Value

Last Spring we went to Arts Ala Carte at the high school (highly recommend) and Jas spent a majority of his time looking at one painting in particular.  He was captivated by this particular piece of art and, I confess, I thought it was a beautiful painting, but I just wasn't sure why he was so drawn to it.

We came home and he continued to talk about this painting to the point that he decided to ask Maddie to be his liaison and ask the artist if he could purchase her painting. Long story short - The painting now hangs on our living room wall.

I rearranged our living room yesterday and had to move the painting so I found myself looking at it and thinking about it again. Jas found value in his painting and went after it without hesitation. I was actually embarrassed at first - What would this poor student think of my husband's pursuit of their artwork?  (As it turns out, once she heard the price he was willing to pay, she was flattered and quite willing to part with it.)  And I just didn't get it - I wouldn't have paid the price he did for this painting. It didn't seem worth the price to me.

But to Jas it was worth it.

I didn't find the same worth in Jason's painting as he did. But once I moved past my idea of what had value I really began to see the beauty in what Jas loved. And I began to value it too.

Not so near the finish line...

I used to have this idea that because I was a young mom, I would have energy through all of my children's lives. I would be the wonderful mom who did all of the things, and took all of the pictures, and did all of the laundry (I can dream), and wrote all of the blogs (well, you get the idea) and I would never be the mom who didn't make a baby book for her youngest child, so to speak.

Actually using a baby book is a terrible example because, frankly, I didn't even finish the eldest child's baby book. Whoops.

Anyway, I was going to be super mom! Aren't we all? Then time started passing and my older children started getting older and busier and somehow our lives started revolving around the older ones and...the younger ones started falling through the cracks. 

How does that even happen?

Maddie is a senior this year and somehow I had gotten it in my head that I am nearing the finish line; that my parenting days are nearing their end because one of my five is getting ready to fly the coop. One of five.    Ask me how old Kate is.

6. Yeah, 6. That isn't exactly, kinda, sorta, nearly done. Not even close.

Now, there are a whole cast of other factors playing into this ridiculousness that was my completely out of touch mindset, but needless to say, I've come to my senses. I have 5 children still at home (because let's face it, the eldest isn't really going anywhere at the current moment), and my job is far from over. And I have younger children who deserve to have a childhood that isn't just crumbs left over from their older siblings. And no, the younger kids haven't been sitting around unbathed, starving, with drool dripping down their chins. It's just that we were much more intentional with the older ones about doing things. We still do fun stuff with our family, but it has taken more of an if-we-can-cram-it-between-all-the-other-things kind of a deal. And we realized we want to make sure our younger ones look back and see that they had just as much of a Schwartztastic upbringing as the older ones. (Yes, Schwartztastic is a thing. If you weren't aware of this you obviously have not spent enough time with our family.)

So, in an attempt to be more intentional, as any good, Fall-loving, Minnesota family would do, we hit the apple orchard! A trip that we always have good intentions of making, but just haven't managed to do the past few years. But this year we managed it, by jingo!

Now these pictures already made it to facebook, so they aren't anything new, but we're documenting for posterity here, so bear with me. 

Our first stop was the tractors because, Tractors!

The best apples at this point of the season are nearer the top so there was a lot of reaching...

And lifting...

 And climbing up on Papa's shoulders because that, dear ones, is what papas are for.

I got smiles out of the teenagers! 

*Threats may or may not have played a part in the taking of this photograph.

This munchkin was all about the koi pond. I'm going to have to agree because water is simply the greatest thing on the planet earth!

My apple pickers! You may notice we are missing one. This is a common occurrence these days, and not a happy one, but it makes us appreciate the times she is with us all the more. 

Me and the littlest munchkin. I have many, many more years of apple picking ahead of me with this little lady! What could be better?