One year!!!!!!!!!

No number of exclamation points could express the joy I have felt this past few days as we have been celebrating - the boys are ONE today!

Alas, I have't been able to capture a good picture of the two of them in a couple of weeks (maybe because they are always on the move?), the weekend flew, and Mondays are utterly crazy (but then, so is every day). So, the sentimental mush and cute pics will have to wait until another day.

But, consider yourself reminded to let out a happy shout, say a prayer of thanks, or drink a shot of your favorite liquor to join in our celebration. We chose all of the above, at least once apiece :). We survived!!!!! Happy birthday boys!

Funny money

Random quote today -

"Money can't change people. It will only help them become who they really are."

Grampa to Lisa on the Simpsons a couple of weeks ago. (Just getting to it on the DVR... :)) I tracked this down on facebook. Who knew that they all have their own facebook pages?!

Beautiful, bumps, and boxes...

Yet another beautiful weekend here in Baltimore... We explored yet another new trail near by, and Abby quickly declared it the best hike that our family has ever been on. It was absolutely beautiful, this weird mix of golden brown leaves on the ground and spring-green leaves still on tons of trees. With glimpses of the reservoir, hills, creeks to cross, Abby (again) commented that she felt like she was in a fairy land. Very cool.

In other big girl news this week, I've been coaxing, bribing, encouraging the girls to get out riding their bikes over the hills and through the bumpy sidewalks of our neighborhood. Abby does fine, Rachel needs the coaxing: "When you see a bump, pedal faster, faster, faster!" As opposed to freezing up and toppling over at the speed of a snail, that is. It struck me how it is counterintuitive to go FASTER when we see challenges ahead that we know will shake us up. And yet, just going for it is really the only way to get through sometimes. In fact, it's often quicker and easier when we don't slog through the difficulties.

Besides bike riding, the other life lesson that seems important to me lately is teaching the girls how to talk to God. Sheesh, what a task to even think I can undertake! This time, Rachel is the one who comes along easily, busting out words and gratitudes like a fish goes through water. Then again, she talks and talks loudly almost all day to anyone in the room. With Abby, it's been more of a puzzle to help her find a way that she is comfortable communicating. Turns out that free form out loud discussion isn't her thing. Sometimes it's writing, and it's always following some sort of pattern. I'm learning to be more flexible and creative - who cares "how" you communicate, as long as you're talking, you know?! (I read this interesting article yesterday about a woman who scribbled her prayers on paper and stuck them in a "God box" - that was her way of praying - kinda cool.)

And that's what is new with me this week! Soaking in the beauty of the woods, learning to hurry up a little towards the challenges ahead, and maybe starting to stuff my prayers into boxes.

P.S. These little guys are way into grabbing/chewing/holding each other's hands lately. Even across backpack carriers. It simply reduces them (and therefore the rest of us) to complete giggles. So great.

Planting is required for blooming

Bloom where you're planted, the saying goes. I've tried my hand at blooming mums this fall.

The first one, I left in the pot from the store, set it in a bigger pot on the porch, and promptly watched it shrivel up and die while I forgot to water it.

Still determined to come home to blooming mums every day, I sprung for another one (OK, three). But I knew where to find help keeping these ones alive. The good old soil and sky. They went straight into the dirt in front of my house, where they can soak up water out of the ground and out of the sky. No more relying on only me and a tiny little pot of sandy soil. And they're still blooming!

My little mum experiment reminds me that before we bloom in our lovely new hometown, I can't over look some serious planting: getting out deep in the local dirt, being exposed to the elements, soaking up life from many directions.

Happy fall!

Boys just wanna have fun

They're 11 months old today! Their personalities have just exploded this month. Danny is now our chief explorer of all hills and corners of the yard, climber of gates and dryers, attacker of feet and mouths, inspector of all things machine-type. Jimmy is our chief belly laugher, cuddler of all, climber of chairs and couches, inspector-driver of all things with wheels. They've started to interact with each other more and more every day, chasing each other around, attacking each other during changing time, cracking each other up at every meal and every hour in between, and talking to each other when they should be napping. These guys make me (and all of us) smile a ton and laugh hard every single day.

I finally managed to catch a little snippet of their good times this afternoon...hope they bring a smile to your face too.

How babies are kind of like sunrises

I love watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. It sinks, sinks, colors the sky beautifully, and then it is gone. And I just stare out at the ocean through the entire thing.

I got to see it rise over the Atlantic Ocean for the first time this past weekend.

It was my first time out to the Maryland coast, one of those little adventures that John and I are addicted to yet sometimes loathe until it's happy hindsight. You know, stressing to get out the door, arguing over how to get there and who sucks at directions on the fly (that would be me) and being constantly overwhelmed by the large size of our family and the big work of our little guys that crowds out so much else.

But we did squeeze in some fun between eating, sleeping, eating, and sleeping. The girls and I hustled out a block to the beach, hoping to catch the sun rising, and I was thrilled to get there with no sun in sight. The girls fiddled around in the sand while we waited and waited for the big moment, watching the horizon get just a little brighter. And then suddenly, this big brilliant light burst out of the water, and it was so bright that I COULDN'T WATCH IT ANYMORE! So much for the peaceful gazing I'm accustomed to at sunset.

And then, I realized, babies are kinda like ocean sunrises. You wait for it, wait for it, and then BAM it's brilliant and beautiful and blinds you all at once and you go bumbling through the rest of the day (or life?!), glad that it's there but unable to soak in all the greatness until, well, sunset?

(And, babies or sunrise, it turns out having a camera to capture what you can't see at the time comes in kind of handy too :)).

A little crisis is good for the house

My housekeeping style these days is purely crisis-driven. OK, to be more specific, my floors ONLY get cleaned when there is a crisis. Exceptions: when our house was the on the market last year, and when the lovely Jess babysat AND cleaned my floors for me three years ago!

Massive dry oatmeal spills (which my girls sneak for snacks?!) tell me when it's time to vacuum.

Wet spills tell me when it's time to mop. Between breakfast, showers, homework, and the bus coming this morning, the boys raided a giant jar of soap (nothing new) and spilled half of it all over the kitchen (new). By the time I got there, they'd slipped and scooted to the entry, spreading the love. Time for the bi-monthly appearance of my mop and bucket, and while I'm at it, I might as well throw the spatula in to scrape a dozen petried green beans off the dining room floor. Some months, I'm lucky enough that it's just a pitcher of water or juice that spills. This month, I guess we needed the extra cleaning power.

Oh, did I mention that the boys also got a bath out of our little crisis too? Baths are also purely dictated by crisis around here. Crises of sticky messes or incredible smells that is.

Yay for clean floors! However, I do truly hope that I don't have occasion to clean them until at least next month. I have been ignoring the little piles of oatmeal upstairs for a week though...

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update: Would you believe that I stepped in a new puddle of the very same soap when I bumbled downstairs to make bottles this morning? Apparently more fun was had while I was at work last night. And I'm the genius who put the soap right back where they destroyed it yesterday! No mop today, just a few towels. I chose to hunt down the oatmeal instead.