I sampled some yummy mini muffins on Monday night. Maybe it was the fog creeping across the moon or the breeze that had me tucked in a sweater, but it’s changing to fall. Then I found a recipe on line for Paul’s homework. We baked yesterday afternoon, after a little homework session around the table.

There was an audience that snacked on apple slices while Paul measured, mixed, and poured. I might have even heard Henry telling Paul that he can’t wait to be in second grade. He wants muffin homework instead of writing letters and numbers.

Mmmm..pumpkin pie spice and some cinnamon added inside and on top.

While it baked, Paul complete his writing homework to identify the steps in his process.

And then we called in the gang for feasting. Yes, we dipped muffins in pumpkin yogurt and this was all before dinner.

It was a quiet afternoon. Olivine stayed home today (coughing and needing breathing treatments) and napped for over two hours. I overheard her talking to Henry’s bear, telling him that she was his mommy and going to take care of him while Henry was at school. Looks like  she fell asleep snuggling him tight.

I did homework, wrote letters, and called a friend. You know, the things a lady does when she no longer has a full time job.

Off to pick up kids. Part of Paul’s homework is to make a snack and write out the steps. I am thinking pumpkin apple muffins this afternoon. I saw a recipe online I want to try. Perfect excuse, it’s homework that tastes good.

Luckily I have saved puzzles and games from the boys for this little girl. She loves problem solving. The bonus is these are wooden and colorful. Simple pictures with one word labels, improvising is encouraged.

She makes a big pile and looks at the colors and shapes compared to the picture card.

The borders of the cards are color coded for difficulty and she doesn’t seem to notice. She chooses images she likes and finds a starting point, never giving up. I watched as she twisted and turned pieces to fit like she wanted.

I love watching and listening to her talk it out. She makes thinking faces. Sometimes her tongue peeks out, just like when I watch Joe doing calligraphy. It is a look of concentration.

And as she finishes each one she has such a strong sense of pride in her eyes. She sat there for over thirty minutes. I would hang out for a little bit, slip out and slip back in. She didn’t need me there.

We stayed close to home this morning since she is feeling a bit under the weather. Hopefully nothing too big, but she did have a fever that started yesterday. She slept miserably, lots of moaning, but today seemed better with medicine.

I may have already told you about my friend Jen and her new babies. But I am still so excited and although I don’t have her pictures to share (they are amazing) I can share her story.

This is a girl I met in college and lived with in France. She is a poet, a teacher, a friend, and a mother. She already has one cutie pie and when we saw each other last spring, she was pregnant with number two. We had all sorts of conversations about going from one to two kids.

And then late in her pregnancy she found out she was having triplets. Three babies: two boys and a girl.

All advice I had then and now is out the window. But I did find these cute shirts because I can’t be the neighbor (she lives in Minnesota) who holds the babies or brings over food. Completely impractical gift, I know. But perfectly cute-yes.

So she gets my story of the year and whole bunch of prayers every time I think of her. If I can save up the money I will fly out there in the next year. The chance to hold three babies feels like a once in a lifetime.

I miss you Jen.

And like I said before “you’ve got this!”

also known around here as “wipe out!”

It’s the one day I pick Henry up, instead of childcare. The three of us usually eat lunch at a park and take in some sunshine.

She ran around barefoot and wanted us to call her “Elsa.”

I laid down under a tree and noticed early signs of fall. I can’t wait for cooler weather and the time to change. Evenings where the sunsets early.

Sometimes we can squeeze in a nap for Olivine (like today) before we pick up Paul.

She woke up and lined up her vintage ponies (thanks Jenny)

and the afternoon slows us down a little from a week full of hustle.

We look forward to the weekends. Maybe sleeping in or staying up late. My favorite is just the being together. The five of us after so many days and evenings apart.

We went swimming last Sunday at her house.

The boys just jump in and I have to accept they are part fish.

It’s been so warm, we might have to go back.

It cools us off, but also wipes them out. Double win!

Last summer my friend Jenny took me up an offer to reorganize her home office. She works from home and needed a less cluttered space. As this summer approached I started to bug her to let me come over and take a peek at the progress. There was a whole book shelf I had left untouched, wanting to do a part two last summer. A quick follow up.
The year passed, so did the summer, and when she emailed last minute about being free today. I jumped at the chance. I have been waiting a good six months for this:
Just like I thought it would be. I was thrilled (what does that say about me?). She wanted it cleared and moved.
That is all she had to say and then the books came flying off the shelf. She put up with all my jokes and commentary about gem trails, outdated Thomas guides (don’t you use google maps?), the Harry Potter series, multiple dictionaries (how many words and definitions do you need?), and we proudly shrunk the pile while laughing.
I would say we took out half the books. Bags full were removed and I broke code by bringing five or so home.

Her husband was the hero who brought us lunch

and immediately offered to take the books to Gatsby Books and get store credit. While we also threw out three bags of trash.

We moved the shelf out back, where painting may take place this weekend and another project will transpire.
The goal was to have a space for her husband to add a desk to the home office.
We did it. We made space.
We made half a dozen future plans: paint the office, organize the crafts, develop a system for school work from her boys, empty the dining buffet and replace with painted bookcase, streamline photos, and so we left ourselves with a list. Dreaming big. Seriously why not? I think with some dates on the calendar we can get these projects tackled.

Jumping with both feet in and the attitude that I will adjust faster to the cold water this way. I went to a community group this week at the church I visited just once. It’s close enough to walk to, Joe was home to put the kids down, and I am craving prayer with other Christians.

I knew it would be a group of strangers and because it was the first meeting I was relieved that it was mostly strangers making connections across the city and in faith. Besides the short introduction and prayer, it was a “get to know one another” time. Which I am terrible at and don’t know where to start. So I typically eavesdrop and then interrupt ( seriously terrible etiquette).

I overhear two guys talking about surfing next to me (vaguely interesting) when I suddenly hear “Ryan and Tammy with the three kids. Ryan the tall, skinny guy with glasses.” And of course have to interrupt. Because this is the description of my friends from high school, the same friends who invited me to church, and who is this guy? Do we know each other? How is he using my description of this same guy, that I have been using since middle school?

I tap his arm and ask how he knows these friends. He then says they are family. He tells me his father is Jason, Tammy’s older brother. My jaw drops. This is Nick.

Nick the baby I held as a teenager when my arms were decorated in glitter bracelets. Nick the one who played baseball as a kid. Nick the one I have prayed for every time I have run into his father and grandmother. Nick the only child, with many siblings. Nick who now lives in Long Beach and will be twenty this month.

So of course as I freak out, he has no real idea who I am. For all he knows I am a stalker or a psychic but this young, charming, handsome man is kind to my crazy old lady memory. He even let’s me snap this picture as proof because I know Joe won’t believe me when I get home.

I leave the group, slowly under streetlights, in disbelief at God’s kingdom. It stretches far and wide, yet close and overlapping. A small confirmation for my wandering heart that I as I take one step forward, God will answer in wonderful ways.

I might have borrowed the title of this post from a book cover I saw recently.

It describes Olivine and what I am trying to practice more often. She gets my undivided attention for a few hours and determines where we go (I might have forced in a quick Trader Joe’s stop for groceries, but other than that, we were on “Olivine time”).
Originally wanting to head to the aquarium, we had short detour after looking out the window and seeing the park near our place (closed most of the summer for renovation- a disguised blessing that kept us searching all summer for other parks) reopened. I slammed on the breaks, pulled into a spot, and felt silly living one block away, but she’s the boss.I let her wander and discover (no boys to tell her where to go). It was almost perfect that she explored the playground first. Next time when we all go together she’ll be the one who already has prior knowledge.
When she needed me, I came.

I did some quiet sitting. And yes. I noticed in myself how seriously restless my heart is. What’s not to love on a Monday morning in an empty park? For me, it is tied to productivity. What I am doing? contributing? producing?And then I heard her voice “calling number 28”

and when I looked over she was beckoning to me “Hey lady, your tofu sandwich and lemonade are ready!” She played store with the sand and demanded I gather leaves to pay, the only kind of money this pop-up shop accepts.
We eventually went to the aquarium and just like Joe has bragged, it is fairly empty on a Monday morning, then we came home just in time for lunch.
She sat under the window, thrilled to be undisturbed in singing practice with her microphone.

We had a lovely morning together.

We don’t have a television, but even better: a lego table.

This place keeps me up to date on whatever is interesting and important to my second grader. Another way I get to see the world through his eyes.

I think my favorite part (because I really don’t like football) is that the little lego guys all have colorful helmets that are bowing forward, while the guy in front is standing straight up. It’s those little details that Paul is noticing and imitating in his play.