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still watching sleeping heads.
I watch kids sleep as much now as I did when they were babies. In those infant days I was checking for breathing. Hovering over their bitty heads and listening for breath sounds. Staring with sleepy eyes at their itty chests to see if I could notice the tiny rise and fall of breaths taken in and breaths breathed out.…
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misunderstanding is the funniest
The best conversations happen in the car. We are driving along, discussing names for future pets. (It’s what we do.) And we all keep shouting out ideas. “Huckleberry. Atticus. Dash. Lazarus. Seven.” (That last one is from me. I really want to name some animal Seven.) And then someone in the front seat suggests, “Ebenezer”. This adorable Otto voice arises…
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a party. a magic kind of party.
The idea was a simple one born out of a desire to help our friend. Hilary and her family are moving to Bangladesh and you know, from what I assume, having never made a cross-the-universe move before, I think it’s a pretty expensive little venture. And as much I would like to sabotage their plans and keep them as my…
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really, just a post that wraps up and sums up and wanders a bit. a post kind of like a regular day.
When the little weather ap on my phone said the sun would be shining all week long and warming up our little corner of the earth to a toasty 95 degrees most days, I decided the time to finally cave in and turn on the air conditioning was right then. I have waited and waited to flick that switch –…
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when there is no answer
The truth is ….. trouble follows you wherever you go. The Avett Brothers have a song entitled “The Weight of Lies” and a couple lines in that song had me thinking on our recent flight to Texas. The weight of lies will bring you down And follow you to every town cause Nothing happens here that doesn’t happen there ….…
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the both.
It is surreal to wake up in Texas and to go to sleep in South Carolina on the same day. I want to talk about a day of travel with five kids. But I also kind of want to sleep. And I want to complain too for some reason. I’m feeling a little weird like that tonight. Maybe it’s the…
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when I misjudged his intentions.
“Momma, where are you?” The question of the day. It’s the six year old walking grin asking this time. When he can’t hear my answer, he asks it louder. And continues to ask. And I finally shout from my location – the bathroom – “Son, I am in the bathroom!” We are all changing from our swimsuits into our dry…
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The Texas Tally
Sometimes when we get together we end up counting things that happen – and we can barely keep up. $20.26 spent on candy at Mom and Pop’s Candy Store. 4,321 times that 8 children asked, “Can we have another piece of candy?” 13,241 steps Emma took today according to her FitBit. 6 times Emma told the kids, “Just one more…
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Texas ya’ll.
Texas is hot. It’s also in a different time zone. (But of course everyone knows that – right?) And it’s home to one of my favorite families and my favorite Emma. We have eight kids all together here and we are enjoying the high volume chattering and the endless snack consumption and the book reading and good times. We’ve been…
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here I am, son.
They sit on me. Lean against me. Wiggling. Twitching. Tapping. Head lolled against my shoulder. My boys. Some days I am struck by their vastly increased hands-on neediness. My sons are much touchier than my girls. They need me differently. Some days (all days) I am convinced that my ten year old would literally crawl into my skin and take…
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a big day. a little post.
Today the kids and I flew to Texas. We flew to Texas, you guys. The kids were incredible. I am so very tired. All I’ve got for you tonight are some photos. I hope that’s enough.
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the second day in june.
Well. We remembered that it was trash day during daylight hours. We accidentally locked the dog inside the house and I had to drive in reverse on the driveway to set him free. We took turns holding Maddox. We had a fabulous Book Club at our favorite local pizza place. (You guys. Start a Book Club. It’s so great. Really…
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says London Eli Scout
“If I married a potato chip, my potato chip husband wouldn’t last very long. Neither would our potato chip children.”
