Last week I did something I haven't done in years: I filled an entire school year's worth of diary dates. Each of the kids' schools sent home calendars and without any hesitation, I plotted each day, every early dismissal, all holiday breaks. Start to finish...
Read moreMy top 5 not-so-messy-parent bloggers :: 31 days of messy parenting {day 30}
I'm so tired of writing about parenting! Clearly I've still got loads of things to work through, and seeing as how I could use all the help I can get, here are some of my favourite not-so-messy-parent bloggers (though they might try to refute that!)...
Read morePicture Sunday :: 31 days of messy parenting {day 21}
It's all a blur... just how I'll remember their childhood.
But still, it is one of my favourites.
I'll be sharing some of my favourite family photos on Sundays this month. Join me and comment with a link to your favourite (or not so favourite) family photo; one with a story to tell, maybe... let's remember the moments that go by in a blur.
Family fun gone awry :: 31 days of messy parenting {day 20}
Do you remember how cute and adorable Asher was last week at the farmer's market, all dolled up in his new monkey leash and curly, dew-dropped hair?
Yeah, well, that child is missing today. As are the other two. They have been replaced by ransacking criminals. And their parents are gone, too; we are their henchmen.
Contract killers of Saturday Morning Family Fun.
:: at least i got some good images before the sadness ::
I like to think I roll with the punches, that I bend down on one knee, look them in the eye, and firmly (yet softly) tell them their behaviour is a little wanting and I need their help in adhering to a more affirming family philosophy.
But I don't. We whisper fiercely through clenched teeth, grab an arm and sigh loud enough so there is no mistaking the foreshadowed consequence. We heave and pull and walk quickly to the exits. In fact, the only parent worth her metal is my mother, who keeps a smile and easy-going "You're doing grand" look on her face. She's got more experience, after all.
We are the amateurs.
So a morning of family fun has gone awry. This sometimes happens. Ok, this often happens.
Does this ever happen to you? How do you shake off the shame and frustration, and reconcile with your precious fam?
15 years later :: 31 days of messy parenting {day 18}
Behold, the people behind the messy parenting. Our first date was 15 years ago today.
15 years is a long time to live with someone - anyone - particularly a boy from Wisconsin who left a giant piece of wood in the closet that I banged my foot up against today. This is how we roll. He the woodworker and I the writer, and I know if our habits were reversed and computers no longer existed, he'd be yelling at me for all the paper cuts he'd receive from the journals and scraps I'd leave all over the place.
But the writing - like the handcrafted furniture and toys and frames that dot our life across two continents - is about us.
Two broken people who love hard amidst the daily mess, and the little people who inhabit the stories.
It's not clean and it's not perfect. But I can live with that.
Where does your story begin?