Fresh Memories Etched in My Mind - A You Capture Edition

Main Entry: fresh

Pronunciation: \ˈfresh\
Function: adjective

(1) : experienced, made, or received newly or anew

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I grew up in the late 70's - early 80's in an expansive backyard that was the result of being the middle house of a three-home cul-de-sac in West Phoenix. When my mom was looking for homes to buy so she and my dad could re-locate our family of six to Phoenix from Chicago, the yard is what convinced her to buy this house on Yucca St.

I was almost 9-years-old and had just started the 4th grade when we moved. I remember when we drove up to Yucca St. in our green Pontiac station wagon. Us kids ran around that house and through that yard like we had just stumbled into paradise. Oh the space. Our wild spirits unleashed.

My memories of that yard are deeply woven into my soul. Everything that could happen in a large desert backyard with four siblings running loose happened. Chasing lizards, playing softball, kicking soccer balls, swimming, splashing, sliding, fighting, swinging, hiding, celebrating birthdays, graduations and softball's season end, eating ice-cream and popsicles, yelling, whispering, crying, laughing, tanning, learning, growing, living.

Each August when we visit and the warm monsoon winds blow, the memories flood my being. And I think - I always want this yard to be a part of my life.

Since becoming a mother, I have often wondered what it's been like for my parents to see that yard gradually quiet down. The toys put away, the pool water still, the curving 1970's plastic slide into the pool dry. My parents use that yard, sure. It is a part of who they are. They bought one of those porch bench swings that sits under a tree in the far corner of our yard. My mom and dad are soul mates for certain and sitting side-by-side watching the summer lightning crackle against a dark desert sky is a favorite pastime.

Since becoming grandparents, my mom and dad have seen their yard come to life again. If only for a couple of weeks each year. We make the trek to the desert every spring and late summer and just like me and my siblings, my kids are in love with the yard.

When I pulled our mini-van into that familiar cul-de-sac last week for Spring Break, my kids were literally bursting with excitement. The tired crankiness was instantly replaced with renewed energy and laughter.

And before long....

...the yard was alive again.

Fresh memories being made.

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Claire on a journey to find the perfect place to plant her magical seeds.

Tommy sweeping the pool deck

My girls and Patrick and Nora (their "cousins")
Two kids of my oldest friend Kath.
Kath and I grew up together in this yard.
And now our kids get to create some memories of their own.

I'm not sure anything makes my dad happier than to see
his first granddaughter swing a bat.
My dad was my softball coach for years.
I threw countless pitches in this yard with my dad as my catcher.

Phoebe and Tommy in the mud puddle they created.
My younger brother, Bill, used to make mud puddles here too.

Grandpa and Phoebe.

My mom watching her yard bouncing with life.


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Click on over to Beth's Place for more You Capture posts.

All photos were taken with my iPhone using the Hipstamatic application
that I downloaded on the drive out to Arizona and am now obsessed with.
I love how the images portray that nostalgic 1970's vibe.

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"Conversations with my Kid" is back tomorrow after its own Spring Break.
Come link up and play along!

My Story of Moments - A You Capture Edition

What is a photograph?

What is it really?

It's a moment.

So when I saw that this week's You Capture theme was MOMENTS, I was all, okay. Yeah. But ALL photographs are moments.

But as I thought more about it, of course I realized that some photographs tell the story of a moment better than others.

And that's what makes a photograph captivating for me.

The story of a moment.

I have to be honest. I did not keep this theme in my mind all week as I picked up my camera to photograph. I didn't really have the brain space to do it. We spent the weekend at Disneyland and wow, talk about over-stimulation.

But in between the chaos of all of the typical Disney-posed shots with characters, there were moments that I will remember forever.

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As we waited in line to meet the fairies at Pixie Hollow, there was a stream of water shooting over the path where we stood. The kids started anticipating the water coming and splashing them. And I could not get enough of the moment when the water hit.

These two of Claire were taken just a split moment apart.

And at Disney Playhouse Live, my little boy's outstretched arms hoping to catch some
bubbles just makes my heart burst with love.



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This has been an edition of You Capture over at Beth's I Should Be Folding Laundry.

And tune in tomorrow for another edition of "Conversations with My Kid." If you're posting
a conversation you've had with YOUR kid, you can link up and join the fun!!

Here's to some epic moments in your day....

Quiet Glimpses During a Busy Week - You Capture

This week just flew.

It rattled around me like the strong winds that have been whipping through Los Angeles.

But it's been a good rattle. A good fly. Because my soul is filled with the joy of opportunity.

I didn't have many chances to capture QUIET this week.

But I tried.

I happened upon this scene as I stood in the kitchen and I realized the house was uh, quiet.I walked back towards the kids' rooms and this is what I found. A big sister just learning to read quietly reading to her adoring brother.

I don't really mind that the photo is blurry. I like trying to capture the real light of the moment. Do blurry photos bother you?

And then a typical school morning but the light was streaming in and I don't know about you but streaming morning light is just simply quiet. It's feels quiet even when it's resting on a noisy 5-year-old.

I'm so hooked on these weekly You Capture projects. Join the fun if you aren't already in on it.

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This has been an edition of You Capture over at Beth's I Should Be Folding Laundry.
The theme was "Quiet."

And tune in tomorrow for another edition of "Conversations with My Kid." If you're posting
a conversation you've had with YOUR kid, you can link up and join the fun!!

Wishing you the peace of some quiet moments.

Have you ever seen a HOPEFUL mama? As opposed to a TIRED one?

I've had my eye on hope for the last 7 days. These You Capture assignments have really gotten me looking at the visuals in my life in a whole new way. I love that. I guess that's why I'm hooked.

Yesterday, I realized that not many HOPEFUL images had crossed my path. No rainbows after a storm. No children looking longingly through a glass ice-cream case. No snow melting off a set of monkey bars. I had ideas about what might look hopeful but nothing was happening.

And then yesterday.

I woke up with a spring in my step. Which I rather like. It's a different feeling that happens here and there as opposed to dragging myself out of my cozy bed shuffling through a bleary-eyed morning going through the motions of lunch assembly and helping comb through knotted hair.

I felt well, hopeful.

But I didn't quite realize it yet.

I am in the midst of all kinds of motion in my life. And not just mama motion. Me motion. Lee motion. The kind of motion that just gives me well, a spring in my step and a brightness in my soul. I am in the midst of trying to create some things. And I have all kinds of support which is mind-blowing and leaves me feeling, well, hopeful.

So as yesterday afternoon started winding down, I thought, "Oh damn. I didn't really capture any hopeful images this week."

And then it hit me.

"Well, I'm feeling kinda hopeful today"

So I got out the camera, set it up, and well, snapped a picture of a HOPEFUL mama. And this is what she looks like on a Wednesday afternoon.

I'm glad I captured me feeling hopeful. I'm gonna need to look at now and again when I need to be reminded what hopeful looks like.

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This has been an edition of You Capture over at Beth's I Should Be Folding Laundry.
The theme was "Hopeful."

And tune in tomorrow for another edition of "Conversations with My Kid." If you're posting
a conversation you've had with YOUR kid, you can link up and join the fun!!

Hope you're having a hope-filled day.

You Capture - The Shapes My Children Show Me

Many days I bustle along
Not seeing much of anything it seems
Seconds blurring into a frenzied time-line of my life
And did I really see anything at all today?

But then the stars align
For a moment or two
And my vision crystallizes
How have I never seen these things before?

My children have changed my sight
It's been blurrier and clearer than ever before
Changing instantly at times
The SHAPE of my life has changed too

In the last 7 days I have lived
a blurry time-line of my life
But I have also lived a handful
of crystal, ocean-deep moments in time

And these are some of the SHAPES that I have seen.




Looking at the squares and rectangles and circle eyes that make up this
family of Lego robots makes me really appreciate
that they are currently residing on the counter.
I'll be sad when they leave.




This imperfect Clementine circle is being saved by Phoebe.
She wants to bring it to her Irish dance teacher to see if she can
make the circle perfect again.





I've never noticed how cool this triangular shark fin looks
on a sunny February afternoon at the Long Beach Aquarium





And I definitely have never noticed how perfectly triangle-like
a seagull's wings look when they are being used to flee
from a 2-1/2-year old Tommy chasing that seagull with a plastic shark





And when my sweet Tommy boy makes me sit in the grass and pushes me down
to sit on my tummy so we can gaze up into the sky to look at
all the irregular interesting shapes that a sky holds,
well,
this is one of those moments when I see very clearly
how the shape of my life has changed.

And thank God.





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This has been an edition of You Capture over at Beth's I Should Be Folding Laundry.
The theme was "Shapes."
I'm getting addicted to this You Capture thing.

And tune in tomorrow for another edition of "Conversations with My Kid." If you're posting
a conversation you've had with YOUR kid, you can link up and join the fun!!

I wanna smother him in kisses.....a You Capture Edition

We've grown up together. Literally. Met when we were just 23. When life was ours and dreams were for the taking.

We've taken many steps together never really knowing where we were headed but always knew we'd find our way....as long as we were together.

This past weekend, our Valentine's Day was not spent as a couple in love. It was spent as a family in love. Me and my man and the three souls that love built.

The kisses we shared were not the ones that lovers do. They were smothering kisses over giggling smallish bodies. Kisses on outstretched puckered little-ish lips. Smiling pecks on pudgy rosy cheeks.

As I watched the man I fell in love with, married, and am still madly in love with do what he does best, I let the gratitude of finding true love seep deep into my soul.

My dude. Being a daddy to our kids.

For me, it doesn't get any sexier than that.

And I had to throw in this extra one of him and Claire practicing their dance moves for their
first ever Daddy-Daughter Valentine's Day Dance.

Excuse me while I melt.

So yeah, all of this?

Makes me super thankful that I get to smother this guy with kisses.

Yep.

Those kind.



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This has been my first attempt at a feature called You Capture over at Beth's I Should Be Folding Laundry. The theme was "Kisses" and I know I was supposed to take pictures of literal kisses but uh, I went with my own interpretation. I might get kicked out of the carnival. But it was fun all the same.

And tune in tomorrow for another edition of "Conversations with My Kid." If you're posting
a conversation you've had with YOUR kid, you can link up and join the fun!!