Ice Skating! Silliness! Happy New Year!

Let's start with silliness, shall we?  Treva does like berries.  We still have some frozen ones left from summer picking.  This little girl is irresistible to me, even when covered in blueberry juice.  She has started really chatting up a storm.  Reading books, she sees a sheep:  "Beep!  Beep!  Mama!  Beep!" she says.  When Horus came back from a drive with Dad, she saw her big brother through the window, and vibrating with excitement, pointed at him, "Hi Ho!  Hi Ho!  Hi Ho!" I adore her.  We all do.

Ice skating for the very first time ever was utterly hilarious and totally charming.  In the car, on the way to the rink (I can't wait until it gets cold enough to skate outside!), Horus said, "Mum, I'm a little bit scared about skating", and I said, "Yes.  That makes sense.  It is absolutely ok for you to feel a little bit scared.  It's your first time ice skating!  But we will all be together, and we'll help each other out.  I'm a bit scared too.  I am *not* an expert skater, I can assure you."

Once we arrived at the rink, it took about 3 hours to get all of our gear on, of course.  Treva really couldn't stand properly at all in her skates, but when we stepped on the ice, Horus totally, one hundred percent went for it.  He just headed out there, falling constantly, getting right back up, and doing it all over again.  I was so ridiculously proud of his gumption, and grit.  He does get whiny occasionally, like all kids, and sometimes, at exactly the wrong time (as far as MY agenda goes) he behaves like a little turd.  Don't we all.  But the real Horus, the core of who this kid really is, is a confident, fearless and kind person.  And I'm really proud of him.  

Ultimately, Treva loved skating too, and when someone gave us a plastic frame thingy, we concocted a method of draping her arms over the cross-bar and kind of dragging her along...and she had a blast.  

Thanks for the skates, Santa!

New Year's Eve was quiet and happy and sad.  As per our tradition, we set off some fireworks and the kids got sparklers, and we yelled Happy New Year, and the kids went to bed well before midnight.  Now, of course, I feel deflated, and irritable, and I am steeling myself to take down the Christmas tree, and put away the ornaments, and clean everything up, and get back to normal, except that there is no normal, and life continues to be a muddle of extraordinary and difficult and beautiful and painful and sweet and frustrating moments, and I suppose all we can do is keep trying, or try to let go.  I really don't know.