from my son

from my son, originally uploaded by Jen!!.

personal note to go with picture: my son (7) wrote this to me probably two months ago. Since he lives with me part time, on the days when he's not here, the note is a sweet reminder of him. It's in my kitchen, so I see it every day. Also in my kitchen is a prayer (if you will) that I read every day as well, and have for probably 4 or 5 years now: "I was angered for I had no shoes. Then I met a man who had no feet." During the rough times in my marriage, when I felt like no matter how hard I tried I just wasn't doing well enough--not loving enough, not generous enough, simply not enough --whatever it was that I was believing was wrong with me (and always wrong with me, never wrong with him--oh wait, this shit is supposed to go in my private blog. sorry.), anyhow, the prayer helped to keep me focused on all the wonderful gifts in my life.

My little birdy

We haven't had much snow so far this winter, so when we got about 3" two weeks ago, the kids were outside in a flash to have a snowball fight and build a snowman. The snowman turned out more like a short, stout snow ghost, but it's pretty cute. You can see it on Flickr here. It had melted a little already when Jasper added the raisin eyes, nose, mouth and buttons, but it wasn't so much bigger to begin with. I love snow.

I don't do new years resolutions

But I would like to look closer to this by the time swimsuit season rolls around.

I'm not really certain how to do it while still keeping up my most excellent drinking skills as of late, but maybe if I continue doing more exercises in both the AM and the PM, I'll get part way there. (I won't be unrealistic about this--clearly the model for this statue was younger than I am, and I doubt that she's popped out two kids. Which is to say: this is a quasi-goal--I don't want to look just like this. I love food too darn much for that. I just want to get closer to it.)

My oldest niece

Kellie is hysterical. She's sweet, funny, kind, patient, and 4. She loves purple. She's smart and a great conversationalist. She could probably correctly use "conversationalist" in a sentence. While you can't see her face in this shot, I love it. She's singing into a microphone she got for Christmas. This girl has an amazing future doing anything she wants to do. Don't believe everything you hear about redheads.

Merry Christmas!

A picture from Christmas eve:

It was looking like a white Christmas, but the foggy kind of white, not the snowy kind. The sun was peeking out from behind the clouds a little bit. (Drive a few miles in any direction and you'd be out of the sun again.) The holidays, even with my kids out of town, remain a warm and wonderful time for me. I feel at peace. And I'm thankful for so much right now, and the clarity with which I can see all the wonderful things around me is itself a gift.

Christmas Fun

We celebrated Christmas this morning since the kids leave for North Carolina with their father tomorrow. Since I still haven't really figured out my new camera, I didn't get too many shots. Here's a silly one of the kids together.

Peace

I love the look on Jasper's face. I've detailed before how hard it is to capture this boy. Now that I've captured something that I love, I find it hard to say why I love it so much. The enthusiasm? The pure joy? Julia's hand trying to steal the show? Nah, not the last thing.