not just another friend

i've needed a friend lately,
and just at the exact same time i needed it
i got an email from a friend saying how much she appreciates my friendship.
and then the next day 2 of my other closest friends met me for lunch
and we talked & listened for at least 2 hours.
it was the kind of 2 hours that felt like 2 minutes,
and the conversation was the kind that could've gone on for 2 more hours.
then a short time later my sister showed up at my house and stayed for her usual chat.
by the end of all this i have been happily reminded how important the friendships i have are to me,
and a reminder to do my part to be that kind of friend.

larger than life

our little maggie is something else.
she has a personality that is truly larger than life.
the world is just like a playground for her,
and she's happy playing on every square inch of it.
i recently started a mom & tots dance class with her.
saying she loves it would be an understatement.
all you have to do is say the word 'dance',
and she is breaking it down.
she has confidence that i dream of
and the kind of ownership of her life that i hope will last forever.

where dreams come true

if i must admit,
i have been worried that sam & will would never like each other.
since will's birth there has been so much competition between them
and not exactly what i would have called brotherly love.
i have struggled with this
and many times have felt that sibling friendship would never come for these two.
however, they have recently turned over a new leaf in their relationship.
they are actually playing TOGETHER,
and more importantly dreaming together.
a few weeks ago they shared with me their plan to buy a house together.
they plan on living right next door to pete & me.
they will have their own rules though,
which includes eating as many snacks as they want.
they made it clear that pete & i can come over whenever we want,
we don't even have to ask first.
we were recently picking up some paint at home depot.
they were busy in the disney paint section.
they brought me bright paint samples and informed me these were the colors they were going to be painting in their house together.
i was more than DE-LIGHTED!
it reminded me of being a pre-teen,
riding around an upscale oklahoma city neighborhood
and planning with my sisters about buying a mansion together and living in separate wings with our families after we were married.
we are still planning a "walker homestead" where we all live on the same plot of land,
just in separate houses.
we plan these dreams because we care about each other so much that we don't ever want to have to live without each other.
i hope that by sam & will planning their own house together
they are secretly saying they love each other so much, too, that they never want to be apart.

through my child's lens

maggie's lens

fast forward

i'll just pretend that i've recorded something about the past month,
but since i haven't really,
then i will just fast forward to now.
we are always busy over here,
always dreaming up something.
one of the most delightful things going on around here are sam & will's dance performances.
they are constantly busting a move and rounding up an audience to watch.
on this particular night....
they turned off all the lights,
fired up some music,
and requested pete shake a flashlight at them for a strobe light effect.
they took an intermission to prepare for their final performance.
20 minutes later they unlocked themselves from the bathroom,
fully shaven,
arms & legs scrubbed with soap,
brushed teeth,
and totally doused in cologne.
let's just say that finale was something to remember.

day 16 eli the elf

this was certainly a day worth remembering.

we found eli buckled in the backseat of our van this morning,

complete with a backpack & a plastic suit.

the backpack was because he was going to school with sam,

and the plastic suit was so that we could touch him without him losing his magic.

you see, sam performed in the nutcracker at his school today,

and eli wanted to go.

apparently the elves do a performance themselves while at the north pole,

hey, that's at least what he said. 

he had a wonderful time,

and sam did a lovely job,

especially when they did the color red.

maggie and will were delighted to have an extra audience member with them,

and i was quite impressed with this little elves' clever attempt to come more alive to my children.

he's pretty committed, i tell ya.

day 14 eli the elf

eli out did himself today.
perhaps this was one of my favorite days.
we found him hanging from the kitchen light fixture,
examining snowflakes through his microscope,
and he left the snowflake bentley book,
which just so happened to be EXCELLENT!
it's about wilson bentley,
the first person to photograph snowflakes.
so interesting and entertaining.
we read it over and over today.
then we spent our time making snowflakes to mimic the ones eli brought.
he may or may not have printed them from this place.
there were a few tears shed when trying to stick to the exactness of the template,
so we bagged the templates and made our own.
the boys did it for at least an hour.
they just couldn't believe that they couldn't make 2 snowflakes look the same.
we even had a stranger stop by to buy some stuff we were selling.
both boys felt inclined to send him with 2 snowflakes.
i will never tire of watching my boys so engaged with a project,
or of admiring their uniqueness in the way they do things.
i appreciate them and love them,
and something about this activity really brought that home to me.