from my little monsters to you and yours...

_________________________________________________

the boys costumes were fitting this year,

as they literally ran from door to door.

rubin ran out of steam and insisted on being carried

(my his mama)

to each house's walkway.

after saying "trick or treat"

and then "thank you" after he received his first scoop of candy,

he politely asked each giver

"two?!"

of course, no one said no.

________________________________________________

his oldest brother was gravely disappointed

when i told him that we could only go trick or treating

one time on halloween day.

_________________________________________________

and emmett...

proudly wore his "race" apparel.

when we got home he told me that he

"won the race and didn't get hurt."

good thing.

somedays i feel like...

i can't step away,

even for long enough to go to the bathroom,

without coming back to find...

a giraffe on my stovetop trying to get in to his papa's pizza peppers.

i'm all about emmett lately.

and i really can't help myself.

i mean, truly, i can't...

...he requires all of me.

all of my patience,

energy,

simultaneous strength and tenderness,

will.

and, while i'm mostly exhausted,

i know he deserves my everything, all of the time.

i never could have imagined him,

and i never knew it could be,

all at once,

this difficult

and this good.

lefty...

or righty?

or... could we have another ambidextrous korean in the family??

saving the date

i'm definitely a pupil of the "bigger is better" school of thought.

specifically,

when it comes to my family,

i prefer huge!!

and so, nothing made me happier than a phone call from my big brother a few weeks back announcing that he finally asked his longtime girlfriend to marry him.

it's about time, joshua!

(i loved our niece lucy's response...

"i thought you were married!!")

i'm looking forward to all of the ways that our family

is going to grow and change in 2011...

aunt jenny and

big cousins ellie and macy,

new baby cousins, being born and coming home from korea, too.

no elbow room at the dinner table?!

no problem!!

THIS is how we roll...

all around

on the floor

while in the middle of

a serious hissy fit.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

need to see that one more time?

there you go.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i have been a mama now for over 2003 days.

that's almost 287 weeks... which is

48,072 hours or

2,884,320 minutes or

173,059,200 seconds.

that's a whole lot of mama-ing...

who in the hell said "practice makes perfect?!"

Ok, NOW it's time...

they are washing machines.

in the background. see them?

washing machines.

i'm coming back to my blog.

one of my last posts (or, excuses for a post) before my little hiatus was about airing it. all of my dirty laundry.

and, if I really had...

oh.

you'd have seen some falling apart.

this summer was for learning

letting go

leaning in

loving less...

and so much more.

cleaning up on the inside.

and letting some of our dirt show on the outside...

we're not worse for our wear. (far from it.)

and now that i've come to understanding(s)

now that i'm standing, we're back on our feet...

i'm ready to write, again.