Little Things

So many little things happen every day that seem worth remembering. Mac, Corrie and Little D, I hope that this blog remains in cyberspace well into your adulthood, because all of our eggs are in this basket as far as your childhood memories go. If this thing bites the dust, you are just going to be stuck with me and your dad's recollections, and I am not sure that will be quite the same. 

Well, anyway, here are some memorable moments of late:

One afternoon last week I asked God for help. I was beyond my last leg of energy, Ellis was not getting home until late, and I felt so unable to provide something for the kids to do other than watch TV. "Lord, would you please provide an activity for us?" I was out of ideas.

Not too long later, I walked into the living room and glanced out the window. "Guys! Look at that! A huge rainstorm!" We sat out on the porch together and ate frozen yogurt while we watched the storm. Mac and Corrie have been wanting to wear our adult-sized T-shirts lately (Hey, by the way Calvin, we loved reading on your parent's blog that were doing the same thing!)

Of course, Mac and Corrie couldn't resist the rain for long. Though I did not want to deal with the mess, I also could not resist letting them have a blast with their umbrellas in the huge "waterfall" under our gutter.

 

Notice how Corrie still insists on fitting into her "glass slippers." Those feet seriously look like the step-sisters' feet trying to squeeze into those shoes now!

Last week I looked in on the "Davey Cam" to see a sweet scene: Mac was showing Davey how he colors in his SpiderMan marker book...melted my heart :)

We had a "Lightning McQueen Potty Chair" in the front yard for a while. I went out to water the garden one afternoon during nap time, and I was surprised by two little kids running out into the yard...naked from the waist down. "Mac and Corrie! What are you doing out of your rooms?...AND Where is your underwear?!!"

Apparently, Mac had found the potty chair in the closet and pulled it out into the kitchen, where he and Corrie decided was the ideal place to "fill it up." They had run outside to tell me, "there is a big lake in the kitchen!" By the time I was done cleaning the "lake" and the kids, I gave up on the potty chair and just stuck it outside for the rain to wash it...which actually worked really well (in my opinion).

About that time, I realized our floors needed some serious attention. I thought about how Ellis had spilled some milk on the kitchen floor the day before...there were so many Cheerios there already that it looked like a giant bowl of cereal. Sigh.

That, coupled with the "kitchen lake" and about five other memorable moments of filth in the past several days made me realize it was time for some serious action. "God, what should I do?" It was now Sunday morning, and I called my mom to see if the kids could visit her for a few hours while I put the whole upstairs through a serious deep cleaning. She said yes, and we were so blessed! The floors got cleaner than ever and the kids had a blast over there. 

Davey was very interested in Jake, and I think it's safe to say Jake liked him too!

Davey still likes to be up pretty early in the mornings, and the other day we sat together on the couch as the sun was rising. I loved seeing him sitting up and playing...he is getting so big!

We have a local park that has TWO great playgrounds right next to each other. There is also some construction going on there, which has created an area full of dirt mounds. When given the choice to play with dirt or an actual playground (or two), which do you think our kids will pick every time?

Mac made a friend (as always) and taught him how to "climb the giant mountain!" It was pretty cute watching the kids interact with their new friend. For a while they would say, "Hey boy! Come this way!," until I asked them to find out his name (Larry, I think). Mac said, "oooh, Larry...nice to meet you!!!!"

Exhaustion has been hitting pretty hard lately, and this has been allowing me the gift of learning to lean on God in new ways. One morning last week, I prayed for God's direction and provision for us again. Almost immediately I thought, "Hey! What a great morning to go to the orchard!" But who could come with us? I called our friend Sherry, and she and her son Travis were so delighted to come along. It was so fun and so very, very beautiful!

I guess I was trying to camouflage Davey with me that day?

It was very important to Mac that he have his SpiderMan coloring book and his "car jar" (a breast-pump jar that he found and filled little cars...I know no one needed to know that detail) with him to pick the raspberries.