A brief respite from the cold winter is always nice and Elena and I made the most of it, staking out this one sliver of porch that gets full sun in February. We used to have a rose trellis in this spot but a) it would get inundated by bugs every year without fail, even when Vincas sprayed it daily and b) neither of us particularly like roses, anyway. Now we’re growing a camellia here for winter interest and summer shade – you can just see the top of its trellis in the bottom of the photograph.
(Hello, February)
Goodbye to the longest month of the year.
Hello to finally feeling back on a comfortable school schedule.
Goodbye to icy cold temperatures.
Hello to being able to be outside without a jacket occasionally.
Almost goodbye to four straight months of renovations.
Hello to almost (almost! almost!) having a working bathroom upstairs and no more workmen going in and out (and in and out and in and out) of our home.
Hello, February and Valentine’s day cards and an occasional glass of wine (I kept a dry January except for two social functions) and maybe finally getting to start taking long walks again!
P showing off his new (specially ordered) Lego ghost to Teta T and A and Trixie (of course). At this stage, every single dollar earned from taking care of the chickens goes towards new Legos. Not entirely sure V’s financial education plan is working….
Sun’s out! Which means the girls are all in on some serious mud-kitchening, hammock swinging, and nonstop shoe removing (the back entry rug required washing three times in three days!). Meanwhile, I’m just over here, deliriously delighted with sitting in the yard, basking in the rays.
Little libraries are one of those things that I don’t remember ever truly noticing (or using) before I had kids. Upon moving to R, though, suddenly they were everywhere: painted in charming colors, bursting with any number of fun books, sometimes displaying “free to take” cut flowers from people’s gardens or half-used seed packets. On one memorable occasion, the boys even found a used Lego set! My kids absolutely refuse to walk by a Little Library without checking to see what interesting things it offers (and “interesting,” to my children, runs the gamut between gorgeously illustrated picture books and a doorstopper-thick adult novel about French brothels). I’ve learned that if I’m purging books I loath and my kids love (here’s looking at you, obnoxious baby board books and weird Christian cult-y books), I need to distribute them to further little libraries, otherwise they inevitably return right back home the next time my kids spot them. Especially if they’re placed in the Little Library that’s located right between us and their cousins’ house. Due to the high number of young families living in our neighborhood, there’s roughly one little library (sometimes more) per block. I’ve decided that if I have a little library, I’ll make it a puzzle swapping library. Although I’d worry that nobody else would be anywhere near as excited about that as me…
Just two girls who, despite distance and differences and busy-ness and life, keep a flourishing friendship going throughout the years. Whether it’s bonding over headstands, escaping to Mexico with their spouses, or spending hours thrifting together, it’s always fun to see these two together.
Apparently the first time G ever saw my husband (she missed out on our wedding due to attending another wedding that same weekend) was when he ambled into V’s yard (in the hi-vis safety vest he used to wear when walking to work) and began rummaging through their compost bin to make sure they were turning it correctly (classic V). She almost called the cops on him.
When she saw him during this trip, she squealed and ran to hug him. L (Vik’s oldest) was properly bemused and asked why she was so excited to see him. V explained that G really likes him and enjoys hanging out with him. “Well, then why didn’t she marry him!?” L demanded. (our kids are still very much trying to understand the nuances of how and why marriages happen).
Mom never says no when I show up at her doorstep with a spur-of-the-moment sewing project. This time it was fleece neck warmers, just in case it snows again and in an effort to keep kids from wiping their boogers all over MY scarves. I’ve been doing my hardest to “low spend January,” so making instead of buying seemed a good compromise. We tried to follow an online tutorial, but it was surprisingly complicated with many “turn it halfway inside out, sew here, and bam!” sorts of directions (spoiler: they didn’t work). After that, it was mutually decided we didn’t care if the neck warmers ended up with flawlessly invisible seams (my motto for most of my sewing projects is “good enough”) and the cozy neck warmers were black anyway (dark material hides a multitude of sins). The girls deemed them “perfectly fluffy!” and immediately ran away to play outside while wearing them.
Pictured: Sir Gussious (otherwise known as “Gus Gus”) always occupying the primary seat in a room. That’s the look he gives me right before I make him move.
V sharing his favorite Ok Go music videos with the kids – their reactions were hilarious. “HOW IS THIS REAL LIFE?”
Her favorite thing in the world is when I let her go upstairs at night and have sole control of the remote to play endless episodes of SUUUUPER KITTY! (this is her excited Super Kitty theme song dance) Her siblings have moved beyond Paw Patrol and Super Kitty and usually convene in the basement to watch movies or Mine Craft episodes. I heard her sadly asking N the other day, “You watch with me? We can watch Super Kitties!” and N shrugging her off with a “Nah, I’d rather watch with the boys.” It was a little heartbreaking in that “kids are growing up” sort of way.
January has crept by, days full of ignoring the tense political atmosphere by focusing instead on the cacophony of a house full of contractors and a bathroom that never quite seems to get finished. Parts get delayed, trim work needs to be redone, plumber can’t fit us in…but the finish line is finally in sight and every member of our family is rejoicing at the thought of finally having a useable upstairs bathroom again after months of trudging downstairs to do all the things. I took a big leap of faith in my own interior design choices for this bathroom, which were questioned by my contractor, my husband, and my mother. But I’m finally feeling confident it’s going to look amazing (not oppressively dark, like one family member opined). And boy, will I not miss an upstairs hallway crowded by boxes and the random stinky toilet.
A Pattern of Words 