Eye to Wonder

Happy Thursday! Does your area observe the time change? Like most parents of young kids, I find this to be a struggle, but we are enjoying more time outside after dinner. How’d it go for you? ` 1. The kids have been home from school a lot this week with an in-service day for one kid, and a kid at home sick one day. Given that I volunteer at school during the preschool slot on Fridays and we had visitors last week, my introverted self is definitely craving more alone time. Parenting can make it really hard to be alone enough to feel my best, but I’ve been trying to find ways to recharge even when the kids are around. While a lot of times this is really not possible, (hello toddler meltdowns), there are definitely times where the kids are playing together independently. Using that time to sit and read a book for 5 minutes helps a bit. A and I picked up a puzzle when we went to the bookstore on her day off, and it was so fun to work on it together. We brought it to the library to the puz...

Happy March! I’m feeling energized by a new month, and excited to look ahead to what’s next. I fell off of some routines in February with all the sicknesses/injuries/visitors/travel, so I’m looking forward to resetting a bit this month. I made progress on some goals from last month including decluttering the entryways and scheduling a babysitter (although we ended up canceling due to sickness), prepping for the overnight trip, and adding to our 1 Second a Day App. We also went on a fun date to a new restaurant that was delicious! I definitely lost momentum on some key habits including reading and strength training. I continued reading, but didn’t have a lot of memorable reading experiences. So far March is off to a better start, and I’m willing to buy more books on kindle this month to help get out of a reading rut. I also took a break from exercising while recovering from a bad cough, and I’m looking forward to getting back into a routine. Here’s a look at the month ahead. Big ...

I want to start out by saying what a positive, affirming part of the month this practice was. All the gold stars to Elisabeth for running this and keeping track of everyone’s posts. It’s been so fun to see the bright spots in so many of your lives, and to focus on what’s good. February at times felt like a slog, and having this practice balanced out the very easy tendency to focus on the negative. We were all in much better health last week, which is a huge FIG in and of itself. Here’s a rundown of this final week of FIGs. Monday, February 23 *We played family charades with our friend who comes for regular dinners. So silly! Love how M participated even if she didn’t quite have all the rules down. She’d pick a card and then just do her craziest jumping or dance moves. We all got super into this. Tuesday, February 24 *We finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone with A. Joel, A, and I all curled up to finish this together. *I want to remember lying in the backyard on a pic...

To be honest, this wasn’t the easiest week for noticing the good things and the FIGs challenge, but gratitude definitely is essential on hard/annoying weeks as well as good or routine weeks. We had a few anti-figs this week: I had a gnarly cough, lost my voice, and strained my back, and then both of the kids came down with a stomach bug leading to one of them having to leave a trip to the mountains with a group of friends early while feeling terrible. Luckily all of these things are annoyances rather than long-term problems. Still, it was a lot at once, and I was very happy to start a new week today. I definitely needed to feel like we moved on from last week! Monday, February 16 I’m grateful for our good friends who loaned us their sump pump when it rained and we noticed water in the garage. I’m also grateful they had us over to hang at the house while our power was out. They made hot cocoa, which was a nice treat. Tuesday, February 17 I’m grateful for a long snuggle with A watc...

I've continued to be so glad that Elisabeth is hosting the FIGS collective this month. I think since the last week in January someone in her house has been sick consecutively, so it's been a bit of a slog here, and practicing gratitude has definitely helped in this season. In week 2, I’m trying to be more organized and capture each day’s good things chronologically. Monday, February 9th I’m grateful for the parents in my youngest daughter’s preschool class. It was definitely a tough drop off, and having friends who have been there and were so kind when the morning was a struggle definitely made the day better. Also grateful not to cook dinner since we have all the super bowl leftovers. Tuesday, February 10th I’m grateful for the Olympics! It was so fun to sit and watch the men’s short program with Joel. We both got really into it, and it was fun to analyze the costumes, music, and performances together. Wednesday, February 11th I’m grateful for M’s laugh. Today she asked ...

Happy Friday! The kids are off school today and recovering from a nasty cold, and we have visitors this weekend. Looking forward to a few fun adventures around town assuming everyone is well enough, as well as time to relax and hang with my sister and brother-in-law. Here are 5 things on my mind this week. 1. Decluttering. I made actual progress in decluttering this week! My goal for February was to declutter the entryways of our house (driveway, 2 doorways, broom closet, shelves/shoe rack the door). I felt actually motivated to make work on this and dropped off some donations today (not just from these areas). Things that helped: having a box in my closet to toss donations in when I noticed things we don’t want and listening to the Slob Comes Clean podcast by Dana K. White. I highly recommend her book Organizing for the Rest of Us , which I read a few years ago, and listening to her while I declutter has helped remind me of decluttering practices that helped in other seasons. It wa...

This month, I’m joining Elisabeth and other bloggers in the FIG collective. I’m trying to look for and notice the good things in life. The beginning of the month snuck up on me! But I’ve been adding small (and not so small good things) to a google doc for the past week as I notice the good that’s around me. A list of FIGs this week: *Hanging out with friends while kids play on the front sidewalk. I’m always grateful to live near friends and have those easy unplanned moments of community. *Playing hide and seek with the girls makes me feel like a kid again. I also think it’s hilarious that my youngest always finishes counting and then says, “mom, where are you?” *Right now whenever M tries to say “tag, you’re it!” it sounds like “tag, carrot!” Toddler phrases are the best. *Seeing a Western Bluebird and Red Shouldered Hawk at the park. *Reading Everyone is Lying . It’s kind of a candy read, and I am here for it. If the idea of a trad wife muder mystery sounds intriguing to you, I...