Swing Song

Here I go up in my swing

Ever so high.

I am the King of the fields, and the King

of the town.

I am the King of the earth, and the King

of the sky.

Here I go up in my swing...

Now I go down.

-- A.A. Milne

Full Circle Summer

So without even realizing it, the first year of my new life as a stay at home mom has come and gone. It was a year ago in June that I handed in my resignation as a teacher and closed the chapter on that part of my life. A new career awaited me; new adventures and exasperations. It's interesting now to sit back and reflect on what that year has been like. So let me try to sum it up:

In one year as a SAHM, I have:

cooked more dinners than I ever did before; burned more gasoline than ever on my never ending trips to The Woodlands for preschool, church & MOPS; become addicted to Facebook; memorized the Disney & Noggin t.v. schedule (& learned all accompanying theme songs); enjoyed being "Room Mom" for Cade's preschool class; watched my daughter bloom & become a happier, more well adjusted child; seen more of my husband than I ever did while working; had more fights with my husband than ever while working; grown closer to husband; missed my old friends, old job, old students; made some great new friends and reconnected with others. Miss being a part of intellectual discussions & working on intellectual endeavors beyond "A is for apple." Grown to a deeper level in my relationship with Jesus Christ; become so much more connected to my Church Home; gained weight; joined the Y; started a scrapbooking business; (still working on becoming more organized & clean); struggled with wanting what I can't have; been jealous of others with more money; missed the money & things that came with it from working; missed dying my hair, manicures & pedicures; cried ALOT; wanted to pull my hair out ALOT; changed more diapers than ever before; been more tired than ever due to constant demands of my time & attention; taken a million pictures of my kids; given a ton of baths; read a ton of books; played a ton of games; given & received a ton of hugs & kisses; made a ton of memories; been HERE everyday with them.

Never. Regretted. My. Decision.

Cows on Cade's Side!

I love the many inside family jokes we have. You know what they are - the little things you say to your kids that have special meaning or come from something funny your kids say or do. I even have them with my hubby. Well today's post is inspired by one of those inside jokes.

I live in Spring, but during the school year I hoof it up to The Woodlands to take the kids to preschool and back. It's about 20-30 minutes one way, and in the beginning I was always looking for ways to make the drive more interesting or fun to the kids so they wouldn't be asking the dreaded, "are we there yet?". Driving along one morning I spotted a pasture full of cows. At ages 3 (when I started doing this) & now at 4 Cade still loves looking at any farm animal, and so I hollered to the back seat, "Cows on Cade's side!" He immediately stopped his whining and asked, "where?" "On your side silly. Cade's side." He got so excited when he saw them! He talked about those cows for the rest of the ride to school and kept looking for more. After dropping Cade & Macy at school I drove back home and realized not only did we pass cows, but horses, donkeys, and longhorns at different locations! I didn't realize that although we live in the suburbs, we're amazingly close to snippets of country. The drive back home after school was spent breathlessly shouting out, "donkeys on Macy's side!" "horses on Cade's side!" Everyday we drove by those cows, and everyday I would point them out. It became part of our everyday routine; so much that now whenever we go somewhere, (especially driving to Austin to see my parents,) if we see cows, someone will shout, "cows on _______'s side!"

Mom's Secret Confession:

I find myself shouting out, "cows on Cade's side!" even when I'm the only one in the car! At first I laugh at myself. And then I get sad. Because I know there will come a day when Cade won't care about the cows. Or he won't be driving in the car with me, he'll be driving his own. Because every time I pass that pasture, I think of my kids, and what this seemingly inane and innocuous little routine has come to mean to me. It's part of us, something that is special and unique to just me and my family. It's one of our memories, our "traditions" if you will - calling out farm animals along the way to wherever we're going.
Looking for the special in the mundane.

Pointing out the sights along the journey.

And it's magical to me.

everyday. magic.

Jumping on the Blog Wagon

Oh the pressure of The. First. Post.

All that empty white space just waiting to be filled, and the questions begging to be answered:

Why am I writing a blog?

Do I have anything worth writing about?

Why would anyone want to read about my life?

Let me answer my own questions.

(I love it when I can do that!)

• Why write a blog?

b/c keeping a journal of any sort is a great idea & a blog is just a 21st century version of a journal.
b/c having a place to share my hopes, dreams, frustrations and fears or to simply reflect is healthy.

b/c I love to write & used to be pretty good at it. I miss writing for creative purposes.
b/c I want to - & that should be good enough.

• Skipping to question #3 - Will anyone read this?

Maybe yes, maybe no. It shouldn't really matter, but it would be nice. I'll just write whatever is in my heart, on my mind & happening in this journey called my life; and if I pick up a few hitchhikers along the way, well I say the more the merrier.

• Back to question #2 - Do I have anything worth writing about?

The answer to that is a little more subjective based on your outlook. If you're 20 & living it up as a single girl starring in your own version of Sex & the City, then probably not.
Let's face it - my life is not exactly glamorous. I'm a mom with a 4 yr. old boy and a 2 yr. old girl. My days are spent fixing meals & cleaning house, changing diapers & little people clothes, wiping noses & hiney's, reading The Belly Button Book and watching Phineas and Ferb. (hey don't knock P&F!) So how can I write a blog that celebrates the Magic of Ordinary Days? Because even though the details may be ordinary, may not seem like magic, this is:

and this is

pure magic.