Where the mornings start

Heath's Plan

Last Saturday, Alder went to a STEAM Minute-to-Win-It challenge at the science museum.  In short, he has been practicing with a small group, three friends, in his class lastly, working on finding the quickest way to solve little problems while timed.  This involves applied physics and hand-eye coordination, plus just fun.  

Here's Alder's whole class group. His class was representing their whole school.

And here is Alder's team. I hear they just clicked as a team at what ever they did, in the competition and otherwise at the museum that day. 

Heath and I spent the morning at home while Lesley and Alder were at the museum.

As Alder and Mom arrived home, dropped off by neighbors, Heath and I were plotting Heath's future plans in the swing.  No edits… enjoy.

Little Heavy Things

This post deserves the self-title; we know sometimes the smallest of things can tell us much bigger things.

First of all,  Valentines Day every year, we think back to the day we moved to Richmond.  This one marked 8 years here for us!  There have been times, for various reasons, that I couldnt picture still being here.  But, it certainly feels like the best place to be right now.  We are so fortunate and so grateful.

So Grammy and PaPa were able to honor a spur of the moment request, and watch the boys for the weekend in NC.  This was to give Lesley and I the ability to focus on building a bunk bed for their room.  (Yes, we did also just simply have a nice weekend together.)   For better or worse, we had decided the best way to do it for the room was to build from scratch.  And, it was time; they are simply too big for sharing a double bed, especially considering the way Heath crawls all over the bed and Alder through the night.

Lots of cuts and sanding in sub-freezing temps and bitter windchill, but we did it.  They came home to a surprise and loved it.  Luckily we already knew that Heath prefered the lower cave, with more room, and that Alder wanted the top.  So that worked itself out.

The bunk beds, while a big effort, are sort of a small thing though, marking a big turning point.  We don't get to check in on these boys every night any more to untangle them from one anther and make sure they are covered and set for the night.  We will do the checking in of course but how we would find them was always a surprise.  Would they be sweetly cuddled?  What awkward position would Alder be in when he finally gave in and let sleep happen?  How would Alder be trying to keep warm since Heath took all the covers?  How much of the bed would Heath take up and how close the falling off the edge would Alder be?  How can we make sure and use our backs correctly as we bend over and move around these 55 pound sacks of dead weight in the dark?

Another small thing: notice who is reading to who, and who is having a hard time keeping eyes open!

Then, upon bringing the boys back, the snow was falling heavy.  By the next morning (yesterday), we had 8 or so inches of perfect sledding powder.  All school and work closed, on top of a long weekend.

We have a killer hill - "Dead Mans Hill" - in our neighborhood.  It's like watching a pilgrimage to see the kids and families walking from everywhere to get to it when we have good snow.  Everyone is happy.  

Heath wasn't so into it.  First run and he and I got covered in snow.  He was done.  Understandable.  

Alder on the other hand went down alone every time, loving it, hiking back up with no complaints, getting snow in the neck, waiting in line…  Just last year he could only take so much.  This year he was ready.  Heath will be too.

And we all went for a hike along the creek in the forest by our neighborhood.  We LOVE hiking in the snow, wildlife track and sign, how the snow and ice play on everything.  Everything is so peaceful and newly defined with that white blanket of windswept contour draped all over.

The Nest

Holidays, 2014

This holiday was like a ribbon in a strong wind, about six weeks long.  Honestly the same analogy hits me about our lives altogeher these days, but this occurred to me over and over in a snippet of the past six weeks.  We never knew the next bend but all were right.  There was some work, some school, some transition out of that, a good bit of travel, lots of time with lots of family, sharing, fun, doing and seeing new things, re-doing and re-seeing old things that mark the holidays every year, shedding the routine, losing the schedule, decorating, creating, baking, cooking, eating, gift giving, treats, surprises, ease, sickness, wellness, time for self and time with others.  There is no way to recap, or describe it all, but the few pics that were captured will help to touch on some of the highlights.

Thanksgiving trip to the beach.

An annual solstice gathering at our house, where we strung lights all over, and hosted a stampede of children, ages 2 to 8, and parents.  This includes a potluck and a shadow puppet play that the kids each make a character for.

I got to spend an afternoon in Heath's class helping with a craft, the last day before we set off for Birmingham.  He absolutely loves school, his class, his friends, his teacher.  He is just bouncing the whole time he is in there, total love.  And he was so excited to get back on that school bus on the first day back.  He is devouring reading and writing right now.  He just has this in him right now.  

We stayed over in Knoxville on the way to Bham, showed the boys our old house and favorite places.  Dinner at Tomato Head.

Breakfast at the bagel and coffee joint Lesley and I used to spend so many mornings in.  They opened an hour early to let us in and set us up special.

A family pic after we all went to Mass.

One day in Birmingham, we went hiking at Red Mountain Park, which is the former site of a booming steel mining operation/small town and now set up for hiking and other outdoor adventures.  The cousins played pretty much nonstop for a week and so very well together.  What a fun place to explore...

Old building foundations to play on, and cool rocks and mining relict machinery and structures everywhere.  Since this has been repurposed now for an adventure course, there was lots of ziplining to watch overhead as we hiked around.

And Dad got to let loose and take lots of random pics of how vegetation was reclaiming the structures too.

Kids breaking for a snack.

Okay major fast forward here.  Lesley left for Panama on the 27th and the boys and I drove back the next day, staying over one night at a neat hotel ("Aloft") in Charlotte.  They got to eat yummy/unhealthy bar food and play lots of billiards.

And we got home to spend a solid week, just… at home.  I will say here we have greatly missed our Mommy, but we have done well.  I have made a point to let each day pretty much unfold naturally, with an idea or two of "things to do", some of which happened and some which didnt.  What did unfold was three days including hikes in the area.

One day we walked to the boys school and spent the afternoon in the woods behind it.  Heath showed us where he and his friends like to play in leaf piles

We found some salamanders in the creek down the hill behind the playground.

Found some cool rocks…  Another day we went for a hike with one of Heath's friend's family.  Our first time spending time with them altogether.  (No pics of that.)

And another day we met up with old friends we dont see enough anymore at some abandoned coal mines that have been redeveloped into parks, right by our house  This is the same spot Lesley and Alder went to look at Mergansers a few blog posts back.

And now… we are back to the routine again, bracing to watch 2015 flash by.

Priceless, precious video

Instead of books before bed tonight the boys asked to look at pics and videos from when they were younger.  This one is so fun, no matter where you leave off.

It blows my mind, the weight of every detail in old pics and videos…

Winter rituals

Every morning Heath excitedly grabs a pillow and has some relaxing time next to the wood stove before breakfast. 

There are things about winter that I love. Sunset at 4:53 is not one of them. Cozy family time by the wood stove (something he requests on most evenings) is.