the fun of it

 

 

  Last year my mother in law purchased a small mop dog. She brought her to Christmas at our house and she became a huge highlight. Now my kids shout. "Maggie is coming!" when they hear my mother-in-law is on her way to see us.

  It may sound funny, but today being thanksgiving, I am thankful for Maggie. She fits perfectly into our crazy extended family and watches over Judy when we aren't around. 

  So if Maggie is Judy's super outgoing crowd pleasing personality, what exactly is Nukka for me?   



 

I'll let you use your imagination.

Priceless

  Every now and then my kids say something I want to remember. Last week Mr. Steel stayed home with a stomach ache. It cleared up right after we got back from dropping the other two off. I had suspected as much, but sometimes its nice to spend a little quality one-on-one time without the other two trying to do flips to get your attention. Yes, they do that.
  After a full day of doing nothing together we went back to pick up the rest of the crew. Nearly at the door, he slipped his hand in mine and said, "sometimes a man just needs to spend a day with his mom." His words found their mark. Its a little thing I'll treasure in my heart and pull out when I'm old, when things are too quiet, when I need a little reminder of how blessed I am.

Thankful for Anger

  Most holidays it is easy to focus on the good things to be thankful for. As always, I'm thankful for good food, great family, close friends, and moments in time spent soaking up the little joys in life.
  2013 feels a little different. Some of that comes with the fact all three of my kids have grown up so much. I still get heckled about bed time, sweet snacks, and how much TV they should get to watch, but isn't that typical stuff?
  This year I am thankful for anger and sensitivity. I am thankful for late nights of frustration and situations that need immediate action. In short, this year I am thankful for the tuff stuff. There are plenty of difficulties to come, as far a parenting is concerned, but there is also so much to look back on. I don't feel like a newbie any more and that is rather nice.
  There are still days I throw my hands up in impatience, but my kids aren't babies anymore and neither am I. We've hiked a few mountains together (literally) and changed a little in the climb.
  Here's a glass of sparkling cranberry cider to growing up a little as a parent and being thankful for the hard stuff in life.
 

Catching up

Part of my blogging this year will be to back log all the things that have gone on in the last year. When I went back into the last blog, it came to my attention how much I had forgotten! The 'catching up' post title, will be a weekly occurrence.

The finger incident. The following pictures might be a bit much so beware!

Here we are, everyone is happy to be heading out on the trail.

 

Mr. Steel standing by the entering the wilderness sign.

 

 

And now  the disturbing part. I was thinking to myself, "We're in no hurry. I'll let them look at the rocks."  Then...

 

Dun DUN DUN!!!

 

All my girl did was turn to the side, slip and catch herself. POP! Finger broken. I fought the urge to try to put it in place and keep going but Greg was the voice of reason. He tossed her pack to me and then picked her up and headed off. Mr. Steel and I took up the rear and I spent the hike back telling him that we would re-do his birthday backpacking trip another time.

Christmas Knits

  This year I made my Christmas list early enough to include knitted gifts. Usually, at the beginning of December, its all an afterthought and its gets put on the 'should have done' list.
  The items I am most excited to give are the two sweaters. You will have to let me know which one you like best. I prefer the fair isle in stripes. All the changes made it fun to finish.
 

The top is machine wash easy care yarn. The bottom is hand wash cold only, and hang dry. I know this through personal experience!

It took some convincing

Alright friends and family, your cries for more on my mundane life have been heard. I, Mamagriffith, have started a new blog. (to state the obvious!)
  Stay tuned for more crazy adventures as I forge on as http://lordoftheswings.blogspot.com

Please note I can post pics again!!!