Bound together

Today Kai went up to Tea and gave her a hug and said, "Tea, I love you. You're my best friend." Awww.... that was a killer. Most of the time, I'm playing referee, even though I know they love each other.

I think Kai has always loved Tea but he's been a little jealous. She took away the undivided attention he was getting before she was born. As a wise mom once told me, when a sibling is born, our children don't always understand what's happening. She said it's like saying to your husband, "I love you but I'm going to have another husband now too." It was a long haul before Kai and Tea really got along (or rather, before I could leave the room without worrying that he would hurt her). She has always adored him and is so forgiving and gracious with him (more so than she should be, I think!). I hope they treasure their years together. It's so weird to think we really only have our years at home with our siblings. After we move away, we see them much less, sometimes not even once a year (in my case).

Kai tied his and Tea's wrists together today with a homemade yarn rope. That way, they could stay together, he said. And when they walked, he had to wait for her instead of racing in front of her as he always does.

What a special bond siblings share...

Here's a chronology of some of my favorite photos of them together:

One hour oldWaiting until she's old enough to play

A touching momentSweet Kisses (photo by Stacie Pottinger)Hair styled by Mommy

Don't squish me!

Mr. and Mrs. Claus

Aww...

Following in his footsteps (photo by Deanna Dikeman)

At Shelter Garden (photo by Deanna Dikeman)

Tied together (taken today)

Creativity

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
--Anais Nin

When I started painting in high school, I could only copy things. I would take a picture and then try to paint it. Most of the time, it was frustrating because I couldn't get my painting exacly like the photograph. During spring break of my senior year, my dad and I went to Colorado to pay a surprise visit to my brother and sister. While we were there, we went to Boulder (my favorite place) and visited an art gallery where a Native American artist painted round three dimensional paintings that almost looked like a snail shell cut in half. The art was amazing because of its beauty but also because of what he was conveying about his culture. As I was admiring the art and talking to my dad about it, the artist came over and talked to us! I bought a postcard and he autographed it.

Coincindentally, when I got back to school, my art teacher Ms. Gugel brought me a bass drum cut in half and a snare drum head. I was a drummer and she knew I might enjoy painting on drums. Somehow that trip and seeing the round art made me realize that art was more about decoration for my bedroom wall (that's how I had seen it before). I could convey an emotion or send a message with my paintings. After that I created my two best pieces of art. One was a watercolor painting of several butterflies strung together, one blending into the next. It was inspired by my amazing English and Theatre teacher, Mrs. Trezona, who loved butterflies. The next painting I did was on the bass drum. I drew the famous Sioux Chief Sitting Bull's face in the center and all around him were four trees, one in each season. The roots of the trees formed the wrinkles in Sitting Bull's face. My art had taken a new direction. Unfortunately, after high school, I didn't do much more painting.

Over the years, I did try to capture the beautiful things by taking photographs. For the most part, I was limited by my cameras though, so I could only shoot things as I saw them. Then I got my Nikon and tried not to edit the photos because I thought they had to be true to life. I had another moment recently that changed everything. I saw a friend's photos that had beautiful vivid colors. I asked him how he managed to get such color and he told me to use the vivid setting. Not only did the vivid setting change my photos, I think seeing his photos changed how I saw the world. I realized that although I no longer paint, I can still convey emotions and messages with my photos. They can be my art!

Speaking of artists, we've always known Jevon's sister Tracey is talented. She paints, embroiders, crochets, knits, etc. Last weekend she came to visit and brought Kai a special treat--a series of cartoon characters she created several years ago after a dream she had. We were all blown away. Here's one picture she drew and Kai's attempt to copy it.

Afterglow

writing names in the air

Who knew how much fun glow sticks could be, especially when you can relive it by taking pictures at slow shutter speeds? The kids and I couldn't choose our favorites so we just posted them all. It's interesting to note that their glow art reflects their fetal movements in the womb. Tea's motions with the hot pink stick were small and delicate, while Kai's movements with the orange stick were wild and energetic.

When the leaves are gone...

I've been thinking a lot about why I love fall but why I also love winter. This quote really helps sum it up:

"The leaves that seemed so important, the outer foliage that we thought defined who we were, falls away and leaves us bare to the winter winds with a subtler kind of beauty."
(From Wabi Sabi Simple by Richard R. Powell)

Winter is a time for reflection. I enjoy the fact that we can't spend as much time outside and we can just stay inside and keep warm while doing crafts, baking, and reading books. I am usually reading about 10 books all at once during the Christmas break! This has been my tradition for as long as I can remember to spend lots of time reading and reflecting after the flurry of gift making and cooking and visiting with relatives.

I like this quote too:

"The Chinese say, 'To attain knowledge, add something every day; to attain wisdom, remove something every day.' [...] I see that loss can help attain wisdom. Along with the sad losses of life there are also the liberating losses of pride, and fear of what others will think. By realizing that the leaves of life come and go, a person is free to focus energy in the deep and earthy storehouse that trees call roots and we call our soul."
(From Wabi Sabi Simple by Richard R. Powell)

Bathe me in the colors of Fall

The leaves have nearly blown away, but I had one more good day of photos just before the election. (See my Flickr link on the side of the blog--you'll find many of my Fall photos there).

Today, the leaves remaining on the trees at Stephens Lake are faded and waiting to hitch a ride on the next big gust of wind. At home, the woods behind us are bare, revealing the skeletons of the trees. Only the brown oak leaves hang on--and they will for a good portion of the winter, trying to give us some color during those long bleak months.

These two pictures were taken a little over a week ago. They are the essence of why I love Fall: the color combinations, the blue skies, and the bright, yet translucent leaves that overwhelm me with their beautiful colors.

This Jack Johnson song "Talk of the Town" has been in my head lately and it seems to go well with this post. I'm so excited I finally figured out how to add YouTube videos (although this one is just audio for you people like me with slow-as-molasses internet connections). Enjoy!

Beautiful...

Someone said this in response to an article about why Jesse Jackson was crying during Obama's speech on Tuesday. It's so beautiful, I just had to share:

Rosa sat so Martin could walk
Martin walked so Barack could run
Barack ran so our children can fly

Kai racing his shadow at Stephens Lake

Speechless

I have so much to say but am at a loss for words right now. I feel like I have been crying for days. Tea woke up during Obama's acceptance speech so I brought her out to the living room so I could watch. She was lying in my arms and at one point looked up at me and said,
"Mama, what's on your neck?"
"Tears."
Tears of such joy.

I so agree with Obama when he said this election brought together so many people: young and old, Republican and Democrats, gay and straight, white, African-American, Hispanic, Native American, and really the whole world. There is an amazing slideshow on Huffington Post of the rest of the world reacting. It's incredible to see people in other countries weeping tears of joy for us. They, like us, know this is something big. I am so thankful this happened in my lifetime--it really gives me hope for my children's future.

Kai and Tea went canvassing with me yesterday, and when they woke up today, I told them Obama won. You guys were part of history, I said! They don't understand now but someday they will.

Here are a couple of images from Monday that seem to reflect my mood right now. I feel such peace now.