grace.

watching zoe in her dance class was one of those moments as a mother where i got to see my daughter pour herself into something she felt proud of. something that was at first a little out of her comfort zone, but she soon realized she loved every minute of it. my heart was beating extra fast and i had a ridiculous grin plastered on my face the entire hour as i watched her twirling and jumping and holding her teacher's hand and observing and listening with pure intention. we usually peer through the wooden blinds to catch glimpses of our girls in their element and we giggle and can never get over how cute a group of three and four year olds in tutus are. i am so happy i was able to be on the other side of the glass this particular day to capture some of the special memories that she's making and that she will hold dear. i know i already do.

seeing her with her little buddies just melts my heart! love. i love you, girl.

shift.

for awhile now, i've had these persistent thoughts of disconnecting from media and technology, whether it be for a day, a week, limiting the number of hours, whatever. every time i feel like i'm being distracted by facebook, or pinterest, or twitter, or my email - i have this twinge of guilt because lots of things are more important, most things are more important. like family. and silence.

now it sounds silly and obvious, and is honestly just embarrassing, but social media can be like an addiction. it has so many pro's - for it's ability to relate, to catch up, to keep in touch, to network, to share work, thoughts, photos. i appreciate all of that. but lately i've just felt like all in all - it's too many voices, drowning out my own inner voice. and i'm not cool with that.

so here's where it gets kind of ridiculous... i start looking up software that limits access to facebook. i end up downloading a mac app called self control (irony to the hundredth power) and then laugh at myself a lot. however, i used it - i blacklisted facebook & twitter for a day - and it was a really good starting point. then i decided to have my OWN self control and just turn my computer off during the day for a few days. i deleted facebook and twitter from my phone and i've been just living - not thinking in status updates and tweets. not at all distracted by anything. and i must say.... it's been pretty freaking glorious.

i know they say -- everything in moderation. which i can totally buy into, but honestly to me moderation is 15-20 minutes a day, max. to commit anything more to it than that just seems like too much to me. so, i'm going to see how life looks - without all that noise.  it's been about a week so far and honestly, i'm really into it. and maybe a little bit upset that i didn't start sooner. PS: blogging is cathartic and overall just serves a lot of purposes for me, so that's not going anywhere. but i am shifting my focus away from keeping up with acquaintances and perfect strangers' lives to listening and loving my people and sharing what i feel like sharing with the people who choose to listen and love, too.

but i've been reminding myself on an almost constant basis to disconnect, and connect to what matters more. like this:

a string of moments.

the weekend was flipping freezing. we made it warm by sprinting from the car to whatever door we were entering - squealing and screaming with each step, laughing and enjoying good hot food and the best mojito i've ever had with friends, staying under big comforters most of the day, me wearing jesse's socks, snuggling in a big way, staying in our pj's too long, breaking in my parents new house with a sleepover, being grateful for the the february air for confining us to one space where we all could just be together. i love cozy weekends.

sunshine.

it's amazing what a little sunshine can do for the soul. we've been soaking up WARM february days. am i dreaming? maybe.



pinch. in moments like these... when zoe's tiny little fingers are pressed to her body and she is filled with such delight that it bubbles over and she belly laughs with all that she is --



when she makes friends that i just know will be life-long. they love and they fight and they have deep conversations. like two friends that have grown 20 years together, only more pure --



when she stops to let the wind blow her hair around and take in everything that surrounds her --



to hear the brand new lyrics from three kids with wild imaginations and hearts as big as the sky above them --



i am in awe --



feeling grateful beyond measure.