A wonderful and "mushy" day!

Today was a great day with the kids! Nothing incredibly cute or funny, just a nice together day. It is the kind of day I wish we had every day and the kind of day that makes my children so precious to me in the little ways.

This morning we went to a wooded park to play on a playground, but when we arrived Caleb said he wanted to hike the trail instead. So we spent about 30 mintues walking through the woods, Caleb holding my hand and Savanna Zoe snuggled against my chest in the wrap. We talked about the fallen trees and big rocks, we shook little trees and watched leaves fall, and we watched a couple granddaddy long-legs walk across a big rock. Then we looked at berries and came back home as it was starting to sprinkle.

When we came home Savanna Zoe nursed and went down for her noon nap while Caleb and I ate the picnic lunch we had made for the park that we didn't get to eat there due to the rain. When Zoe woke up we all had a soft and fuzzy half hour laying on the floor surrounded by stuffed animals. Zoe rolled and picked them up and rolled back and talked to them and cuddled them. Her favorites are Zebra and panda bear which are both bold black and white and her little pooh bear from Aunt Christy.

After Zoe ate her cereal, Caleb took a bath. A very long bath! Caleb wanted to read books during his bath so he brought several into the bathroom with him and I put Savanna Zoe in the bouncy and read several books to them both. When Zoe became tired and wanted to nurse and take her afternoon nap I washed Caleb and he said he still wanted to play; so I took Savanna Zoe and distracted her for a few more minutes with watching our dog Abram in the office while Daddy typed for work and then nursed her and put her to bed. I then talked Caleb out of the tub after an hour long bubble bath (I'm envious! Ha)! When we were drying off I looked at his extremely pruned hands and feet and asked him what happened. He said with a giggle, "they're mushy!"

We then ate a snack while holding hands at the table. Daddy finished with work and we all played in the living room with the best free toy ever: empty cottage cheese containers. We stacked them and knocked them down, built towers, built castles, played games, etc. After Savanna Zoe had been sleeping for 2 hours without a peep I went in to check on her and found her awake, quiet, smiley, and taking off her socks to play with her toes! I picked her up and she played with Daddy and Caleb while I warmed up dinner.

A beautiful day! I am so blessed with such a great family!

Humbled by my child

The other day I was having a horrible day. Nothing seemed to go right. The kids both have colds (which makes everybody more whinny and easily frustrated). I was short fused and trying to take things one moment at a time. Then I go to put up a new weekly schedule which I have posted on the end of a kitchen cabinet; as I am removing the old one a large piece of paint peels off of the cabinet. Out of complete frustration with nothing seeming to go right and a momentary lapse in parental judgment I angrily said "Freaking A". Caleb, who was in the living room playing at the time comes in and says, "Mom, it is not a freaking day it is a wonderful day!" I stop dead in my tracks turn to him and smile as I say, "you are right, Caleb, it is a wonderful day. It is a wonderful day because I woke up this morning with the two most wonderful kids in the world!"

I wish I could say that my attitude towards the day stayed on that note, but it didn't. Later that day as I was unloading the washing machine something else happened that was so insignificant I can't even remember what it was now, but I started to cry out of pure frustration. Caleb who was helping with the laundry as usual looks at me as says, "I wish we could have a no cry day." I say, "you want a no cry day?" He responds, "I want a mommy no cry day!" I now am crying harder, not because I am upset anymore, but because I have the sweetest almost three year old in the world! Sometimes he can be a terror when he is forcefully trying to exert his independence or detract attention away from his sister and toward himself, but underneath his terrible twos and new sibling regression he is the same amazingly sweet, helpful, sensitive, caring, and wonderful little boy he always has been! How can I be so blessed!

Christian Vampire?

At lunch the other day Caleb and I had the following conversation:

Caleb (as he holds his hand on his chest): "Do you hear that?"

Jade: "No, what?"

Caleb: "That is my heart making noise."

Jade: "Oh."

Caleb: "That is Jesus in my heart making noise! He is getting blood for me to drink!"

Jade (thinking where on Earth did this kid hear about vampires?): "What?! We don't drink blood."

Caleb: "But on Daddy's back the cup has blood in it, Jesus' blood, that's what Daddy said?!" (Emman has a tattoo of a cross with the communion elements at the base on the middle of his back)

Jade (relief and embarrassment) : "Oh! Yes, you are right. The cup on Daddy's back symbolizes Jesus' blood."