"connected"

Before I leave for yet another business trip, I long to feel connected. Sure, all these cell phones (2 missing from this photo) will connect me with my college student, teen and tweens, but, I realized that I get the biggest connection from the red pot.

The pot is for soup - which keeps my family connected.

A few years ago we started a winter ritual - Saturday soup night. We had tried the Friday night movie night which turned into girl scout meeting night, mom and dad are too exhausted to watch a movie night, high school activity night - you get the picture - Friday movie night went by the wayside. Our life filled Fridays up. So then it became Saturday soup night. It started when I spied a Paula Dean magazine cover with her Tortilla soup recipe. My daughter and I decided we would try her soup on Saturday evening. It has now become a regular at our winter Saturday soup nights (and many other nights we need to feel connected). My kids now ask for soup on other days of the week - and even in the middle of summer. I wonder if it is a symptom of feeling disconnected?

Today it's going to be chicken chili soup - the smell of chili, garlic and cumin are wafting through my home. It's not Saturday and it's not winter - it's Monday - I am leaving on a business trip. I must need to feel connected.

Sledding - February 15, 2010

All about the hats....

 Grab Your 
Snow Pants!

Ian Bumps.....

 

Zachary smiles......

Sometimes we just have to drop everything and go out in the cold winter and enjoy its cool crispness. Monday was a holiday - President's Day - and we were all doing the usual at home - video games, social networking on our computers, tv watching...blah, blah, blah. I realized that winter would soon be over and I had not captured a single moment of winter on my camera. As an avid scrapbooker, I had to create a moment! So I grabbed my camera and called for the kids - "grab your snowpants, we're going sledding". Of course, homework had to be done first, so they quickly got to work. The anticipation of sledding made the homework much easier.

These are only a few moments on the sledding hill.

It was cold, but, a beautiful afternoon.