5/30: Perks

The perks of living with chickens.

Oh, yeah.  We have chickens.  Three hilarious, stupid, pooping chickens.  But, man, they give us good eggs!

1/30: The Boy Monkey is 7...and More Big News!

So the big news on the Knight front...

We are moving...again.  We close on our house here in MN June 30 and take off from there on our next adventure in Danville, KY.  Crazy, right?  More on that in another post.  But because we are entering into our last month in the Frozen Tundra and I have been trying to eek out the energy to reflect on our time here, I thought it fitting to take on a 30 day photo click-a-day challenge for the month of June.  And how fitting that the first day of the challenge, and therefore my intentional reflection, lands on the boy monkey's seventh birthday!

This kid has seen adventure with us.  He is our more introverted monkey.  On observing the steady rain outside upon waking this morning (he is also our early bird), he comments, "Mom, I think we are going to have to fix the gutters."  Steady, practical, logical, detailed.  I think we pretty much wear him out.  

Change is not his favorite thing, and we have alot of that coming our way in the coming weeks.  But he is strong.  And loyal to a fault.  

This year was his first year of full day school.  And he rocked it.  And lost a mouthful of teeth in the process.  He loves baseball and soccer and his Daddy.  I love how he loves his Daddy.  

I'm not so sure they quite get it, but he is perhaps the best big brother (technically, he is younger than the eldest monkey, but he passed her by 1 inch this year so from here to forevermore he will be "big" brother) 2 gals could hope for.  Most of the time.  

I have been pondering this year the effect a son can have on a Momma.  It is different this Mother/son dynamic.  I feel more vulnerable to heartbreak with this boy.  But also so very proud and loved when he throws those long, skinny, double-jointed arms around me impromptu.  

This boy.  

Has this Momma's heart.  

So glad to have you by my side as we enter into our next big adventure.  

The Mom Dance

She takes Little Monkey to gymnastics.  Her Little Monkey comes home with us from music class.  We meet to run, we meet to eat, we meet to make it in this crazy season of life.

We weathered the acid reflux years together, all screaming babies, dancing toddlers and not nearly enough sleep.  The soundtrack of our lives then...The Jackson Five and Wee Sing and Pretend.  The soundtrack now...Annie, The Sound of Music and "Poop on the Potty".  We survived the witching hour with tricycles and muddy puddles of melting snow waiting for daddies to come home.  Now...Legos, dress ups and a pot of chai.

We potty trained not just one set of toddlers together, but two (who ever said positive peer pressure isn't effective?).  We pray together, run together, process this crazy life that is made up of so many kids but also so many dreams and gifts and talents that we long to utilize.  I have cheered her on as she has so bravely entered back into the working world (where you get paid).  She has cheered me on as I have tentatively but steadily stepped back onto the stage (where you don't get paid).  We share good books, good music, and great food and wine!

In her words, it is a dance.  The Mom Dance.  It has been my sanity, a source of life and joy and grace. She picks up my big monkeys from school so I can stay home with a sick baby monkey.  I bring her soup when she is crazy mad packing for 10 days out of the country.  It makes life work.  It makes the crazy manageable.

She kept the babe for me so I could simply go sit at my favorite coffee shop and regroup.  

This beauty is more than a pretty swirly froth...it represents the grace of community, the gratitude of a quiet moment to treasure.  Isn't it a beauty?

Lisa McCowen, it is such a joy to dance with you (Zumba, anyone?)!  

My encouragement to the rest of you...find a dance partner to do this crazy life with.  We girls need each other.  It doesn't take away the crazy, but it makes it a lot more fun!

PS...Props to the best little coffee shop east of the Mississippi, Quixotic Coffee!  These peeps are crazy about coffee.  And they can make a mean latte with almond milk.  Heaven in a coffee cup.

Survival Mode

What happens when Momma is laid up in bed with a stomach bug?

Little Einsteins in a blanket fort...and Daniel Tiger, and Wild Kratts, and Super Why...

Tea Time

Oh my goodness gracious.  I knew it had been a long time.  But since July?  Seriously?  I listened to this quote by Ira Glass the other day.  

"...the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions." 

I have been talking (in my head, of course) of recommitting to the blog, to the photojournalistic story of my life since before the first of the year.  And good intentions turn into laundry...and a sick kid...and a rehearsal...and exhaustion.  

"You’ve just gotta fight your way through."

So here goes the fight.

 We've been doing a lot of this lately.  A whole heck of a lot.

 Honest confession...I don't really love tea parties.  But I love watching this baby monkey in her element.  And this baby loves her some tea party.

If I'm lucky, the party just might include live music.  She is a singer-songwriter.  I mentioned that, right?

 I have felt a certain restlessness these last couple of years.  She's the baby.  It's my third time doing this age.  I am watching alot of my friends go back to work.  I am fighting to be in every moment of this stage.  But also beginning to think towards the future.  I know that these days are fleeting and we will never get them back.  It helps me to chronicle the daily, beautiful monotony.  It reminds me how beautiful it is.  And makes me grateful.

 There are so many beautiful moments.

38/365...First fruits

Every time I plant a new seed, every time I gently pat in fresh soil on a young seedling, in my head I am hearing, "This is not going to work.  Its not going to work.  All this work will be for naught."

And then the first fruits...it's like Christmas morning!  Every. Single. Time.

And then my first fruit.  Again, always surprising me with lovely fruit from all that labor. 

37/365...The Best Song

Baby Monkey is three.  And potty trained.  (Woot woot!)  As I was thinking on an appropriate post in honor of her third birthday, the following song by Bethany Dillon came on my Pandora station.  Couldn't think of anything more appropriate.  

You're The Best Song

Good morning

You and the sun are up before I'm ready

But ready or not, you need me

So here I am

I'm learning that in the long hard days

There is beauty

Do you know my favorite place to see it

It's when I look at you

And though I'm tired now

You're worth every sleepless night

You're worth it all, cause I know...

You're the best song I'll ever write

And we're humming and dancing through the years together

You're the best song I'll ever write

And I pray you'll hear Jesus in it when you're older

I remember when you were just a heartbeat that I heard

and now our eyes meet

Forever is not enough to love you

Ooohhh...

Every prayer for you is like a seed in the ground

Every tear I cry is like rain

And in its due season

I pray a harvest will be found

Your heart and mouth confessing Jesus' name

Your heart and mouth confessing Jesus' name