PAPARAZZI

My kids are used to me taking their pictures.
"Oh, is this for the blog?"  they say in a thoroughly bored voice.  


I try to be sneaky and get those candid shots.  Like the other day in Barnes and Noble when I came around the corner to see them all enjoying a book together.  The youngest two in rapt attention.  It was sweet.  I did draw a few looks from other customers however as I crouched behind a book rack and stuck my arm over the shelf of Magic Tree House books to get this shot.  They never knew I was there.

Sometimes they protest because mama paparazzi can be annoying.

"Let me drink my lemonade in peace mama."

Or there is the annoyed look to which I respond "Oh!  Great one Ellie.  I'm definitely using that one on the blog!"

Which is followed by the "Yikes! Is she serious?"  look.

Then the giggle and cute smile I wanted in the first place.  

Blackmail is a wonderful tool.

CONFESSION

This tea and square of chocolate is my morning ritual.


But please don't tell my kids I have chocolate for breakfast.

I confess I'm a hypocrite, buying low sugar cereals, and wheat bread.  We are a pop tart free zone and I refuse to buy frozen breakfast pastries or fruit roll-ups and call it breakfast.  But yet I am more faithful to my chocolate square than my daily vitamins.

Shhhh....

NEW YEAR

Yesterday was one of those days that is so cold the inside of your nose freezes as you breathe.

It was a crystalized winter wonderland.

And it was silent.  

I love the busyness of Christmas.  All the meal planning, decorating, plan making.  And then it is over and I love the silence.  The decorations have been put away.  My in-laws left before the sun was up on Monday.  My kids went back to school yesterday and I went on a walk with my dog in the quiet morning.  

It's a New Year.  


There have been years that I have been happy to say "good riddance", years that I wanted to hurry along so we could get to the next thing, and years that I anticipated because they held promise of upcoming events.  


This year came quietly.  And this year my spirit is quiet.  No big plans looming, no major changes we are planning.  Certainly God could have plans for us that we do not anticipate but for our part I am content to have dailyness this year.  Just everyday reliability,  routine and consistency.  


I enjoy the process of looking back at the previous year and looking ahead and making resolutions.  I like having goals in mind.  I like list making.  Last year I listed a few resolutions here.  Some I accomplished like taking my children to the nursing home for visits, house training our puppy and learning new computer skills.  Some goals are ongoing, making the list every year,  because there are some things you just can't check off a list, like encourage my children more.  And then there are the goals that fall by the wayside forgotten or priorities shifted.  


This year I have not composed a list.  Certainly there are things I want to accomplish this year, a few more rooms to paint and projects to complete, I'd like to get a little more exercise, and I have some spiritual goals in mind.  But, overall  I am more content to just see what comes this year. I remember as a child always asking my father "What are we going to DO?" and his answer was often "Why do we have to do anything, can't we just be?"  That was not a concept I embraced.  Boring!  But now I'm beginning to think that there might be some wisdom there.  To slow down a little and just be.

So as this new year dawns, and so far things are quiet, I am thinking of the words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 when he says "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands..."  


And so, although many may think a quiet life is an unattainable goal in my busy household of four children, it is my New Years's Resolution of sorts.


HAPPY NEW YEAR!