Magpie had a hard time falling asleep tonight, so I cuddled up with her in her bed and let her talk herself to sleep.
She is one of those 4 year olds who says 100 things a day that leave you scrambling for a pencil and a scrap of paper. Tonight the subject was camping.
Over the weekend, we did a little spring preview of a state park where we've never camped before: Deception Pass, Wash.
This is J's spring ritual: load the family into the car, visit a campground within two hours of our house, dink around there with the kids while mom and dad jot down the best campsites (close to the bathroom but not too close ... flat roadway for good tricycle riding, etc.), and then somehow lose the paper where we took our notes before it's time to make the reservation.
The pace of work and school and life has been running us ragged lately, so I can't tell you how therapeutic it was to tromp around in the woods for a day. Here's Bo bonding with Mother Nature:
And Magpie on the world's best balance beam:
(Note J in the background in his phone. I know, I know, not exactly unplugged for the day, but I'm pretty sure he was either taking a picture or typing in another favorite campsite number. We finally wised up.)
So back to Magpie in bed tonight ... We were talking about how excited we are to go camping this summer, and I asked her, "What do you like about camping, anyway?" Her reply:
"You get to see things and hear different things."
Me: "You mean, things that are different than we see and hear at home?"
Magpie: "Yeah."
Me: "Like what?"
Magpie: "Like wind in the trees and raindrops on the tent."
Further proof that children were meant to run around willy nilly in the woods as often as possible.
As she drifted off to sleep tonight, curled up on her right side, I was struck by how small her shoulders are. How is it possible that this little miracle has only existed for four and a half years? How can so much happen in such a short amount of time? The wonder of childhood and motherhood and life was all wrapped up for me in those tiny shoulders.
Most of the Magpie quotes are more funny than enlightening. The other day she "read" this sign to J:
According to Magpie, that sign says: "No swimming, no diving and no trains."
Of course it does.
Easter here was good. I hope for you, too. Like I mentioned before, my sister threw a Hawaiian-themed party the night before Easter, complete with mai tais and muumuus, not to mention some yummy Easter grub.
The lady knows how to host a party, and, as one guest declared, "It was the best Easter Eve luau I've ever been to."
The girls had been wanting me to sew them something lately, so I had Bo "design" Easter dresses. Here was her plan for me:
Here are the finished products, each complete with its own "ti" in back:
As always, there are some wonky parts if you look closely, but the girls were thrilled.
And I have to include this idyllic photo of Bo and her cousin taking part in an Easter egg hunt later that morning.
Kind of a perfect Easter image, right? Two sweet girls on a joyful search for treasures? I know there's a lot of criticism of blogs and Pinterest and whatnot for their glossy portrayal of day-to-day life, but let me assure you that one thing I will always be on this site is honest. So here goes ...
Within 10 seconds of snapping that shot, Bo was in a panic because she had only found two eggs. 15 seconds later she and her cousin got into a tug o' war over an egg they saw at the same time. 30 seconds after that (and after her cousin won the battle over the egg) Bo went ahead and just swiped it out of her cousin's basket and put it in her own. Who's got two eggs now?! Huh? Huh?
Ah, the spirit of Easter. We do much better finding God in the woods.
Mwen te renmen patikilyèman atik ou, mwen swete ou ka ekri atik plis bon bagay, Mwen kwè ke pi lektè pral gen lide nan menm epi mwen menm mwen gade pou pi devan pou kontinye pou kapab wè tankou yon atik bon, di ou mèsi.
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