Friday Ramblings

I've been rather uninspired these days. I think it's more of a block in what to write, even though I have a tonne of things I'd like to say. Does that make sense?

Anyway, here are a bunch of random photos, with random thoughts attached to each of them.


a] This scene, where-ever it is, is one of my favorites of SPRING. Shoots of green beginning to POP up in the dull-brown woods. It's as if the forest is about to BURST to life. HELLO SPRING. Good-bye long, yuckie, nasty, "we hate you" winter.

b] Jackson and I found this bush at the Arboretum today and even Jackson yelled, "Look, Mom. Very pretty!" {And as a side-note, just this week, Jackson has dropped the 'mommy' thing and has begun to call me 'mom.' That makes me very SAD. He's too young to not call me mommy.}

c] All I said was "Go look at the tree" and he got to the tree, turned and POSED. He's an intuitive sort of kid. Somehow he just KNEW that Mommy was going to say, "Jackson, turn and smile!"

d] First tulips of Spring. In case I haven't mentioned it, tulips are my favorite flower on this side of the world. {My all-time favorite flower is the frangipani, which I fell in love with when I lived in Indonesia. The scent will knock you over with loveliness. Look it up on the world-wide-web.}

e] I love Maddie's sense of style. I really do love it. She has this confidence where if she thinks it works, then it absolutely works. I hope she always has the CONFIDENCE to be herself ... comfortable in her own skin.

f] Occasionally I pick up Annalise on the way to school, and she got in the car and it was as if she and Maddie had done the high school thing and called each other that morning to collaborate on their outfits. They had matching hair bands, sunglasses, they both had skirts over top of pants, and pink Spring jackets. {They GIGGLED the whole way to school, pretending that they had, indeed called each other that morning.}

g] I've been practicing with my MACRO setting on my camera and like how it worked on this shot. I do love flowers and love taking pictures of them. One of my favorite things to do.
h] So, I was pushing the grocery cart and turned to check for cars and when I turned back to push, Jackson was sporting his FUZZ in a new, rather creative sort of way. He giggled his good hearty belly laugh and I began to laugh, which made him laugh harder ... Even looking at this picture makes me laugh out loud. I love this little guy.

i] I think by now you realize that I do love to take pictures, so last week I decided to try to get a great close-up of Olivia's gorgeous blue eyes. Too cute, eh?

j] I continue to catch Maddie reading and I LOVE that. It's as if the thousands of hours of training and modeling the importance of reading over the last 6 years is beginning to pay off. Even right now, on a Friday night, I told her that if she stays in her room she can read until she falls asleep, no matter how late. Because THAT is one of my favorite things to do. And I want it to be one of her favorite things, too.

k] I look at the inside of this tulip and this is what I think: God is SO unbelievably creative. Look at the wavy yellow section on each petal. CRAZY CREATIVE. He could have left that off and the tulip still would have been beautiful. But no. He got out His yellow paint and threw in a splash of extra colour, just because. For me, I do connect the deepest when I am experiencing His creativity.