Monday, April 27, 2009


Ben had to work late tonight, and by the time he arrived, we were finishing up a late supper.
(If he looks red in this picture, it's because he is. He was working up on a roof today in the heat. By the way, I must say, I'm awfully thankful for such a hard workin' man!)

Owen couldn't keep his hands off Ben...he was so happy to see him.
(I have that same problem...though the kids usually get to him first.)

Owen kept leaning over Ben, laying his hand on his arm, anything to be as close to Daddy as possible.

Then, he reached out his little hand and grabbed Ben's face, turning it to him for a kiss.

Life doesn't get much sweeter than this!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Trying to Reason with a 2 Year OId







Carter came running out to me last night, oh so upset. "Mommy, my crayon's not working!", wanting me to fix it. I looked down and in his hand I saw the problem....it was a white crayon. Try to explain to a frustrated 2 year old, that white crayons don't show up on white paper....you might as well be talking to yourself. :-)











Thursday, April 16, 2009

Morning Sweetness

I love the sweet spirit of children....
First thing Evan said to me this morning was, "Mommy, I'm so glad I have you." (heartbreaker!) At breakfast he said, "Mommy, thank you for putting food on the table."
These moments make all the hard work and challenges of motherhood absolutely worthwhile! (Also, made me think, how sweet is my spirit in the morning?...)
And I love the way my children need me...
Derek has started coming to me and holding onto my leg and saying,
"Mommy, I need you!" or "Mommy, I want you!"
All he wants is for me to pick him up and hold him.
Their needs really are pretty simple...love and attention.
And, I must say, when he tells me he wants me...it fills my heart!
...and it reminds me to take a break from my busy-ness and just soak in the moment with them.
I wish there was more time and more of me to go around.
But, I'll try to make the most of what I have.
And I'm going to enjoy these days when they want me!
(They don't have to outgrow that, do they?)

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Funny Boys

Kids really do say the funniest things....

Tonight I needed to go pick up a prescription for myself. Carter had been sad earlier when Derek got to go to the auto parts store with Daddy to pick up new brakes and roters. So, I told him it was his turn; he could have a trip to town with just mommy. They need that sometimes. So, we walk into the drugstore, and as we're headed toward the pharmacy, we passed a display of make-up. Carter stopped, and said nice and loud, "ohhhh, this will make you perrrrrrrfect!" Without missing a beat he asked, "Which one we gonna get?" I chuckled as I explained that we weren't buying any make-up for mommy tonight.....too bad, I'll have to wait to be perrrrrrrrrfect.

The other day we were headed to town, just me and the boys, and Carter decided to imitate Papa. Papa has a phrase he says whenever he sees the boys, and they know it well. Once they found out that we were going to visit Papa and Nana for Easter, they've been talking about what Papa will say to them when he sees them. All the way to town, this is what I hear....
"Hey, there's preacher boy!" Carter would say it in his best imitation of Papa's voice, and they would all break out laughing at the top of their lungs, Owen included. He'd say it again, and again the laughing. This went on for about 15 minutes. Evan broke in at one point and did the impression. Funny thing is, they sounded just like Papa! Again at the supper table tonight, as we were talking about going to Papa's, the impressions started again. They had Ben and I laughing, too. Apparently, we are all easily amused.

The boys decided that tonight they wanted to switch things up and they wanted to tuck mommy into bed. So, 3 little boys grabbed my hands, led me upstairs and tucked me into bed. I was serenaded with a couple rounds of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and Derek sang his favorite, "Jesus Loves Me." Evan then decided that I couldn't possibly go to sleep without a bedtime story. He proceeded to tell me the story of Evan the Bunny....

(You see, he always makes us tell him stories about animals named Evan)

It went something like this......
Evan Bunny lived with his mommy bunny and daddy bunny and brother bunnies in a nice home. They had nice neighbors. They woke up in the morning and said hi to their neighbors and then went on a walk as a family. Then they went back to their home, but a mean wolf was waiting for them. The wolf didn't like bunnies. He took the bunny family and put them in jail. The bunny family's neighbors knew that they were in jail. So they came and got the bunny family out of jail. The End.

At least it had a happy ending!

It's been a long time since I'd had a bedtime story told to me.....more years than I want to admit. I had to document this one!

Then the best part of being tucked in....I got 4 sweet kisses! I had to sneak down stairs after Daddy put them to bed, so they wouldn't know I didn't stay tucked in....