Things to Do - Celebrate My 1 Year Blogoversary!!

I started this blog one year ago today and, truthfully, the whole thing has been much more time consuming than I originally planned. So lately I've been trying to scale back a little bit, some weeks I only post two or three times and Things To Read has become monthly to bimonthly instead of weekly. But, for me, scaling back is hard. This space has become our family scrapbook, so if I don't post something I'm scared I'll lose the memory. Which seems silly but continues to be a problem for me in the digital age - a need to preserve the moment makes it hard to live in the moment. Does anyone else every feel that way? Living in the moment is something I've always struggled with and I find it gets harder as I age ("what about the dishes?" "such a mess! i just cleaned that!" etc.) so I'm trying to adventure without the camera sometimes, play more (unphotographed) games of blocks with T, watch the girls create amazing imaginary worlds ( P always saying "F, just pretend I'm the princess today. okay? and you're the servant. just pretend"), sit and listen. And sometimes respond.

Regarding the picture above, I took it about two and a half years ago at Burke Lake, when F was 3. She used to dress like that all the time, everywhere we went, which seems absurd now but at the time we just went with it. Plus it made tantrum control easy ("if you don't behave I'll take your princess dress away"). Eventually her princess garment became so frayed and dirty I had to sneakily throw it away in the middle of the night (don't worry, by this time she had MANY more). Anyways, when I found this old photo in my digital files, it reminded me of how glad I am that I now write this blog. How quickly life with children changes. How easy it is to forget.

Ugh, such a conundrum - life vs. memory. But we do our best. At least that's the plan. Thanks to everyone for reading!! I love your comments and encouragement - especially the anonymous posters on DC Urban Moms, who have said such lovely things. Have a great weekend everyone! As always, I'll be back next week!

WEEKEND LINKS:

*This kid's video interview on the DC earthquake made me laugh out loud.

*Ghosts.

*What did you do today?

*Tim Barber. Yay! (more here).

*Thank you, Miss Moss for posting my dream wardrobe.

*The DC area is one of the best places in the US to find dinosaur fossils, thus this dinosaur camp sounds pretty awesome.

*Have you seen The Glow? Gorgeous photos of fashionable moms and kids. I feel so uncool.

*Ikea's Share Space. Such a good idea.