Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

It is true that I spend just about every waking moment in the presence of my darling two year old daughter.  And even though this is a fact, I don't always see her.  I acknowledge her rude-sounding demands for cheese and juice.  I scold her for putting the cat in a headlock and for scribbling all over my bedsheets with a permanent orange marker.  I scoop her into my arms when things have not gone her way and she collapses in a puddle on the kitchen floor, but I do not, in fact, always see her. And so today, after multiple attention-seeking, naughty behaviors had irritated me to my core, I looked and found a little person who needed to be seen .  I also found a little person who has suddenly developed a very vivid imagination, and this little person was a rather wonderful companion for the afternoon. This afternoon I spent a bit of time looking out the window at reindeer.  At first I strained my eyes searching for the actual deer that often trot throug...

...the mouse will eat an entire box of chocolate Nestle Quick. George and I should know by now that we cannot sneak off to the bedroom to watch some horrible BBC television series without paying a price.  We fool ourselves into a false sense of security by assuming that the big sisters are keeping a watchful eye on Thing 3, but there is always that moment when we look at each other and know that somewhere in the house, something naughty is happening. We both really tried to keep stern, disapproving looks our our faces as we marched her into the bathroom where she would be posing for the newest photos to go into "The Naughty Book," but keeping a serious face is rather impossible when THIS is looking back at you... "CHEESE!  Put ME in the Naughty Book!"

I hope you are not too disappointed in me.  I am simply not finding the time to sit down and write about all of the tantrums and growth spurts that are happening around  here.  To borrow a phrase, I keep 'waiting to exhale.'  Before we had our third baby, it seemed that I had ample time for breaths in and out, for writing, and for reading the most ridiculous variety of novels you can imagine. But here I find myself, occasionally relaxing, but knowing that while I laze, I am letting something slide.  While I was sipping tea and composing that email in which I reminisced about my 11th grade prom dress, my two year old was pulling all of the shoes out of my closet and filling them with fistfuls of cat food.  It can also be argued that my time would have been better spent changing the sheets after some child ate a sleeve of crackers (apparently using half of them to make confetti) in my bed.  If I were to only write or relax when there was nothing more ...

It goes without saying that I love my children and my husband.  I love sticky kisses and outstretched arms.  I love nursery songs sung by little, frolicsome voices and imaginary play with animal noises.  I love dancing and joke-telling and hearing about every one's day.   I love all of these things, but... I also really love silence and solitude. Silence and solitude are not easy things to come by in a house full of children.  The need for these sneaked up on me recently.  It manifested itself through impatient replies, short tempered reactions, and feelings of angst when children plopped their needy little bodies onto my lap. Over the weekend when everyone had settled in to watch a movie together, I slunk away to waste my time looking at crock pot recipes and other nonsense on the Internet for an hour.  I stared at my computer's screen with glazed eyes and allowed the silence in the room to saturate me.  I sat in my chair and conten...

Things got pretty wild at our house as we rang in the new year.  As usual Emma couldn't hold her drink, and Lili wound up dancing naked on the kitchen table.  Or perhaps we just put Lili to bed and watched Pirates of the Caribbean followed by Downton Abbey until 1am. George has been, unfortunately, rather ill for the last few days.  He is finally feeling better today, so we toasted the new year with some of Meijer's best sparkling white grape juice and skipped our usual hoppin' john in favor of some turkey chili and tortilla chips. "Cheers Me, Sophia!" I'm so happy, it's a little bit scary. “Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.” ~Douglas Pagels I wish you a very happy new year full of wonderful pages in the ongoing story of you. Love, Meredith

Christmas has come and gone in a blur of twinkly lights, carols, sugary concoctions, jingling bells, sticky kisses, whispered prayers, and yule tide cheer.  Here are a few of the highlights that I was able to catch with my camera. The night before Christmas eve, these jolly little elves worked diligently to construct this delightful-looking gingerbread house which served as a perfect centerpiece to our holiday table for the next few days.  Never mind the fact that my two-year-old ate 37 gumdrops and 24 M&m's for dinner that night. On the morning of Christmas eve, George managed to make festive pancakes even though we couldn't scare up any food coloring.  Sophia and her little sister were rather impressed... At four o'clock, we all went to church, dragging Pawpaw and Uncle David along with us.  Emma rang with the Prime Chimers, Sophia had a lovely reading during the sermon and George and I made it through the Minuet Noel before my voice completely fr...

Sure, the photos from Santa's House were wonderful, but this one takes the cake in my view.  Last night we went out for pizza with some friends and Lili insisted on sitting next to her buddy Riley.  He is an older man (at age 5), and constantly demonstrates for Lili how a true gentleman should treat a lady. No, chivalry is NOT dead!