Too Young to Drive

Dear Peep and Peach, 
We've been making the most out of the gift of warm fall days.  Anticipating the brrrrrrr of winter edging in we created an activity jar to keep us from being big sluggish bears in hibernation.  We came up with a great jar of activities.  You were very excited to contribute ideas and put it together.  We have yet to need to pull out any sticks yet but am excited about the apparent randomness of it...by apparent I mean I actually color coded different types of activities and dad and I have the ability to veto the first stick pulled.   I know!  It is kind of cheating but at the very least we have a rain, snow, cold plan.  You have been a big help with the deluge of leaves.  You help me gather up the leaves with the leaf sweeper and dump them at the street.  You get very discouraged after cleaning up for an hour or more to find 100 more leaves on the deck.  I think we are closing in on the end and perhaps only 2 more clean ups to go.  Bahboo and Grandma P bought a swing we installed in one of our large pin oaks and a new ninja turtle bike.  You are in love with both and Hazzie loves taking a wagon ride next to you on her bike.  

 

 Just don't ask her to sit in the leaves with you.  Baby lady, you like picking them up one by one on the deck but sitting in a pile sends you in to screaming ugly cry.  She is also quite content sitting on my lap in the swing, the ropes are so long it gives you a real feeling of flying and gliding through the air.  I get lots of requests to push you in the air as high as I can so you can yell out, "EXHILARATING!"

Of course we take walks on campus to enjoy the leaves and students milling about.  Our last journey we explored Jordan Hall, the biology building's green house and specimens displayed about the halls.  You loved this and were full of questions and observations for weeks after.  We spent an hour and a half exploring the creek one afternoon.  

I loved watching you two playing in the power wheels car together.  Henry, you are a crazy driver!  Hazel loved it giggling like crazy.  She does a good job of making it clear when she was done!

We've also enjoyed having some fires to clean up the sticks and of course to have marshmallows, a favorite of you both!  I have to say I do love the hibernating evenings when we curl up on the couch with a fun book or movie together.

In these moments I try to remember as I take the 10,099th frame with my camera to pause, breathe, and capture all of it.  I have this block, my camera isn't a full frame, that's fine...but as a photographer this means one thing, and as a mom it means another.  I can't capture the smell of your little warm bodies, the heart flip when baby lady takes two steps on her own away from the stool to crane her little head back and pucker her lips for a kiss, to hear the giggles from my strong boy thinkin' he can beat me wrestling.  My piles of Henrys and Hazels grow as you jump quickly from one phase of childhood to the next; as next year won't be like this, and the next after it will bring different happiness and challenges.  I want to keep it all in my pocket to pull out in a week, in a year, in a decade, when Daddy and I are old and hoping you'll pay us a visit...to keep me warm, to keep me connected, to keep me in this moment and the next at the same time.  I love how the colder months make me feel.  

Love, Mama