought it was a model home that no one lived in – it was that unbearably tidy and sterile.) The cooking class was a success though and the recipe for peach crepes was born from that class. It was an instant favorite for me and I have been routinely requesting it for my birthday breakfast for years upon years.…
-
Meeting Maddox
I woke Saturday morning and glanced at my phone. Like 14 missed calls and 13 texts and oops – I guess I should have stayed awake all night or something. Riley – our oldest daughter – was letting me know she was on the way to the hospital to give birth to her baby. Yes. To give birth to a baby! (It’s shocking to think of myself as a grandmother so I plan to do my best to make this post about Riley and not about how I cannot possibly be grandmother age.) We arrived at the hospital literally as she was delivering the little fellow so our timing was…
-
baking. or I am going to miss my kid.
I was in the kitchen. Making oatmeal cream pies for Riley for a surprise going away party. Because that was her last Saturday in the United States for the next ten months. Because I love her. Because she’s my kid and I’m her mom and this is what I do. And maybe it was the oatmeal cream pies. Or the absolute solitude I was experiencing – a rare phenomena at this season of my life. I don’t know. I’m sure it’s everything. I was thinking about brown sugar and oatmeal and wondering if rolled oats were all that different from old-fashioned oats and why it really mattered anyway and suddenly…
-
in the meantime.
She’s nineteen. To me, that’s sort of grown. To everyone else, that’s certainly grown. It’s surprisingly difficult to have two basically grown up women living in one home. She wants to be boss and I want to be boss. Some of our days seem spent in a barely veiled power struggle. When she’s hard to understand and when she pushes and withdraws and when I feel my heart bend toward her and pull back from her as the hour hand shifts positions, I think about my own momma. About the time I was nineteen and she was not and we survived one another. I feel robbed for about the thirteenth…
-
daughters. sisters.
One morning this week the girls and I put on pretty dresses. We drove to a friend’s house and attended a tea party to celebrate our sweet young friend turning five. It was a lovely morning. Tables set up outside in the cool morning breeze. Tablecloths. Real deal china plates and tea cups. French bread smothered in home made cream and fresh strawberries. Scones. Piper was thrilled to put on a dress. She chose from her plethora of options and happily dressed her dolls to accompany us. Mosely was happy to oblige the dress code suggestion and even submitted to a barrette placed in her hair but requested no braids.…
