Relocated...

I am blissfully happy to inform you that my blog has taken up new residence here...

http://www.madelinebea.com/blog

Please update your links and join me over at my new home! xoxo

Returning...

So, as many of you may have known or guessed, I spent my computer hiatus on a small island off the coast of Portland, Maine with the hubs and the kids. I was leary of coming right out and saying I was "leaving my house for such and such amount of time" because of the crazy world in which we live...but I was absolutely busting at the seems to tell you how very very excited I was! We had an absolutely amazing time and I have a ton {and I mean a TON} of pictures and stories and memories to share with you...but reality has hit me hard and it's taking me a couple of extra days to recover and mourn the end of our days on the island. 

We spent six full days on Peaks Island and so much...I mean SO much...happened and changed and manifested in wonderful ways. I thought I would take today to bang out another one of my 30 List for an overview-type recap of my week. And then, once I get through the 1000 plus pictures I took on my trip, I will share more details and specifics with you!

So, without furthur ado...

30 Things I Did Last Week on My Computer Hiatus

1. Drove 914 miles to Maine and back.
2. Spent an entire week living in a cottage on an island
3. Watched NO television
4. Read The Lovely Bones
5. Met Kristin
6. Met Corinne
7. Met Kathleen
8. Walked in the Atlantic Ocean
9. Walked around Portland, ME
10. Spent a full nine days with my husband
11. Found sea glass
12. Collected a massive amount of sea shells
13. Took over 1000 photos
14. Ate Maine lobster
15. Ate authentic New England Clam Chowder in New England
16. Walked...a lot...everywhere...which felt sooooo good
17. Went out to dinner...a lot...which was soooooo nice
18. Watched my baby girl experience the ocean for the first time...and love it!
19. Watched my big girls search, explore, play on, and love the island beach
20. Took in breathtakingly gorgeous views daily
21. Slept with the windows open with a cool island breeze sweeping across the bed
22. Wrote daily in a journal
23. Spent honest to goodness QUALITY time with my husband and our children
24. Sent out postcards from an actual location other than my home
25. Put our van on a ferry and took it to an island where it stayed for a whole week
26. Drove very, very minimally...other than the 914 mile round trip, of course!
27. Fell in love with my husband all over again
28. Enjoyed my non-tv-obsessed/happy/enjoying life for the little things kids
29. Fell in love with Maine
30. Felt very sad about leaving our little slice of paradise :(

I will move past my temporary bluish state...in fact, I am starting to come around and getting excited for some changes that will be occurring around here soon and the obligatory accompanying celebrations that will be necessary!

I want to thank you all for being so kind and supportive of my sweet husband last Sunday! He was so nervous about his post and all of your very kind comments were very encouraging. I think he has even agreed to come back next month!

So, now, I feel like I've missed so much and I just know that it will be impossible to catch up on everything...so please share with me what's been happening in your life! You can even leave a link or two if you'd like if there's been very exciting things! I want to get caught up and here about all the latest! And I promise to be around to visit you again soon!

The Sunday Creative: June 27th - July 3rd...

Welcome to The Sunday Creative! In this space, each week, on Sunday, I will offer a creative prompt; just one word that you can use as kindle for your creative fire in a project which I hope you'll consider sharing here!

You can use the word in it's literal or figurative sense...do not be bound by traditional implications or definitions of the word...but also don't feel like you have to have some broad and deep interpretation...just go with where you feel the prompt leading you. Your work can be in absolutely any medium!

It is my hope that through these weekly creative prompts that we can all continue to foster creativity, stretch our creative muscles, and grow in our collective creative community!

You will find the week's prompt every week here on Sundays. You can link to your project any time throughout the week. I ask that you only link up once, that you visit and support the other participants, and that this space remains nothing but positive and encouraging of everyone's creativity!

Please link back here and spread the word!

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This week's prompt:

Open

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*Just a note*

My blog has moved and you can now follow along 

and link up there...

www.madelinebea.com/blog

All About Maya...

{I am currently on a week long computer hiatus! But I have prepared some picture only posts throughout my break...because I have way too many pictures!!! Enjoy!}

This one is all about Maya because I love her and she is too darn cute!

Wildflowers {Part II}...

{I am currently on a week long computer hiatus! But I have prepared some picture only posts throughout my break...because I have way too many pictures!!! Enjoy!}

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

- William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Wildflowers {Part I}...

{I am currently on a week long computer hiatus! But I have prepared some picture only posts throughout my break...because I have way too many pictures!!! Enjoy!}

You belong among the wildflowers,
You belong somewhere close to me.
Far away from your trouble and worries
You belong somewhere you feel free.
- Tom Petty, Wildflowers

I wish a very Happy First Day of Summer to you all!!!

Life Set to (His) Words...

 About four weeks ago, I asked my husband if he would add his words here about once a month. I have long been a fan of my husband's written word and I loved the idea of having his voice and his point of view contribute to this space that I do so love. I wanted so badly to open up the definitions and roles of fathers everywhere by giving the father of my children and voice in this big 'ole world. After some initial hesitation {and some encouraging by me}, he agreed. We thought that Father's Day would be the absolute best time to begin our new feature. So today, on this very special day, I am so excited to introduce you to the most wonderful man I know...my husband, Brent!
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Three Girls?!?!
by Brent {known around here as Dadddy}

That is exactly the reaction I hear most from people when our family is out in public.  And every time it surprises me a little bit more.  The comments from older men do not surprise me that much, I guess.  I am not so naive to believe that as our girls enter teenage years that home life will certainly become more difficult.  Many fathers still have recurring nightmares about those times.  However, we are cherishing our somewhat simple day to day routines at this early stage of parenthood.  I, personally, am in no hurry to get to the latter years.  The sound of a one year old yelling Daddy the second she hears you come in the door (or even back into the room you just left) makes one not want time to move one more minute ahead.  Having either one of our older girls ask a simple question yielding such a simple answer, but looking at you like you are the most brilliant man in the world.  Beautiful moments.

Which, again, makes me wonder how so many strangers look at me with pity to have three precious daughters.  Usually, I find out that these same people have one or more daughters of their own.  Do they forget those moments with their daughters?  Or, worse yet, did they not have them?  I would rather believe they somehow forgot.  However, I know quite a few men who look right past the present to the future.  I have learned that when you are preoccupied with thoughts of work, money, house repairs, etc. that you can miss some really great moments.  Moments that alone can make those other worries go away. Often, I have been sitting on a chair in our driveway after work thinking about various tidbits of my day that felt like total day crashers at the time, only to look to my side and see one of our daughters looking at me with a crooked smile seemingly saying "Come on, I'm here.  How bad can it be?"  And you know what, I haven't found anything that is that bad.  Just another reason to be thankful for those little girls.

So, I guess if I am trying to say one thing it is that I feel being a father to three girls is what you make of it.  I do not do everything right and I make choices with outcomes unbecoming of the world's greatest dad (I do want the t-shirt).  But, I do think what you get out of things is proportional to what you put in.  Example, last year I decided I really wanted to shift the whole families nighttime schedule just so I could meet some friends at the local drag strip on a Friday night.  My wife agreed (she's great like that) and we quickly bathed the girls so I could go.  I never miss bedtime if I can help it.  So, a couple hours later in the midst of tire smoke, alcohol-fueled exhaust fumes and car guy banter, a friend was talking to a group of us about how he just advanced to the next level of competition for that night and if we had any suggestions on how he might progress his car further.  As we are all talking, my mind quickly flashed back to earlier that evening to bath time.  Our oldest daughter had made us about split our sides laughing at a song and dance she performed, naked, before she got into the bathtub.  It was probably about ten seconds later that I remembered I was standing with about eight guys in the pits of a drag strip.  They were looking at me, oddly, as I would have been, too.  All I could say was that I was thinking about something else as I re-entered the conversation.  I can't remember how the rest of that night went, but I do remember how my initial feeling of embarrassment quickly turned to content.  I was just happy to have been in the moment enough that night at bath time to witness our daughter's "dance."

Which makes me wonder about that same friend from the races that night who has two daughters himself.  I know for a fact that he rarely puts them to bed or is part of bath time festivities.  So, twenty years from now, I wonder if he is going to be one that is quick to pity the man walking through the grocery store with multiple daughters in tow or will he see that man as someone that God has blessed multiple times over.