a few happy thoughts

Yesterday I wrote something about my physical self.  "Let's face it, it ain't good."  Afterwards, I thought to myself, "No, it ain't what it used to be, but it ain't too bad."  And then I went and whipped my utility room into shape just to prove it.  Hey, self.  I may be short on stamina, but I'm still here.  That's something to celebrate!

Last weekend we went bowling.  Correction:  the girls and Courtney went bowling and Samuel and I went spectating/cheerleading.  It was lots of fun.  While we were rocking out to the very, very loud music (I must be getting old), Kate yelled, "It feels so good to be bowling again, Mom!  I think we should do this once a month!  It should be our New Years Revelation!"  I loved that.  I'm all for New Year's revelations.  In fact, I like the way she thinks.  Hmmmm, should I resolve to lose ten pounds or go bowling?  Let's start with bowling, shall we?

Speaking of Kate and her extra awesome ability to be herself, try this one on for size.  This little girl of ours called her grandpa the other day to see if he would teach her how to weld.  A very marketable skill for a nine year old girl, no?  He asked her if she was considering building a battleship.  I'll just say this:  If that girl made up her mind to build a battleship, I wouldn't put it past her.

And today?  I'm sitting here typing with the cutest little guy on my lap.  He is cute- I'm not just saying that cuz I'm his momma.  And he smells good (most of the time).  AND.  He is grinning.  It is super, duper, fantastically cute.  In fact, his daddy called the other day just to tell me, "I just thought about Samuel's grin and laughed right out loud."  Everybody should be able to see a grin like this each day.  We'd all be a whole lot cheerier. 

Also.  My today includes a very spunky three year old, which is good because not only do I have Samuel here to make me smile, I have Claire here to make me chuckle.  She's pretty funny, that one.  The other day our home teachers were here and after sufficient time had passed she announced in a not-so-quiet voice, "It's time for them to go home now."  When she didn't think they'd gotten the message, she repeated herself.  "Please tell them it's time to go home now."  Awesome.  Luckily, they were good sports.

Oh, and another thing.  Emmy is sick.  As in deathly sick.  The kind that keeps you home from school and then makes you want to watch movies, play with your little sister, and eat chocolate chip cookies.  You know the kind?  I could sense the sickness coming on yesterday morning, but managed to get her out the door.  However, she called me about 30 minutes before school got home.  The chipper "Mom, I don't feel good!" gave her away.  After school, of course, she was much too ill to go to ballet, but then made an amazing recovery the minute the carpool left.  Amazing, I say.  I wasn't surprised when she crawled into my bed this morning with an excruciating tummy ache. 

I had no choice but to pull out the big guns.

I explained that a sickness of this magnitude can only be helped by one thing:  staying in bed.  All day.  When she agreed, I groaned.  Is there anything more painful than keeping a seven year old in bed all day?  Okay, so maybe there is.  The point is, sometimes being a responsible mother requires patience.  And some good acting skills.  You see, the trick is to put on my most sympathetic face, adopt the sweetest voice I can muster, and remind her how very, very sick she is.  So sick, in fact that she couldn't possibly go to school.  The only cure?  A day of strict bed rest.  So, it has only been one hour and and I have already escorted my little girl back to bed approximately seventy-two times.  On account of her being so sick and all.  She knows I am acting (maybe it's because I'm not usually so very sweet).  She is quite aware that the gig is up.  At this point, it has become a battle of wills.  We will see just how long her pride will carry on before she breaks down and admits that she was pulling my leg.  She wasn't sick after all!  And then (enter sigh of relief), we can sit down and have a nice chat about the boy who cried wolf.  We can spend the rest of the day having a Vacation From Life Day, both of us satisfied and happy with a lesson learned.  Mom isn't so dumb, after all.  But if I cave first?  She'll play hooky again.  And again.  I've seen it play out a hundred times.

I've become my mother. 





Last of all, a funny poem.  My friend Robyn sent this to me and it made me laugh. 

Attitude

There once was a woman who woke up one morning,
Looked in the mirror,
And noticed she only had three hairs on her head.
"Well," she said.  "I think I'll braid my hair today."
So she did
And
She
Had
A
Wonderful
Day.

The next day she woke up,
Looked in the mirror,
And saw that she only had two hairs on her head.
"Hmmm," she said,
"I think I'll part my hair down the middle today."
So she did
And
She
Had
A
Grand
Day.

The
next
day
she
woke
up,
Looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.
"Well," she said,
"Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail."
So she did
And
She
Had
A
Fun,
Fun day.

The next day she woke up,
Looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head.
"Yay!" she exclaimed,
"I don't have to fix my hair today!"

Attitude is everything.
Be kinder than necessary,
For everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
Love simply,
Love generously,
Care deeply,
Speak kindly. . .
And leave the rest to God.


(One more thing that made me laugh out loud today!)