Opened Eyes see much more.

Maybe those gorgeous Sunrises and Sunsets happen all the time and I only think they happen a few times a year because I wasn’t paying attention.

But with Sunrises like these…  Let’s just say, I’m paying attention now.  Or at least my eyes are open.  They must have been closed when I wasn’t dreaming.  Funny how things can change overnight.  It seems the skies are full of wonder and color multiple times a week lately.

In about 10 years when my daughter leaves the nest I’m going to take over her room,

kick out the wall,

add a huge window (who cares if it makes the back of my house look funny),

and watch the sky.  She gets the best views.  Whenever I see the least bit of color in the sky I run upstairs, pop open her window and snap away.  She complains that I’m letting all the warm air out.   I retort that I’m just letting fresh air in.

It’s been relatively dry for the last week and some odd days, which means one thing.

The kids are outside – Finally!  And honk, who cares if it’s only 50 degrees.  I can’t seem to keep jackets or sweaters on my kids.  They throw on whatever shoes they can find and fly around the yard.  Probably releasing a winters worth of pent-up energy every hour they are out playing.

Now we know why the boys shoes mysteriously turn up in the yard.

The girls have rekindled their fascination with the fairy village we built in tree last summer. 

They often leave the fairies notes telling them how beautiful and clever they are.  Fairies like flattery, I mean who doesn’t like a kind word now and then.

And once in a great while, the wee things respond by leaving the girls some fairy dust and trinkets.

The dry weather has made me dream about reclaiming my secret garden.  Maybe this will be it’s year to shine.  Maybe is an awfully big word.

 

Meanwhile, I’m going to continue to annoy my daughter and throw open her window whenever I see some color in the sky.  Cause the important part is – My eyes are open again and I want to enjoy the beauty around me.

My computer isn’t too beautiful right now.  The fan is dying. Sometimes I get lucky and it works while sounding  like a Mexican jumping bean fiesta under the keyboard.  Other times, I’m not so lucky and it doesn’t work, thereby overheating the whole thing and shutting itself down after a few minutes of work.  Frustrating, either way.  As you can tell, it’s noisily working right now.  Don’t know when I’m going to get it fixed.  I haven’t had great luck with getting the resident computer repairman (my husband) to find a spare minute to work on it.  I’m not to upset because I know the poor guy is swamped. 

While I’m waiting though, I’m going to keep dreaming with my eyes wide open.

No I haven’t disappeared.

 

Yes, I am still alive.  However, my computer is on life support.  Hopefully we will both be back soon.  Meanwhile – Have a Beautiful day.

And until my laptop is feeling well, I’ll be sure and keep busy with my distractions.

 

Tootles,

FawnDear

Dreaming

Today was the perfect day to Dream.   Mists of enchantment surrounded my dreams.

 

And a precious rainbow graced my view for a full ten minutes this afternoon.

Every weekend I visit Dreamland now. I escape to it in an effort not to be overwhelmed with the Unbloggable.  And I’m doing a better job at dreaming.  I’ve no doubt that the unbloggable will be with me for the rest of my life, sometimes more present than at other times, sometimes more painful, sometimes full of hope for a peaceful future.  Last weekend it was dreadful but I didn’t let it pull me down.   I kept dreaming.

I was thinking, it might not be a bad idea to give you a glimpse into some of my little dreams that are ongoing as we speak.

I’m still busily creating a dress fit for a fairy queen.  Every weekend it gets a bit more sparkle and whimsy added to it.

 

Last weekend I also picked up an old friend.  Someone I haven’t spent time with for over 11 years.

My crochet hooks.

I was inspired after seeing Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist work her magic on an afghan of delightful colors.  And then I happened on a crochet pattern simple enough for me to read.  Thank you Future Girl – My girls and I love your crochet/bead bracelets.

I think the only way I was able to read her wonderful pattern is because she also included pictures.  Thank you Future Girl.

Nearly every day my girls suggest a new color they would love to have in bracelet form.

We may be busy for a while.  But I’m grateful because it’s nice to know that after so long a time without my hook, I still know how to wield it.  I wish I was better at knowing my crochet terms, but now is as good as time as any to relearn them.  Who knows maybe someday I can try something to the magnitude of what my mother creates.

Can you believe that she doesn’t know how to read a written pattern?  She counts the stitches and figures it out on her own. 

Maybe I owe some of these fine dreams to Rkimedes.  She lovingly created me a little dream catcher.  I’m hanging it at my weekend dream retreat.

 

I love that she included a heart, in the web, inspired by one of my favorite dream songs.  ‘A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes.’

 

Yep, dreams are my sanity right now.  I’m so glad I finally have them back in my life.  I’m including so many of these dreams in my dream journal. 

  

‘The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.’        ~Eleanor Roosevelt

There is no greater feeling in the world than when those dreams come true.  And I, for one, am looking forward to many more dreams coming true.

Sidetracked!

I’ve so much to tell you but I keep getting sidetracked.  I wanted to tell you how wonderful it felt to pick up a crochet hook after nearly 11 years.  All the wonderful projects the girls and I have been working on.  The Dreams.  How we turned off the T.V. a few weeks early… etc.

The sleep, the challenges, the ups and downs of life with six very different kids.  But I can’t bring myself to form two coherent sentences because my attention in focused on Haiti.  I’ve been checking up news updates every couple of hours, and my heart aches for their pain.

I’ve only been through one quake in my life that I actually felt and it shook me to my core.   A 6.8 magnitude, but it was deeper in the earth so the damage wasn’t catastrophic like you seen in Haiti.  I remember hurriedly crowding toddlers and small children under my large dining room table, watching the chandelier sway a few feet and seeing my vehicle out the front window bouncing up and down like a toy.  Then when it the shaking stopped, I grabbed my little ones and rushed to the nearby elementary school to make sure my other two kiddo’s were o.k.  They were fine.  I was the one freaking out.  No damage, no injury, only frayed nerves. 

I haven’t shown my kids too much of the news but I have told them a little about it.  However, I can’t tell them about it without getting a little emotional. 

My heart was touched yesterday afternoon when my daughter Lea brought me a sandwich bag full of her carefully saved money. 

‘Mom, I want this to go and help the children in Haiti,’ she said as she handed me the bag. ‘Maybe it could help so that they could stop dying.’ My husband and I had donated earlier in the day to an organization providing food, water, tents, medicine and more.  But I hadn’t really talked about it with the kids.

I love that Lea has a big heart.  I know her money will help.  But for many it will be too late.  One foreign relief worker told Reuters, ‘"Money is worth nothing right now, water is the currency."

Water, Medicine, Food, all needed.  All slowly trickling into a country with Millions of people so desperate.   Donations do make a difference, and I’m so grateful for those Doctors, Missionaries, Search and Rescue, and Military people who are flying in to help, and I pray for them as well as the people of Haiti.

Sometimes sidetracked can be a good thing.  I don’t think I’ve gone through our 72 hour kids for 5 years.  Time to update.  And those empty water barrels in the back yard, – now would be an excellent time to wash them out and fill them up.  Family escape drill, emergency contact information – perfect for our Family Home Evening activity on Monday.  I’m grateful that I have the means to help my family be a little bit more prepared.  I’ve no doubt that we will all have to deal with disaster at some time or another, so for me Preparedness is Hope.  And when you see the eyes of people who have lost Hope on the news, it makes you want it all the more for yourself as well as them.

Here are some great organizations that can use the donations to help and that are on the ground in Haiti helping as we chat.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Emergency Response

American Red Cross

Save the Children

World Vision International

Mercy Corps

Unicef

Care

Hopefully soon I’ll be able to let you in on all the other mommy adventures happening in our forest.  They are magical to say the least.

One Magical Morning

Nothing gets my kids out of bed faster than mom excitedly calling them to view a bit of morning magic.

Only a couple of times of year are the heavens so brilliantly lit with swirling flames of glorious color, they cannot be ignored.

The entire skyline enchanted us for a full 10 minutes with it’s magical display of hues and tints extraordinaire.

So breathtaking that you just didn’t want it to end.

 

When they sky finally turned a dull gray we vowed to keep the magic of the morning with us throughout the day. 

So my girls and I started planning for our participation in a very fun upcoming Fairy Swap hosted by FairyChildHeirlooms.  Click on the picture to see more info.

We dug out our fairy craft boxes and dreamed of all the wonderful fairy treasures we could create.

Yes, we’re dreaming again – And I Like It! Glitter Pixie Dust,  fairy fabric, beads and charms are the perfect ingredients to make that morning magic last a wee bit longer.

And I just had to visit the blog of Button Willow Cottage – if only to listen to the enchanting music she plays there.

Hope you have a magical day too.

Tootles, 

FawnDear the Forest Fairy Follower

Energy Generated During Sleep…

‘Oh she’s/he’s sleeping, doesn’t she/he look like an angel?’

A common phrase heard when someone is remarking on the peaceful slumber of a young child.

Whereas, I have always referred to it as Sigh, ‘Recharging’. A time in which I scramble to accomplish all the other daily tasks that are nigh impossible to do with an extremely overactive preschooler under the roof.

Yep, my kids don’t sleep, they recharge. Much as our beloved cartoon hero’s Phineas and Ferb. My children also dream of wildly imaginative tasks that no one their age should attempt.

‘Aren’t you a little young you be giving a monkey a shower?’

‘Why Yes, Yes we are.’

But instead of building a rocket, backyard roller coaster or climbing up the Eiffel Tower. My kids are redecorating household surfaces and even toilet seats with permanent markers and climbing up the food splattered walls.

And sometimes Miss Hope just gets so darn excited during her sleep planning sessions she forgets to breathe. Finally, after over six months of waiting we FINALLY got her into the sleep study center.

And they thought it might be a good idea to hook her up to all of these here wires. I was thinking entanglement nightmare, but it wasn’t has bad as I thought it would be. That and I didn’t have to untangle them in the morning.

I think the wonderful tech guy only had to come in and reattach cords 4 or 5 times during the night. Which is a major endorsement of the glue and tape they used to apply the electronics, because Hope flips and flops like a fish out of water in her sleep. I know, I’ve been the recipient of a few well placed slaps and kicks to the noggin over the years.

Here’s my little FrankenHope all wired up and ready for bed. Her hair alone hides another 6 to 8 wires. And the finger sensor, well that one was her favorite. It lit up like E.T.’s glow digit as soon as the lights were dimmed. Can you guess which wire they had to reattach the most often during the night?

Wires and microphones to detect every little twitch and snore. And then even to differentiate whether the snore came from Hope or her mother bouncing restlessly on the comfy cot they kindly supplied.

Now we just have to wait four weeks for the results. But the best news is Hope and the Awesome staff both survived the night. Hope walked away with tons of glue needing to be washed from her hair and a brand new stuffed tabby cat she named Ella. Can you sense that Pumpkin is going to have new furry friend to be forced to play with?

Mom however is in desperate need of a nap.

All Phineas and Ferb characters, episodes, and locations are Trademarks & Copyright © of the Walt Disney Company 2007-2009. FawnDear is in no way affiliated with The Walt Disney Company or any of its subsidiaries (but they can hire me any darn tooting time they feel like it.) All information included in this site, including character shots like the one above depicting Phineas and Ferb and their secret agent pet Perry the Platypus is here for strictly informational reasons (You know comparing their imagination to that of my offspring). That and the writer of this blog loves their cartoon and thinks you too should check it out. No copyright infringement is intended.

Out with the Old

I’m bustin’ out of last year as fast as possible.   Mr. Help-I’ve-Fallen-And-I-Can’t-Get-Up Snowman demonstrates the effects of certain (last year) unbloggables.  They can knock you off your feet for a while.  But not long…

There are always friends around to pick you back up.  Give you a kick in the pants, smack you straight and set you back on the path.

And I’m moving forward.

Packing up Christmas was easy this year.  

I’m going to miss my magical reindeer relatives though.  And I certainly look forward to meeting up again with them at years end.

I’m sure they’ll look over the other holiday magic while it’s resting.

Oh, and before I forget.  I want to wish a special Thank you to ‘Some Lady’ who left me this little planter along with a delicious nut bread.  I wasn’t home when she dropped it off.  And my kids just said it was from, ‘Some Lady.’  So thanks ‘Some Lady’.  I guess it’s time to teach my kids how to politely ask for names if they don’t happen to remember the familiar friendly face.

So Christmas is packed up and we celebrated a New York Time New Years Eve with our little girls.  How smart is that.  Celebrate New Years at 9 on the Pacific Coast, watch the sparkly ball fall, then send the kids to bed so we can all be well rested for the first day of the New Year.

And I know you are all about busting out to see my new cabinets in the kitchen.  Thing is, I really don’t want to reveal them until they are done.  That might still be awhile. but seeing as we are out with the old and in with the new.  I’ll show you the old cabinets next to the new ones.  Exact same doors and drawers, just given a clean fresh start.  

I will definitely have to add some knobs to them to keep the filthy fingerprints from mucking them up.  Okay, who am I kidding, of course they will get mucked up, but hey, they are looking so fine, I’m motivated to keep them that way.  My kids often find me sitting on the plywood floor just looking at them, all the while grinning like they hold some secret magical  enchantment in them.  It’s called Hope. 

Yup, Hopes been using the cupboard under the sink as her special get-away.  So whenever it get’s quite I’m likely to find her and ninja kitty there playing.

I’ve got some exciting news. 

Wait for it.

I read a book.

Can you believe it I actually read an entire book cover to cover.

And why, might you ask it this great news?  What educational skill was I lacking, you might be pondering?

Here’s the thing.  I love reading.  I’m what you might call an extremely avid reader.  Someone who get’s so sucked into stories, it’s like I’m right there with the characters and they are sooooooo real.

Go figure… so why am I doing the happy dance that I actually read a book. 

Well it’s Honking Big News because it’s the first one I’ve been able to read since the Unbloggable happened last July.  I tried over and over again to read, to escape, but my head was so buzzing with all the crazy Unbloggable thoughts I couldn’t concentrate on a single sentence.  I found myself reading the same page four times and not being able to tell you what it was really about.  And I thought I’d lost that enchanted escape. The dang door was shut pretty tight.

But somehow, over the holidays, some magic happened that calmed me enough to read again.  Maybe it’s because I started dreaming again, who knows?  And as I read the last page of an extremely satisfying story I tingled with the excitement of now being able to go back to my extremely large pile of wish reads.  Just had to share that wonderful news with you.  Who’d have thought that reading a book full of words could be so satisfying?

I can just feel that this year is going to be okay.  We’ve still got some large nastiness on the horizon, but I’m ever so hopeful that we’ll come out of it still standing, still hoping, dreaming, and living in the magic.