A Day in a Post...or..What One Does When Her Husband is Away

  So, pinterest has been my friend lately. It isn't that I've been using a lot of the ideas I've been finding...but browsing all of the craftiness has been inspiring me to be creative - to get back into my "Alyssaness."
  Today was a good day...a good mama day. It's the evening and my little are all tucked in and I feel like I did my job...well. It's one thing to be a caretaker - to take care of their simple needs (that don't always feel so simple) ..the food, the brushing teeth, the reading lessons and the addends and sums and differences. Sometimes it's just about all I can manage...the simple/grinding sometimes pleasant sometimes not stuff. Then there are days where I just do the simple stuff because I don't feel inspired or energetic or creative or I just have the "I don't want to's." I admit (not readily) that often I don't push myself enough to be more than a caretaker. A mama is just more...it's the truth...a mama does more than just "be". A mama listens to their hearts, a mama is patient and consistent, a mama holds hands and reads stories and giggles. A mama dances in the kitchen and takes the time to fill their bellies with nourishing YUMMY good food...a mama teaches her babies about God's love and how much He loves them...how He knew them and pieced them together and made them exactly the way He wanted them to be. A mama takes time...sometimes for things that are boring or tedious or not on the schedule. A mama praises and encourages - a mama points out flowers and airplanes and birds and butterflies. A mama find rolly pollys. A mama cherishes more than the just the physical child but the child's heart, the character, the mind.
 I heard once that the mother is the spirit of the home -and I believe it. Generally, it's up to the mother what kind of family life there is, what kind of food everyone eats, what kind of hobbies can be pursued - like in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding "the man may be the head of the home, but the woman is the neck...and she can turn the head which ever way she wants it to go." A woman decides the tone of the home.
 I've been praying for love...lots and lots of love and patience and kindness. I've been praying for respect for my kids....to speak to them the way EVERYONE deserves to be spoken to. This morning I woke up, and I was just so excited about the day and what could be done. And so it began...here is our day in pictures. :)

  School work first..the kids knew their spelling lists already so we went ahead and did spelling tests two days early...stickers on charts and smiles all around and a new list started. Bible Memory...same story. The kids knew their verse early so stickers on charts and smiles all around. Then math and reading and a you tube video on Dr. Martin Luther King....and I decided that was enough. On to better things ... like pear deliciousness. Trinity and I found a recipe online and we cooked up snack. It was pretty yummy and simple (don't you just love recipes that use ingredients that you already have on hand?)

  We made a pot of tea and all sat down together ... fun conversation and another opportunity to work on manners. We used this recipe - it was tasty and perfect and light to go with our English Breakfast.

  Trinity and I had found a rather large canvas at the thrift store this past weekend and so we decided it was time to brave a project that we had found on pintrest. This project made me fall in love with my hot glue gun all over again...it's a good love. To do this project you need a whole bunch of crayons (we ripped each crayon paper down about a quarter of the way), some tacky glue or hot glue, a canvas, a piece of contact paper and a hair dryer. We cut a heart out of contact paper and stuck it to the middle of the canvas. I put a little hot glue on the top of the heart.....then we turned on the old blow dryer and melted the crayons just enough so they would start dripping down the canvas.

  After all the crayons were partially melted we peeled off the contact paper and painted in our heart with blue acrylic (the heart on pinterest was white but ours didn't really show up since our crayons didn't run all the way down the canvas. Bug monitored Squirrels progress while stealing some of mama's leftover pear goodness (please note I didn't clean up our snack stuff before going on to the art project...I'm learning to let a mess just "sit. Three cheers for me are in order here.)

  This was Trin's first time painting with acrylics and she totally caught the painting bug.

  After the paint dried I wrote in the word "love" --- also not something done on the pintrest one. It was a fun project but the blow dryer was a little too powerful and caused some of the wax to mix together and kind of spatter all over the place. Thankfully I had put a drop cloth down...and now that I'm actually typing this out I realize I could have turned the dryer on "low." Oops. I still really like it.

  I found a place for it next to my "black and white" wall (another work in progress...I hope to have the entire wall covered in black and white prints of our family.)

  After the painting and lunch and clean up Trin asked me if I could please teach her to paint a tree. So, on to another project and she did very very well. Brady is modeling our family art gallery --- he is currently into making ghoulish expressions in his photos (he finds it humorous and laughs his head off at himself.)

  You can kind of see her tree in the corner there...isn't it good?!

  So then there was the kids rest time and I started to clean the kitchen and get to the laundry, and as I was putting away the dishes I started thinking about how I would love a bit of change in the kitchen...so I located the drill and took off the cabinet doors. I know I know ... it's just the way I am. I want to see my pretty dishes, I want depth, I want color...and I live in a rental and can't paint of tear stuff out of the walls - so this was my best option. When the kids got up they thought I had gone insane "you're taking the doors off?" Brayden cried "won't all the dishes just fall out on us?!" I assured him that , no, the doors don't actually hold the dishes in place, the shelves do. He relaxed.

  Then it was time to water Big Ike...

 ...and I was greeted with lots and lots of goodness. Bounty. Yes...I like that word...bounty.

  It's so pleasant having plants...especially ones that give you something almost on a daily basis. It's like if you're a bit lonely, you can just go visit your friend, the plant. Big Ike will greet you with a tangy scent and his weepy branches (my tomato plant is a him, because frankly...I just don't think a female plant should be that large)...and then will invite you on a treasure hunt...where you can lift up his long arms and search and search for bright reds and oranges and yellows. What he gives to you is good, it's a perfect nutritious gift and it's useful...you can walk away and say "I'll be back tomorrow Ike with a drink" and he will most likely welcome me with a gift. Someday when I have a garden with more than one plant I will probably be in a state of bliss all summer...and most likely I won't know *lonely*.

  And then, watching my boys play - rowdy loud play...the kind boys are good at. Oh, and goodness me, what happened to that little bug's pants?! His mother must have been off melting crayons or picking tomatoes or unscrewing cabinet doors or something. Excuse the nakedness dear readers ... kind of comes with the territory around here (and just between you and me, if not being "lude"  wasn't the law of the land...I would ditch my clothes too. It's been warm here folks.)

  Looks like  he also stole some one's hat. No shoes, no shirt, no problem.

  So, to end my rather long day in a post...this is how my kitchen came out. My Aubrey gave me that Audrey Hepburn poster awhile ago (the one you can barely see over the laundry area.) When we were growing up we both had a deep love for all things vintage, and Breakfast at Tiffany's was one of those loves. One  summer school break Aubrey sent me a mixed tape with the song "Moon River" on it...and since then it has remained "my song" between us. Thus...the awesome thrifted poster find. See that microwave area with all the clutter? That's my next project - stay tuned.

  See why I needed to see my dishes? Isn't it all shiny and colorful and full of ... depth? Yes, thanks...I agree.

  And since the day wasn't full enough, Trinity decided to lose a tooth during her watermelon/almond dinner. The boys were all very proud of her and applauded her bravery (Brayden was a little hurt that the tooth fairy wouldn't be visiting him tonight too.)

  Before bed I decided that I need to, errr...water my *stolen* moss as Trin calls it. I didn't steal it...I found it in a forest...that may or may not have been ...a  National one. I just love moss so much...it's so very green and squishy and is the essence of "earth." I let Trin decorate it with pebbles and then sent her off for rest time. I wasn't quite satisfied with the moss display...it lacked....something. hmmmmm.

  Ah...that's it. That's exactly what it was lacking. I can't help myself ... I get an idea and i have to go all in. There I was in the garage at 7:30 pm hacking away a long thick cardboard tube with Zac's saw, and then constructed a roof out of cardboard from our recycling bin. Then I had to find sticks and break them all in little lengths to THEN hot glue (remember my old/new love?) and then a fresh coat of paint and I was mostly satisfied.

The day was full...of just the right stuff. Home baked goodness and tea, naked giggling babies and smart blue eyed boys with special thoughts...fairy villages and new spaces and art ...and lots and lots of love. I am blessed by simple good things in a not so simple life...and I am thankful.
What did you do today?