Valentine’s Day began in the wee hrs this yr with my bum back. We had snow the night before and expected to have our party canceled so my early morning insomnia didn’t seem too intrusive.  Not until the call that is. The roads were better than expected so at 730am the party was declared on again and we decided to make the trek to Denver with friends. I jumped in the shower and try as we may we were running pretty late getting there. At 10:20 with 15 miles to go it was pretty clear we were only going to make the second half of the event but a quick glance at the faces in the rear view mirror assured me it was better to press on than to go back. On we went and they skated with their friends til noon.

We decided that since we rarely get to the north side of town we would stop by some stores we don’t often get to.  For mom that meant talking the children into perusing the aisles of the really good scrapbook store. <g>  Twenty minutes and a stack of vintage style paper later I was a happy camper and they were no worse for wear. We planned a quick run into the school supply store nearby to get Alannah the next Key To books. We got way sidetracked by their new toy wing however! WAY sidetracked! Math, smath. You should have seen those toys!

First stop was the train table. I have been fascinated by Brio-compatible trains since the big boys were little. They never did get a set but boy has the train selection expanded. Kieran was enthralled with the low train table as I worked the shelves. My favorite game was Logico, which has cards with matching and other games for non readers. It is ingenious with no little parts to lose and no electric gadgets to wear out or break. I think Brendan can use this before too long.

Aidan and the girls meanwhile were standing open-mouthed near the resin toys.  Now I have read all the compelling arguments for wooden toys. I love wooden toys. Still, we were all suckers for the perfectly scaled little knights and fair maidens and Moira asked to run back to the van for her purse. She bought a set of the most realistic tiny farm animals you ever saw, complete with a dairy goat. Alannah worked her way through the horses and dollhouse miniatures and decided to go home and compare prices on Amazon. An hr later we left the store with our heads full of ideas. Oh, and some math books lol!

Allen surprised us at home with Valentine gifts for all. The girls got jewelry and the boys all got chocolate. I got the most incredible set of cashmere/silk blend jammies. My word! They are soooo comfortable! Gotta love the man. <g>

This morning we spent a considerable amount of time glued to the machine here learning the differences between 1/12, 1/16, 1/32 and 1/64 scale. Whew! Fwiw 1/12 is the standard dollhouse collectible size and that was the final decision the girls made. Breyer has horses in that size with perfectly formed little hay bales and wheelbarrows. Schleicht has equally impressive little chickens and fox terriers that are in the same size. A plan was launched to build a miniature empire and allowances were pooled to begin. Kieran is using his birthday money to get some trains. We found some very helpful train track layouts online to get us started.

That was our little holiday rabbit trail. I hope you had an equally pleasant week! We are back to our Konos units this week also and I hope to get in a note about that shortly.

Thought I would share a pic of number one son’s basketball team. Number one son would be the good-looking dude in the front row with the (ahem!) facial hair. Agh! Although the news is that I would probably take the beard deal over the newest hair adventure.  Apparently, the $4 barber’s clipper guard slipped off and she accidentally shaved one side of his head. Having inherited his mother’s quick thinking he apparently decided now would be a good time to try that mohawk. Yes you heard that right, grandma! He had her do the other side and call it good. He says it will grow out. In time.

It’s a phase right?  Someone tell me it’s a phase…… ; )

Anyway, we are so thrilled to see the boy sporting team colors. He is winging his way across the country this semester playing for the U of A. We love you Colin!

Between the dark and the daylight,

when the night is beginning to lower,

comes a pause in the day’s occupations,

that is known as the children’s hour.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Admittedly the children’s hour is not always the best time of day for us. It is ‘betwixt and between’ with energy levels dropping and yet much left to do before heading for bed.  Yesterday I stole into the living room to nurse the baby at just this time. These are the pictures that caught my eye out of the back windows. It was just what I needed to recharge and carry on with evening chores.

I wonder how many times I have missed this sight while rushing to prepare dinner or gathering up the last piles of folded laundry? This week’s goal is to consider which things can be done in the morning to make this time of day run smoothly, whether it is setting up the crock pot, making the salad, or laying out pjs after bed making, because hey, we really don’t want to miss this. : )

Great minds. Several of us must be pondering similar thoughts in our hearts lately. Barbara from Mommy Life wrote a very moving post about her estrangement with her adult daughter. Instead of just addressing mothers, she issues a particularly poignant challenge to daughters as well to be merciful and respectful both in and out of the presence of our own parents. Don’t miss this one!

I have been blessed by conversations with friends old and new this past week. Phone numbers netted from Christmas cards allowed for much overdue catching up with women I dearly love. Those conversations and the events of recent weeks have helped me stop and take a deep breath once again. Life has this habit of speeding up in little increments until suddenly, despite the best intentions you are going way too fast. I am not sure what is more challenging to me – avoiding the speeding up or feeling guilty about moving slowly while my peers seem to be moving so much faster.

We did the big freezer cooking this week. It seemed to be a metaphor for so many other parts of life. I have lots of meals stored up. They don’t taste very good. You see I was trying to squeeze lots of cooking into a couple very short days in between baby dancing and laundry and school lessons.  The prospect of having to move this bunch has been hanging overhead so I dove into toy organization and a number of other spring cleaning chores. All at once. Not sure what I was thinking other than that I wasn’t doing enough. That is a thought that visits every now and then and tends to throw me into a tailspin. Enough. Maddeningly unquantifiable, that word.

My solution to the enough question was ‘more’. That never works. My food turned out like my power scrapbook sessions. Lots of volume, little satisfaction. This isn’t me.

I came to the computer a bit ago to visit Penny Gardner’s site. I figured some Charlotte Mason thoughts would help me refocus. She had this to say:

Georgia O’Keeffe wrote, "Nobody sees a flower-really it is so small, it takes time. We haven’t time and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time."

…like cooking a satisfying meal takes time. Like creating logical storage solutions takes time. Like greeting my husband at the end of the day takes time.  This week we are back to ‘slow’. I will be diligent, but I will be purposeful. I will remember that holding babies and typing narrations and making slow, messy meals together is ‘enough’. I will see the flower this week.