my husband knows me so well...

...he sent me this link today. doihavepigflu.com

I feel so much better.

comfort

* Written about three weeks ago

Ella's emotions have been on her sleeve today. Most likely has to do with her non-nap. And being a girl. And being my girl.

But even in the sadness, there is sweet comfort. I walked into the bathroom as Andy was bathing the girls. Sadie was singing, "I love youuuuu, Ellaaaaaaa." Over and over. In her sweet, high voice. And slowly Ella's tears stopped.

Later she was wrapped in her towel, and I was rocking her and rubbing her back. Up and down her spine. Over and over.

"It sounds like, 'It's ok, it's ok, it's ok,'" she murmured.

It took me a second to realize that in the rhythm of my hand on her back, my child heard words of comfort from her mother.

I am filled with gratitude for this moment. Not only that she experienced it, but that she shared it with me.

right now

The children are tucked in their beds. I am sitting in the living room. It is dusk outside, and it is our only light. The windows are open. The breeze is wafting through in a lazy rhythm. A neighbor is mowing his lawn, and the smell of freshly-cut grass and wild onions is riding in on the breeze. A white dogwood gleams within the otherwise muted colors of early evening.

spring.

Prayer for a Child

For her second birthday (in December) Sadie received this sweet book.

Awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1945, it is a simple prayer that covers all the comfort basics of a small child - family, friends, soft bed, bread, milk, etc. Even a "little painted chair" which we have (and I wrote about almost three years ago!).

The cadence of the words is perfectly soothing for right before bed. And while the book really can apply to either gender, I love that the girl praying has a cherub face and blond hair. In fact, Sadie started requesting a "white bow in my hair like the Prayer Book."

Sadie loves to turn the big pages and recite the whole thing.



I came across this site that had a bit of history on the book. The poem was first published in 1941, and appeared in an old NYC magazine called This Week. I loved this copy of the page.

snippets from today

* As I'm changing Sadie's clothes, she looks over my shoulder and exclaims, Mommy! You put God on my monkey! I look behind me and someone has, indeed, stuck a picture of Jesus on the monkey's foot. A Jesus-with-His-arms-spread sticker that says "Jesus is Risen."

That monkey now has a name. Andy has been (not so) subliminally trying to get Sadie on board with the moniker for a couple of days. It worked. Just today Sadie has started holding her monkey up to people and proclaiming This is Keith Richards!

Yes. Keith (Rolling Stones) Richards.




* The girls are playing outside until Ella rushes in to breathlessly report, Mama! Sadie's crying cause a worm ate her head!

(I'm pretty sure I snorted.)

I went outside and Sadie was whimpering in the grass, hand to her forehead.
It just bit her forehead, as a matter of fact. It's a tree worm, Ella further explained.

Oh. Got it. I guess "tree worm" is the correct term for these...

{image and description found here}


I love how their little minds work.

a spring swing

What's a girl to do when a pretty new dress arrives by post? Why, put it on and go swing!







{thank you, Nana!}

throw it on in!

At about (oh) 5:15pm I started racking my brain as to what we should eat tonight. I haven't gone on a grocery run in a while, and had nothing that screamed MEAL. But then I remembered my new friend Flo (who, along with her girls, will get a blog post of their own soon) put together this wild and crazy (to me) salad at my house the other day. I was inspired to make my own creation, and was so pleased with the results, I decided to share what I threw in my bowl...

* garbanzo beans
* fresh green beans (snapped into a few pieces)
* broccoli florets
* grape tomatoes (halved)
* chopped red onion
* feta cheese
* tossed with some Ali O's Haphazard Balsamic Dressing (I got out a tiny bowl and mixed 1T balsamic vinegar, 4T olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt, pepper and garlic salt. Maybe I should rename this Retain That Water Dressing)

Now that I look at the ingredients, it really doesn't seem very unique. But I think it is because I made it without a recipe (which I never do) that I deem this Worthy of the Internets.

loveys

A shot of my sweet girlies at a friend's house this Easter afternoon. They had just finished a massive egg hunt.

{picture by the fabulous documenter of all things Neighborhood Fellowship Group, Suzanne Williams}



Ella and her buds - Liv, Will and Max. This foursome has been together since they were 3-8 months old!

{also captured by Suz}



Liv, Will, Ella. I think Max had already gone home for a nap - but he was equally as bald and blue-eyed!

{pic by one of us mamas}

ski trip

Due to the current cold snap, I am inspired to post some pictures of our family ski trip to Colorado.

My parents, brother and sister-in-law (who now live in the Denver/Boulder area) and our little unit went to Keystone, CO, in February. I was going to write this whole, elaborate post, but this will have to do. It was great to be with family, and Ella skied for the first time!! She was a total natural. She and Andy took a little "Daddy and me" lesson, and it was really cute. Here are some snapshots of our time....

getting fitted for boots and skis. I look like I'm in high school...



one of my favorite pictures of the girls. Ever. their personalities are perfectly captured...



learning how to put on a ski...



riding the "magic carpet" - that was all the ski instructor needed to say, and Ella was ON...



she loved pointing her skis straight down the mountain. i am running in ski boots to try and intercept her since she did not enjoy stopping on her own...



look at my baby go!!!...



Sadie wanted in on the action...




At the end of the lesson. Ella is clearly done. Sadie clearly wants Ella's skis...



here's a Cabbage Patch doll in a snowsuit. oh wait, still Sadie...



Nana and Ba, Ella and Sadie



Andy, Clay, Sarah and Cool Girl, ready for an afternoon of skiing and snowboarding...



Good times. Good times indeed.

Sadie-tails

I have been begging. Pleading. Trying. For almost a YEAR. And this morning she let me. She ripped out only one side the first go round. Then when I got them both in I whisked her to the mirror, and the whole family exclaimed for a good five minutes. Daddy grabbed the camera...





Suddenly she wanted her monkey. Badly...



All better...

before the purge.

The amount of things sitting on my 2'x3' nightstand is unbelievable. How everything has not fallen off is a miracle unto itself. Before I clear most of the things off, I decided to document. Think of me what you will...
{we'll start with my lamp from Target. when the disc-thingies sway to reveal the bare lightbulb you get blinded. but it allows me read all of these...}

books

*A Mercy - Toni Morrison {current library read}
*The Best American Non-Required Reading 2008 {also current library read, good for reading in short spurts.}
*The Bostonians - Henry James {brought this back from my parents house in November. NOVEMBER. have not read it.}
*Same Kind of Different As Me - Hall and Moore {amazing book. I read it in December. DECEMBER. It has not made it's way down to our bookshelves.}
*Number the Stars - Lois Lowry {a Newberry Winner that was one of my favorites as a child. Reread it in December. umm, why is it still here?}
*The Message
*The ESV Bible {I'm starting to look a little holy, huh?}
*Seams to Me - Anna Maria Horner {love her fabrics. love the book. have yet to do any of the projects.}
*Simple Sewing - Lotta Jansdotter {got this for Christmas. also drool over it. also have done nothing from it.}
*Treasuring God in Our Traditions - Noel Piper {a fabulous book that helped me guide my children through Advent. it will also be great resource for Easter and other traditional holidays; including birthdays!}
*Honey for a Child's Heart - Gladys Hunt {a MUST HAVE for any parent, future parent, educator, or someone who just loves books.}
*Last Child in the Woods - Richard Louv {a startling research about the current disconnect between children and nature. i think my copy has been sitting there for two years.}
*The Tale of Despereaux - Kate Dicamillo
*Elizabeth Goudge's {one of my dearest authors} Eliots of Damerosehay Trilogy. My favorite literary family of all time. I have them in separate, hardback vintage copies courtesy of my mother. I love them.
*Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ - Jeanne Guyon {an amazing book my church's Neighborhood Fellowship Group started about a year ago.}
*The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler {yet another book read in December and begging to be shelved properly}
*Andy's baby book. I'm not really sure why currently housed there, but he was a very cute baby. And his mother was delightfully thorough in recording all kinds of milestones and Andy-isms. oh, let's have a look, shall we?

and if those teetering towers of books aren't enough, we move onto
miscellaneous. no really. Very miscellaneous.

*exactly ONE black leather Isotoner glove
*also ONE white sock with hearts encircling the ankle
*a pair of way cool earrings a friend brought me from Ethiopia
*a wooden bead necklace that Ella made
*a box of safety pins from my first consignment sale as a vendor {doesn't "vendor" sound so official?}
*a pad of paper from the Opryland Hotel
*a framed picture of Andy and me from our engagement photo shoot. it's one of my favorites ever.
*a framed picture of Ella during her first professional photo shoot as a three-month-old. chubby, bald and delicious.
*this picture
*and this one
*a couple of pens
*a journal
*another pair of earrings
*a baby monitor {because our sleepy-time noise machine is broken so we use the baby monitor to listen to Sadie's white noise machine. we are that addicted. and we do NOT need the monitor to hear Sadie when she's ready to get out of bed. I think our neighbors know when she wakes up}
*my cell phone {you know, just in case}
*Cetaphil moisturizing lotion {for the crackly winter}
*a guitar pick {not that I play the guitar.}
*a broken Sleeping Beauty Barbie necklace {like, for the actual Barbie. it's tiny. and I don't know why it's there.}
*half a roll of Lifesavers {I think Andy brought them home one day, and I had such an overwhelming excitement for a white one, he laid the roll there so I could have one. I don't remember when that was.}
*a recipe for Pumpkin Black Bean soup {seriously, why is it there? was this my bedtime story?}
*my handbook for an amazing marriage conference by this guy
*my "arsenal" {this is a pack of index cards with verses written exclusively about God's goodness. I used my parent's fatty Bible Concordance so I could get all the verses I could find. I've kept them by my bed for the last six years, and pull them out when I feel the especial need to tell Satan to get back where he came from}

Thus ends my list. Off to clean.

Wordless Wednesday

okay. so. I don't even know if these are the rules, but I'll play. I post a picture, and then you (my teaming throngs) get to write a caption. And don't worry, I won't be sad if no one plays. This is just a way for me to post this cause it makes me laugh.

sweet Ella on a blustery day

{This is a "wind ring" Ella made at preschool. She loves nothing more than to run her fastest as the colors stream behind. Not even four years old, her movements are graceful and fluid. Thoughtful, yet full of abandon. This is my daughter.}

Caldecott

Ahhh, books. It's a prevalent theme here, which is appropriate for it is a prevalent theme in my life! As a mother, I feel a particular responsibility (and overwhelming privilege) for introducing my children to a wide variety of literature. We have reached the perfect stage (in my mind) for Caldecott Medal books. Before they can read, I want their little minds to come alive through interesting and beautiful illustrations. And, I dare say, I am just as mesmerized as my children.

As we all know, I love the Nashville Public Library. I have my (super long) library PIN code memorized for when I request books. And for the past few months I've been working my way through the Caldecott Medal award and honor's list. I pick the ones that seem age-appropriate or are related to the current season (there are lots of great stories for the winter). I see which books the girls (or I) gravitate toward, and my hope is to one day own all the ones we absolutely love. In hardback. We have just a handful in our collection so far -either as gifts, or great deals online.

I am currently head over heels about Ox-Cart Man. In it, a nineteenth-century family grows and makes produce and goods all year that the man of the house puts in an ox-cart and takes to town in October. There, he sells everything (including the ox and cart), buys a few necessities, then walks home to start the year-long process over. I find it both inspiring and soothing. The book was published in 1979, which happens to be my birth year. I was thrilled to stumble upon a first-edition hardback (for less than $10 purchase and shipping)!

{this is the family making Maple syrup in the month of March}

I'm sure I'll write more about the others in our collection. And the ones we find ourselves borrowing again and again.

Ella is up from her nap, so we're off to adventure through 1954's winner, Madeline's Rescue!

here

Team O is still alive,


happy,


and crazy as ever,


I'm ready to be back.



{photos by Garett Buell}

november

Well, friends. There have been many moments between this post and the last where I've thought "Maybe I should write about this. Post a picture. Record in this modern annal the happenings of today." Obviously those moments did not find their way here, and I am okay with that. Maybe later we'll peek back.

But today. This day. I feel like I captured my children in their truest element. Their exuding joy and fullness of life. Their fashion sense. Their love for the outdoors, and for each other. They are just three-and-a-half and nearly two. Have I only had them for such a short time?

rear view

(insert required apologies for sporadic posting) These last few weeks of summer have kept the Osengas on the move. I plan to go back and start at the beginnings of our travels...but in perusing the photos of my last trip with the tiny ladies to the North Carolina coast, I noticed several taken from behind. I bundled them up in a little collection for you - you know, to stave off complete Osenglette withdrawal.










but how can I not include my favorite seafood shots...?





{photos snapped by me or my mammy}