Eloise

I'm pretty sure that most of you that read this blog already know that we moved Lucy to a new preschool this year. She absolutely loves her school, and we love that she is learning and thriving and is excited to go there each and every day. She shares with us her stories of her new teachers (Miss Michelle and Miss Julie are her favorites), her classmates (sweet Caeden, Julia, Sawyer and Samantha), what they do (walking trips and painting), where they play("we went on the big playground today!"), and even what they have for snack(cupcakes decorated as turkeys, pigs in a blanket...new favs, different blog). Well, most recently she has started daily stories about Eloise. Lucy and Eloise enjoy painting together. They both love when they have breakfast for dinner, they both help set the tables for their moms, they both have long brown hair and they both have big brothers. I thought this was so cool that she has found a new playmate to be a bestie! I asked her more about Eloise and asked when we could meet her! Maybe we could have a playdate sometime. Her response was that Eloise stays "at the workshop. She as a pink race car like me but she has to stay at the workshop to feed the fish. Eloise has very pretty red shoes and I very like them. I wish I had a pair of red shoes like hers. Eloise works very hard at the workshop and sometimes she even makes the dinner for us."  You see...Eloise is a make-believe friend. I love this about my daughter! Mark has 3 big boys and we have our super cool Adam and never with any 4 of these boys did we ever have the imaginary friend experience. I absolutely love this because it shows the amazing imagination and creativity my sweet girl has. I want to foster this in her so there will be no question about discouraging these stories. Just once in a awhile we ask her "How's Eloise today?" and we are rewarding with great stories, and a little peek into what our daughter thinks about and finds important and how she defines "being big."

Drinking it in...

It's about 4:30 in the afternoon, and we've been enjoying our Saturday in typical fashion. But something about today seems unlike the norm. I can't quite put my finger on it, and I think that's ok, I don't really want to; just want to savor it. Drink it in. We had a coffee cake in the oven and this morning for breakfast. The smell of that bread baking permeated the whole house and literally brought each child out from the bedroom to their seat at the table as if they were in a trance. Hot chocolate and marshmallows were waiting there for each. We ate together and talked about what we needed to do today, about the movie they watched last night, about silly things. Then the day has been spent doing typical Saturday stuff: running errands. But each stop brought my suspicions that the kids would start fighting or being naughty and my husband would start getting crabby about it. This never happened! We took our time picking out ceiling fans, and as the warmth increased as we got kinks in our necks staring up at all the choices, I really expected the kids to get crabby and they just didn't. They went with it, and participated. Onward to other small replacements pieces and fixer-up items we needed. Lucy announced it was lunch time! I expected a melt down since we still had a few additional stops but that never  happened. On to Buffalo Wild Wings where they played together nicely, ate great meals, and Mark and I were able to talk. Really. I not kidding, we were able to talk to each other!! :) Parents, you understand this right? And as the back of our truck continued to fill up and we continued to drive on, the mood continued to be a good one. We all laughed together, were silly and just enjoyed being together. Now at home, Lucy is finally enjoying a well-deserved nap and the rest of us had a few things to do. No complaints, and still plugging along with it holding an attitude of mutual understanding that this was just stuff our family needed to do today, and the playing would happen later. Again, more moments of "drinking it in". Now it is quiet as Lucy naps, as dogs settle in to their spots for light sleeping. A fire is crackling in the fireplace and the smell of that burning wood is quite possibly as delicious as the coffee cake baking this morning. It's dark already and I'm quickly thinking that I would like to just curl up with a book. However, there is a little boy waiting out by the fireplace who would really enjoy playing a game of checkers with his mother. I think that's a much better idea for now, after all, it must be one of those things our family needs to do today. Drinking it in. Being grateful for this day God has given me. Time for checkers!

She's coming home!

It's been forever since I've posted anything new. Mostly, I think it is because life has been moving at a pace that is much too fast. I have found myself in quite a "funk" (see Glee link) and just not wanting to write about my mood. BUT...today....my dear friend who has been teaching in Brazil for 2 years...shared with our small group of BT friends that she is going to come home. She will be home of course for Christmas, and we have already been looking forward to this. But she will be coming HOME home, after finishing this school year. She will miss her new friends terribly. She will even miss the birds calling outside her window before she's ready to wake up, but we are so so happy that she will be back around us. I needed this news like I needed to breathe today. Thank you Megan. Couldn't have been anything better to hear today!!!