Wk 24: Solitude

  

 Owen has this amazing ability to get lost in something he's doing. Usually it's rhythmic, tactile, and repetitive. The world around fades away and he becomes completely captivated by the activity at hand. It reminds me of my older brother Elias, for when he finds something that fascinates him his capacity for observation and focus are limitless.  

I wasn't sure how I was going to depict solitude and then I saw it - a little boy lost in the soapy bubbles of our post cookie baking clean-up, his little face reflected in the window totally oblivious to the soft snapping of his mommy's camera shutter. Totally alone and content in a world of suds.

 

Wk 23: Yummm!

A Saturday morning at the Lk Roesiger cabin, tendrils of steam rising off hot oatmeal....

...how tasty a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie is for an afternoon snack...

...frozen yogurt on a hot summer day...

...sweet baby blues.
These are the things that make life so delicious.
(As a side note: I intended to take this "Yumm" category a less literally and take some shots in the amazing light streaming through the forest on our family hike BUT, I took one picture and my battery died. Oh well, guess we'll just have to go on another hike!)

Wk 22: Pure Joy

The thing I love about this season of life is how pure joy comes to children in the simplest of ways.
For a little person, it doesn't take much to elicit shrieks of excitement, or to coax eyes into twinkling and feet into dancing with anticipation. I love how they remind you to slow down, to soak in the details, making the common place new and fresh again.

During this particular photo week there was a morning I had all the cousins over and the sincerity of their joy in traipsing around the backyard together was so precious. They "worked" in the garden together, played on the swing set and adopted a fuzzy caterpillar who sweetly crawled up and down their eager hands.

I treasure these days together and hope that these kids will always
be each others best friends. 

Wk 21: This makes me feel safe

I have two boys who are suckers for their "Nigh-Nights."
One loves a ragged sheep to pieces and is instantly soothed by his presence in times of distress.
If he had it his way this lamb would accompany him at all times day or night but sadly "Nigh-night" is banished to the bed during waking hours. For awhile there Owen would "put Nigh-night" to bed, laying him on his bed and sweetly patting his lamby's back while singing him one of his favorite songs. Too cute.  

 

Jesse is turning out to be more of a blankie kid although he does love in particular Owen's giraffe. This giraffe is the only thing that Jesse will bestow kisses upon. Every once in awhile I will hear him walking around smacking his lips (the noise he makes when kissing) and sure enough the giraffe will be in hand. But when he's tired or wants to snuggle his camo blanket is the thing he searches for. 

 

Wk 20: Simplicity

King size beds and no clothes- heaven to a little boy.

 

Maui Maddness

I'm not sure our vacation to Maui would qualify as a vacation. There was little relaxing apart from the 2 1/2 hours of blessed nap time we got each afternoon. There was always someone who was hungry, needed to sleep, required supervision, discipline or another application of sunscreen. But aside from all the work there were also countless hours of playing with our boys in the water, watching their hesitancy of crashing waves subside or their courage in the pool increase. Owen figured out how to float on his back one afternoon in the pool all by himself (with his water-wing life jacket strapped on of course.) Jesse continually amazed us with his bravery dunking himself under water, bouncing along the side of the pool and "jumping" off the steps to us. We all chuckled at the similar trait of determination between Jesse and his older cousin Levi - two boys who walked early and want to conquer the world.

  To be honest we didn't do a whole lot. There were a few day trips here and there to different beaches, a morning of exploration at the aquarium, and evening outing on occasion. Getting from our room to the pool every day basically required a Sherpa and so we were all pretty content to spend our days playing by the pool or the beach in front of our hotel.

A few of the funniest moments for me were oddly in the middle of the night. Owen had a few rough nights which is quite unusual for him but time change and the lack of a real bed would do that to anyone. On the first night he decided that it was time to wake up at 4:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m. our time.) In an effort to get to him to go back to sleep we brought him in to bed with us. He laid there quietly for awhile, then started humming to himself, then proceeded to roll over and whisper so sweetly to me "Mama, I love you. You're a princess" followed by his little hand stroking my hair and back. It's hard to be harsh with someone when they're being that sweet. Another night towards the end of the trip he woke up frightened from a bad dream, so after the usual routine of going potty, praying and singing a song, as I prepared to leave him in his little makeshift bed in the closet he piped up and said "Mama, I miss you. Will you snuggle me?" Full of one liners that sly little one!

  

Wk 19: Reminders & Hawaii

Week 19 I was supposed to capture a picture of something non-human that reminded me of something. So I took a picture of this fish - a Frog fish.

 It might seem a strange subject but I chose it partly because going on a vacation to Hawaii with all my favorite little people does not leave me with much capacity for extra creativity or sentimentality. With that said, this picture isn't meant to be a cop-out because it was a truly spectacular fish. I think a more appropriate name for it should've been "Stone Fish" for it took anyone who peered into this tank several minutes to locate what species inhabited it. It didn't bat a gill. Just sat there suspended motionless in the still waters of it's tank. My mother-in-law in particular had a priceless response as the fish, obviously tired of being the object of such gawking, suddenly moved for the first time in who knows how long startling her into shrieking as her intense searching for the contents of the tank came to an abrupt and startling end. It's a sly little fish and captivated me but it also serves as a reminder to me of how blessed we are to be taking these precious chaotic trips as an entire family to Hawaii.

I did not grow up vacationing. Our family trips were generally limited to the confines of an over-sized black van with bench seats and the flimsy walls of a tent or the tiny cabin we adore in Winthrop. If we did go on an airplane it was to Central America with the organization my Dad worked for. Equally exciting but with a different purpose than pure relaxation. I wouldn't trade those experiences and my childhood was by no means lacking but I still have to pinch myself when I think about the memories my children will form with their aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents on the beautiful beaches in Maui.  

I'm so thankful to be a part of a family who enjoys each others company enough to spend 10 days together without killing one another.