Joyfully Weary

  A couple weeks ago Mini Man turned eight. To say he is a joy is an understatement. Mini Man has always been an extrovert and seems to thrive off people. There is something more to him, though,  that is harder to put in to words...the best way I can think to describe it is that he is extremely empathetic. He's always been this way. He seems to have a sense for what others are feeling. He will frequently describe the motives or feelings behind someone's actions.  I think because of this he is quick to forgive.  Mini Man also seems to have the ability to put people at ease and make them feel welcome. We hardly ever go anywhere that he doesn't make a new a friend. Jeremy and I joke that he must be magnetic. He'll step outside to play and the next thing you know 1/2 dozen neighborhood kids have joined him in our yard.  Recently, he's been telling me that he is shy. I haven't been able to pinpoint why he's started to identify this way; he's ju...

This past Saturday we had a joint birthday celebration for Big Buddy (6) and Mini Man (4). They have both been intrigued with knights and dragons for a while now so that's the theme we chose.  the party entrance Papa and Maca Lindsey were gracious enough to let us host the party in their backyard/secret garden, it was the perfect setting.  mini man and big buddy waiting for their guests In leu of traditional party favors, we outfitted the party guests with a sword, surcoat, and shield. Everyone's surcoat and shield was emblazoned with their sigil/initial. this tutorial was my inspiration for the surcoats we purchased the swords at dollar tree The shields were also our party craft. They are cardboard which Jeremy cut with a laser cutter. I then hot glued and taped (double reinforcement!) ribbon on the back for handles. The kids used dot markers  to decorate the shields. This worked out really well because the cardboard a...

Mini Man loves to get dirty. Alway has. With him there seems to be some magnetic pull towards messes. Even activities that are normally "clean" for other children some how leave him sticky or filthy - he just dives in to everything 100%. As a kid I enjoyed a good mess. After it rained I loved to splash through the ditches of our small town. I'd spent countless summer hours popping the tar bubbles that formed on the road outside our house. Catching worms, frogs, and snakes brought me great joy. As I've gotten older though I've developed a bit of an aversion to messes - the clean up is so much work! I want my children to feel free to explore though, to experience nature first hand. So even though my first instinct is to say no, I let Mini Man dig in the dirt for worms and other creepy crawlies. I've allowed the mixing of mud potions and have even provided some non-precious containers to enhance the fun. A couple evenings ago when a warm rain moved in my firs...

Thursday evening I got a special treat - some one-on-one time with Mini Man. It's the end of the school year at Jeremy's university and he had planned to take the boys to the seniors awards gallery, but Mini Man wanted to stay with Mommy and Little Lady is currently obsessed with her daddy. While we watched the rest of our crew head out I asked Mini Man what he wanted to do and he excitedly replied "make cookies with chocolate pieces!" It's nice baking with just one kid because I didn't have to worry about controlling the chaos as much and therefore he got to do a lot more. I read him the recipe but Mini Man pretty much did the rest all on his own. This did result in flour flying all over the kitchen and a few chocolate chips rolling around the floor, but it was just us in the house so clean up was a breeze. Since it was just us, I also let him taste every ingredient that went into the bowl (except the the egg - i drew the line there)....