Warm Cobbler on a Cold Day

It's been a bit of a disorienting day for me; with Gavriel back home, it being a holiday (but not our holiday) and a few other things that are cycling through my head and aching in my heart. With that said, there was also so much good that happened today so I wanted to share it here. 

Even though it was coldy cold outside today I managed to get outside for a walk. I have a goal of doing 60 days of 60 minutes of self care. I know that I'm a much happier and healthier person when I walk, mediate and do a little yoga - yet somehow those things always find a way to the back burner. My goal is to walk for 30 minutes, sit for 15 minutes and stretch for 15 minutes. Really, I hope to go beyond 60 days but thought that was a realistic amount of time to commit to. ***A week later I'm noticing that It's not realistic for me to do all 3 of those things every day but I have managed to walk and/or sit every day***

We had a bunch of apples that were past their prime, so I made a yummy apple blueberry cobbler with a topping of almond flour, gluten free oats, brown sugar and earth balance and ate that for dinner (everyone else had mac and cheese). 

Here it is:

 I also started making a winter hat for Avigayil from this rainbow yarn she picked out last week:

The funnest part of the day was watching Avigayil bang away on her newly put together drum set. She and her friend Gabrielle had great fun starting their band. This is actually the first time she's ever used a drum set - I'm excited to see what she'll do after some lessons.


Another good thing is that that it's starting to snow, and even for this non-celebrating Jewish girl there is something special about a White Christmas.

Seeing the Good

It's been a few weeks since I've written. I won't be able to catch up on all that we've done here but I'd like to share some pictures and some general themes of our lives right now.

First, the present. I am tired!!! Avigayil has not been sleeping well so last night that looked like be sitting up with her from 4:30am to 5:00am and then her crawling into bed with me - and I don't sleep well with anyone in bed with me. However, I've been getting much better at not taking my grumpiness and spreading it around. Better. I did have a few moments this evening. But I also just had a moment where I turned it around.

 It's 10:00pm, Aderet is sleeping, Gavriel is sitting with Avigayil while she goes to sleep and Adin just finished his shower and plopped himself on the couch to finish reading "Twilight". (On a side note - he told me he thinks it's kind of boring, he doesn't like all the drama). Often (code word for most of the time) I tell Adin he needs to go read in his bed and that I'm too grumpy to see kids this time of night. However, this time I decided to turn on the gas fireplace and sit down on the couch next to him to write. He seemed really pleased with this change which already felt good. Then, I saw that my computer needed it's plug and I said out loud to myself something like, "Ugh, I need to get the plug." At which point Adin immediately asked, "Do you want me to get it for you?". WOW! It was amazing to notice how immediate my mood of spaciousness and generosity caught on.

One of the themes that I've been thinking of lately is that there are no perfect days but lots of perfect moments. Writing this blog has helped me to notice those moments more. I've also started a gratitude journal where I write 5 things every night that I am grateful for - this has been a wonderful practice for me and I can already see the fruits of my labor.

Here are a few pictures of perfect moments that I've been able to capture. There have been so many more.

This is Aderet happily working on a rug made from a hula hoop frame and old t-shirts. If you want to learn how to make it you can go here.

Here's another one of Aderet helping her Abba to change the strings on his guitar.

A blessed moment where Adin and Avigayil both voluntarily chose to get on their computers and write some stories. Adin wrote a really funny one that even had Newtons 3rd law.

This is a video from our trip to the Aquarium. The voice you'll hear is Aderet's.