love the flanagans
Happy New Year
Pat and I celebrated seven years together last night. How could I have known that accepting a dinner invitation would find me with a few years later in a house full of girls and with heaps of laundry, dishes and among the piggy piles* lots of love.
*For those of you not familiar with the term “piggy piles” it refers to any unwanted items that are left about: toys, laundry, diapers, etc.
Thought I'd share a few of our resolutions:
1. Not to purchase anything brand new.
2. To rid our lives of extra stuff - purge is another way to say this.
3. Frame art and frame it often.
4. Go outside once a weekend for a majority of the day - hike, surf, walk, swing, etc.
5. Make simple meals at home.
6. Reinstate the "no dishes left behind" act.
7. Mind the fridge rules (more to come on this note).
8. Make every gift we give.
9. Have pizza nights with friends, even if the house isn't clean.
10. Make time for just the two of us once a month.
Oh, and of course, have FUN it's a new year after all.
I've included a few of our highlights from the past months. I know blogging is supposed to be a daily action so I'm working on adding this one to the list too!
Kirra will be six months this Friday and already she is rolling from one side of the living room to the other in a matter of seconds. She found her toes on Dec. 5th while we were visiting Kate, Terry, Henry & Miss Lucy. Kirra was rather thrilled with herself and remains quite pleased whenever her little piggies are revealed. She laughs at everything and even finds the energy to smile despite the worst of pains caused by teething. She is a delight to be around, loves most of all to be snuggled, sung to and sat at the table. That's right Kirra is a foodie. It's only been a week now and the girl LOVES sweet potatoes. Sofia has been generous enough to loan her high chair to Kirra for dinner time "Oh Kirra, try - sit here, share sweet tatoes."
Sofia is my nature a herder. She loves to keep the group together and assure everyone is with their respective partner. She takes great care with Kirra and even more so with her animals. Monkey joined us on the flight to Portland to “Meet Lucy! See Henry!” Sofia would shout before we left in preparation for the journey. After returning home to her other pals: Big Teddy, Teddy, Charlie, Ruby, Lucy; Sofia asked quite confidently, “Teddy come. Yeah?” “Teddy come where?” I asked. “Teddy come, no Monkey. Go meet Lucy.” I promised her that on the next trip Teddy could come. “Monkey stay. Teddy come. Yeah.” Sofia replied.
Sofia loved spending Christmas at home and in Santa Cruz, which is now her favorite city. The Tuesday before Christmas Pat took the girls down to Santa Cruz to ride the Christmas train with Mimi, Poppi, Tia & Ted. Sofia loved the lights and singing but was not a fan of Santa Claus, at least not this year. “Ho, Ho, Ho Santa. Cia (Sofia’s pronunciation of her name) crying.” Just this week Sofia’s been able to articulate her name correctly. Just one of the many signs that she is growing up.
So what are Sofia’s favorite things: drawing, going to the swings & park nearby, the library, visiting the Rose Gardens, having dates with her family, playing dress up with Big Teddy, Teddy, Monkey, Charlie, Ruby oh and baby doll Emma. Apparently layers of onesies is the new fashion. She likes to use the potty when were out, so we’re working on getting her more comfortable with our much cleaner model conveniently located at home. She moved up to a size seven shoe but more importantly we had to try out shoes to make sure that the they would be a good match for climbing at the playground.
As for the old folks, Pat & I are well. It’s still odd to think we are someone, correction two little ladies parents! We’re getting a decent amount of sleep and working on how to best insulate our house. This past Sat. our bedroom as almost a warm 40’, that’s right you could see your breath. We’d have been warming pitching a tent!
As for our businesses, I photographed a half a dozen families before the holiday receiving great feedback and am hoping to do more in the upcoming year. In addition to photography I’ve been busy sewing and can’t believe I forgot how much I love creating things. The transition back to work for me has been anything but pleasant. Commuting nearly 3 hours a day hardly seems like a productive way to spend my time especially when it means I don’t get nearly as many cuddles in with the girls before they are fast asleep.
Pat’s working on slotting events in for this spring/summer. Already he has two major events: Cape Kiwanda Classic in Pacific City, OR (Aug. 1-2) & the St. Mary’s County Fair in Los Gatos, CA (Oct. 9-11). Hoping to line up one big event each month.
As for Stella Bella, she’s amazing. So patient with both Sofia & Kirra and happiest when we’re all together as a family on a walk. So we’ll be enjoying much more of these this year even if it means leaving a house full of piggy piles.
2 comments:
Mariah, I loved this post! You guys are such a wonderful, loving family and we miss you ooooh so much! And youa re a wonderful writer able to articulate perfectly. You forgot to add that Sofia loves to buckle monkey in the carseat "undo buckles? yea!"
We are looking forward to flying south (one of our new years resolutions) to visit the Flannie's in the upcoming months. Lucy and Henry send lots of hugs and kisses!!
Oh goodness I know - she loves buckles! I'm sure she'll have her own design firm by age five called "In a pinch!" If Sofia had it her way all of her shoes would have buckles on them. But honestly I think it's her way of meditating and working through the mechanics of how something works. Unfortunately all this buckling and unbuckling led to a rather frightful incident in backpack where she decided she was clearly done with the whole thing and began to unbuckle herself 6 feet in the air. We had a few talks about the danger of this so now she knows "Buckle please Mama/Papa done. Cia done." So precious.
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