The Magic of the Ordinary

 Peek-a-boo with Papaw!

Puzzles after breakfast.

Audrey's got her game face on!  

This face CRACKS NINNIE UP!!!

Silly time!

Lots of play time!

Whenever Papaw leaves, he hides money in each of their rooms.  

This time, I was here when they got to hunt them.  Fun times!

On her little potty.

We started to work on potty training with Levi and look who started to join us!

Little Miss Priss did GREAT this week and she goes potty every time we put her on.

Good thing Mama had two potties!  :)

I had to teach Levi the proper use for training pants...haha!

This is a vintage doll bed Jamie found at an antique store while shopping for
vintage kitten decor for Audrey's 1st birthday.  

Jamie also made her little sheets, pillow, and quilt for a Christmas gift, 

using all reproduction vintage fabrics for them.

I love the little decal and the little "abc blocks" in the headboard.

Levi LOVES the bed his Papaw made for him that I brought down here in the fall.  He calls it his "Papaw bed".  He did make the transition very easily from the baby bed to his "big boy" (toddler) bed.

I have spent the last two weeks immersed in my grand baby's glow.

I just thought I'd share a few images and a few anecdotal stories to tell you what I've been up to. 

It's been pure bliss, I've enjoyed every minute, and tomorrow I head back home....the trail of tears.  Saying good-bye is the worst!

Levi told me today "Ninnie, I will miss all my PEOPLE."  He calls all of us from Michigan who visit him as "his people".  He's right, we are his and his sissie's people, too.

My husband and older son left here a week ago, and myself and my younger son got to stay another week.  After his Papaw left last week with his Uncle Mark, he asked:  "Where did my people go?"  I had to explain to him that they had to get back to Michigan and back to work.

This morning when we all got up, I explained to him:  "Tomorrow I won't be here when you wake up, Luke and I will go back to Papaw and Uncle Mark in Michigan."  He responded "Ninnie, I will miss all my people and I want my Papaw!"  

That is the truth, and we shall miss him and his family, too.  

I have learned this from living so far from my babies:  the time spent immersed in their lives 24/7 is the best part of the separation. It's the silver lining I had to look for.  

The worst part is not being here from day to day, in the small ways, but so much of the enjoyment while we are here is waking up with them and being with them until they close their eyes at night, reading them stories, putting them down for their naps...being present for their meals.  It's all so good.

I will see you next week.

 xoxoxox

The Magic of the Ordinary: Domesticity

do·mes·tic·i·ty

   [doh-me-stis-i-tee]

noun, plural do·mes·tic·i·ties.

1.

the state of being domestic; domestic  or home life.

2.

a domestic  or household act, activity, duty, or chore.

Sometimes I walk by something and it just hits me:  THAT is beautiful!  I have to run and get my camera to keep the light that shined on my sheets, fresh off the line.  This was evening, with sunset shining through the window where the kitchen table sits.

Sometimes the brilliant sunrise shines in on my little buffet...and I run again for that Canon.

Yes, sometimes things just shine:  ordinary things, shine in a magical way because they're beautiful and simple.

I'm busier than a one-armed paper-hanger and I'll have to catch you up soon, but for today, just a beautiful collection (I think so anyway!) of scenery around the house on an ordinary day, all of these scenes held magic for me.

Sometimes, it's the way the light hits a certain object or collection of objects:  autumn light is one of the most beautifully golden things there is.

Sometimes, I want to freeze something to hold onto it, for instance the geranium pair just outside the front window....this scene will soon be replaced by blowing leaves, gray skies and brown, empty crop fields.

I want to pull that geranium shot up this winter, along about February, and just savor it again.

The tomatoes were just brilliant and had me running for my camera, as the morning sun shone on them one Saturday morning as I rolled up my sleeves to get busy on canning a bushel of tomatoes.  

I also want to remember THOSE on a blustery February day.  

And also this...

There's magic in our homes, and we are fortunate to be able to see it, don't you think?

Is it Monday Again? The Magic of the Ordinary Day

Good Monday morning to you!  


Yawn.  Stretch.  Start the coffee.  


Gulp the coffee.


Start the clean up after a long holiday weekend.


I can't help but be happy when I open my dishwasher and the color there greets me.


It sure makes a routine job much more cheerful.


And it makes me glad that when we remodeled the kitchen and I went to pick out the long-awaited cabinet knobs and the dishes and glassware that I chose some color.


So much of the year in Michigan is brown, colorless, gray and dull outside.  The snow helps but we don't always have snow. I seem to have the need to see color in my home.


And believe me, in late March when winter doldrums seem to be unending, I'm glad I chose colors that are brilliant and bold.

I enjoy the routine of work on a day that follows a weekend or a holiday.  I relive the memories from the time spent together and I enjoy the work that it takes to put things back like they are supposed to be and get the floors done and the beds made.  It's a day to gather my thoughts, make my lists, and approach the week with purpose and direction.  It's Monday again, and only five of them left before Christmas! Wheeee!!

The Magic of the Ordinary: Waking up to Breakfast

It's Saturday morning and no one is awake but me.  

I'm humming along to country music playing on the kitchen radio.  

Even the dogs are sleeping in.  It's been a long week.

I love the magic feeling of knowing that the smell of bacon sizzling on the stove is going to be their wake-up alarm this morning, instead of the harsh sound of a beep or a bell.

This is one of the priveleged feelings known to a mom--maybe because I know how much I loved waking up to that smell.

You?