Happy New Year!!!

Christmas was beyond fun - it was the BEST!

Tomorrow we're headed out for more family time & to co-lead at the Integral Spiritual Experience (so exciting!!!)

So - bye for now - and see you in the New Year!

Blessed Be...

Dec 23

 

Nanna's Here!!!!!!!!

(and Rabbit, too!)

Dec 22

Driving into the City to teach yoga - Early Morning Golden Gate...

Dec 21

 

Picking Rhubarb

Good Morning World. or. The View From Our Back Porch.

Dec 19

(not technically a photo, but...)

It is raining cats & dogs & pigs & goats here.
We are going a little stir-crazy.

And, yes, I do have (most of) a drum kit in my living room.

Sweet Moments

Tonight, after bath time, I was running around trying to make the bed & fold clothes & wash dishes & clear out boxes, when I rounded the corner & found my Little Dude playing quietly with his little animal figures.  He was talking to himself & making all the animal noises.  Of course I ruined it by trying to take a video.  At least I got these pictures.
And remembered to breathe.

Thank you, Trent...

Life Will Break You - by Louise Erdich

Life will break you.
Nobody can protect you from that,
and living alone won’t
either
for solitude will also break you
with its yearning.

You have to love.
You have to feel.

It is the reason you are here on earth.

You are here to risk your heart.
You are here to be swallowed up.

And when it happens
that you are broken
or betrayed
or left
or hurt
or death brushes near

Let yourself sit
by an apple tree and
listen
to the apples
falling all around you in heaps

wasting their sweetness.

Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.

Too Cool for School

And on the 17th day of Christmas the Little Dude got his very own sunglasses!!!!!

New Home

That's out landlord/neighbor/friend reflected in the left window pane.  He's on the roof of his house cleaning the gutters & dancing.  Life is good.

Oh, the Chaos of Moving

I missed the 14th, because...well, because my house looks like this:

And it's pretty much all I can do to keep the Little Dude out of the boxes & occupied...
(note the Advent Calendar peeking out in the upper left-hand corner - today he climbed on a box & chose his Advent pocket for the day while my back was turned - the little sneak!)

Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

I haven't had a Christmas tree in about 10 years.  Haven't even wanted one.
But, this year, I do:  for me, for the Little Dude, for the whole shebang of lights & presents & really doing *Christmas*...

So, we went to the tree farm just down the road from our new Home

Where they had one of those amazing Winter Wonderland toy train set-ups.  The Little Dude was appropriately fascinated.  Choo Choo!!!

 And now we have a tree w/lights!

(I'm writing this post with all the lights off except the ones on the tree.  It's wonderful.)

Dec 12 - Moving Day

Trent Drove :)

Dec 11

 

Final Views from an Old Home

Dec 10

Now the cow has a sheep friend (baaaaaa...)

We Are Going to Miss This

Pizza + music + The Cheese Board Collective = One happy Little Dude
(and Mama gets 20 minutes 'off')

Dec 8

A boy & his Ma-Ma (Monkey)

Dec 7

Oops - time got away from me & I missed a day...

Advent Calendar - Traditions Part 1

This year my Little Dude is old enough & I wanted to begin creating our family holiday traditions.  An Advent calendar being one.  I'm not totally sure why, because it's not something I have so many amazing memories of...  Though, one year I did have an Advent calendar that had a small, plastic figure behind each day's door (instead of chocolate), and each figure made up a piece of the Nativity scene (baby Jesus in a manger topping it all off).  My mom & I loved it (she painted a small night scene to go behind it & we put it together each year, and she still has all the pieces), which is a little odd because we're Buddhists...but, whatever...

Anyway - last year I had this brilliant idea to sew an Advent calendar:  basically a square of fabric with 25 pockets - so we could have something lasting, instead of buying a new calendar each year (and only ever getting chocolate - not that I don't love me some chocolate).

This year, I still had that same brilliant idea...but nothing started & no time to make one anytime soon.

I should mention:  I am not a sewer.

My mother, however, is.
(thank you Mom!)

And, with a little help from me with regards to fabric, color, shape & size (a lovely natural canvas, durable, but not too stiff & about 32"x42"), she whipped one right up - and helped me fill it with all sorts of fun treats for Trent:

It's hung on a dowel rod, with two small, wooden knobs to cover the ends.  The red, velvet ribbon is the finishing touch.

I am *thrilled* with the results!

I had originally planned on cutting the numbers out of various scrap fabrics I have laying around.  But, looking at this beautiful, simple creation, I just didn't want to make it into something chaotic.

So we bought some gold fabric paint & a set of stencils, and viola!
(sponging the paint has worked way better than using a brush, but I still have to be careful not to over-saturate, because then it bleeds under the stencil & instead of a lovely number, I've got a big blob)

 

This year Trent gets to choose one pocket each day - any pocket that he hasn't picked yet - and I am stenciling the numbers to follow his pattern.  It makes the numbers wonderfully random, but also meaningful (this was also my Mom's idea.  She's good like that).

Next year, and forever-after, he can follow the numbers.

So far, he's really enjoying choosing each morning, but isn't paying much attention to the calendar otherwise, which I'm grateful for.

I'm not telling him about Jesus or St. Nick, or even Christmas - just Advent.
Not quite sure how I'm going to broach those subjects when they come up...

How to Really Love a Child

Counting Our Blessings :December 6:

 Breakfast on Daddy's lap...

...and reading with Grandma & Grandad

This One's for Mommy

I am definitely more into this teeny-tiny miniature Radio Flyer wagon than Trent:

But he humored me :)

A Very Monster Advent

 

This is the crazy monster Trent picked for Advent this morning...

 

...and his crazy monster friends...

 

...setting up shop...

 

...Monsters & Trucks = Trent Heaven...

Counting Our Blessings :December 3:

 

Having Nanna here to read with us...

 

 

Crayons!

(Advent, Day 3)

More Words

Chameleon (He really gets into the 'eleon' part.  There's lots of tongue action.)
Cow (plus:  Mooo!!) - sounds more like 'tow'
Sheep (plus:  Baaa!)
Pig
Rabbit (ra-ra)
Basket Ball (ba ball)
Nurse (nur)
Pretzel (papow)
Baby
Sock (sa)
Mouse (mow)
Sshhhhh
Sleep (also, night-night)
Nose (no)
Eye
Mouth (mow)
Monster (ma-ma)
Monkey (ma-ma)
Music (ma-ma)
--Why, yes - it does get confusing :)
Donkey (da-da)
Duck
Chicken (chichen)
Banana (nanna)
Tomato (nano)
Potato (tato)
Bird (bood or caw-caw)
Water (wa-wa)
Up
Down
Boat
Train (choo-choo)
Tricycle (shisho)
Rain
Dark (da)
Sky (ky)
Toothbrush (titoo)
Bath (ba)
Pumpkin (pupaw)

All Mama can say is:  WOW!

Back In The Saddle

(Thanks to the December '10 Photo Project)

1.  For the first day of Advent - Trent gets a cow!

(playing catch-up, since I'm starting on the 2nd)

2.  A Boy & His Toothpick

Why?
Because my little guy is too cute for words.
Because I remember this time of year as magical.
And it is becoming so again...

The Future

 

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Words

Trent's words:

Shoes (Shs)
Boot (Boo)
Ball (Ba)
Hi
Bye
Hey
Mamma
Dadda
Cracker (Cra Cra)
Dog (Da)
Uh-Oh
Water (Wawa)
More (Mo)
Hot (Haaaaaa)
Belly Button (Bow Bow or Boo Ba)
Pee Pee
Poo Poo
And, of course.....NO