1. The small, pink flower petals that keep falling off the trees and whirling all around when the wind blows. Everyone's yard is a carpet of pink petals and the sidewalks are lined with piles of little pink confetti. The girls like to pick up handfuls of petals, toss them in the air, and watch them fly around and land in their hair. They squeal with delight each and every time. It's kind of magical to see pink petals falling all around like snow. Love it!
2. The way Liam wrapped his little arm around my neck when I held him and sang bedtime songs tonight.
3. The Free Library. I love, love, love getting books from the library. We walked to the local Philly branch after Lilly got off the bus today. We originally went to get a movie for our "movie night," but I ended up with a bag-load of books as well. Walking into the children's section is like an addiction for me. I see one book, then another, and then another and I just can't resist putting it in my bag and taking it home for three weeks. I'm so grateful that it's a free service (even though I often pay my dues in the form of late fees...although I'm doing much better this year!!) I can't wait for the day when I can afford to stock my own home library full of wonderful children's literature. I'm so thankful for the talented writers and illustrators who share their talent and enrich my family's life with wonderful stories and beautiful art.
4. Preschool. There's nothing like herding together four 3-4 year olds for a fun topic about days of the week, months of the year, and the number 2. It was a whirlwind this morning, but super fun to watch them learn and explore!
5. My wonderful neighbors. Many of them know that Bobby hasn't been around much. I was chatting with one of the other moms this afternoon and as we were leaving to go back into our houses she said, "By the way, you are my super hero." When I asked her why she said that I always seem so calm and patient with my kids even though Bobby is gone a lot. It was very nice of her to say, but I hardly feel like a super hero. My house is basically trashed with dishes, toys, laundry, and a dirty bathroom. We've been having movie nights almost every week (even on school nights!!) and the kids have had a lot of pizza, chicken nuggets, pancakes, mac 'n cheese and hot dogs for dinner the past couple of weeks. We're sort of on survival mode, but we're surviving pretty well. In fact, if it weren't for the kids to keep my company and give me something to focus on, then I know I would be much lonelier and a lot worse off. Bobby's schedule definitely stinks, but I know plenty of people whose husbands have to be a lot farther away for a much longer amount of time. I feel pretty lucky to have him only a couple hours away, to see him (either here or there) every weekend, to have awesome friends and neighbors, and also to have supportive extended family close by. I told my neighbor that if I can find joy in this part of our journey, then I'll be that much more capable of finding joy at other points in our journey as well.
6. Eyelashes. I'm sitting here at my [cluttered] desk and in front of me on the wall is a bulletin board tacked with a few of Lillian's works of art that she made for me. As I've been staring at them, I noticed that Lillian has given everyone in the drawings amazingly long eyelashes! Look closely and you'll see purple eyelashes on the butterfly, pink eyelashes on the blonde girl [Lillian] at the bottom, and neon orange lashes on the girls on the purple card [which Lillian made for me during 'play time' at school today...my second card in two days, I feel so loved!] I love Lillian's artistic style and attention to detail...everyone's eyes are blue, too!
7. Daddy's stuffed ducky. A long time ago I gave Bobby a stuffed animal duck. I can't even remember when or why I gave it to him...I'm sure he remembers. Anyway, he took it with him on his two-year mission to Riverside, California and he had it with him every day. It's had a lot of lovin' wear and tear over the years and now it's starting to lose some of its stuffing and it's missing an eyeball. Irregardless, Sydney has taken a special liking to it. She carries it around with her and cuddles with it at night. Daddy must've recently talked to Sydney about his duck, because almost every day this week she has told me, "When I miss Daddy I can cuddle with his ducky because he had it with him every day on his mission." The way she says it in her sweet, tender little voice is so cute. I'm glad Bobby held onto it for so long.
8. I was about to publish the post when I read the title and realized I never explained why it was Christmas and Halloween in May!! Lillian picked Barbie's Christmas Carol for our movie night selection, then she chose a Diego book about bats saving a Halloween party. We had a full range of seasons and holidays today. Thankfully, both the movie and the book are from the library and will have to be returned soon (another perk about the library). ;-)
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