Jumping

In honor of St. Pat's, we finally decided to take down the Valentine's Day decorations, but don't worry there are still plenty of hearts hanging around in our living room.

The kids were more than happy to lend a hand and we spent a lazy morning last week snipping and drawing and tracing away.

We even painted shamrocks and hearts and Saoirse was finally able to get a hold of a paintbrush. She took it very seriously.

Good morning green pancakes.

We started the day off with these little beauties, and I made sure that everything in Micah's cold lunch was either green or orange, which was actually easier than I thought it would be.

The babies had some friends over for a play date and one of the other moms brought this delicious creation along.....

There was frosting everywhere of course.

I thought it was fitting that we had to do Ruari's rain forest project that afternoon and that it was also green and orange. Perfect.

We like to put these things off until the very last minute (not good) but we always find a way to pull it together in the end (good).

And then of course we had a giant feast. Corned beef, potatoes two ways, cabbage, salad and soda bread. It was loud and hectic and delicious and just perfect in every way as 12 of us gathered around the table to celebrate.

Saoirse helped with clean up duties.





This post has been sitting here for a while now, as I am running a bit behind. I can always tell when one area of my life is getting a good deal of attention because it usually always means that other areas are barely getting enough. I've been focusing on health again lately and spending a bit of time at the gym. Now that my ankle is healing it is time to get back in shape, official marathon training starts this Sunday.

As I was leaving the gym last week there was a mom with three small children walking out with us, her kids must have been 3,1 and 4 months old~they were YOUNG, and she was at her wits end. She had the baby in a stroller and then had the other 2 walking on either side of her. She actually yelled at the oldest, who again could not have been more than 3 years old, for jumping.

"Stop JUMPING, you need to walk nice!"......I cringed a little bit, not only because of the absurdity, but because it could have very well been something I would have said (or still might) when trying to wrangle 3 small children in a parking lot. Stop jumping. Really?

I wanted to hug that mom right on the spot and tell her to stop yelling at her kids and maybe get a triple stroller, heck I was about ready to just give her mine. Everyone should have a decent 'nanny', especially in a parking lot.

I offered her a smile but she was not in the mood for such a gesture and I didn't take it personally. Having kids is hard, especially three kids all in a row. We're just now starting to move out of the baby phase around here and I am amazed at how much easier things are getting. I sort of always knew that this would happen, that the babies would ease up just in time for things to start getting complicated with the teenagers, but for now we're on a nice peaceful stretch and I'm going to enjoy it for as long as I can while reminding everyone to jump as much as possible.

I got up at 5am today and went to a spin class at the YMCA. Which is just a fancy way of saying stationary bike ride as far as I can tell, but it was a great workout and it will probably be the only "alone" time I get today so it was worth it. Plus now I get to spend the rest of the day with this silly thing, and who wouldn't want to do that?

For as much work as parenting is, for as tired and crabby and impatient as I become, there is nothing else I would want to be doing right now. Honestly. I feel so blessed and grateful that this is where I am in my life right this very moment.





I've been working on making Fridays our homemade pizza night and it looks sort of like this....

I was able to avoid eating 100 slices this time around by making a giant salad as well.

And just because I know you were wondering, I finally finally finally made it back to yoga class last Friday. Words can't even describe how great it felt. Yoga has been such a consistent part of my over all health and well being for the past year and to have a 6 week absence was tough. My instructor asked me to be the "student of the month" in her studio's upcoming newsletter and so I have to figure out what to write for that, something along the lines of why I got into yoga and what it has meant to me. Seems pretty easy, right? Except yoga has meant so much more to me than just a "workout" and I'm not sure how to put that into words exactly and not only that but my practice has been so powerfully impacted by Shayne's (that's her name, the instructor I adore) guidance that I can't even credit it all to yoga. I've had other instructors who paled in comparison to her influence.

Dear Shayne,

You came into my life when my heart was broken and you helped me put the pieces back together. You guided me along a path of recovery in a way that no one else was able to. You gave me permission to let go of my sorrow and to move forward with out shame. It wasn't just yoga, it was you. Without even knowing it, you played a pivotal role in helping me heal myself, and I could never tell you, even if I tried, just how much this has meant to me, how much I needed your guidance, but from the bottom of my heart I am so very grateful. Thank you for showing me the way back to my joy.

Now, I really need to get going, there are babies to dress and brush and dear cousins on their way here right this very second for a relaxing morning play date. It's super rainy out but I can smell zucchini bread baking away in the oven and a fresh pot of coffee brewing and life is good, rain and all. Now go jump your little heart out.