Wonder and Joy

What a beautiful holiday season of children's wonder and joy...

 

Papa

When my dad imagined enjoying his golden years as a Papa, I hope this is what he had in mind.  He is very loved by my little ones.

 

Trying To Remember

I'm saddened by how little I remember year to year, so in an effort to remember what happened last night, I'm going to write about it here.

It was nothing extraordinary... but it was such a wonderful 30 minutes that I want to remember.

After the three oldest ate dinner, they had some time to play before bath time.  Tracey and Howard were still running a mile a minute (as per normal) but Caroline had started to slow down a little.  At a time of the day, when everyone is getting close to bed time, and often disintegrates into floods of tears, last night all the children were happily engaged.

Tracey and Howard were playing with Grammie.  I'm not sure what the full game was -- I think they went through several games including catch, dancing, singing, and a picnic (my mom is so amazing with kids -- she comes up with the best games).  Tracey and Howard have been playing together frequently these days, and also butting heads quite a bit as they clash over the way they should play together... but with Grammie playing with them, both of them were thrilled to have her attention and were playing well together. 

Caroline had been keeping up with her siblings all day, but was really winding down at this point in the day.  She took it upon herself to bring one book at a time over to Papa, climb up on his lap, and listen to him tell story after story as they flipped through books.  As soon as he finished one book, she would return it to the bookshelf, and choose a new book to bring to Papa's lap.  She was so content to cuddle with Papa, listen to stories, and have his undivided attention as she settled down at the end of the day.  It brought me such joy to watch as the two of them easily read 7 or 8 books together.

Addallee was happily sleeping on Hubby's shoulder... and so I was making Thanksgiving pies while all the children and other adults were otherwise occupied.

Before Caroline took over Papa's lap, I was even able to ask him some questions about how he used to spend Thanksgivings when he was in college and medical school... which led to some questions about his siblings and the history of his limbs of the family tree.

It was such a simple evening... and it was such a wonderful evening.  

It was the type of simple evening that I will look back and miss when my children are older, and my parents are not spending holidays with us.  It was the type of simple evening that allowed me to step back and survey my blessings and truly feel thankful for everything around me.  

It was a simple evening that filled my heart with joy and will rejuvenate me to hang in there during the moments of holiday chaos.

I hope to remember last night for many years. 

 

Announcement

One of Those Photos

This might be one of those pictures that we have our kids re-create in adulthood...

Such is life at our house right now.

Hold Her

I wish I had more of a frame of reference for being the mother of four.  I wish I brought to my role the perspective of having been on of four siblings... or even one of two or three siblings, but I don't.

That being said, I wonder what Addallee's perspective is going to be as the fourth child with three siblings less than four years older than she is.  Her siblings love her and I get asked upwards of 50 times a day by one of the older children if they can hold her.  In fact, that is all Caroline will say, "Hold her! Hold her!" as she sits down on the couch and meticulously puts a burp cloth on her shoulder the same way I do when I hold Addallee.

 

Cuties

My football team did not win yesterday... but my crew looked absolutely adorable for the game.