rituals

every morning when i drop off Kai at school it's usually at the playground. they play outside in the morning and then again right before i pick him up at noon. this makes it very convenient for our morning ritual: honking. as i drive off, i honk. and this is what makes the transition for separation easy (or easier) for little kai. honking when departing actually is a BIG ritual for our family. now when andy rides off on his bike to school he yells honk-honk down our street (can you picture it?). and this settles the kids, especially kai. maybe a bike horn is in order for andy.

if i, bad mama, forget to honk as i drive away from his school i hear about when i pick him up. boy do i hear about it.

this morning when i dropped him off and i was walking to the car, one of Kai's friends asked him to join him on the monkey bars. kai replied, "i have to watch my mama honk first." and my heart smiled. i was suddenly very thankful for this sometimes annoying ritual. and then i wondered how long will it last? one day i'll be sad when it's gone. will it one day turn into hurry mom leave before my friends see you drop me off.

and how long will all our family rituals last? sure they will change as the kids get older. but how can we keep them interested?

all this stuff is swirling in my head because my kai turns 5! on the 24th. that number seems so big. and when there's a 1 in front of that 5 i'm hoping we have family rituals that settle and comfort us all.

drawing

me: "tell me about your picture."

zaiah: "it's daddy's butt." so seriously too.

november 1 - is a beautiful day

but not beautiful enough to lure the kids away from their halloween candy.

i wish i had better pictures to share from last night, but these are the best of the little bunch. the battery died early in the night. But i was happy to get a group picture of the littles. the night was good and safe. our family dressed as a pirate, two black cats and a baby.

admiring their loot after we returned home. and the sugar high has not stopped.

days like these are good

two posts in one week ..... wahoooo! not many words, just pictures today from this week.

kai's favorite new phrase: awesome dude!

colorfest

for the four autumns that we've been here i have always wanted to go to the Bernheim Forrest Colorfest, just 30 minutes from us. but either we've been away, or i've heard about it a day too late. this year, our friend called us sunday morning and invited us to go with them. again almost missing it, not knowing about it in time. almost. contemplating in my head during our conversation: continuing our day with reorganizing the house (switching the guest room, and creating a study room for andy) or, letting go of that and going to colorfest. i couldn't possibly let another one go by, so we went. and now like other rituals, the colorfest will be one of ours. it could have been the perfect day: blue, clear skies, sunny, just a little cool, and the leaves turning at their peak. but, it was the fun we had too. and the peacefulness. even amongst all the other people that drove there.

more camping pictures

zaiah's first pony ride.

table cloth artwork.

the big kids going out for a ride.

fall & camping

the weather is cool and crisp here.... my favorite time of the year. we celebrated camping with our friends. i have bragged before that we live in the best neighborhood, right? well, not only do we benefit daily with play dates, bike rides, cook outs, venting, need a last-minute babysitter help, we also camp together. we and three other families went this weekend for 3 days. we ventured about 1.5 hrs away to brown county park. a place known for its bike trails. and it's confirmed, we have a die-hard mountain biker. hint: he's not a daddy. some pictures to share from our weekend. sanz one from the many mountain biking trips. i stayed back with the littles, meaning so did the camera.