it's been piling up...

We have excellent intentions - every day, every week, every year.  We plan and scheme to make our lives go a bit smoother. We make resolutions to spend more time with family, with each other.  To exercise, to keep up with blogs (wink wink), to visit local churches, and - nobly - to keep up with the laundry.  

they're crafty

Man I love me some Pinspiration!  When it comes to holiday crafts for the kiddies, it's my go-to for some quick ideas that may help me occupy my favorite artists for a few moments on a given Saturday.  I came across this adorable little penguin craft a few weeks ago and it was just the inspiration I needed to get me back in crafty mommy mode after a long hiatus.  

shadows of the past

I let it happen again - I blinked and now three months have passed - three pretty fabulous months full of amazing moments that I am now relying on my faulty memory to recall dusty details decades from now.  Please, please, please let me remember SOME of it!

2013 is here - how - I'll never know.  Minutes pass (and I find I forget to eat breakfast), Hours pass - I should definitely make a bathroom stop. Weeks - laundry again.  Months - wow, I accomplished precious little in the last 30 days, and now a whole new year.   Before I get all weepy and sad for posterity (which is inevitable for me I'm afraid - the new year brings hope, but also it fills me with remorse for the millions of things I should have done or could have done differently) I thought I would share some of the  visual memories I hope to preserve from last year - even if I don't have a written dialogue to go with it.  When I think back on 2012 these are some of the pictures that appear as faded watercolors in my mind.

then they became friends...

More than once this past week Tony and I caught each other, mouths open, staring stunned at Alex and Amabelle. Just a few weeks ago and practically every day for the previous year, 1/2 of all interactions between our A babies ended the same way - with Amabelle in a puddle of tears on the floor, and Alex either a) rolling over her, b) climbing on her, c) running gleefully away with her blanket/stuffed animal/hairbrush/shoe/special rock or d) pummeling her with the same item.  This resulted in a fantastically melodramatic reaction from Belle.  The particulars would change, but the premise went something like this:  (gasp, sob, tears!) ALEX TOOK MY BLANKET AND HE THINKS IT'S HIS!  HE'S GOING TO TAKE IT OUTSIDE AND IT WILL BLOW IN THE STREET AND THEN A TRUCK WILL COME AND RUN IT OVER AND I'LL NEVER EVER HAVE MY BLANKET AGAIN! (gasp, sob tears!)  Because of Alex, Belle and her blanket were never, ever, ever getting back together... like ever.  (Thanks Taylor Swift).

a song of summer

I have never figured out how it happens... after years of trying... I blink my eye once in June and when I open them it's the end of September.  Nearly 3 months have passed since I last wrote of life here at 1010 Rosebud.  Nearly 3 months of giggles, tears, milestones, and thrown stones.    Wasn't it only yesterday that Bella was bouncing high on Uncle Adam and Aunt Laura's trampoline?  Somehow when she landed she was back in preschool and months away from carefree summer evenings.  Time flies in the blink of an eye.  And though it was never my intention to allow such a long lapse in writing about our lives, I must say that at least part of my absence was somewhat intentional.  It occurred to me somewhere along the way that it was possible that my writing about my four little loves may actually be getting in the way of me actually being with them.  My desire to capture every nuance of their lives became another "have to" that sapped at least some of the joy of just watching.  Just listening.  Just being.  

daddy's home!

At 6:30 on Tuesday night Daddy came home - sporting a new haircut no less!  (Thanks for the peer pressure applied in South Dakota!)  I wish I could have videoed the kids faces when they saw him for the first time after a week... their eyes lit up their grins stretched wide... they looked like they got a personal visit from a disney princess - and then they tackled him to the ground.  Daddy had an equally giddy grin on his face.  His ultimate hugs, kisses, and patience of a saint lasted until about 5 am the next morning.  (I lost the bet - I thought the whining would wear him down by tubs).

going on four

On Sunday the girls built with blocks for the first time.  Is that shocking?  I suppose I should clarify... because they've "played" with blocks since they were less than 1.  And by playing I mean that they gnawed on, dumped, crashed, stacked, and occasionally sorted.  But they never deliberately built with blocks until this past Sunday.  It was so cool to see them work together to develop a plan.  "We're being architects, mommy!"  This structure features a small forrest that leads to a road.  The road moves into steps that take you through an archway into a "patio".  The patio was surrounded by a small wall, decorated with "pretty plant towers" and enclosed with a small gate.  There was a plan from start to end and they worked together to realize their vision.  They had the patience to see it through and the dexterity to make their vision a reality.  This - to me - is all part of the pre-four package.