I'm not a big picture taker (to my family's and my own lament) but when my boy wants a snapshot of himself next to a flowering tree, you don't have to ask me twice!
Winter photo dump: We were/are sick a lot these days but also out hiking, bike sledding, walking on frozen ponds. I proudly mastered a sourdough roll recipe (with no extra yeast!), the five year old has added a few more books to our home library, and the one year old is a joy bomb (in more ways than one). It's too early to be spring, not in Michigan, but the earth is turning and goodness aren't we ready.
Finished this oil painting for my sister, six months after her birthday. The hardest part was getting brave enough to add that little white speck of an egret in the middle 😂. Now to dream up the next landscape painting....
Composition by @aprilmoffatt .
Bennett turned one over the weekend! He's very much his own amazing person, full of energy, curiosity, strength, and affection. Big favorites are his big brother, reading books with Dad, giving big slobbery kisses, reading books with Mom, playing chase, exploring, reading books with grandparents, playing in the sand box, and reading books with the family dog. 😂We love you, Bennett!
This is me, 4ish months pregnant with my first son, hiking the a 19-mile Jordan River loop. I was searching for silence and my search took me from the trail to a sensory deprivation tank, noise cancelling technology, learning about the impacts of noise pollution, and the tuning liturgy of the philharmonic. I wrote about this search in this article (link in bio for the curious ones) but honestly, the journey didn't lead to silence. As I said, it's hard to come by in these days. But I think I found something more accessible, and more helpful for modern life: the practice of resounding.
I'm soothing my second son to sleep most nights and do you know what he longs for? Not pure silence, but the low humming of a lullaby. Me too, kid, me too. Chaos reigns; we know this and we live it. But the way we contribute to the chaos is our own choice. Let's alter the din with more beautiful notes.
I snapped this pic with my old Nikon not too long ago and so it seems funny that I feel nostalgic about it already. We've had cabin fever the most I can remember this winter--what with a construction project hemming us in, back and knee issues, all the early mornings and late nights that come with two beautiful boys. But I'm not ready for it to end yet. Let's have one more sink bath, okay?
