Our morning meeting...

We tried something new this morning. I called it our "morning meeting." I recently read about a "morning meeting" in the book "The Creative Family" by blog author Amanda Blake Soule (SouleMama.com) and I decided to customize her morning meeting idea to our little family.

First, the participants:

I led the meeting, but no picture of me, sorry (the chicklets are much cuter to look at, anyway). I assured the participants that we would not be taking pictures at every meeting: just the first :)

We met, after breakfast and after Daddy had hopped on his bike and headed downtown to work. We met in our bed. I brought a notebook and some crayons (I figured crayons would be safer in white sheets than pens or markers). We discussed the things we first needed to do today. And then we discussed the things we wanted to do today. And then we put numbers by which things we should do first, then next, etc. We all got a say. Sawyer wanted to go to the Zoo. Aspen wanted to play in the Jungle Gym. I wanted to walk to the park. And then, of course were the errands and chores we needed to do. I am such a list person, I felt like this was a way to start the day with mini-goals to accomplish, but to also include the fun little things we do so that at the end of the day I can see how many things I have crossed off the list - even though the list may still be long in my planner. I like how we all have a say and by doing this I am hoping to teach my children that what we need to get done and what we want to do are all important, and that we can do most of these things if we prioritize. If we can't do it all in one day, I hope we can learn that it is not the end of the world and that there is always another day ahead.

We also took the time at our meeting to look through the Gospel Art Book, which is a recently published book of artwork depicting Gospel topics from the Bible and Book of Mormon. Because our kids are so little, this is one of our favorite ways to talk about Gospel topics with them without having a more "formal" scripture study that they may lose interest in. So, we talk about the stories and the people in the pictures. It was a lovely way to start the day.

Of course, there was plenty of time for some snuggles, cuddles, laughs, and giggles. There may even have been one little Monkey jumping on the bed...

After we concluded our meeting, I nursed little sister and this was the result:

(And then we got dressed and packed up and headed off to the Zoo!)

Mother's Day 2010

The day started off with a grateful day off from early church leadership meetings for Jacob...which meant blueberry coffee cake for me. Oh, and I can't forget to mention the sunlight pouring through the windows. The sun was surely shining in salutation to Mother's everywhere today :)

We had a really nice time at our church meetings - where the men hosted a luncheon following the meetings in honor of the ladies. After a nice lunch and good conversation, we came home and all four of us took a two hour nap. Have I ever mentioned how yummy a nice long Sunday nap is since having children? It is divine. (Lucky for me, since Sawyer still takes a two-hour nap most days, I try to sneak a couple of naps in with my two babes during the week as well :)

Dinner tonight was home-made brick oven style pizza, a caprese salad (my fave) and topped off with Red Velvet Cake and Ice Cream. There were flowers. There was a gift certificate to pick out a summer dress. There were lots of hugs, kisses, and giggles. Today, I truly felt celebrated.

But, to be quite honest, I am lucky enough to have a family that makes me feel celebrated most every single day. Although, most days I don't beg Jacob to take photos of us...like I did tonight. I told him to grab the camera while I had both kidlets in my arms - because I wanted to preserve just a little bit of now. I told him it should be a tradition to always have a photo of me and my babies on Mother's Day. He said, "don't we have that tradition for most holidays...and some non-holidays?"

I just smiled.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Outings // Of flowers and family {skagit valley tulip festival}

I am laughing as I look at the photograph above. Yes, you would expect to see a field full of tulips at the Tulip Festival...but this year we didn't make it until the very last day of the festival, so they had already topped off the fields of tulips due to an early bloom. So that is exactly the kind of fields we saw!

Luckily, the gardens still had many varieties and we spent a couple of wonderful hours in the gardens and on the grounds at RoozenGaarde. Next year we'll be sure to go earlier!

Half the fun, though, was that we had Jacob's parents and youngest sister in town visiting. They spent 4 days with us. We went to the beach, the Tulip Festival, and the Zoo. We had a lovely time and a nice visit! Sawyer hadn't seen them since he was 6 months old, and of course it was their first time meeting Aspen. Sawyer had a lot of fun - it must be cool to have an 11-year-old Aunt to play with! Thanks for visiting us, Emma + Mom & Dad Carter - come back anytime!

ode to Earth Day

I am not much a fan of hunting (for animals, that is)...but come Spring I LOVE hunting (for flowers, that is). On Sunday, on our family walk, I found there is a lilac bush around the corner from our home. Oh how I love the sweet smell of lilacs!

Today, for our walk, we hunted for flowers of every color from the Rainbow...Sawyer had a wonderful time on the hunt, and, as you can see below, our neighborhood is just brim full of blossoms of all colors...

Of course, being a little boy, he also had fun finding rocks wherever we went.

I have a confession to make. I stole a lilac. I was looking for one that had fallen to the ground, but there weren't any. I hope no one minds...I just love the smell of the little lilac I stole, and I also wanted to...

put a flower in my girl's hair. She is even more sweet than all those flowers we hunted down today!

Evening stroll on UW campus

On Sunday evenings we have renewed our tradition of going for an evening walk (it was pretty much impossible to do this when Jacob was serving in the Bishopric of our Church, as he would usually get home when it was dark outside). This evening, we decided to go spend some time at the beautiful University of Washington campus (go Huskies!).

We spent most of our time lounging on the lawn at the Quad. Actually, we took turns lounging on the lawn while one of us followed Sawyer on his Grand Explorations...we saw a lot of the back of his head, as he was running at full-speed and enjoying the wide, open spaces to run around.

He climbed mountains and mountains of stairs.

Jacob and Sawyer were trying to find out if there were any good shows coming to town...(oh how we miss going to shows! it is kind of pathetic that we now go to bed at the time we used to just be getting ready to go out!)

The bike safety things (you know, where you lock your bike...do they have a special name for them?) were a huge hit. "Tunnels!" Really...who needs a playground when you can explore UW?

Aspen had a grand time herself. She got to lay on the lawn and watch people toss balls for their dogs, and stare up at the sky and all of the squirrels in the trees.

On our way out, we of course had to stop by the fountain and see if any ducks were out. Not only did we spot a duck and he swam right by quacking hello...it was such a clear and beautiful day that Mt. Rainier was also visible from campus. Breathtaking, I tell you!

It was one of the best Sundays of my life.