Snapshots

I've been in such an introspective, bloggish mood lately that I haven't posted any pictures in a while. Here's a few, going all the way back to August. Oh, you know.... those summer days when sandals were the only shoes in the closet, play time was spent outside in the sun, and my little girl turned two.

These salt water sandals are definitely browner now than they are in this picture, but nonetheless, I'm declaring them to be one of the pairs of shoes I'll keep as a reminder of her toddler days. Adorable.

On to Fall, and "teaching" her about Halloween. She LOVED getting books from the library about pumpkins, costume parties, and trick or treating.

We painted pumpkins and Sophie was in heaven.
Jeremy got to join us for our Halloween fun. I'm so grateful that we take the time to take pictures like these....

After a bath for Sophie (her Mickey Mouse shirt sadly never recovered), we had a yummy chili dinner to celebrate my parents' birthdays.

Pumpkin Patch!

I picked up a few pumpkins from my parents' garden, along with a wildly rambunctious yet incredibly adorable little 2 year old.

Hausfrau Musings

I read this the other day in a book I'm reading, and I felt compelled to share. (I'm assuming most of you are like me and don't know a word of German, so I'll tell you in advance... hausfrau means housewife.)

"I think it's because there is a hausfrau amnesia - some magical mind eraser that blots out the struggles we experience on a daily basis. I believe it's the only way we can get out of bed in the morning and do it all over again. It's also why our species survives. But those struggles are precisely what we need to keep in mind, because our voices are lost when we don't tell the stories that make up our days." ~ Nicole Chaison, The Passion of the Hausfrau

Thank you to those of you out there who aren't afraid to tell the real stories behind being a parent. It's why I love blogs like www.rantsfrommommyland.com - although I don't personally know the two moms who write it, they're honest, funny and completely down-to-earth. Parenting is ridiculously hard. And I for one don't like it when I feel like I'm the only one who'll admit to that.

I'm apologizing now for all the blog posts in the past that have just shown pictures with one or two descriptive sentences. They were done that way because of a lack of time.... not a desire to deceive or share the real stories. Because what you don't know is that right after that "Sophie's first swim class" picture was snapped (this is coming soon, I promise), Sophie refused to do anything the teacher instructed and cried crocodile tears for 20 minutes. Immediately following the "Willamette Jet Boat Excursion" picture, we removed her life jacket to find a red blotchy rash all over her neck. Tim wanted to tell the boat driver to clean their jackets more frequently. I reminded him it was the WILLAMETTE river we were just drenched with. My germophobic side wanted to break down and sob on the spot.

The conclusion is this: I appreciate when your stories are shared..... the real, unedited stories. It makes me feel less alone in this hausfrau world.