Doesn’t It All Go By in a Blink

Broken arm to start off the hot months.

Baby’s first haircut. Goodbye curls:(

“All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne’s House of Dreams

When every day of summer lasts a million years (this is how it feels anyway) I find myself forgetting that I only really get a handful of summers with my kids.  What I mean of course, is a handful of summers when they are still mine.  Before they’re begging to go over to friend’s houses and to summer camp and into the future without a backward glance.  It isn’t my wish to keep them little forever- little kids are an incredible amount of work.  But I do love the innocence.  I love the soft cheeks, the concept that mom and dad can make everything alright, and the way they sleep without anything weighing them down.

These are a few pictures of our summer so far- a blur of manic energy contained in a few photos.

 

July garden.

Calvert Marine Museum, terrapin.

Indoor Beach Day

The new balance bike.

Water table fun and bug catching.

First full family campout, Elk Neck State Park, MD.

I capture the castle.

I’m 3 today!

Life is good.

Oh yes we DID bring the clip-on highchair.

Winter Came

We all said, “Winter is coming,” but soon we will say, “Winter came.”

When spring comes I hope I’ll be able to look back with gratitude at this period of hibernation.  Winter can be a hard time with small children.  Every time you want to leave the house you must locate the leg warmers, coats, shoes, diapers, snacks, hats, gloves, and most importantly, the children themselves.  Then you must stuff them into their carseats, pile books and toys into their laps, and turn on The Cat in the Hat audio book which you’d really like to watch go up in a big explosion.  When all this gets accomplished it is likely that you are so worn out that leaving the house no longer seems like a good idea.  Maybe it would be better to just go back inside?  If you choose instead to go forth with your plan of “leaving the house” it is likely that you will need to sing “Go to Sleep Little Baby” in order to soothe your little one,  pull over to nurse in a parking lot (in your winter coat), and ask your toddler to lower her voice repeatedly all before arriving at your destination.  Even if that destination is the Lexington Park library down the street.

Still, winter isn’t all bad.

Yes there was snow, there was sickness, but there was also time to slow down and watch my children grow.   There was a respite from the biting insects.  There were all the delicious holidays.  There were days (moments) of wearing warm hats and sledding.  There was the day we made a table fort and the acquisition of a well loved sand table.

We finished off all the tomato soup and strawberry jam we made last summer and now our mason jars stand empty awaiting the next canning project.  In this, we did our job.  We ate, we played, we read, and we survived the winter.  We made lists, we crossed things off, and we made them again.  And every day we raised our kids.

And if winter hadn’t come I wouldn’t be able to experience the joy of seeing the daffodil bulbs push up from the earth.  They’re ready for spring- are you?