Today

Today he is just past two months old.

I'm so glad! And also I sorrow that I cannot pause time. This - this picture taking - it's
as close as I can get to holding a moment longer than it actually lasts.

Words are not my outlet in these last few years. I have thoughts, but they don't seem
to allow for mining.  At least not in this venue.

That's okay. I have pictures to tell some of the story.  Maybe one of these months I can sit
down with a cup of coffee instead of heavy eyelids, and caffeine will have something
interesting to tell you :-)

I will say that Winter has been gentle. Lance Victory sleeps in my arms peacefully,
which I didn't get to experience with my last tiny person. It is a balm, and I've been
gifted the success of slowing down enough to soak it up.

This guy... he is amazing.

Who would have thought of what God had planned? I still can't wrap my mind
around ten children. Ten. Wha...?
And still, here is this little fella - he is numbered ten in the birth order, but do you
know he was planned by God's heart right along with the first one?
This was his  appointed time, and I really can't wait to watch who he is.
What he's going to do. To be a part of his life feels like a privilege, and yes.
I'm certain it is!

Since my heart is full, but my words run dry, I'd like to post a bunch of pictures
with my Grandma in mind, and AJ's Grandma and Grandpa too. Wow. What an honor to
participate in such a legacy by passing on Grandpa's name to our five sons.

And I feel this way about each one of my children, privileged to have them.
Privileged to know them. They are some pretty neat people :-)

Perhaps a brief explanation of a couple of
these pictures.

Bryce has been disassembling some of his toys
and collecting bits of trash in order to create these awesome little robots!

Grampa has brought his guitar over a few times, and there have been eager
dancers and singers (who knew?).  Also, Grama somehow finds dresses that would make
Cinderella jealous of my girlies, and paired with a hoop skirt... pure dreaminess.

Life is good. Full of books, kisses, and sleeping babies.

Doesn't get much better than this :-)

The Best-ness All Around Me

There's an awful lot of best-ness to my days, and that's what I love to see.

To look for.

Some days I have to search a little harder/dig a little deeper
(because tiredness and hormones like to obscure the lovely in life),
but there's always some wonder to notice or routine non-event to be grateful for.

{Thanks Lord for a washing machine that cleans clothes, and a water heater
that works. For cuts that don't need stitches, a baby without colic, or a husband
who comes home from work.}

The more I settle deep into the privilege of such a life, I am reluctant to use
certain words so casually.

Words such as "need" for instance.  I can't think of one single area in which
I can apply that in good conscience.
Kind of puts things into perspective and stretches my vocabulary as well,
trying to express a difficult feeling or experience while acknowledging the
very-great abundance in my life!

My Lance-boy is an official one month old already, and while four weeks
have brought an unhappy onslaught of baby acne for him and the re-entrance
of sleep-deprivation for me, the days are mostly filled up with best-ness :-)

This is me at 2pm, still in my pajamas. But the boy is sleeping, so
besides the desire for a shower, I'd say everything's right in the world :-)

And here's the two remaining pieces of evidence that I got a really special
pre-baby-birth pedicure 6 weeks ago from my friend Jana, who knew I couldn't
reach my feet and took pity. That's a kindred heart!

Maybe time for a new color?

Bryce often asks me if he can hold Lance.
Sometimes I ask him to "babysit" for a few minutes.

Our Olivia, nine years old.
So artistic; so creative!
Play dough never looked so awesome!

Also, Olivia is my flitting, floating, flying butterfly who dances throughout the house all day long!
These special Christmas gifts have been getting a lot of mileage.

Here's the face of a boy who loves "Hol' Tocters".
What is a Hol'Tocter, you ask?
Why this of course!

And another face I love!

The kids weren't inspired to go out into the snow until it had been
around for weeks.  And then one day, I guess it was time.

On a Saturday morning several of them rummaged through the snow
clothes and found enough to keep tolerable warm.  Then they began
serious enterprises in the department of fort-building.

I must say they've upped their game since the last time they
built snow forts!  Carolina built one on her own, Clayton and Susanna
collaborated on the one you see above, and Olivia crafted a veritable
castle replete with a flagged turret and chamber just for storing snowballs!
I didn't get a picture of it when it was finished, but it is the one which
all the kids are still talking about :-)

We un-decorated the Christmas tree together, and it was a sad affair.
Miles kept asking "Why? Why are you taking the tree apart?"

And on a quiet evening after the children were tucked into bed, I untangled
strands of lights from dried-up boughs.

So I guess it is good-bye to one season and hello to the next
chapter of best-ness :-)

A happy din is a good kind to have.

Whew!

Did you make it though all those?

These photos were a few of my favorites from last month (of over 3,000 I took)
while I was taking Ashley Campbell's DSLR course.
I'm sure there should be a post written for every one of these pictures because they are
true representations of what goes on in this house.  I'm equally sure that's not going to happen
any time soon.

As for what does go on in this house, it is good stuff.  Let me tell you about a piece of it!

Tonight as I sat at the dining room table, a swelling cacophony of  life in its most vibrant
reality engulfed me.  Emerald reclined in the crook of my left arm while I fed her mush made from
stewed chicken and broth, with avocado.

Her legs hung over the right side of my lap, but not still.
She be-bopped those two little pudgies to the rhythm of something like Love Potion Number 9
which was turned up to near full volume.

It's been our evening pre-dinner tradition lately to play Oldies - loudly - while finishing up
meal preparations and setting the table.  I've never been one for much dancing, but something
about that music... I can really appreciate Emerald's desire to kick up her heels!  Ok.  It's true
I wasn't completely still either.  It's a wonder all that food got safely to her mouth. Haha!

Glancing across the room into the hub of the kitchen, there are at least five hoodlums tearing
lettuce, sprinkling pizza toppings, unloading the dishwasher, and sneaking occasional pineapple
tidbits faster than big sisters can catch.  Miles, he sits on a red chair in the midst of the activity
(the one pilfering pizza parts) and I see him bobbing and swaying to the musical jive.  I think he'd sing if he could.
It makes me smile.

Times like this I think I should grab my camera to capture just normal everyday fun.

I seriously consider if there's a way I could actually hold that hulk of a camera in one hand
while delivering mush to Emerald's face.  And keeping her hands out of it.  And off the camera.
And then, no.  Reality smacks me and I grin at the crazy thought of it.  And I know most of these
moments just have to be lived in.

Noting a few good things:

* Miles and those eyes.  Ay yi yi.
* Two big boys sharing the light of one head lamp under which to late-night read.
* Susanna and her casual stance on Math homework.
* Hoodlums playing games, hoodlums in candle light, hoodlums in the shower. Lots of hoodlums.
* That five-year-old boy with the hole in his jeans. Mmm.
* One word: Carolina.
* Zack and Miles.  Waking up in the morning together and with a book.  Does it get better?