I came across a great idea in the blog 71 Toes. Every year the author creates a post on a summary of life for that year, what her kids are up to, etc. She’s done it for awhile, so I can imagine how cool it is to look back and see what their life was like ten years ago. Sometimes I look back on photos from one year ago and I am just amazed at how different our life looks! And how different my kids look. It is miraculous to see them grow into such amazing little humans, yet I’d be lying if I didn’t also mention how sad it makes me that those sweet days of last year will never be here again. My babies will never be that little again!
summary of life popsicles
Oh, time! The one thing that we often try to wish away when the days are tough, yet it marches on through the good as well. The only thing we cannot gain more of. I am going to try my darnedest to remember to write a similar post every spring when the world is fresh and new, so that I, too, can look back at this family of ours in ten years and reminisce on what has changed (and try not to forget the important little details along the way!)
Nine Moments that Summarize our Life in 2018
- Pippa is in Kindergarten and loves her teacher, Ms. LaRue. She can’t wait for first grade and is reading everything. That girl wants to start a business selling things every time I turn around. First it was painted rocks. Lemonade. Seashells. Most recently its been plants she dug up from our yard and re-potted. Anything to make money! But then she turns around and wants to buy approximately 1,000,000 stuffed animals with it, which is super frustrating for us. I created online kids savings accounts for the two big kids where half of their allowance now goes (all 25 cents a week, lol) so they can see what happens when they save it. Pippa has lost 4 bottom teeth and her top two front teeth and I finally snapped a photo of that toothless girl! She also loves soccer swimming and I think her favorite part of school recently was making the little clay bowl in art class that she talked about for a month straight!
- Sawyer is in preschool one day a week. He colors in the lines better than many kindergartners I’ve seen and truly loves to draw – it is beautiful to watch! He wants to play soccer with me every afternoon after the littles are down for their naps, in the cool shade of our little backyard. And darn it – he is getting really good! I can no longer beat him while holding a baby, ha! He can walk to his best friend Jay’s house by himself and is really good at crossing the road. He antagonizes Larkin constantly and also loves guns, dinosaurs, and blowing things up. He hates getting his face wet, but swim team starts next week and he promised me he would put his head in if I signed him up.
Easter 2018
- Larkin is still difficult. Remember back HERE when I lamented how difficult this girl was as an infant? She’s changing… ever so S-L-O-W-L-Y. She will squawk all day long with such intensity it nearly drives me mad. I just keep telling myself she won’t be this way forever! She does love books, and would rather have Napping House and Little Nutbrown Hair in her bed than a stuffed animal. Lately she’s been “reading” Fancy Nancy, which just cracks me up. She loves to swing and out of all our kiddos is just the most obsessed with water!
- Bodhi is my little blessing. I was scared to death to have 4 kids, and he is the happiest little thing! Just giggles and smiles constantly. He is 7 months old, sits by himself and is getting ready to crawl. He loves bananas and carrots but won’t touch egg yolk yet (we feed our babies a whole foods diet, no cereal or rice)
- The moment I’ve been dreading with four kids happened – the STOMACH BUG. In mid-April, Pippa woke up puking and it continued for 10 hours. Three days later Larkin had diarrhea all over the floor. As soon as John got her scrubbed in the tub, she started projectile vomiting (exorcist style) and running scared all over the dining room. Did I mention we have WHITE CARPET in our dining room from the previous owners? She’s running after John, who is running away from her yelling “you’re contagious!!!” and I am chasing her with a towel trying to contain the vomit. He of course came to his senses and grabbed her, but it was the most disgusting/comical scene looking back on it. Sawyer and John and I eventually got it, but not before our TV broke and the van battery died and upon replacing the battery, the stereo wouldn’t work because we were never given our magic anti-theft passcode. Riding in a car with kids and no music is awful. I don’t know how people used to do it. It’s been a month I tell you!
- I’m trying so hard to start this little art business of mine on Etsy (well, re-start but in all honesty I’m creating and selling watercolor prints and cards, which is completely different from the surfboards I used to make). I spend my evenings after 8pm painting and nap times sketching and sort of got burned out last week. I haven’t sold a thing and it’s been discouraging (but I promised myself I would stick it out. It may take awhile to get a sale, and that’s ok). Finding balance between my creative side and being a good mom is a big challenge for me.
- I have an ongoing mental battle with technology. On one hand, it’s integral in this time if I want to sell anything artistic. And it’s not enough just to occasionally post something to Instagram. I have to commit to several posts a week to promote myself and my art. On the other hand, I hate phones. We don’t own a tablet and out kids’ access to screens is very limited. Yet they see me on my phone posting things “for my business” and I struggle with what example I’m setting. Lots of thinking to be had on this one, and it probably deserves a post of it’s own.
- Vacation dreaming, folks. Right now the idea of a road trip with a baby and 2 year old sounds like a night mare. But my heart can’t wait to show these kids more of the world and I think the older two are ready. (flying is too expensive for us, so car trips it is!). Maybe next year will be the year we venture outside the NC/VA/MD area we’ve stuck to for the past 6 years? I daydream often of Texas and the northeast and even Florida.
- Farm days are the best! We head out to our 13.5 acres (more on our crazy farm purchase HERE) about every other weekend to plant raspberries and blackberries and hunt for tadpoles. John sprayed a ton of poison ivy. Last weekend we went, we took a push mower and tiller and dug up a tiny bit of a garden inside one of the pastures. Hoping to get some bigger vines (watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin) to grow in the abundant sunshine. Also daydreaming a lot about if and when we should build a home out there, and how that would affect our lives. Love this photo with the dark clouds over the trees – wind blowing their hair!
Windy Farm Day in March
That’s it, my friends! Can’t wait to see what’s changed when I revisit this post in 2019!