Saturday, February 23, 2008

Happy Birthday!

It was "Happy Birthday, Papa" as Dad Staude turned 54 this past Thursday. We celebrated by taking Mom and Dad out for dinner (marking Sydney's FIRST restaurant experience ~ which went exceedingly well) and then coming home to enjoy the bi-annual treat of Gret's German Chocolate Cake (which she only makes twice a year for her Dad's birthday and for Leon's birthday), watch a Disney flick (The Gameplan) and generallly just relax.

While it looks like Dad is about to eat the entire cake in one fell swoop; he is actually "phoofing" out his candles with Sydney's help (okay, so she is looking a little skeptical, but maybe the flames freaked her out! Although we didn't put NEARLY all of them on ~ only had 14 in the box, LOL!)
At any rate, "Happy Birthday, Dad!" We all love you!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

"Beside the White Chickens"



"So much depends upon ..."

So begins the infamous poem, "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams, which can be interpreted (my former students will remember this) to suggest that the deepest revelations, beauty, truth and value of life is often found in the simplest things; the imagist philosophy to communicate not in ideas, but in things ...

Having a new baby in the house reduces inspiration to its simplest and most profound ~ Leon and I find small moments hold tremendous meaning. Here are some of our favorites:
  • Leon, Gret, Sydney & Bailey laying on our bellies on the floor for 5 minutes of "tummy time"

  • Unbundling Sydney from her swaddle at the end of a nap and watching her stretch and yawn

  • Sitting quietly and talking together while feeding Sydney her bottle at the end of the day or in the quiet of the night.

  • Spending time imitating faces with Sydney Grace! (Leon is quite good at this!)

  • "life narrating" ~ whether its cooking dinner, dusting the living room, or dressing for the day as we talk to our little one.
Our list could go on and on ... it's the routine and ordinary of regular days that seems most awesome for our family. It's real and basic and profound. Truly, "so much" does depend upon our own "version" of the red wheelbarrow ... but we'll forego the white chickens.