the big.

a lot of my post lately have been about shilo.  she's in a stage of life where things are happening quickly, she's changing, and meeting new milestones.  she's also has a lot more going on medically right now than abigail does.  so to balance it, this post is dedicated to my big, and all her fabulousness.


we'll start with a few of my favorite recent anecdotes from her:

abigail holding two pieces of spinach:
'hey spinach.
hey what?
you have dip on your head.'
(laughter)
(talking about the civil war-and the pictures of abraham lincoln at connor prarie).
'do you know what a slave is?'
'no.'
'a slave is a person that someone else tries to own. they make them do things, whether they want to or not. and if they don't do it, they are mean to them.'
'you mean like when you tell me what to do?'

'that morning laura woke up. it was hot outside. it was cold outside. laura went outside and it was warm.'
(abigail 'reading on the banks of plum creek to herself)
'chickens don't have wings.'
'they do.'
'no they don't. i saw it on the computer.'
'i'm getting some special drinks for my retreat on friday. i'm going to spend the night with some of my friends from church.'
'why you going on a retreat?'
'sometimes mama's need to take a break. it will help me be a better mama.'
'you already take a break. you stay home everyday.'

'mama can you do this for me?'
'do what?'
'will you do this?'
'i'm not sure what you are wanting me to do.'
'me neither. (skips away).'
at 10:30 i hear a loud bang from the girl's bedroom. i go up to check, thinking abigail had fallen out of bed. 
'abigail, why are you still awake? and what was the bang?'
'that was me climbing back in bed. i was looking out the window. i was trying to see the moon so i could know if it was big or little. it's going around the earth right now.'
stranger to shilo: 'hi (unintelligible baby talk).'
abigail: 'she can't hear you. she's deaf.'
'mama, could you move that knife off of the table, so i don't just climb right up, and play with it and cut my finger off?'
...or you could just choose not to touch it....
'pigs are made our of bacon.' 

and i'll share a few of our favorite captured moments of abigail's.

showing off some moves.

puddle jumping.

after an evening storm.

she brought me flowers.  the one by itself is my favorite.

trying rhubarb from our garden.

we went to conner prarie.  she is obsessed with her subonnet like ingalls girls wore.

a spoonful of chocolate.  a silly face.

we swapped vest...and made our sassy face.

have i ever mentioned how jealous i am of this hair?

that's life with our big.  she makes us laugh a lot.  she is full of energy and loves life.  

our night.

abigail likes chocolate.  shilo hates sitting (although she can actually do it for longer and longer periods of time now).

pink horizons.

the view out of the window is one that most probably wouldn't find pretty, but i do.  i see the parking lot diagonal our house, along with the empty car repair shop, and the trash and weeds that dot the parking lot.  i see smoke rising in the distance, just beyond the top of the building, from a local factory.  there are light poles and telephone lines.  but if you look for the beauty it's there.  just over the top of the building, is the pink of the skyline as the sun starts to sink down in the sky.  and for some reason, it balances out the scene, and makes it all beautiful.
i think i like it so much because it's how life is.  it's so easy to spot the ugly that dots the world.  but it's much better if you look past it to the beautiful pink.  it's there.  it just takes a little more work to see it.  i think it's really easy for people to look at our lives and see the hard.  for some people, i think they can't get past the hard and ugly things that dot our lives, and see the pink over the top.  but we see it.  we choose to live in the pink.
the scene i'm seeing, is all being taken in while almond shaped eyes flutter and fight sleeping, and two chubby hands reach up to feel my neck while i sing.  as i glance around, what was once the room that only my husband and i shared, i see a tea set and a baby blanket, big's sleep cap, and children's books.  big's pillow is still mixed in with ours from the four of us snuggling in bed together this morning.  i have one of those moments where i can't help but be in love with our family.

and maybe it was the pink of the day that helped me feel that way.

big has been interested in learning about maple syrup since we read about it in the little house series.

we found out there is a maple farm only about 15 minutes away.

they even shared samples.

it was a pretty big hit.  larry boy looks like he would really like to try some too.

making a silly face, and rocking her new glasses she picked out.  apparently i'm raising a hipster.

abigail holding the bottle we bought outside of the cabin where their retail shop is.

the building they do the boiling in (and the name of the place).

the lines that ran from the tapped trees throughout the woods all into the one building.

 because a trip to a place that makes maple syrup (larry boy included), and an evening spent playing at the park makes everything about the first days of spring feel good.  it makes all the ugly and trash of life feel like it no longer even exist.  it seems like all i could see was the pink.
but, then again, perhaps, an evening at home, playing, laughing, and enjoying life makes the pink stand out more.  or perhaps it's that moment, when those things you have been working with your little on, over and over, come to fruition, and you realize that your child is a genius...or at very least understands way more than you realized.

it doesn't matter the reasons so much.  what matters is that on the days that the trash and weeds stand out, you squint your eyes, and find the pink horizon just over the top of the abandoned building. the beauty is there.

sometimes.

sometimes, saturdays are boring...

  ...and sometimes, we paint.