Here’s a serious aside that totally takes away from what I’m going to write about in this post but it’s buzzing in my head so if I don’t get it out, it’s going to buzz around more and throw a wrench into the whole post-writing works: I can’t help wondering, why is it I don’t GET NaPloBloMo as an “url acronym”. I mean, I can never remember it the way I remember NaNoWriMo. I always want to say, “NaBloMo … um something”. The only reason why I get it right is because I check out my own links first, each and every time. Sheesh. You’d think I’d know it by now.

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, back to Staying in Love with Life. What I really wanted to say is that I’m having one of those gloriously beautiful moments when I realize how wonderful this life I’ve created is.

I love moments like this, because the bliss factor is just brilliant. I also love that I’m having this moment, when just four hours ago I was tackling a deadline for an assignment that I really really didn’t like. I was emailing friends and telling my family, look, next time something like this comes up, please, please, please REMIND me how much I hated it the last time, so I won’t take it on again.

Yet still, now that it’s over and done with, I am touching that bliss. There’s a consistency to the practice of Being who you choose to be, and this, I think, is what happens when you do practice this Being consistently, as consistently as possible. I’ve been doing that, or being aware of wanting to do that (two different things but still close enough in some ways, I think).

Dylan is all better now, by the way. He insisted I take this picture of him “doing ballet”:

Yes, that’s my kid. He loves trains, cars and trucks, princesses, dragons, playing the Wii, jumping on the trampoline, going to IKEA just to have their mac n cheese, ballet, his Trainz game on the computer, Thomas the Tank Engine, chess, drawing, singing and giving lots of hugs and kisses. We’ve been trying to find a ballet or dance class that he can take that isn’t all girls. I figure one will show up when the timing is right.

And right now, it feels so easy staying in love with life.

One of the sweetest things about Dylan is that he insists on seeing everyone out the door when they leave. We all get this special treatment – he’ll race to the front door to give hugs and kisses before you go, and then you can’t forget to wave as you’re walking by the front windows, because he’s planted himself there, waving at you ahead of time.

When Ward takes Dylan out to clay class or for speech therapy, Dylan always insists that not only should Mommy get a kiss from Dylan, she should also get a kiss and a hug from Daddy. To prove his point, he drew this picture the other day:

Mommy and Daddy Kissing

Dylan’s Day Yesterday

Yesterday, Dylan had a busy day. I had to stay home, of course, since I’ve got these deadlines (you know, the ones that have been coming out of my ears all week?), so it was just Dylan and Daddy. First they went to speech therapy:

Mommy: How did speech therapy go?

Dylan: Good.

Mommy: Did you have fun?

Dylan: Yes. (with a very nice emphasis on the “sss”, I might add)

Mommy: What did you do?

Dylan: I don’t remember.

(Yes, I think he’s trying on teenager-ese for the fun of it.)

But then after speech therapy, he did something fun – he and Daddy only had an hour before his chess lesson, so: “Mommy, I went to Ol’ McDonald’s and I got this!” (flourishing a little metal car which was part of his Happy Meal. Of which, Daddy reports, he ate the fries and nothing else.)

We had a more eloquent report about the chess lesson (which we’re doing with a group of homeschoolers and a private instructor – Dylan’s the youngest there, and we were a little bit hesitant at first because it’s a two-hour class. But it worked and he loves it.)

Mommy: Did you have a good time at chess?

Dylan: It was deee-lightful.

Dylan Draws: People!

He had a lot of fun this morning – he’s discovered that he likes drawing people! Note: he supplied all the titles.

Girl sleeping on a pillow.

Boy with a whistle.

Girl with hair.

As soon as we finished taking pictures, he took the cape off. He liked the hat, though.

It was a gorgeous, warm night. We got out, and Dylan marvelled at our lit pumpkin. We started walking, and he was very interested in each house we went to. But after we hit five houses, he said, “I want to go to three more houses, and then I want to go home.”

He is a little boy who has very firm opinions. After we went to the sixth house, he said, “Now we’re going to go to two more houses, and then we’re going to go home.”

And then: “Now we’ll go to one more house, and then we go home.”

And finally: “Okay, let’s go home now.”

But he did have a good time. And he remembered to say “thank you” every time. Plus he really enjoyed ringing the doorbells.

Tonight I finally got around to doing something I’ve been procrastinating for a while – and it’s left me wondering, why on earth was I procrastinating?

We buy a lot of cookbooks around here. My husband loves to cook, but while he enjoys reading cookbooks and picking out things to try, he prefers to cook recipes that I’ve chosen – it’s always better to cook something that you know someone wants to eat. So one of my jobs when it comes to the kitchen is sitting down with our latest cookbooks and going through each one, writing down recipe names and page numbers for every dish that catches my fancy.

I do this in a Cambridge steno pad. I use a Zebra pen that glides over the pages. All in all, it’s a very enjoyable experience. Yet it’s something I seem to always put off. And then one day we both notice we’re eating dishes prepared from the same cookbook – because Ward’s cooked so many of the ones I’ve chosen, there’s not much left to select!

Our recipe steno pad

So tonight I went through two of our latest cookbooks, and have a third ready to dive into. It’s been a very enjoyable evening so far.

I also uploaded the second batch of pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend last weekend, taken during our Thanksgiving dinner at my sister’s place. I still have a third batch of pictures to upload into a blog post (did I mention I am a procrastinator, and a masterful one at that, too?)

Dylan and Ward have been making gingerbread cookies, too. We recently added a KitchenAid Pro mixer to our arsenal of kitchen gadgets, so gingerbread was one of the first things Ward tested out. We also bought a new cookie cutter – in the shape of a train, of course! Here are two of the cookies, decorated by Dylan for Oma and Happy (Ward’s mom and dad):

Train cookies.

They left with only one, though, since Dylan really really wanted to share one with them

Today’s Big Draw Drawings

Dylan drew a boxcar today – not an unusual choice of subject, but he tried something today that he’s never done before. He drew the boxcar using color only – rather than drawing the shape of the boxcar first and then coloring it in, he approached it like a painter, laying down swathes of color.

Boxcar. Crayola markers.

And me? A shoe! (I love shoes.)

Shoe. Pen.

Of course, with all the running around, we didn’t get much drawing done. But when he came home, Dylan decided to use the Paint program on his computer. He’s been doing a bit of drawing in Paint lately, so we saved today’s for his Big Draw post:

Train. Paint program.

I didn’t draw today, but I’ve got a great substitute! My daughter Hayley finished the video she just made with her friend Heather, and they’ve uploaded it to YouTube. It’s hilarious, especially during the fight scenes. She’s the one with the dark hair. And if you look very carefully, about midway through the video, you’ll see Dylan riding his tricycle on the back deck. He saw them filming outside and had to get out there and be a part of the action

It’s called “The Ultimate Battle for Pepsi”:

It’s great to have creative kids. They’re hardly ever bored!

It was a nice afternoon despite the short waiting time between teachers. It’s always nice to hear teachers talk about your kids, kind of like getting another perspective and as a parent, it can be very lovely seeing your children through another’s eyes (usually!). Most of the teachers we met with today were genuinely interested in our kids, and there were a few that I certainly would have liked to have had as teachers way back when!

The Big Draw

I’ve been reading your comments to Dylan and he’s quite thrilled with it all, although he’s still not quite certain exactly who you all are He calls everyone “other people’s websites” (Until I got busy with deadlines, I’ve been showing him your blogs and all your lovely artwork.)

Today Dylan chose to post the gas station he drew:

Gas Station. Crayola markers.

And I had some spare time to draw, so attempted a few more faces:

Faces. Pen.

Things are a little less hectic the next few days, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to get around to seeing everyone’s blogs and drawings again soon. I’ve really missed that part of my day, reading your thoughts on Google Reader and clicking through to see beautiful artwork.

Which unfortunately left me very little time for other things, like drawing! So The Big Draw will be on hold until tomorrow. (Dylan, on the other hand, did his drawings both yesterday and today!)

Both dinners were a lot of fun; we took a ton of pictures so I’ll be sorting through those. Sitting down today, both Ward and I talked about how much we have in our lives to appreciate, how blessed we are.

And most of all, today I’ve been thinking about a quote that my friend Bethie sent me:

“… you do live in an environment of absolute grace. And the more you practice thoughts of that and watch for evidence of that and speak it, you beat the drum of it whenever you see it.”

- Abraham-Hicks

And that’s my intention – Absolute Grace. And as I sit here reflecting on all that’s good in my life, and my gratitude and appreciation of all of it, it does indeed feel like I’m surrounded by absolute grace.

1. After dinner conversation with my oldest son, loving so much who he is, how he’s growing and thinking, the person he’s becoming.

2. A gourmet meal on a Monday night, lovingly prepared by my darling husband.

3. Laughing and joking with my daughter, adoring who she is.

It turned out wonderfully. After eating, he decided to draw, and now he’s got the first few pages of a book about fruits. Being a child who doesn’t eat any fruit except apples, I was surprised at his depth of knowledge about so many fruits! And I got to finish my lunch leisurely, including vanilla ice cream on a waffle for dessert.

Lemon, Pear & Banana so far

Need another colour …

Drawing the Watermelon

Of course, being Dylan, there had to be a train in there somewhere. This one delivers all the fruits to the stores, but not, as I had suggested, in Canada, because “Canada doesn’t have steam engines”. Oh, yes, that’s right. So we decided it was probably the Island of Sodor:

The Requisite Train Picture

And this one is for Daddy (if he can get wireless today!) Yes, that’s a chocolate smudge on Dylan’s nose (he wiped it off all by himself when we got our hot towels with the bill):

This One's For Daddy

I promised I would upload the pictures from his book when he’s finished (right now he’s got a cover page – of an apple, of course (which might end up being today’s Big Draw) – and two inside pages). And since we talked about various fruits, and will end up writing down all the names as well as putting together the book, I think this counts as homeschooling, for sure!