It begins...

A friend recently forwarded an email to me titled "The Invisible Mother," a short essay comparing the tireless and often thankless job of a mother to the builders of Europe's great cathedrals. Both give their whole lives for a work they will never see finished, both make sacrifices and expect no credit, and both are fueled in their passion by the faith that the eyes of God see every detail. The writer of the essay was inspired by the thought that our endless efforts in motherhood, invisible as they may seem, are worth it and can make an enriching life.


For many of us, the way we choose to hold our invisibility at bay is by creating something tangible. For me, my days often end with knitting - my love of fiber and the need to do something relaxing end up producing something I can hold and look at. Nobody will know how many times I swept under the high chair that day, or how many toys I picked up, or how many times I tried to coax a "please" or "more" or "sorry" out of my 5 year old. But a darling, handmade infant hat? That you can see.


I start new projects every day, and my 10 year old does the same. In this process of creating (and yes, often not finishing our projects!) we connect with each other and a bigger picture of ourselves in the process. My plan for this blog is to share the projects that excite me and bring some accessible proof of my existence in this invisible world of mothering!


So, this blog is dedicated to the mothers out there whose days are filled with the minutia of tasks that build our children and our families. I often tell people that I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up. But for now, I am the builder of a great cathedral. With every shoelace tied, lunch packed, and forehead kissed, I build.


And I can hardly wait to create something new...


Friday, October 7, 2011

Countdown to...Surprise!

Oh, I'm just plain giddy today!!  In less than 3 hours, I'm hoping to totally surprise Rowan with her Golden Birthday party. Tee hee!!  So far, the girls invited haven't spilled the beans, so let's hope they can keep lips sealed the rest of the afternoon.


At 3:15 I'll head over to school with Rowan's birthday treats for her class. Rowan chose to make black cats this year (we made them for her class treat in preschool and in Kindergarten!) Here she is cutting the tails...
And here is the entire cat family, faces and all! We added their tails right before boxing them up to stay fresh.
I've got most of the house ready and decorated for the party. The living room is a mess of toys, but there's no point in cleaning that up until 15 minutes before the party, since Brynn and I will still have 2 hours left to kill. The helium balloons and gold hanging stars have added some sparkle...
...and the table is set and ready for some pizza and some crafting!
The girls will be making decoupage star boxes using different gold textured tissue papers. I quick did a test run this afternoon, just to see how long it will take to dry. It's still wet, but looking cute!
Rowan requested a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting for her birthday, and asked to have a roller coaster design on it. Oh dear! Wish my brother Noah had been here to do that bit of detailing! My attempt didn't quite turn out as I'd envisioned, but hopefully it's not bad enough to end up on Cake Wrecks!


And I just heard Brynn chatting in her crib, so it's time for a fresh diaper and walk over to school. Giddy, I tell you!

3 comments:

  1. Oh, I can hardly WAIT to hear all about it!!!!!
    The cake will NOT end up on Cake Wrecks! It's adorable!!

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  2. I think the cake looks great! Have fun!

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  3. Awesome job on the cake! I love that she asked for Pumpkin :)

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