Lovable

It's raining cats & dogs out there, and I am completely content to be sitting on the couch, looking forward to finishing up my latest read.  Sadly, I'm missing my husband who is slaving away at work so I can sit here on the couch.  We've had a nice, uneventful week, and I am thankful.  I've been able to focus on some things that needed focusing on (aka my HOUSE), and my kiddos haven't minded the attention either.  Here's a little of what's going on around here:

* We bought a minivan.  It's true.  I'm not sad in the least, and my sweet husband has warmed up to our new friend quite nicely :)  He keeps reminding me it's MINE (perhaps to console himself), but I see the love when he drives it.  NOTHING is more convenient in our stage of life.  NOTHING.  I'm sold.  I'm so thankful for God's provision.

* Emily's just getting around.  Plain & simple.  She's found behind furniture, under furniture, chewing on who-knows-what, all the while, just blowing raspberries and entertaining herself.  She's just started rocking around a bit on her knees, but she's not fully UP yet.  Elyse is even more annoyed that she now has no personal space :)

* The girls' new favorite bedtime routine is "flying."  They both love to fly into their cribs, courtesy of Mommy or Daddy, or both of us.  I especially love when we're both around for bedtime so we can each take a girl.  The routine basically consists of flying the girls around like little airplanes and landing them gently in their beds.  Seriously.  That's it.  It's the coolest thing ever.  The thing I love about it the most is that they're too little to be competitive about it.  If it's just me putting them to bed, they excitedly watch the other fly around and wait so patiently for their turn.  I just love that they're so happy for each other in the littlest of things.

* Elyse has fallen off the potty twice.  I probably should have eased into that announcement, but I just had to say it.  There are no words to describe what probably happened, but she's being a bit more careful these days.

* I just have to tell you my dryer story.  Our dryer broke over the weekend, and I was incredibly sad.  The weekend was busy enough that laundry had to wait, but Monday's laundry hit hard.  When you do an average of 7 loads of laundry a week (sometimes more), a dryer is a wonderful commodity.  SO, I set up my clothes rack and had laundry drying everywhere: backyard, living room, kitchen, etc...  Jordan was just about to order the suspected part when I got an email from a sweet friend "out of the blue" asking if I wanted their dryer.  They're moving to FL & on a whim asked :)  So thankful for her generosity & for God's provision just when we needed it!

* Elyse has been my little buddy lately.  She's a pretty fun tag-a-long, most of the time.  Her newest favorite activity is to sit up on the bathroom counter with her chap-stick while I put on my make-up.  I've never seen a person apply so many layers of chap-stick.  It's hilarious.  She's also into "helping" me cook, clean, fold laundry, etc...  She's so into tagging along, that she loves to put her hands in my back pockets and let me drag her around.  Seriously.

Lovable: that's what my kids are.  I admit, I had a few moments today that seemed to challenge that statement, but they are lovable.  We had a bowl of peas tumble across the kitchen floor, a few meltdowns seemingly over nothing, a couple of those Mommy can't get anything done moments, but it only takes a couple of smiles from these two to put me back in a good mood.  I am guilty of rushing the girls off to bed on those kind of nights.  Tonight, I decided to let Elyse sit on my lap while we read (usually Em's roost), and Emily sat next to me.  It only took having my arm around Emily to send her into a fit of giggles, which were soon accompanied by Elyse's giggles.  Needless to say, we didn't get any significant reading done.  Seriously, it's moments like those that make we wonder why it is I care about those other yuk moments.  Give those you love a squeeze tonight.  Life is too short, and we have so many precious blessings.

Well, my book is calling.  I'm also thinking the cookies on the counter might be calling, but I'm not sure if it's them or the apple in the fridge.  Okay, who am I kidding?  The cookies are calling.