bone pile

When I was a backcountry ranger, I sometimes fought forest fires.  And usually--because I refused to travel too far from my dog--I was dispatched to some pretty small, local fires.  We'd dig a line around the fire, call it contained, then controlled, then we'd scrape up the last remaining logs into a pile.  We called it the bone pile.  After all was said and done, this was the pile that continued to burn.  Those big ol' logs had a lot of rings and a lot left to say.  We stood around this pile, like a campfire, eating MREs, swapping "jalapeno-cheese-spread" for "chocolate-pound-cake" (which, really, was more like a dried up hockey puck), and told stories.

As usual, life around here is full and fast.  We had a horse-filled weekend which I cannot wait to blog about, but first!  There is so much in the backlog and when this many days pass without a post, it comes down to the bones.  So here you are, from the last couple of weeks, this is what continues to burn.  My bone pile:  

:: Hazel's favorite face.

:: She's been signing "more" for a while and now uses it for books, toys, you name it.  (Also--no photos yet--but this girl has entered the baby-doll-loving stage.  I could write a whole post on the baby-doll-loving stage.  Maybe I will.  Soon-ish.)

:: Witnessing the love and protection blossoming between these two.  Sisters.

(We are getting to that point where my kids shut themselves inside Juniper's room and I hear playful noises.  I don't worry until I hear crying or too much silence.  Today I was making lunch, heard the silence, and peeked in to check.  Hazel was standing on the rocking chair with her buck-toothy grin and Juniper was jumping up and down, excited, saying, "We're playing gremlins in here!  I'm the grandma and Hazel's the gremlin.")

:: Hazel's buck-toothy grin.

:: Hoar frost.

:: What I do after kids go to bed.  She loves tracing letters first thing in the morn.

:: What our kitchen island/ life looks like most of the time, with seasonal variation.

:: Juniper loving preschool.

:: Hazel's somewhat concerning coffee mug obsession.  (Actually, I think she'd prefer the coffee, but we're not going there.)

:: Our family's whim to up and go on a "spring hike."  On a ski trail.  Temps in the 20's.

:: Our adorable little elfkin and the number of times in a day we stand in front of her, dreamily trying to soak it all in, saying, Damn, isn't she cute?  Isn't she though?   

:: A lunchtime favorite: *hot pink* mac-n-cheese (with beet puree).

:: Those one-step-forward-two-steps-back days.

:: Confusing "bath crayons" with regular crayons.

:: Helping herself to kitchen island items.  (Garlic stem and clementine "birthday cupcake.")

          Me:  "Juniper, did you peel that orange yourself?
          Juniper:  "Yeah."
          Me:  "Where did you put the peels?"
          Juniper:  "I put them on the floor and Hazel eat them."

:: Getting Hazel out of the backpack.

:: Discovering the steep, slick sled hill behind our house.

(Yes, I need to ask him to wear a different jacket when I'm wearing my new christmas gift.  We just don't think about the fact that we may take some photos, and that I may post those photos to a world audience.  Who knows, perhaps matchy-matchy couples are hip somewhere.)

:: The bear den.  Grrrrr.  

       
::        The Dad, waxing nostalgic:  "She's so long and skinny.  How did that happen?"
          Juniper, looking at her body:  "I'm so skinny!  Oh no!  Where'd all my skin go?"

:: Getting closer.