The Nubs of November

"You are never going to have a lot of time, but you do have a little time here and a little time there, and those little times all add up to a life"
"That is the way of it. Children are meant to grow up. Maybe you have yet to come face-to-face with what that means. I hope you will take courage and allow your children to walk away with grace"
Cindy Rollins (Mere Motherhood)

I am more "face to face" with growing children, it seems every day. And always grateful and always trying to pause and capture the moments. Here are a few for our own little record, and maybe for your amusement.

Hunting in Bis/Mommy Fun Weekend in Minne-applesauce
Yes, the kids love to call this place "Minne-applesauce". Trev went to Bis-a-marck for a few days to hunt and gather, the rest of us had some fun times here. Per usual I try to be like "no big deal, see you later", and then my body says, "hi, you actually care, do you want to admit that?". My shoulders were so tense all weekend, and even though all went well and was fun . . .well, it's still not my fave to say see-ya to the man-o-the-house. Sweet memories: Punch pizza with Drew's fam, Galleria wanderings with Aunt Kate, watching Boss Baby, ice cream & play at McD's. A fave was seeing how refreshed Trevor was when he got home.

Baptism Birthday
Because, we all need reminders. Oh this precious child of God! Burgers per usual, candle, reading, remembering.

Zumba like it's a job
Eliza invited Karis to join her for a kids' zumba class, oh it was fun and Karis owned it. She was right up front and mastering the moves. While the moms joined in occasionally and mostly sat on the sidelines, where we are meant to be (ha).

Gymnastics
Found a place where they can both take a class in their age range at the same time. Boom. I get to watch through the glass and read. This is the good stuff.

Basement un-do
Trev rocked this project. And the pieces I could tackle with him went well too (after 13 years, we're learning how to embrace our unique gifts about home projects).

B-day Bonanza
Judah was invited to precious Poppy's birthday party. Epic one. Friday night, church gymnasium with bouncy house, pizza & cupcakes, glow-sticks in the dark, scooters. Our fam was welcome to join - Karis and I had planned a Potbelly's/Michael's date, so we did that and then came back for presents and treats. So dear. High bar for b-day parties, this boy has.

Children's Service
Always a highlight, the children leading us through the service with song and verse and prayers and blessing. Grateful (pic below, they picked out their outfits, which is a small miracle since usually they're trying to wear sweat pants to church).

Water Concert
One of the other Andreas in my life is in an orchestra, and as she's our children's pastor . . .several of Karis's friends and moms met in Wayzata for a Sunday concert. The focus was water, beautiful. My favorite was the bass solo of "Old Man River".

Arboretum/Kindred Spirits
Freezing fun, why not? When we got out of our cars, of course the kindred spirits were completely matching. Crazy. Kids built forts and moms froze and we went to the main building to see the huge tree constructed of poinsettias and the memories are already warm.

Pirate Play
The kids made boxes into pirate ships and hours of fun followed (Karis is in the middle of a book series about a girl pirate, love the imagination).
- "And we're not pirates, we're people"
- "Karis do pirates talk in English or Spanish?"

Thanksgiving
Watching our kids make memories in our homeland, so grateful. This year the weather allowed hikes behind the homes of both grandparents. Their wanderings and imaginings continue to unfold as memories go in the bank.

Pay Attention
3 times in one day: blindness (read a story about a blind man, met a blind man, Bible reading at night about a blind man)
2 times in one day in two different references - on two different days (about 2 months apart): Psalm 131
2 books at the same time (A Christmas Carol, 11/22/63): time travel/what if we could change the past & future
1 morning I wrote "pay attention" in my journal and hours later that was the title of the daily devotion of a book in Judah's room. Pay Attention!

Karis-isms
- "The only thing I don't like about being a pirate, I don't like biscuits!"
- "Well, it's not symmetrical, and it's not a-symmetrical" (while giving me a hint about something in her pocket)
- "Oh come on, mom! It's his automatic workout!" (horsey-ride before bedtime) and . . . "Did you see mom's face?" (while watching horsey-ride. It's impressive)
- "Well, that's peculiar" (looking at a hole in my jeans)
- "I set a timer for having 5 minutes a day with my fish. I call it fish & owner time"
- "Okay Judah, make a duke face!"
- "Well to tell you truth, I'm not surprised she stopped by. She's here a lot"
- "Well, I guess he's losing trust" (when discussing how Judah's been hiding her favorite things)

Judah Jabbers
- "Karis, mom and dad are teaching me to be a gentleman!"
- "So mom, let me tell you about my girlfriends"
- "So does the Lord put joy and love in our hearts all the time?"
- "Mom, why are you good at that?" (I reply "because I'm a mommy, I'm good at everything" clearly a lie) and he retorts, "Well you're not good at making costumes. Daddy's good at making costumes"
- "Hey mom, are there volcanos live in our land?"
- "Do volcanos have lava monsters in them?"
- "Mom, where do dinosaurs live?"
- "Mom, do people migrate?"
- "These are the fattest chubby snowpants I've ever seen in my life"
- "I just have one job for you to do, mommy. Brush my teeth"
- "Isn't it peaceful in here?" (holding a noisy fire truck in the car, and then "now it's not peaceful!" (making it noisy)
- "So mom, what does your hair look like when you take off your armor?" (what????)
- "I wish I knew how to do everything"
- "Mom, do monster trucks in our land have eyes?"
- "Mom, do I ask a lot of big questions? Bigger ones than Karis?"
- "I wanna be a monster truck when I grow up!"
- "I don't really know" (when he doesn't feel like answering your question)

Common Book

This one is for me, in process for perhaps months and just a place to . . .  catch-all on reading quotes - and a recounting of a new thing . . . (I think this is what would be put into a "common book"?)

The new thing: hand lettering. Novice stage, for sure, but oh so fun and the way it came to be I want to give voice to. The end of summer left me feeling tired and un-inspired. On the way to Tay/Kate's for donuts on Labor Day morning I asked Trev to pray for "a new thing", feeling an itch for a spark of something unknown. We're eating donuts and I see some framed hand-lettered words on their hutch and thought, "I love that. I could do that". And then we're leaving and Tay is talking about an online class he's taking and he was so excited . . . and so it all clicked and the minute we got home I went online to look for hand lettering classes and poof there was one happening in a few weeks. Register. Wait the few weeks. Go to the class - beautiful setting (candles, tunes, wine, materials), a mother/daughter duo adopted me at their table, I felt clumsy and then more confident and then realized I just need to enjoy the process and practice. So practicing I am and it's brought a lightness to the days. Grateful. Oh and -
Backing up, my friend Katy is an artist and master of words and has been encouraging me to "just do it" (write more). She gave me a book The Art of the Handwritten Note. Delightful, and fit this season's puzzle perfectly.

Recent Readings (well, not too recent now, this has been in process since summer) . . .

Twice in one week: writings on process cheese!
From Cork Dork (Bianca Bosker)
". . . I know, I know:  it's made with chemicals, and "cheese" is more a euphemism. But the mouthfeel is fantastic, it's the perfect smidge of saltiness to complement eggs . . . "

From Supper of the Lamb (Father Capon)


From Devotion (Dani Shapiro)
"Of course it's not possible to to take in every minute. It's hard to take in even a single minute"
"This was the way it had always been for me: all or nothing, I realized, invariably led to nothing"

"Even this, my son calling me Mommy - felt bittersweet. When would I be demoted to just plain mom? . . . I knew better, of course. I knew that trying to capture time - to hold on to anything at all - was not only useless, but a terrible waste. This moment was holy precisely because there was no other"

"I think of it as the edge of melancholy - at the same way I am easily cheered - in the best of times, untroubled times are the palace walls that protect our childhoods and allow us to move into our adult lives with confidence. And then we begin to understand how fragile life is. Is there some way I can do this life with my eyes open and my heart open and still love it . . . change is inevitable, change is happening right at this very minute"?

From Cork Dork (Bianca Bosker)
"Attaching a name to an odor makes the aroma more emotionally charged - it nails down the memory"

"Every person has the capacity to find and savor the soul that lives in wine - and in other sensory experiences, if you know to look for it . . . it begins with paying attention."

"Learning to cultivate (taste and smell) engages every part of us that elevates our reactions, endows our lives with meaning, and makes us human"

From The Mothers (Brit Bennett)
"A daughter grows older and draws nearer to her mother, until she gradually overlaps her like a sewing pattern . . ."
"'What does it feel like, being pregnant? . . . . It's strange, your body isn't your's anymore. And sometimes it's scary because I'll never be just me again. And sometimes it's nice because it's more than that' . . .  inside of her was a whole new person which was as miraculous as it was terrifying. Who would you be when you weren't just you anymore?"

Random: last year I read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - in one week in two different books, that book was referenced. Always makes me laugh. Oh reading.

From 11/22/63 (foray into Stephen King)
"Like all sweet dreams, it will be brief . . . but brevity makes sweetness, doesn't it? Yes, I think so. Because when the time is gone, you can never get it back." (this is parenting right now, all the sweet moments!)