Despite the dishes in the sink, the floor desperately needing mopping and an explosion of chaos in the laundry room . . . I head to bed this Saturday night happy and content because:
#1 Easton has great friends here - Anthony and Henrique! McKay's friend invited our family to come bowling last night and so I asked Henrique's mom if we could borrow him for the evening so Easton would have a buddy too. What I love about Easton and his friends is that they always let McKay and Morgan play with them - it's simply a non-issue. It's so awesome and I hope, hope, hope it never ends! Plus these friends are the easiest kids to have around, no work or worry for me! Jackpot!
#2 A husband who loves me for letting Easton invite his friend to sleep over despite my insecurity of our house needing some tidying. It was an odd compliment he paid me in the moment that sat well as I bustled around the house while the kids hunkered down in the boys' room playing PSP and iPad games.
#3 Who doesn't love a late morning snuggle nap? Sadly, it's a rarity.
#4 Ryan doing yard work and taking all the trash to base. It made for a refreshing evening in the tidied yard as a family.
#5 Pulling out my "water table" for the kids to play. Some cups, some spray bottles and they were set!
#6 Escaping to the library alone this afternoon. I love browsing the shelves and finding books to feed Easton's voracious reading appetite! Especially now that the children's section has multiplied in size due to other bases and their libraries in Germany closing in recent months.
#7 Easton abandoning his fun on the trampoline to chase me down and see what books I got him. He loves anything with a comic book/graphic novel look or that's about funny kids (ie. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, Bad Kitty). He grabbed one and immediately headed for a chair on the patio to dive in!
#8 Hearing neighbors' continued laughter from their balcony as they watched Morgan and McKay play a spray bottle game on the trampoline. They had quite a rhythm down as they'd jump in circles, attempt to spray each other twice, and then slide the bottle to each other.
#9 Singing to and kissing on Jake on the patio while being bossed by Morgan to watch her "cool moves" on the trampoline.
#10 Reading the first chapter of The Great Brain to Easton tonight. It's entitled "The Magic Water Closet." The boys didn't know that all the WCs they see in Europe stand for water closet = toilet. And any boys at their ages can't resist toilet humor! Just take a look at Easton's first Mad Lib notebook he got this week!
I remember my 3rd grade teacher reading the Great Brain series to our class and loving it. Cross a Tom Sawyer-like story with a setting in 1896 Southern Utah. I loved Easton's questions and anything that made him laugh. I wish I read aloud more often to my kids, I'm usually too tired but I remember how I loved being read to in school and by my parents as a little kid.
#11 Snuggling my babies before bed. I love how Jake rests against me or demands his favorite hold that enables him to suck his fingers. With the boys having received some prime mommy time, I heeded Morgan's begging to be snuggled and read to too. I practiced telling part of my lesson's Book of Mormon story to her. Silly girl told me Ammon was a super hero and that's how he defeated the robbers and cut off their arms - not through power given him by God so he would be able to teach Lamoni's people the gospel! This girl certainly has her own mind about things already and it's so fun to hear her express it in words better now!
My biggest regrets of the day are not going to bed when Ryan did because I was finishing my lesson prep and the fact that I couldn't seem to get anything right for McKay today. I never cut up the watermelon on the counter which was all he really wanted from me today - many, many times. He went to bed crying and I wish now that I'd gone to him for he's my kid that when throwing monumental fits that send me over the edge, he wants most to be held to calm down.
#1 Easton has great friends here - Anthony and Henrique! McKay's friend invited our family to come bowling last night and so I asked Henrique's mom if we could borrow him for the evening so Easton would have a buddy too. What I love about Easton and his friends is that they always let McKay and Morgan play with them - it's simply a non-issue. It's so awesome and I hope, hope, hope it never ends! Plus these friends are the easiest kids to have around, no work or worry for me! Jackpot!
#2 A husband who loves me for letting Easton invite his friend to sleep over despite my insecurity of our house needing some tidying. It was an odd compliment he paid me in the moment that sat well as I bustled around the house while the kids hunkered down in the boys' room playing PSP and iPad games.
#3 Who doesn't love a late morning snuggle nap? Sadly, it's a rarity.
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#5 Pulling out my "water table" for the kids to play. Some cups, some spray bottles and they were set!
#6 Escaping to the library alone this afternoon. I love browsing the shelves and finding books to feed Easton's voracious reading appetite! Especially now that the children's section has multiplied in size due to other bases and their libraries in Germany closing in recent months.
#7 Easton abandoning his fun on the trampoline to chase me down and see what books I got him. He loves anything with a comic book/graphic novel look or that's about funny kids (ie. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, Bad Kitty). He grabbed one and immediately headed for a chair on the patio to dive in!
#8 Hearing neighbors' continued laughter from their balcony as they watched Morgan and McKay play a spray bottle game on the trampoline. They had quite a rhythm down as they'd jump in circles, attempt to spray each other twice, and then slide the bottle to each other.
#9 Singing to and kissing on Jake on the patio while being bossed by Morgan to watch her "cool moves" on the trampoline.
#10 Reading the first chapter of The Great Brain to Easton tonight. It's entitled "The Magic Water Closet." The boys didn't know that all the WCs they see in Europe stand for water closet = toilet. And any boys at their ages can't resist toilet humor! Just take a look at Easton's first Mad Lib notebook he got this week!
I remember my 3rd grade teacher reading the Great Brain series to our class and loving it. Cross a Tom Sawyer-like story with a setting in 1896 Southern Utah. I loved Easton's questions and anything that made him laugh. I wish I read aloud more often to my kids, I'm usually too tired but I remember how I loved being read to in school and by my parents as a little kid.
#11 Snuggling my babies before bed. I love how Jake rests against me or demands his favorite hold that enables him to suck his fingers. With the boys having received some prime mommy time, I heeded Morgan's begging to be snuggled and read to too. I practiced telling part of my lesson's Book of Mormon story to her. Silly girl told me Ammon was a super hero and that's how he defeated the robbers and cut off their arms - not through power given him by God so he would be able to teach Lamoni's people the gospel! This girl certainly has her own mind about things already and it's so fun to hear her express it in words better now!
My biggest regrets of the day are not going to bed when Ryan did because I was finishing my lesson prep and the fact that I couldn't seem to get anything right for McKay today. I never cut up the watermelon on the counter which was all he really wanted from me today - many, many times. He went to bed crying and I wish now that I'd gone to him for he's my kid that when throwing monumental fits that send me over the edge, he wants most to be held to calm down.
