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Monthly Archives: June 2011

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Utopia

June 28, 2011 – 11:15 pm

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.” —T.S. Eliot

By kara | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach, James, Owen | Comments (0)

A Rainy Day Fort

June 24, 2011 – 8:51 am

“The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain. This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you’d just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot […]

By kara | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged fort, rain, Sophie | Comments (1)

Happy Birthday, Babe

June 24, 2011 – 8:43 am

I love that you’re playing again. And I love all that you are and all that you do. Happy birthday. (And thank you!) “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” —Berthold Auerbach

By kara | Posted in All | Comments (0)

Charlie

June 24, 2011 – 8:31 am

Sophie’s Great Aunt Susan and Great Uncle Dale visited us for a night, along with their son, Charlie. We introduced them to Cincinnati-style chili at Skyline (and they treated us to dinner—thank you!). And Sophie had a blast playing with her ever-patient and ever-fun cousin. It’s not easy being asked over and over and over […]

By kara | Posted in All | Comments (0)

Date Night, Past and Present

June 19, 2011 – 12:45 am

Tonight, while my parents are at Shaker Village celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary, Andy and I hired a babysitter to watch all three kids for the first time and we dined at Brio where I had the lobster ravioli and Andy had some sort of chicken pasta dish and then we saw Woody Allen’s “Midnight […]

By kara | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged parenthood | Comments (1)

Let’s Make Wishes

June 15, 2011 – 12:46 pm

Lately, Sophie is obsessed with wishes. (And the word “obsessed.” She uses it constantly. Like when Owen is trying to take her baby stroller from her—she’ll run to me and say, “Mommy, Owen is obsessed with the stroller. Make him stop!” She demands puffy white dandelions on our walks—she makes wishes while she blows them. […]

By kara | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Sophie, wish | Comments (0)

"Watching" the Reds

June 13, 2011 – 5:31 pm

My dad recently took Sophie to a Cincinnati Reds game, just the two of them. She was so excited for this outing and, literally, grabbed his hand and pulled him out our front door when it came time for them to go. My dad loves baseball. He grew up playing it, listening to it, dreaming […]

By kara | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged baseball, Sophie | Comments (4)

Sophie’s Treasures

June 11, 2011 – 1:10 pm

Many months ago Sophie’s Grandma and Paw Paw made her a small treasure box. They painted it to match her room and lined the inside with lovely fabric. She loves her treasure chest, more so than many of her beloved toys, and is very specific about what’s allowed in it. The contents change, sometimes daily. […]

By kara | Posted in All | Comments (4)

Daddy’s Home

June 6, 2011 – 5:25 pm

“There’s nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.” —Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

By kara | Posted in All | Comments (0)

Now That We’re 1 …

June 6, 2011 – 5:02 pm

Mom decided we could paint! While we sat in our highchairs Mom and Sophie rolled our painters’ paper and taped it to the floor. After we scribbled for about two seconds (on the paper and ourselves), we decided to suck on the paint. And then, we decided to crawl. At this point there are no […]

By kara | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, James, Owen | Comments (3)
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    Parenthood: Your kid hitting a Wiffle ball into the second-story box gutters a week after you had the gutters professionally cleaned and during a week of torrential downpours, causing interior water damage. Marriage: Your partner insisting on not re-hiring the gutter cleaners and instead buying a ladder level so he can fix it himself and then insisting the ladder level is too expensive and he should build one on his own. (Which he does. And which he used. While I had my thumb on the last “1” in 911 and the boys continued hitting Wiffle balls in the front yard as another storm brewed.) These are photos from last Father’s Day to today, of all the times @mungk79 showed up, despite this year’s grief. He doesn’t like social media mush but let me just say he loves these kids so well, and I’m grateful. This is my dad’s garden. He grows everything from seed, often seeds he’s saved from last year’s harvest. Everything’s organic. Those weed-free rows are from tilling and hand pulling. Two years ago my father-in-law told him he had to grow Bradford watermelons. And so, my dad did. He saved the seeds from last year and those seeds are this year’s crop. Marty, who liked to say to my dad, “You don’t garden! You farm!” would have loved those watermelons. Maybe Marty’s a bird. Maybe he flies over those watermelons. Maybe he knows. (We miss him.) My dad instilled in me many things, so much of which is exemplified in his garden. The importance of daily hard work, recycling, removing the bad so the good can grow, following directions (except when you truly know better), making space for beauty (he planted rows and rows of zinnias using seeds from mom’s last-year flowers), harvesting (despite your busy calendar), preserving in Mason jars for the future, eating all the zucchini (even when tired of zucchini), giving your over abundance away (he’s donated so much to the Freestore Foodbank). As I pulled radishes with him I was thankful and grateful for it all. After discovering the joy of mud at Rossford Park, Io had his first bath. ❤️ One of Andy’s birthday gifts. @karart_01, a recent HHS grad and accomplished artist, painted Tucker for us. ❤️ And @framednky did a beautiful job framing it. (Kara is working part-time at Framed NKY now and she does all sorts of commissions!) This kid turned 40 yesterday. We sure do love him. Earlier: STOP chewing on that. Leave the cat alone. Not my computer cord. Drop it. Child: “HE’S PEEING!” (After just having been outside for 20 minutes where all he did was chase bugs and eat grass.) What are you eating? That’s not food! STOP CHASING JUPITER! Ouch, no. Down. Play with this. Or this. Or this! No, not that. Wait, stop, you’re stuck. Let me help you. Again. Drop the pen. Drop the Post-its. Just, be calm. Now: OMG you are so adorable and soft and perfect in every way and I love you. (Earlier will begin again shortly.) Jupiter is not amused by the new addition to the family. Also, we finally named the puppy! It’s Io, which is also the name of one of Jupiter’s moons. (And tomorrow you should be able to see Jupiter and several of its moons, including Io, with binoculars!) My parents’ roses are gorgeous this year! (Really should have taken a picture of the other side, too!) Ice cream with the Pirates after practice. Thanks, Uncle Skip! chomp 74 degrees at 8:07 pm. I think their skin is turning purple but they are so happy. Perhaps it’s time I took down the mistletoe. Summer work-from-home, always a tricky practice in balance. Me to them: It’s OK and good to be bored sometimes. Me to myself: They will eventually find themselves in creative, independent play. And they do. Most of the time. (It’s often messy.) Still, I could live the rest of my life without hearing “Can we get on electronics now?”. That, too, is a daily practice in balance. I guess everything is about balance, really. And it’s all tricky, with so many parents claiming their way is right. My summer wish is simply this: calmness and happy chaos weighing much more heavily than the chaos that inevitably leads to (me) yelling. No one’s perfect, I tell them. Not them and certainly not me. Sometimes the scales slip. And when they do I (often rightfully) get upset but I hope, want, to do so in a way that’s less loud and more silent breath work, for all involved, with many hands working together to pile up the other side. Lofty, I know. These two always want to spend the night at Nini and Pop Pop’s without parental supervision. Reason No. 72 why. ❤️ breeze First day/last day! James came out with a GIANT paper airplane. “I made it out of a poster hanging in the library!” (He claims he had permission.)
    TAP

  • Favorite Essays

    Choosing Compassion in a Culture of Fear

    Seeking the Bigness in the Everyday

    The Love in Trying

    The View from Up High

    Season of Innocence

    The Huffington Post guest post: Apologies to the Parents I Judged Four Years Ago, a TIME's top 10 opinion piece in 2012

    Simple

    Changing Love

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