Snowy days are here again!

We finally have some real snow!  A good foot of it!
I know I haven't written in a while.  I have been busy watching the flakes drop.  Now that we're fully loaded I can take time away to write you a little note.

I just did some updates to the kids' bathroom yesterday, so I'll have to gather the pictures and get them up for you to see.  Nothing major, but it was just time to rethink how it was being used and do some $5 improvements!  Maybe I can show you in the next few days.   Maybe.

Howdy is enjoying his new man-cave.  We look outside, and - as long as he's actually IN our yard- his face is buried in the snow or he's surveying his land from his nest. 

Munchkins spent yesterday building forts on their beds.  It's probably time to put our plan to action to make something like this permanent...  Maybe something Knox can't attack and destroy when he's trying to get sister's attention!

Oh man.  Their room drives me nuts.
I'm dying to paint it.
And we have a toy box full of beloved stuffed animals, but also an entire top bunk full!  Cannot part with a single one, she says. We have gone through them every month since before we moved, and I hate to say it but I am pretty attached to some of them too!  I don't blame her for hoarding.

And we have no organization in their room.  It makes me crazy.  Books end up everywhere, blankets too, toys too, laundry too, coats shoes and undies too.  There is some potential in here, but we just need some dang time to work on it.  We're needing cubbies, bins, hooks, shelving, you name it!  I just try to breathe through it, it helps kinda.


Today some of our favorite friends came over to play. There is nothing better than a few happy hours of chatting with a friend, while our kids play incredibly cheerfully together!  Knox might have been exceptionally whiny and emotional to day but it didn't totally dampen the niceness of the morning :)

 Tulah adoooooooooores Isaac.  She tells me all the time, "I just love Isaac, mommy!"  She's been making him a little picture or note almost every day at preschool when she has free art time, and more recently it was a heart that said, "I luv Isik"

Today, prior to the inevitable dress-up party and before they arrived, Tulah took a good 10 minutes to "get ready" for them.  She put on a dress, and a long skirt... A headband, and took great care to brush her hair.  She comes out and says, "Mommy, do I look okay for Isaac?"

Oh man.

                                              She also loves their baby sister Una!

When they left, it was just so beautifully warm and sunny that I just didn't think it seemed right to make them take a nap right away.  So we got busy!

cowboys know how to handle the snow

Of course she's got some fairy flair!

It may appear that these savvy snowman-builders did a lot of work to make this kind of magic happen.  Let me tell you about all the snowballs they threw at me while I worked on their snowlady!  Let me TELL you!!

Finally we got the snow of our long winter's dreams.
I can't say that I'm not dreaming night and day of our future gardens, the awakening of spring, and the adventures in our new acre coming up... But right now we are going to enjoy what's merry and bright :)

Well, I'll be sure to write tomorrow because it is a special girl's FIFTH BIRTHDAY!!!  Half a decade ago I was anxiously anticipating the event that would change my life and give me my purpose.  Five years!  I'm bummed that we won't be totally celebrating all day like I would like to-- I'm getting my wisdom teeth out.  But we're planning a big magical fairy party for the first of spring and I think she knows it's going to be super special. 

Big hug little hug!

A romantic post for you this Valentine's Day.

Ten days ago I was annoyingly bragging on what a dreamy, happy, sunny, glittery week we were having.
I had it coming.

Aside from Buddy's big birthday last week, let's just pretend the week didn't happen.  Last week was gross.  Last week was a big loser.

Well maybe we'll pretend it didn't happen after I delicately sum it up for you:

My car got broken into on one of our dreamy hikes.  Glass everywhere.  My friend lost her amazing handbag and cash and a camera and identity.  No one was hurt except my Prius, so that's worth a praise or two!!  Uhhh... yay celebration!

Moles were removed.  Like, unfortunate-looking growths were sliced off of the skin they grew on.  So nasty.  I'm sorry you had to hear that.

My son was a bit of a cranky monster on his birthday, and then the flu hit.  Me.  One hour I developed a deep, dramatic, lung-quaking cough.  Three hours later I started a fun segment of my life I like to call '60 Hours of Purgatory'.

Knox's birthday party was canceled due to my worthlessness.  Mommy's sorry, buddy :(

And the week ended in phlegm.  I'm wiping noses and hacking lungs and chipping used, dried kleenexes off of flat furniture surfaces with a paint scraper.  It's disgusting over here.  Good news is that my sweet kiddos have not gotten the flu, just colds!!  More good news is that my abs will be like granite after I'm done coughing with seismic abandon to remove the lining of my slimy, furry lungs.  My lungs are both slimy and furry and I have the phlegm to prove it, should you require proof of such a phenomenon.

WE NASTY!

So now that we're pretending none of that happened, I can focus on the 24 valentines we made for Tulah's new preschool class. I wish I could find you a photo of hers from last year that we gave her much smaller class, but I can't.  They were cute little bird feeders we made in eager anticipation of springtime just around the corner.  This year we couldn't put that much work in to her valentines, but they are still pretty super.

I went to the dollar store and bought 4 6-packs of shiny Mardi Gras masks.
I cut them down to be more super-hero-ish.
I drew fat lightning bolts on yellow paper, then Tulah and I cut them out.
I wrote "You're Super!" on them, and Roo signed her name on the backs.
We tied them to the masks and voila, 24 "handmade" valentines!

Happy Day, little preschool lovahs.

One perk of being sick was the love notes I received from my girl:

Clockwise from the sunshine, it says, "cloud, sunshine, flower, my mommy, for, Tulah, Ginny."  And of course, the "Kat"

darn cute self-portrait!

 
 Another perk of a week of worthlessness was that I sat my butt down on the couch for a few minutes and worked on some wool-spinning.  It's been a while!  Tulah wanted to comb it, so I took what she combed and spun it on my little gimpy-thread spindle.

I have two spindles going and I'm keeping one for the experimental thread.  It won't matter if the fleece isn't carded perfectly or the strands are inconsistent, so Tulah is having a big hand in it as she's learning.  I've been dying to get some black speckled into the white on the experimental spindle!  Every time I pass by my wool basket I think about my black and white yarn that I can't wait to spin.  So I started!

loving it a ton, kind of!

Right now my snotty-nosed munchiekins are sleeping, I think, so it's quiet enough to hear the snow falling oh so tenderly outside.  Huge beautiful flakes on this cozy little Valentine's Day :)  In a few minutes I'll have to get up and start dishes and get ready to make our annual V Day lobster tail dinner.  Tulah's going to set the table all fancy for us and we're going to feast 'til we're fat in the face.
I hope you have a happy Valentine's day!  Squeeze the ones you love, will you?!

It's your third birthday, Knox Wilkie!!

Once upon a time I grew you in my belly.

32 weeks.  Somehow he found crannies to stretch in to for another 8 weeks.

 You were cozy in there.

It hurt to have my body stretched and punched.

It was amazing to watch you stretch and punch.

I knew who you were when you were there.  I imagined you were a wild boy with wild plans.

I imagined you were warm and that you would be squishy.

I loved you.

You made me capable of awesome things.  You showed me how tough a mommy's body is.

I knew you'd come out to visit one day.

You chose a day your daddy was going to be home.  He lived and worked away from us then.

You made sure he was home to catch you.

 We were happy about that.

It was a Saturday in February.  The 6th. 

At 8:30 am I knew you were on your way.  I didn't tell anyone I knew, it was between us.

Just us.

We went shopping for some pendant lights at Foothills Lighting.  We wanted to wrap one more project before your due date!  You will get very used to house projects.

We walked around and around, and I had to stop every so often to let you have your say in the matter.

I told Daddy we have to go- this baby is meaning business.

We called family and waited and waited, and you were so busy in my belly trying to get out.

We waited for what seemed like forever.  For 95 hours we waited.

Your big sister was worried about her mommy, her mommy in the other room wailing and breathing and bending and nervous.  She had never seen me like that!  You were making me work!!

Oh when would someone come take care of your big sister?!

Connie came over and Great Grammy came over to spend the night with your Tulah.

Connie knew you were on your way.  She's one of mommy's best friends, and she is a midwife.  She knows when babies are on their way.

She led the way to the hospital and called them to tell them our baby was coming out soon.

I didn't even have to stop at triage because she took care of that!

On the way to the hospital I cried and tried to breathe and I tried really hard not to tell daddy how to run red lights.

I hoped and hoped that you would not make me labor overnight.  I hoped and hoped your birthday would not be the 7th... I liked the sound of February 6th much better.
It was after 6pm, so you had a few hours to do your thing and cooperate.

We got to the hospital and Connie taught your daddy how to help me manage the contractions.  He had to help because I couldn't do it on my own.  He is very strong!

Everyone says pushing is the best part of labor.  Those people are liars.

You were sunny-side up and you were not coming out.  Nope!

My water did not break when I was fully dilated.

Connie broke my water and we thought you would just come out with it, but you couldn't.  You were posterior and you were stuck.

It hurt to have you stuck!  I pushed and pushed and there you weren't!

Finally you turned.  The prank was over.  It was not yet 10pm.

I found out your head was 14 1/4 " around.  That's a huge head.

I found out much later that you didn't have oxygen for a few minutes.  They were getting scared.  I didn't know that until a month or so ago.  But you turned and you breathed.  You came out!

That must be why you looked like this:

My sweet boy.  You were the most precious little purple eater I'd ever seen.

You were snuggly and starving.  Newborn babies love to be close to their mommies and I never wanted them to take you away to clean you up.  I loved my messy boy next to me.

We were so happy to meet you!

We named you Knox.

That's what you were, a baby Knox.

You were tough in my belly.  You were stubborn coming out. 

Tough as a Knox!

A lot of people came to visit you that night. 

You stuck your tongue out at them.

Do you know how lucky you were to have Connie there helping you out of my belly?

Do you remember how special that was?  You emerged to a world of love and special people.

We went to bed that night with a new baby boy.

And by "went to bed" I mean, "were up all night"...  You were used to punching and kicking all night, and not even the tremendous act of childbirth made you sleepy.

And you have never been sleepy since :)

Your sister came to meet you the next day.  She knew instantly that you were no longer in my belly.  You were in plain sight, ready to be held and loved on!

She said, "Tiny hands!" to you.  That's the first thing she said to her baby brother.

She kissed you and loved you and was so proud to be yours!

 You were our favorite new thing!

precious boy

just a little guy.

Okay, maybe you were sleepy one or two times...

Well we took you home and learned what it was like to have a son.

Tulah was a sweet sister, but she got pretty creative with you from time to time.  You were a blank canvas.

Days went on. I loved my little boy!

I had the most amazing little kiddos!

I feel like I don't really remember Tulah being this small. 


But then sometimes I'm afraid that I won't remember that you were a two year old once, too!

 So you just grew and grew...

and you grew and you grew.

You couldn't have been sweeter.

You were also sour sometimes.  Sweet and sour.  Perfect!

Then one day you turned one.

And you were living life on a mission!

I spent my days doing my best.  Sometimes I wasn't sure if my best was enough. 

I think I will always wonder that!

And I will always give whatever I've got.

The two's hit at 11 months.  We had a good year and 9 months of terrible twos.

But I almost don't remember them.

Who can remember anything terribly-two-ish with this face around?

This past fall you turned into Knox.

You started wanting to talk.  You had a lot to say after waiting for so long!

You became our entertainer.

You started to express yourself instead of throwing a fit.

The challenges of your behavior in the years before became strength in your personality and character.  You're becoming YOU!

You are full of love and you show it.  Just so you know, the ladies dig that.  Remember this.

You tell us bedtime stories that are wild and elaborate.  I wonder what colors you see in your head when your imagination is working.

You know All Things Superhero.

You are in costume every single day.  You know it makes people laugh.

You bust into hilarious dances and funny faces at perfect moments.  Usually this is when we're about to make you take a bite or beg you one more time to please poop in the potty!

I wish I could have a video camera on you every second.

You tell me how special I am to you.

You tell your sister that she is beautiful.

You tell her she's your princess!  You definitely know the way to a girl's heart, sweet boy.

You are strong.  You know what your body is capable of and you trust yourself.

You can crawl up mommy or daddy to stand and balance on our shoulders like it's nothing.

You can climb anything.  I mean ANYTHING!

You are fast.

I catch you singing, "You are my Sunshine" to your doggie Howdy all the time.

You do not want to sit and learn.  You want to GO and learn! 

I am learning how to teach you. You're teaching me how.
Your mind is brilliant and different.  I hope people always see that in you!

When you do something, you do it with passion and intensity.  Whether it's funny, or serious, or emotional, or physical, it will be done with dedication!

I always think, "What will you be when you are bigger?"

And then I think, "Make we wait to find out, grow up s l o w l y ...!"

I love you, sweet guy.  I will always tell you I love you, even when you one day have stinky teenager feet.  But right now you have VERY precious, growing, little boy feet.  And I find them very smoochable still, even when they're in my face in the middle of the night!

Each day you grow and give me so many things to be thankful for.  I feel awake with you because of the life and silliness you bring, even in the little things.  If you're reflecting even a tiny piece of the life we're giving you, then I guess we are doing okay!  

I hope you always feel as confident as you are now.  I hope you're always blessed with a strong body.  I hope you want to give your mommy kisses forever.
You won't know how much I love you until you have children of your own.

It's hard to watch you growing so fast.  It's also the greatest gift.  

I love you my sweet guy!   Happy birthday Knox Double!!

pick that nose, buddy.  It's your birthday!