12 and 13

Today I'm thankful for time.  Time away from our normal routine to explore and enjoy.  

Time for things like holding baby alligators!   Boy does she live by the when in Rome motto!   

Time for learning about a time in our history that we know too little about.  On Sunday we visited the  Whitney Plantation, one of the only plantation museums with a focus on slavery.  We learned so much and it has us thinking a lot.  

Yesterday I was thankful for my birthday!  It was as good as it gets and if yesterday was any indication, 43 is going to be amazing!  We had a decadent breakfast (bananas foster gluten-free pancakes  and a mimosa for me!), followed by a stroll around the French Quarter, then an outstanding narrated tour for kids (but parents also learned a lot!) of the history of New Orleans and the French Quarter, a snack on one of many lovely balconies in the French Quarter,  an hour-long line for Preservation Hall that felt like a minute because of the good company, the beautiful weather and the comedy of standing on a street in New Orleans (so many characters!), a great jazz show at Preservation Hall and an outstanding dinner and dessert at Muriel's.  Plus somewhere in there, we had Pinkberry.  And Lucy got a henna tattoo.  It was a day packed full of fun!

Days 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11

I have been very thankful and even intentional about thinking about something daily but I have not written.  So, I'll catch up today with 5 things just from today that I'm thankful for!






1: Waking up to gentle rain.  We drove all day yesterday from St. Louis to New Orleans and got in at about 8 last night.  We were exhausted and all slept great, and waking up to the gentle sound of rain was beautiful!

                                                        

2: Great travel companions.  All of them are really the best.  Everyone is up for an adventure (a VooDoo Museum that a certain 8 year old had to see), understanding of diet restrictions (vegetarian and gluten free), willing to try new things (gumbo), and in general just a whole lot of fun.  They are my favorite group ever.

















3: Musicians in the family.  One of the reasons we chose to come to New Orleans was jazz.  Both Emma and Eleanor play in jazz bands, and have taught us a lot about jazz music and instruments.   We heard some fun music today and are looking forward to more throughout the week.

4.) The Magic Tree House book series.  Lucy and I read a Magic Tree House book about New Orleans and Louis Armstrong last week and we learned all sorts of things about the city and jazz.  Lucy keeps noticing things we read about and sharing them with everyone!  Emma traces her love of history back to that book series and I'm seeing it happen again with Lucy!  

5. Quiet!  Right now I'm sitting on the front porch of our Air B and B and I can hear birds singing and an occasional car.  It's cool outside and there's nothing I need to do.  Kevin is reading and the girls are inside relaxing with Food Network.  We're ordering Mediterranean food to be delivered for dinner and everything is lovely.

Days 3, 4,5 and 6- Laughing, talking, a good haircut, and smoothies.

I am so thankful to be in a family that laughs.  A lot.  Every single day.

I am also thankful to be in a family that talks.  A lot.  Most of the Baums are quiet introverts.  

That's right quiet introverts and yet we laugh and talk! Imagine that.   As a quiet introvert who is raising quiet introverts I am on a mission to raise girls who believe that quiet people are incredible leaders.  That quiet people are marvelous listeners.  That quiet people are deep thinkers. That quiet people have strong opinions and lots to share.  That quiet people can do whatever it is they want to do.

I am thankful for a good haircut.  I got one on Saturday and it feels great!

I am thankful for smoothies.  I have one almost every weekday for breakfast and every day that I don't, I regret it.

Noticing

Yesterday as I got ready to write my post I noticed I had over 100 unpublished posts!  What?  How could that be.  So I started looking through them.  At least 50% are simply posts that I've titled with no actual writing.   

A few titles:

• On Summer (Was it good on summer, or bad on summer?)  
• The Day I realized I Support Bernie (I'm assuming this was Bernie Sanders.  I wonder, what did happen that day?)
• Grateful Day 1 (Was I really that stumped...on day 1?)
• This Is What We Do (What, what do we do???)

I shall never know the answers to those questions.  But there were others that were full posts.   I do not remember writing them.  At all.  I remember the situations I wrote about but can't for the life of me remember why I didn't hit publish.  

Here's one:

When Emma began kindergarten I imagined us walking to and from school every single day.  A happy stroll to begin and end our day.  One of the many things that attracted us to our neighborhood was its wonderful walkability and I couldn't wait to take advantage of it!  

 At first my idealized arrangement worked nicely but as time passed I found us hustling around in the mornings more than I wanted because I HATE to be late.  I was griping and rushing and frustrated and yelling.  Emma does not hate to be late plus she's not a morning person so leaving early to walk to school seemed silly to her. It made practical sense to her to NOT walk and to use that extra 15 minutes to sleep.

 We went on like this for several years.  Me being convinced that walking was the way and Emma dragging her feet every step.  

Tomorrow is Emma's last day of fifth grade and we walked to school once this year.  Once.  On the first day of school.  We replaced the walk with a quick drive and gave up the yelling and frustration---we've hung on to the hustling, it just became part of our fabric.

In an oddly sweet turn, Emma did walk home most days and in some little way that seems absolutely perfect.  That sort of sums up what elementary school has been for us....having the most incredible place to figure out what works and what doesn't, where to put energy and where to ease up and how to change expectations and figure out what's really important.

Fast forward four years...

6:55AM!!  Dressed and ready for her day!  She leaves early every day and is up late every night.  All that hustling we did in elementary school is paying off!  

Today I'm grateful for noticing.  Noticing the little ways my girls are growing.  Noticing the changes  but also the sweet connections to the past.  Noticing how no matter if they're 15 months of 15 years, seeing their faces first thing in the morning makes my heart leap a little.  

 I hope I always remember to notice.

Ash Wednesday

Today is the first day of Lent and as I've attempted (but not achieved) in the past, I plan to create a habit of writing Lenten what I'm thankful for posts.  Thinking of what I'm thankful for is not hard, choosing to make time to write about it is.  I know there is power in gratitude and intentionality so I hope to make space for it!


Today I'm thankful for liturgical seasons and the way they center me.  Advent and Lent are both times that I feel so much peace and purpose.  Filling up during these seasons helps me all year long.

Lucy and Pastor Meagan.  I love this photo of these two amazing ladies!

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It occurs 46 days (40 non-Sundays, and 6 Sundays)  before Easter and can fall as early as February 4th or as late as March 10th. According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter.

Hello 2019

The most exciting part of 2019 is the fact that this fantastic young lady is now 13!  

She is funny and kind.  Strong and inclusive of others.  Super smart and humble.  And a million other things.   She is perfectly, brilliantly Eleanor.  

Eleanor turning 13 means that we now have 2 teenage girls in the house.  I have a lot to say about teenagers.  Though I'm new to parenting teens I've already formed a lot of opinions and have at least a short book of thoughts in my mind on the subject.  But I have a solid 12 years of parenting teens ahead of me.  So laying down a whole lot of thoughts at this point is a little like making a grand declaration about running a marathon once you've run 2 or 3 miles.  Instead, I will write this, as this feels pretty certain to me:

• Parenting teens is hard.  They are a little crazy.  And they know it.  And you know it.  And you all have to survive together with this knowledge.  
• Parenting teens is terrific.  Some days you catch such a clear view of who they have been created to be, and it's so incredibly beautiful that it just guts you and you wonder how, just how, you get to have a front row seat to this.  And this gets you through the crazies.  Because it's a long game and a few crazy days should be expected. 

Ok, one more thought on teens: You learn to accept table behavior that you'd never have allowed at 5. 

Other news in 2019:

Lucy is playing basketball!  She is having a lot of fun and we love to watch her play! 

Emma doing homework after her first day back from Winter Break.  No easing back into things for her teachers.  Emma had an excellent first semester of high school and we could not be more proud of how hard she worked but also how well she balanced life.  It's a challenge for sure.

It’s not the same without you..

We are on our first road trip post Janie and I don’t mind sharing—-we are missing that sweet pale blue family rom on wheels.   Kevin’s SUV is no match to the comfort and space of a van.  Comfort aside we are fairing well.  We are 9 hours into day 1 with about 2 hours left on this leg and other than my incredibly ill advised choice to purchase Lucy a book of 300 animal knock knock jokes at the book fair yesterday we are having success.

Knock Knock

Who’s There?

Kanga

Kanga who?

KangaROOOO not WhOOO!