cozy

I'm not great with the blog posting. I've been meaning to for weeks and you know...
We've been having a lovely holiday season. I think seeing these seasons through my children's eyes helps me through the winter. Nadia actually looks forward to winter. I can't agree I'm much more of summer outside person. She says she always feels so cozy during the winter season. She says it's all the things I do around the house that makes it feel that way and just slowing down.

So you ask how do we try to do to keep it cozy? Well I start the day lighting candles it seems to help when your coming down to darkness and cold in the morning. We feed the birds and hear their songs. Most days we have a hot breakfast. Nadia says one of her favorite things about winters is my bringing her a hot breakfast or hot choc in bed.

We make lots of crafts around the holidays which adds to the smells which feel cozy. Nadia says just the smell of beeswax makes her happy and reminds her of winter seasons past. Can you tell she's sentimental like me? We switch from year to year what we do. I try to make some of our gifts at Christmas homemade though not nearly as much as I did when Ike and Nadia were little. Poor Francesca hasn't even had one doll or dress made for her (oh the guilt). We always make candles and gingerbread houses.

I try to cook one big meal most days. Lately because of the teens and Chris's schedule I usually plan our big meal for lunch. We make lots of bread and home baked goods. There is a reason I gain weight every winter.

I wish I could say I made evening super cozy but I don't I'm usually petering out by then.... Usually we are reading or watching something and then a simple bedtime prayers routine then bed. We do try to have cookies coming out of the oven most nights when Chris comes home. We make lots of batter and only cook in small fresh batches (this has helped a lot because in the olden days when I tried to fill the cookie jar they just ate them all stat) through the week. I try to make sure the Christmas lights,candles and tree is lit so he feels cozy when he gets home usually 8 or 9pm. I warm up our room with candles and turn on the electric blanket to warm up the covers before we get in, all things to feel cozy.

I try to have green things growing, forcing bulbs is one of my favorite winter things. It lets me feel a bit of the outside inside. I love how they smell of spring and give me a bit of hope. We try to and try is the optimal word here I hate the cold. We try to get outside as much as possible seems to help a lot. I really should make it outside every day but I can't always find the willpower.

So there you have my survival guide for the sun loving outside person during winter. And honestly if you are thinking I'm trying to be a bit Martha Stewartish here don't even... you haven't seen my clutter I'm no Martha. Anyone who knows me knows this :) The older I'm getting the more I see that killing myself to clean isn't what I want my kids to remember. I'm not great at being organized so what... big deal :)

Francesca looking at old photos of me. "It's hard to imagine you looked like that!" .... thanks.... LOL!

My sister VickyMy brothers Sean and Sonny at my wedding
my sister Margie,Dad and I
My Grandmother who I still miss sooooo much!

Hideous picture of me but I love it because I miss this body!!!!

Hope for today, look up,look ahead

Look up
Matt 11 tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest.Walk with me & work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me & you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Got to love God, he is so much more then people represent him as.



What I are going through today, this season in my life is temporary, it will be finished some day. I don't have to work as if there will never be an end. There is hope in every season. I need to look ahead to keep plowing through the icky stuff,envision the possible futures. My favorite envision is to just be before God with him,worshiping him. Probably my favorite Christian song is I can only imagine (link below) . When I sing that song I see that day and it always moves my soul with strength,hope,peace. It is going to be glorious....



Look ahead

Heb 12 Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

camping

Sorry another post without pictures I'm going to really try to upload some I swear.
We are back from camping. It was a lovely time. The camp ground we went to we had not been there in years. We've camped other places for quite a few years now. But when we were young and married we went there every year for weeks at a time. The camp ground was local so Chris could continue to work while I camped with the kids. A lot of our friends did the same in fact we always found someone we knew camping the same time as us,usually unplanned. So we always had company which was great. Not so anymore.... most of our friends only had two maybe three kids and now they are all teens ,no one really camps anymore. We have had weekends that we've had planned camping trips with friends but that's it.

I felt very much the passing of time. Walking by the camp site we camped when Nadia was two weeks old and we kept her in a dresser drawer,swimming in the pond we used to waterski day after day in,seeing the beach where my brother Sonny drove our boat onto the beach(long story) ,remembering all the good times with good friends... It was bittersweet ,lovely.

Funny thing is we rented a cabin... I remember mocking my in-laws when they were our age about the cabin vs. tent isn't really camping. I'm happy to have a bed to snuggle in at night,I would gladly never tent camp again! Ike and Nadia shared my sentiments!

People did not seem as friendly as they once were. I only met one friendly southern lady and a gentleman who like to travel from campsite to campsite finding work as he went. He seemed so lonely,he made me sad. Everyone else seemed like they wanted to be left alone.

We spent most of our days swimming. It was chilly but mostly ok. We found a rope swing and a HUGE rock to jump off of. I almost fell off the rock and removed quite a bit of my skin on my derriere,ouch! Even Ollie did better jumping then I did. I'm so glad the younger kids are swimming so well so they could jump. I was so tired every night we never made it back to star gaze (the older kids went),I regret that. Our old house had a fantastic open field and we would often lay out there just watching the stars. We almost never do that now.

We gave Ike and Nadia their first car red convertible la baron and they got it on the road this week. It was fun whizzing around in a convertible. My first car was a retired police cruiser not nearly as cool but it did have fantastic pick up and a great spotlight.
So that is it nothing exciting. :)

We've been having to much fun to post

Yesterday was our first day doing fall stuff. Did a bit of cleaning (House slowly descends into dinginess as we are just having too much fun in sun) It's my policy to enjoy life specially in summer. I decided that a long time ago when my Grandmother talked about how she would stay home cleaning,playing catch up when my Grandfather would invite her to go driving with him. Sometimes she would say yes and leave everything and she wished she had said yes more often. She said she would have, if she had known he would die so young.... Live like we're dying I'm actually thinking of stenciling Live like we're dying in one of our rooms. It's so easy to get caught up in things that just do not matter.

So that was bad ,cleaning I hate it but it really hit me later in the day that fall has arrived,when we went to the beach. When I saw the lifeguard stands gone from the beach, I just felt so sad.... I love summer it's my favorite season. Nadia and the kids made me feel better talking about how they are looking forward to fall and the yummy food I make. I don't cook inside all summer. We eat a lot of grilled food and I cook everything even things like rice outside on the grill. The kids all had their lists of food they are looking forward to and it did make me feel a bit cozier about fall.

Sebastian could live solely off my home mac and chez (it's spicy not the normal mac) he always chows when I make it which is usually a couple of times a week. Nadia was looking forward to waking up with me bringing her pancakes in bed. It's funny you do all these things for kids over and over again. You don't get much feedback then it's like they slam you with the love. I felt warm and cozy when they were talking. So I went home and we had our first fall meal oven fried chicken and homemade mac. It was yummy no wonder I gain so much weight every winter!!

I'll try to get back here sometime soon with pic from our summer
LOL Ollie just brought me breakfast in bed. My left over chicken, an apple, and choc cake....

Day 6 I'm grateful for

my husband. He still can make my stomach drop,just thinking about him even after almost 20 years. I love that I knew him when he couldn't even grow a beard and now his beard is coming in with bits of white. There is something special about the touch of someone you have loved for a very long time. Marriage is always changing as we change and yet still the same. I like that we have moments where I feel our souls are truly one as corny as it sounds. Like today just lying next to him in the sunshine I felt so content, I'm so blessed to have him. Now if only I could repeat this post in my head the next time I feel like killing him!!!!!

Day 5 I'm grateful for

Even though I haven't had the energy to post every day this grateful business is great. It gets me thinking about what is good in my life now that I'm always looking for something to be grateful for.
I like that. :)
Ok today I'm grateful for books. I LOVE to read and most days you can find me with my face buried in a book. I read a mix of novels and any number of non fiction books. I usually have any where from 5 to 10 books I am currently reading.

Right now here's what on my bedside table.

Unconditional parenting (It looks at what kids need and how we meet those needs vs. the more traditional parenting of ,how can we get kids to do what we want.)
Happiness now (about choosing to be happy)

Trading Places (marriage book on empathy for your partner)
Martha Stewart's Gardening Month by Month

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

With the kid's I are reading any number of picture books,Naughty Sister books (They LOVE these!!!) and Popper's Penguins. Shirley Hughes is hands down my favorite children's author and Illustrator. She didn't write these stories but they are close in style to her own. We LOVE them.
Lately for novels, any number of Norah Roberts books LOL These are like candy I'm a fast reader so I can finish one in a night or two. I have to laugh at my reading these super fluffy books. I was such a snob a few months ago chatting with my family, laughing at romance novels. Well these are a blend of a bit of romance and thriller. I was chatting with a librarian who also loves Norah Roberts when another librarian looked over to see who we were talking about and she did an obvious snobby Oh.... LOL! Remember a while ago when I said when ever I'm being snobby or judgmental it seems God always has it come back at me. Well.... LOL These are great though when I'm tired ,stressed from the day and just need to relax. Like I said to the librarian it's just the stage of life we're in, need to relax after taking care of all these little ones. Norah Roberts is so fluffy,it's relaxing and slightly better then TV. LOL! Plus my husband doesn't mind I usually feel gushy after reading a good love story,it makes me appreciate him.

Oh and I think I finally decided on the color for the Bathroom. I think it would look neat with a gallery of 5x5 images I took in Florida of Daytona Beach along with the silly images I have of the kids already in there(wide angle close up of Francesca's sandy beach feet and close up of ollie lower face playing with his brightly colored trucks making the truck noise it has a bit of motion blur on his lips it's a riot)I'm still not quite sure because I also love this color scheme. What do you think?