This is how I warmed my heart and soul on a snowy day with a mama and kiddo dogpile. The kids are home from school due to the weather (again!!) today. It's the 7th snow day this year!! I would say I am over it, but today, I am not. We are having a blast!
We've made the most of it having a dance party, baking cookies, doing silly selfies/portraits together. I even danced to my friend Jeff's (@jsw0109) favorite song, "Royals" by Lorde. As I was dancing, I started singing along and my daughter pretended to shoot me with a plastic gun she was holding and I fell down 'dead' to the floor. Then I sat up and we screamed with laughter at the dramatics.
Yesterday in my woman's Bible study, I was encouraged so much by something that I heard. It was the speaker talking about living in the here and now. Not praying for the future, looking for what is next, but living in the moment and being the person that you need to be right now in this place. As a mama of young kids, I often feel discontentment with the current phase and place..."when the kids are bigger, we can..." I think. Or "when I have that better camera, I can..."
No more of that living with my mind in the future garbage. I am going to soak up every minute of the here in this place, the NOW. I'm going to dance today and laugh and enjoy because who knows what tomorrow will bring. Just wanted to share that in case any of you needed to hear that reminder today. You are blessed where you are right now. Remember that.
An interesting side note...the blanket that we are piled on, though looking a little worse for the wear, is the one that Michael proposed to me on nearly 14 years ago on February 14. We had a romantic Valentine's Day picnic and motorcycle ride...he surprised me with the motorcycle. Ah, the sweet memories...
@megmills Wireless shutter remote was my best $8 investment EVER!! Just a click of my little remote and bam!:) I mean, we are just really amazingly quick and organized;-).
Your children are so lucky to have a Mom who thinks like this and has such a fun character! I do agree with you about living in the present and look around me all the time appreciating!
@thirtysevenways I got some encouragement yesterday at my women's group that I wrote about above. It was just what I needed to hear, the reminder I craved, the kick in the pants...thought you might appreciate it, too.:)
@amandal thanks Amanda. Good words to remember but sometimes hard to remember when something you fear is looming large in front of you. Lovely photo of the four of you and I think you do need to do one with Michael in it.
This is a great story, so touching all of it - here & now and the blanket everything! Thank you for sharing! You have a wonderful family! I wish you good health, lots of happiness, true love & laughter :)
@amandal you are so silly. LOL.... I did hear a song the other day on Sirius that I liked that turned out to be that goth heroin chick. It was called Team.
Lovely family shot, you all look so happy in your here and now. Interestingly I watched a TV programme about David Hockney's photography tonight and he espoused strongly thet there is only now.
Your "here and now" advice is very good, but I can't put the future out of my mind because of my wife's continuing health problems. Your message was important to me. I love this cute family photo and the blanket sentiment.
Absolutely wonderful and fun capture. Love your description of the day and your reminder of "here and now". I always try to make the best of what the day allows me to do. Yes, enjoy your children... they are precious, and when they grow up you won't be able to spend much time with them as now.
This pic makes me happy, it´s wonderful to see such joy in all of you! Yeah, living in the moment, it reminds me of the mindfullness, which is essentially the same, bringing your mind and senses to this moment and fully be there, in mind and body. After all here and now, in this partiular moment, is the only place where we can ever really be!
@roseolivia Hehe! You said fave instead of face. Sometimes I typo fag instead of fav and shit instead of shot and have to correct it quickly. Yikes. Thanks, friend!! How you feeling today?
I love this photo of you and your kids, Amanda. You are all looking at the camera and smiling together. How you did this is beyond me. Definitely an enlarge and frame photo. One for Michael's office or phone to carry the 4 of you with him. The day you had together with your kids and the sentiment of this gorgeous blanket that you were proposed to on is so awesome. Yes, it would have been nice to have Michael in this photo also but you can take that another time. FAV
@darsphotos Great idea...and I must do this again with him. We never did get out family portrait done last year. The end of our year got so crazy with the move. Thanks so much for the fav. Oh and to do this, I used my remote timer...love that thing so much. And somehow with 3 shots, I got this one. All were pretty good actually.
@amandal I wish I had a remote timer like you do and the perfect thing to use for this photo. Nice that it only took three takes to get this one. A great Valentine's photo for Michael unless you showed it to him already or just because. Sure wish I had digital when my son was growing up.
@fullcircle Thanks, Cindy!
@tracie8266 Truly...and I feel the same. I guess I never grew up:).
@smellychelli Aw, bless you for the fav. Thanks so much, Michelle!!
@darsphotos Great idea...and I must do this again with him. We never did get out family portrait done last year. The end of our year got so crazy with the move. Thanks so much for the fav. Oh and to do this, I used my remote timer...love that thing so much. And somehow with 3 shots, I got this one. All were pretty good actually.