The Annual Haircut

Every year sometime in the fall, the same thing happens; Corey announces he is going to grow his hair long enough for a ponytail.  His gorgeous locks grow quickly and through the winter we watch as it gets closer and closer to the ponytail stage.  He deals with it through basketball season, all long and in his face, but when asked he says no to a haircut (he's growing a ponytail).  He tried a headband this past year, but didn't like how sweaty it got so continued with the hair in his eyes. Then; every spring we start to have some warm weather.  Most of that thick red mane goes back into a ponytail, but the front still hangs out. "Almost" we say.  And then suddenly, just like that he announces "I think I want a haircut, my head is so hot it hurts".  Yesterday, it was in the 80s so I really wasn't all to surprised for the annual announcement came.  I did my job as mama and called the hair salon right away.  As much as I love this hair of his, it does get a bit unruly and he is never very happy about me combing or brushing it (I'm pretty sure it would be dread locks if no one intervened from time to time).

I have to laugh at how adamant he is about keeping his hair long and then with the flip of a switch he is excited to have it cut.  It breaks my heart just a little, I hate to see those curls go, but so does he so it never goes super short.

Just enough to cool down a bit.

As it dries you notice the curls start to form again, and the growing cycle will begin again.

Of course we celebrated this 80 degree, haircut getting, shorts wearing weather with a trip to our favorite local ice cream shop.

Warmth

                          An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
                                                                              Henry David Thoreau

 

Oh this weather has been amazing!  We have been enjoying spending as much of our day outside as time will allow.  The warmth of the sun feels so good, healing even.

We're trying to get some school work done (outside of course), but mostly we are just enjoying the sunshine...I've been pulling out gardening books, we got some flower seeds the other day and the dogs have been getting a much longer walk.

Funny, it was such a mild winter that I seem to have forgotten it was still winter and I/we needed this sunshine to warm our souls.

The change of seasons moves me in a way that is hard to put into words, I love it, I cherish it, I breath it in...

outside

Yesterday was amazing, I had work to do inside the house for sure, but it felt like I needed to be outside enjoying the sunshine, cleaning up the yard getting ready to add this "room" to our warm weather living space. 
Before I got busy working I wanted to occupy the kids for a while so I set a few paint supplies on the picnic table and and casually said "you guys haven't painted rocks in a while".

And that's all it took!  I am always amazed at how their creative juices start flowing.  Before long there were pet rocks, who needed a homes, birch bark was fetched, thread and needles were requested and soon there was talk of a whole village!

These two can have such fun together being creative, they work so well, helping each other flesh out ideas, sharing tools and finally seeing their plans come to fruition.

a frog

a door to the tree

a little pink mouse

what village doesn't have a ground serpent?

a snail

I have a sneaking suspicion that this little village in the corner of our yard will continue to grow through out the spring and summer and I can't wait to see who the inhabitants are, what they build and what sort of mischief is occurring in Stoneville.

what's happening in your yard?

24 hours

These kiddos are fortunate enough to have a lovely set of grandparents in the amazing city of Providence.   We really don't take advantage of this close proximity to family and a funky little city nearly enough.  So after Molly participated in the Maine College knowledge Bowl a 2 day basketball tournament for the boy we packed up and headed south for just a quick little birthday visit, but what a grand time we had!
First there was a bit of visiting, then birthday dinner for a young grandpa at this fun little noodle restaurant.  Then yesterday after a super yummy grandparent/grand kid made breakfast, there was a quick tour of grandpa's office before taking in a Brown University gymnastics meet (something Miss Molly has been very much looking forward to).  The highlight of this little whirlwind trip for me though was just a quick walk in the this fun little city.

The weather was perfect for strolling around campus and being silly, kids didn't even need their winter coats (yay).  There was excellent pizza and falafel, new sweatshirts, funky sunglasses from a street vendor and a general feeling of happiness.  Yes this was a fine 24 hours indeed my friends.  One that we really need to do more, family is so important and so is letting these kids of ours explore this world we live in.
How was your weekend friends?

Linking with Amanda today

This Moment

Joining Soulemama for

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

 enjoy the weekend friends!

Gathering

Yesterday was one of those days I find myself almost giddy at just how lucky I am.  I get to have this amazing life at home with these kiddos of mine most days.  When I do have to be away from family to work I have a career I love!   I've realized that work is also very much social time for me.  I work with an amazing group of women who love the process of childbirth as much as I do. There are strong bonds that form between us during our job.  Sometimes over very stressful situations, sometimes over just sheer joy of what we do and sometimes when there is down-time we can't help but open up to each other about our lives.  We share such intimate moments together it only stands to reason that we would feel close even if we seldom see each other outside the hospital. So imagine my excitement when we had a little gathering outside of work!  As it turns out these great ladies in addition to being passionate about childbirth and breast-feeding are crafty mamas as well!

 I packed up some supplies, made a sleeve for my cuppow cup to make drinking hot coffee easier.  It's literally a cuff from a felted sweater, no sew, no nothin'!  Gotta love it, now I can drink hot and cold beverages from a mason jar without spilling all over my self.

 The focus for this crafty little outing was felted wool, check out this dining room table covered in felted sweaters!  I couldn't believe my eyes. 

Bunnies, birds and mittens were made.  There was lovely conversation (only a little about work), amazing food and a general feeling of contentment and excitement.  Many crafty ideas were formed in my head, given by friends or inspired by books and a need to re-stock my wool sweater stash was born...it's been since this post about a year ago that we got a new stash.  I think I know what I'll be doing later today>

Thank you my lovely lady friends for such a wonderful day and reminding me just how lucky I am.  I do hope we do it again soon.

This Moment

Joining in with Soulemama
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

 Have a great weekend!