family thanksgivings growing up

thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. growing up, my extended family would gather at my grandparents' house in west texas for thanksgiving, which was spent eating too much pie, playing spoons or canasta late into the night, drinking wine, climbing their mountain, and sometimes, going to a star party at the McDonald Observatory, or taking a trip to Marfa for the famed modern art museum. i also spent lots of time holed up with the huge collection of sci-fi books my grandfather had acquired and avoiding chores. it was always a highlight of the year, especially seeing all my cousins. i remember one year we made 11 pies (for 40+ people). i also seem to remember that my uncle james made a stellar dressing. and my aunt roberta usually contributed something very untraditional but delicious. i will never forget that green chili with venison. i loved that my grandmother always had cheese and bread in the fridge when we arrived from our 8-hr long drive—and espresso and a big tin of biscotti for breakfast. and my favorite was to see all my aunts in the kitchen, laughing and reminiscing together while they cooked.

i really miss my family during this time of year, now that we live in Georgia and it usually doesn't work out for us to get back to texas. but this year, we are making thanksgiving at our house! it is quite exciting, though i would much prefer to have all my family around me to help make (and eat) it. and since the only thanksgiving dish i've ever in my life made is pie, i thought that this year we'd go ahead and make everything! sounds reasonable, right? actually, my in-laws are making most of the sides, but still.

yesterday i got a head start with the gravy and a spicy red pepper cranberry relish. today it's dressing and pie-prep, so that hopefully tomorrow there won't be a crazy amount of chaos (of course there will be, otherwise it's not thanksgiving, right?).

i'm so excited. especially for the pie. :)

remembering to treasure this

when i'm in the middle of a hard night of little sleep, which is usually followed by a long day (of no napping)—which seems to be happening a lot recently, it can be easy to want to check out. to let my mind wander to the weekend when wilder's playing on the floor. to check my email while i'm feeding him. to moan when he wakes up from only a thirty-minute nap. it's hard to be "on" every minute of every day.

but sometimes in bed at night loverboy and i watch videos we've taken of him on our phones and then, as i'm watching a video from only a month ago of him, i remember how fleeting this time is. and i'm encouraged to keep being present for every moment. i re-remember how exquisitely, painfully precious these every moments are. how evanescent. it makes me sad a little. but mostly, it makes me happy that i get to spend these moments with him. no matter how sleep deprived. i'm lucky.

now, if you so choose, behold the wonder of wilder's first time on the swings:




those happy feet kill me

saturday at the park

hello from the park! sometimes, on chilly grey saturdays, the only thing for it is to go to the park.

wilder loves swinging. i'm not sure but it almost seems like he could swing for hours, which is astonishing all in itself. but, as it's the only thing he can do at the park so far, it's always kind of a short trip. i guess the truth is mama can't push a swing for hours.

strings! and tags! the importance of them supercedes all other concerns.

even slides. slides are of no importance whatsoever.

what are we moving?

mama is much too excited about the slides.

life in these parts

my baby is growing up too fast. and also, we stuck our heads outside for a bit yesterday and it was lovely. i'd forgotten just how much i love this time of year. it's visceral. the crackly leaves, the smells of fire, the darkening skies, the dreams of hot cocoa and toasty marshmallows.

we've been hunkering down here a bit, while papa works really hard, and so the past three weeks have gone by like a blur, with probably lots to say, but not a lot of energy to say it.

but papa came home early for the second night in a row and the weather outside is delightful and we pulled the last of the meals i froze in preparation for baby out of the freezer so i haven't had to cook all week! and, thanks to daylight savings, i almost feel caught up on sleep. it's really quite nice.

so here's just a few photos from last night of my two handsome boys. we really love it when papa is home. we also love boxes.