to the beat of her own drummer

my girl rocks.  God has so richly blessed me with this unique little one to teach and navigate this crazy world.  sure, her recent “tween” attitude is an absolute daily challenge, but even that can’t mar my feelings and adoration for her.  we’ve now had three and a half years to get to know and learn from each other.  it’s been so much fun to see the person she’s become.

her likes . . . mickey mouse, running, screaming, jumping naked on the bed, spiderman, ice cream, vegetables

her dislikes . . . apples, pizza (crazy, i know), having her face washed, sitting down, being quiet

she is in no way a “girlie girl”.  in fact, she tells me on a daily basis that she doesn’t like princesses but she might “someday”.  her favorite movie is mary poppins.  so much so that she wants to dress up as one of the characters for next halloween . . . of course, not as mary but as burt.  she wants to get married (to her bff, lukey) but doesn’t want to have a wedding.  her imaginary friends have names like “calix” and “clerch”.  she has a super imagination.  she thinks that everything is negotiable and tries to reason and persuade you to change your mind. she has every confidence in herself and of what she wants.  she is an absolute pistol.

all this to say, i love how cool my little girl is.  she is not at all like i expected, but i wouldn’t have it any other way.  like i’ve said before, there are all kinds in God’s pocket, and i’m so glad that He picked out the perfect one for me.

isn’t this what you wear to ride your scooter?

pie therapy

i’m convinced that i was born in the wrong era.  i should have been a 1940’s – 1950’s mom.  keeping house . . . baking pies . . . raising children . . . that would be my ideal life.  this afternoon i am getting a taste of it and i’m loving the warm feeling it gives me.  as i sit at my little corner desk in my dining room typing away, everyone in my house is peacefully napping (yes, tom included!).  the doggies are at “the beach” (i.e. sunbathing in the living room), tom and lily are sleeping on our bed, and gus is sprawled out on his back in the nursery.  this truly is “the life”.  (and yes, i know that i live in some weirdo norman rockwell fantasy life!)

my day has been pretty hard and kind of sucked until this afternoon.  my time management was seriously jacked today.  i stayed out too long running errands resulting in lunch not even being served until 2:45 . . . two hours later than normal!  lily didn’t even go down for a nap until well after 3:30.  it was a total mothering fail.  but the game changer that made this day better was the idea to bake a homemade apple pie from scratch.  normally, i would try to channel my inner julia child or martha stewart, but not today.  the only faces that came to my mind were of my mother and ningle.

anna gysin, “ningle” as my family lovingly called her, was my great grandmother (on my mother’s side) and apparently the best cook in our family.  i have very few memories of spending time with her before her passing, as i was quite young when she died and none of them are of her cooking.  my auntie tells me how she learned to cook and bake from ningle.  i love to hear stories of her and think of how she must have felt . . . raising two sons so close in age . . . becoming a widow at such a young age, etc.  i know that she was special because when my auntie talks about her she does so with great affection.  as i stood in my kitchen a short time ago rolling out pie crust, i wondered if she was looking down at me and feeling proud of her great granddaughter’s efforts.  i’d like to think that she was.

smelling the pie baking reminds me of my own childhood.  i remember coming home from school to find my mom sitting at the kitchen table with a big yellow plastic bowl of apple peels.  she’d be baking a pie for my dad or as a special treat for someone at church and we’d sit and talk about my day as i ate peel after peel.  i love that memory.

so, even though today didn’t go exactly as i had hoped, i still count it as a success.  i was able to reflect on family while baking for my own little family . . . and after dinner we’ll have an awesome autumn dessert!

modern day mama!