Blog a la Cart

The Doing

James and I sit on the steps of our two-tone home, perpetually stuck in the midst of a DIY project, upgrade or renovation, unfazed by the mismatched army green and purple grey of its walls. Our girls race underwear clad through the grass desperately in need of its first trim of the year. Armed with a hose, they spray and giggle and squeal while their soggy, gangly-limbed dog jumps through its spray, delighting in snapping and chomping at the watery mess. The baby chicks furtively race around their Peck and Play, while Penelope Pig munches fallen apples from autumn’s past nearby. A trail of potting soil leads from our porch to our backyard, with assorted gardening tools in its wake. Fresh, precarious seedlings await their final resting place in our kitchen garden beds, temporarily held in old yogurt containers and seed beds, adapting to the outdoors by day, consuming all surface space our porch has to offer.

I feel the heat of the sun on my skin, soaking up every possible drop of Vitamin D and the ensuing lightened state of mind. We hold hands, a brief moment of connection that is ours during days that are anything but. Comfort and gratitude radiate from my shoulders, releasing all stress and leaving behind only a sense of calm and purpose.

No camera nearby. No phone. No digital apparatus with which to capture this moment of pure contentment and affirmation. This is why we live where we do. This is why we’ve built this family. This place. This home. For untainted moments like this.

My First Born turns five years old this week, and I am stewing in nostalgia and disbelief. Melancholy and reflective, I watch videos of that squawky Mohawk baby with a tangle of blonde hair and and lanky limbs and wiggly teeth by my side. I ache for that sweet innocence and naivety that comes from early parenthood. And am simultaneously inspired and eager to experience the wonder and learning that’s to come. To bear witness to the continued growth of the magnificently kind, thoughtful, creative and sensitive person that she’s proven to be in the unbelievable five years that we’ve shared with her.

Five years. My lifetime as a mother. And yet, it’s difficult to imagine that I ever knew life without her. And equally amazing that there’s so much more to know and learn.

Mother’s Day

On the phone last night with my mother, she told me to read this. And, as mothers are oft to do, she was right, I loved it.

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Today, I will do just that. Treasure the doing. Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful women that help us become our truest selves.

19/52

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014.”

Sunny: Sweet lord, she is kissing a chicken and it is simultaneously disgusting and adorable. 
Kaki: Those purple and yellow polka dot shoes are far too small, and yet she insists on shoving her oversized toes into them daily. We may be driving home the Ephpride a little too strongly.

More details about The 52 Project here. To view all the portraits in the series visit here.

Elias and Family

This kid… between the mop of blonde curls and the chub around his wrists, I could just swallow him whole. You don’t get babies much cuter than this. So naturally I had to document the adorable. Above are a few of my favorite images.

Cousins

This past weekend, Sunny’s Fairy Godparents and their adorable 10 month old son came to visit Cartwheel Farm. Neither my own siblings nor James’ have any children, so we are fortunate to have close friends whose children can play the role of “cousin” to our girls. Dellie and Jeremy are known to my girls as Auntie and Uncle, and it was such a joy to see our kids together for the first time, and to dream about the years of play and joy and conflicting sleep schedules to come. I say this only because the merging of children’s schedules is no easy task, and yet there are no people with whom I would be more inclined to tackle such challenges than these amazing friends.

I keep thinking back to the year that Dellie and I met and became friends, naive 18 year olds that we were, and I am awed and humbled by the resilience, flexibility, growth and love that has come from such a friendship. And by the friendships that are now blossoming among our children. It’s an inspiring sight to behold.

Hanna and The ACL

Last week, our Hanna Banana had a long-awaited surgery on her rear-left ACL. Back in the fall, she’d torn the ligament, and had been limping ever since. Despite no change in spirit (she’s as googley-eyed and slobbery and wiggly as ever), the limp slowed her down and we knew that we needed to get it fixed. We tried acupuncture and herbal supplements and rest with no success, so finally caved and footed the multi-thousand dollar bill for proper surgery. Life has been complicated by the recovery. She’s got another week left in the cone of shame, which she bangs and knocks into everything (including our heels) to show her displeasure, and then another six weeks of quiet and rest and quarantine from play with Gladdy. She, of course, is eager to run and play despite the gapping wound on her leg, which is heartening, but difficult to manage. How does one explain to a canine that while she may feel awesome and in tip top shape that she must rest and recover to maintain that feeling of awesome?

We have her gated off in one part of the house, and the kids spend plenty of time visiting with her and loving her up. As you can see, Sunny even brings the chicks over for a visit from time to time. James has taken to carrying her up the stairs to our bedroom every evening so that she can sleep by our bed as she always has, and then lugs her down the stairs every morning. While life chez Cart feels rather frazzled with the dogs and baby chicks and exploding indoor garden (I need it to be June 1st so we can finally (safely) garden outside sans frost), we’re chugging along. We had a lovely visit with friends, despite 5am wake ups and a toddler who prefers 10pm bedtimes, but things may be a tad quiet here as my work life kicks into high gear for my biggest event of the year and life around the farm buzzes on. As always, I post regularly to Instagram and Facebook for daily snapshots.

Some days feel like a fairy tale…

Yesterday afternoon, we picked daffodils and made flower crowns and bathed in the sunlight.

And I spent the evening farting rainbows. It was that stupidly magical.

Austin Redux

Back in January, I visited Austin, TX for the first time. Two weekends ago, I went again with James in tow.

Besides being lovey dovey in front of street art, we ate like kings, danced our faces off in celebration of a dear friend’s wedding, bonded with a black pot belly pig named Fern, slept in an airstream, endured 100 degree Texas heat, and missed the heck out of our daughters (and other assorted dependents). Austin is such a fantastic city. I had fun taking James to a few of my favorite spots from January, while also discovering a whole new side of the city.

I’ll be doing a separate post on our lodgings for the weekend, but we stayed in this Airbnb rental. And is was like stepping into a fairytale.

We did next to no shopping (besides popping in to this gorgeous shop, Raven + Lily, where we became besties with a brand new rescue pup). And, I couldn’t resist showing James Uncommon Objects and Allen’s Boots on Congress.

We drank many a bottle of Toppo Chico.

And many an iced coffee, namely the Belgian Bomber.

And consumed many a cupcake/taco/doughnut/insert food truck food of choice here.

Essentially, we ate ourselves stupid. Here are my recommendations based on the past two trips.

– Torchy’s Tacos for tacos. Duh. (Don’t miss the Fried Avocado, the Trailer Park, the Street Corn or the Washingtonian)

– Gourdough’s for donuts. (The Carney was a hit. Though I still stand by The Flying Pig)

– Hey Cupcake! for cupcakes. (Red Velvet is always the right choice)

– Jo’s for iced coffee (If you don’t mind sweet, go for The Belgian Bomber)

– Red’s Porch for Sunday brunch (Despite it’s humble appearance from the road, you’ll be amazed by how very cool this location is)

– Container Bar for happy hour (A fun way to check out Rainey Street)

– Mi Madre’s for breakfast tacos and migas

For recommendations from my last trip visit here.

And there was no better way to beat the Texas heat than with a morning spent lounging at Barton Springs. Sure, the water was chilly (as it’s a natural spring feed pool) but man did it hit the spot on our last day before heading to the airport. Austin, we hope to be back very soon!

18/52

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014.”

Sunny: My little mountain goat with her mountain pup.
Kaki: Contented just standing in the stream.

More details about The 52 Project here. To view all the portraits in the series visit here.

#dailydoseofchick

Things are a bit, um, chaotic on Cartwheel Farm. We’re living under a jungle of vegetable plants and peeping chicks and muddy puppies and convalescing super mutts. And Sunny’s FGPs and their baby boy are coming to visit. They arrive this evening, so we’re trying to create some semblance of calm and cleanliness. Ha!

While this space may be a little quiet until next week, the kids and I have been having a blast creating ridiculous Instagram posts of the wee chicks. Follow along @blogalacart and the hashtag #dailydoseofchick for a ridiculous hit of adorable every day. And don’t hesitate to spread the word – it’s been amazing to see how much people are enjoying these photos. And I must admit, we’ve had a blast staging these pictures. And we’ve got some fun ideas in the works… so keep an eye out!