Weekend life - Simple things

As I have said previously, we are making a concerted effort to find new and exciting ways to enjoy the weekend. We have still managed to fit in a playground visit, weather permitting every Saturday. I love this particular playground, I wish I could have discovered it sooner.

Most of the times we buy lunch and have it in the picnic area.  It makes lunch extra special!

I have to admit that my son has watched parts of the Harry Potter movies.  While I admit they are not age appropriate, he is fascinated by the movies and the magic.  He comes to this cylinder and plays "petronas" in it.  I find it extremely cute!

This mini train is his favorite.  We pretend it's Thomas and we are going to Sodor on an adventure.

This past Saturday I let Carr bring his favorite toys to play in the sandbox.  We played there for two hours playing good guys and bad guys.  Carr had so much fun and so did his mommy.

I tried to teach him to write his name...not bad for a first time!

"Mommy, mommy look at my feet!"

"I have sand!"

He was learning all about foot prints and tire tracks.

See you next weekend!

Favorite Time of Year - Autumn

As I sit here tonight and reflect on the past two weeks, I often wonder why I love Autumn so much.  Is it because the morning air is crisper, the trees show off their new shades of red, orange and gold or is it because there are so many family traditions that are conceived during this season?  I honestly can't choose only one and what I have listed before is only scrapping the surface.  Take a minute and close your eyes and imagine new sharpened pencils, the smell of new leather shoes, yellow school buses, red, orange, and gold, pumpkins, apples, sweaters and baking...yes lots and lots of baking.  These are just to name of few but my heart beats to a new tune and I find myself thinking of holidays, college football and knitting.  Gosh, I love autumn.

No wonder it is by far the busiest time of year for me.  Lots to do, lots to plan for - Did you know we have 95 days until Christmas?  If you're an organizing freak like I am - well you are very busy.  Which brings me to our first Autumn outing - Apple Picking!

 I took many photos, too many to post but hopefully the ones I have chosen will highlight the absolutely wonderful day we all had.  

 My little man was such a pro!  I didn't have to teach him what to do, other than not to pick apples from the ground.  He was so careful and quiet it caught me off guard.  Usually the little world-wind rushes into everything but not today.

Such fun times!  As a mom, you never know what your child will remember, I sure hope that this day will be a treasured memory for Carr.  He had a great time with his friends and his aunts that he loves so much.  Thank you guys for making this day special!

Short Haitus

Hi!

I apologize for my absence but as I have explained before, September is the busiest time of year at work for me.  You couple that with planning our family vacation and doing some new projects that you will read about soon - I have not had enough time to sit and play catch up with all I have to document through this blog. 

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew."

Saint Augustine (354 AD - 430 AD)

Not just another post

If there is something I constantly struggle internally about is how to teach my son tolerance.  Today of all days is when I think of it the most.  Today marks the 9th anniversary of what we now call the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  I don't know where to start and how to go about anything related to this subject.  I want my son to love his country, respect all the people that live in this generous country of ours and I want him to not be afraid.  If you ask me it is a monumental task considering the environment in which we live today.

There is no denying that everything has changed since that day, nothing will be the same and no matter how many years go by for those who were alive during that day, they will always remember where they were, what they were doing, the smells and the noises.  It is a day that will forever remain tattooed in our collective physique.

I remember I received a phone call that woke me from a dead sleep and that for the following 6 hours I would experience a fear that I never want to live through again.  You see, my brother and my dad were in NY and they had told us that prior Sunday that they would be going to the Twin Towers on Monday or Tuesday.  They never gave us an exact day and for the next 6 hours we tried to communicate with them unsuccessfully.  Thankfully, both my brother and dad were OK, they went on Monday.  That does not escape the fact that so many lives were lost that day, so many lives were changed that day.  And whether we like it or not our beliefs, and attitudes towards others have forever changed.  We have become less trusting, intolerant and sometimes unforgiving, but can you blame us, we still hurt, we still remember as it were yesterday.  How long will it take?  I can't answer that.  But what I can do is teach my son not to take anything for granted, liberty, our way of life, change, tolerance, forgiveness and compassion.  I want to thank the men and women that fight and protect our country, that their sacrifice does not go unrecognized.