A Tale of Two Casitas

I ran across this term while reading my daughter-in-law's latest Instagram post: still life. Unfortunately it referred to the image of several antibiotic dosage cups and paraphernalia dotting her kitchen counter. All the kiddos and Mom have been battling some wicked ear infections the past week.

I couldn't help but think about the contrast between a still life capture, be it on film or canvas, and motion pictures. Do you prefer one over another? I do, but I'll get to that in a minute.

You see, last week yours truly had the pleasure of getting to have those grandbabies here with me at the Casita while Mom and Dad took a little anniversary time away.

I try to have the house clean, ready, and prepped for any of my family when they come, not just because I think it's nice to step into a comfortable space after a long drive with some food or snacks at the ready, but because I hope it signifies to them how excited I am to have them here, and how much I have looked forward to their visit.

Actually, if you were to drop by the house for a chat most any day, it would look pretty much the same. It's a small space, so there aren't really many ways the furniture can be arranged.

There's the couch with "all the pillows" as my son aptly describes, the trunk turned coffee table where I stash all the extra bedding, the piano the kids love playing, and the little green highchair in the corner of the dining room. The bedrooms are also quite small, so in addition to the two twin beds there are pallets with fresh sheets and blankets awaiting their makeover into sweet, adhoc slumber spots.

I have tried to make the space welcoming and homey, especially for the kids. There are wall-mounted shelves in the front room displaying favorite children's books, and a little spot in the credenza filled with assorted toys, puzzles, games, and coloring books.

Even still, everything is usually stacked, cubbied, and mostly out of sight...

waiting!

That version of this house could be referred to as a kind of still life most days... the potential energy is there, but the house isn't really living its best life until that energy becomes kinetic!

It was a great few days! I hope those kiddos had half as much fun with me as I had with them (except for one very unfortunate accident... totally my bad, and please... don't ask)!

Aaaaaanyway... Tom and I had saved a huge cardboard box - and I mean HUGE - for them to play with, which promptly became a two sided reading nook with the addition of all those extremely necessary and ever so useful couch pillows (ahem)!

In short work shelves were emptied of books, and games and puzzles dotted the living room floor. Checkers and a deck of cards for "War" were played on the dining table or floor, wherever there was space to be had. Stories were read to "babies", all five of them in varying shapes and sizes though none actually looked like a real "baby."

We baked brownies, made a necklace out of old sea shells, and picked home grown tomatoes and peppers like we were searching the vines for hidden treasure!

It was a grand old time, I must say. It was perpetual motion, and it was bliss!

When Mom and Dad got back to the house it looked juuuust a little different from when they first arrived, but hey, isn't that the whole point?!

This house loves life and motion and energy. Ok, maybe that's a little too much personification, but if this little Casita could testify to it, I know that would be what she'd say!

All too soon (it's always too soon) it was time for them to pack up and head back home. With the last hug and wave as they drove down the street out of sight, I went back up the stairs and into the house. Such a contrast. The house seemed to know what I was feeling, because it was feeling it too, I'm sure... the quiet... the still. Too much of both.

I plopped down on the pillowless couch and looked over the remnants of what had been the best couple of days together. I was hesitant to clean it up and start putting it all away. Surely that could wait. I wanted to replay the merriment and the mayhem and reaffirm the reason this little Casita exists in the first place, for precious family who are loved dearly... and for moments just like these that turn into the absolute best memories!

To my grown kids: Thank you for trusting me with your precious babies and for letting me be a part of their growing up years. I treasure my time with each and every one of them.

p.s. please tell Wade I'll remember the banana bread next time!

"Let me step into a house at the close of day

That is littered with children's toys,

And dwell once more in the haunts of play,

With echoes of by-gone noise.

Give me the house where the toys are seen,

The house where children romp,

And I'll happier be than man has been

Neath the gilded dome of pomp." - Edgar A. Guest