a walk in the woods

Yesterday we tried to get ahead of the days heat, and take the kids for a little hike in the morning. Rain cooled the air a bit, but by the end of our trek, we were sticky and hot.
No matter, we had fun and saw wild turkeys, squirrels perched on logs eating found nuts, beetles with pretty shells, dragonflies circling the pond, and pollywog's favorite observation, ants.
CJ is growing up so fast and I am are making sure to connect with him each day. The memories we have made with him running through the trees, out in the desert discovering oasis, sand dune streams, mud baths (he always finds mud), star guided hikes, fishing with sticks in secret creeks 
Pollywog finds so much joy in nature as well. She has the curiosity and kindredness that reminds me of my grandfather. Nature knows her and she is home in it's midst. We called her river when she was still in my womb. Each body of water she passes is noticed and spoken of. She is quiet and inquisitive. She loves to sit and watch a bug crawl, look for hidden birds singing in the distance and feel freedom under her wandering legs.
Glee is abundant in the outdoors and even more so when shared with the ones you love.

Connections...

Being a teenager is one of the hardest stages we go through in life.
Watching my son, who is just entering this stage- grow, learn, "find himself"- has reminded me how difficult and exciting it can sometimes be.
I try and make it a point to offer daily encouragement, support and to connect with him. This isn't always easy when the person looking across from you communicates via eye rolling and sighs of annoyance. But today we found common ground. A place where we could laugh together, high five each other and connect...all in the form of a video game. Guitar Hero, whodathunk?
I am addicted, mainly to getting to spend time with my boy who is evolving into a man.




This is a place I often go to hear words of encouragement, get ideas, parenting tips and even life tips. Go to show archive and pick the one that you want to listen to. You'll be glad you did.

This is a magazine he gets monthly that talks about issues he deals with. (they have one for girls too)

Here is a great book that we listened to on audio with CJ.

Everyday I realize more and more how precious and fleeting these moments are with our children. In a culture obsessed with growing up quickly then staying young forever...it's nice to just let them grow up on a pace that is right for them.
What a great gift our children are.
Thank you God!

Being a mother to a teenage boy

Means...

- discovering new odors and searching for the culprits (usually armpits, shoes, or hidden foods in room)
- never running out of laundry
- finding wet towels on the floor
- hearing words like, "kill", "blood", "fight" etc more than you care too
- learning new lingo
- falling into the toilet b/c the lid has been left up
- large supplies of cereal
- finding wadded up band aids around the house, usually the kitchen, gross (trashcan is too far apparently)
- never ending supply of chips, cereal, 2 liters, and three helpings at dinner
- observing constant eye rolling
- hearing yourself sound like your parent
- having to let go
- secret tears about letting go
- never having to carry in your groceries
- having someone always looking out for you
- big, rough hugs
- rolling down the windows and rockin' out together to tunes
- laying awake in bed at night worrying
- empathy for their insecurities
- being a constant cheerleader, annoying, a prayer warrior, mess hall cook and chauffeur
- pride
- having a best friend for life

Lemonade-get it here, warm and sugary...

Today started off slowly. We all slept in till 10 am, this NEVER happens. CJ was bummed we had missed church but pollywog is obviously needing sleep to get her over this cold.
After breakfast CJ went off with his neighborhood friends, and pollywog and I stuck around the house being grumpy together. She has been a big time snuggle bunny as of late. I love it, but with the sunburn I'm sporting, it can be a bit painful. She really is such a sweet baby. Always giving me kisses, rubbing my hair and hugging. She has also been enjoying trying out her new words (some old)...she regularly takes attendance of the living room, "bubbie, dada, mama", and when she sees dirt or a bug, she says, "eeeewww" super cute face to accompany. She asks for "wawa" (water) and says, "mmmoorr" (more). (and makes doggy and kitty sounds)The afternoon was full of buzz. CJ and his two pals decided to ride their bikes to the dollar store and purchase items for lemonade, to set up a stand in the driveway. (CJ loves to sell lemonade, and is good at it, as I will explain later)- Pollywog and I watch them outside the window and see that our neighbors (a colorful and entertaining bunch) are, gettin' em some lemonade. Their child, (we'll call Sandy) is in the driveway in a diaper downing lemonade and the parents buy 3 cups for $4 (score) I see the boys do a happy dance. These are the same neighbors who my I hear often ask their little son, "Saaaandee, do you wanna spankin'?", I always whisper, "why, yes pa, I do."
Later another woman from the house (I don't know how many people live there) asks to buy a gallon on lemonade (maybe for a chaser later...?) they pour some in empty 2 liters and she pays $6. In total they made $15 in 20 minutes all from the neighbors.
rewind now to almost 2 summers ago....
CJ and his best friend (since age 2) decide to set up a lemonade stand at grandma's house. I am only half paying attention but later go to check out the scene. They have a wonderful lemonade sign and are yelling, "lemonade, lemonade, get it here"- people are coming up in droves (well not droves, but a lot) to drink their lemonade. Only thing is, they couldn't find lemonade mix so they used jello powder and water. They also didn't have disposable cups so they had gathered grandma's plastic cups. That meant that people were having to sit in the driveway to down their "drink" and then hand the cup back. People were actually doing this. One car of "gangsters" drove up in their hooptie with bass thumping, and sat in their car, quickly drinking down the mix. I could not believe my eyes. To top it off, they were not washing the cups in between, so I became the dishwasher. They sold their concoction, closed up shop and spent their moola at the garage sale down the street.
My son, the business man...

Manic Monday...long, probably boring post

Today was a breezy, beautiful, dare I say summer day (i know it's spring, but it felt like summer) Today was the kinda day that you dust off your box fan and get'r running. So that is exactly what I did. I cleaned it up and turned it on.
I love the sound of a fan. It has such a peaceful hum. It reminds my of my grandmother's house.

The day hummed along like the fan. The breeze gently lifted the kitchen curtains all day. The sun was bright in the clear sky. Birds chirped around the house all day and I spotted our regular friend Mr. Cardinal and Mr. Bluejay, eating the seeds pollywog and I put out the day before. The house was peaceful, and filled with natural light.
Although the day hummed, it went by more like a breeze. Here and gone.
While CJ finished his chores- I quickly picked up the house and threw some laundry in, which had piled up in a matter of minutes. (When CJ cleans he tends to throw all cloth items into his laundry bin- gotta get that thing outta his room)...

Once pollywog went down for her nap (more like closing her eyes briefly as of late)...CJ and I decided to make pizza dough for dinner tonight. (more like I begged him to hang out with his poor mother...why do i keep saying, "more like"?) He must've felt pity for me, b/c he agreed. We measured, mixed and kneaded our dough and let it rise in the warm kitchen. I got the recipe from, "Moosewood Restaurant New Classics"- its a goodin'.
He actually cracked a smile while hangin' out with his ol' mom, and it was nice to spend time with him. He is growing up so fast...(click on pics to enlarge)







He was having so much fun that he agreed to do a craft with me. I saw this craft on another mom's blog and thought it looked fun. We basically unwrapped all of our crayons and sorted them by colors, broke them up and put them into a muffin tin- then baked them for about 20-25 min. on 200, let them dry and popped them out. He is an artist like me, so we enjoy colors and projects. He loved the blues and said the different browns made him think of the desert.




Just about that time we were really getting into it, CJ's friend came to see if her wanted to ride bikes, and I was left at the table to finish the craft. Well it was fun while it lasted...teens. Sometimes I wish he was little again, but I'm pretty proud watching him grow up too. They did turn out great though, and pollywog colored with them, stacked them and showed the birds outside the window.





...and the pizza was a hit...





"its just another manic monday, ooohhhhh ooohhhh"