When trampolines come back into daily play, and the fridge once again empties without notice, it is a sure sign everyone is well again. I am so thankful! 
I’m not sure everyone else is glad to be back into full-time schoolwork again, but they’ve been doing well. It’s fun to catch them having fun while doing school. 
Last Sunday we spent the day with Matt’s family. The kids were well-entertained (maybe a bit too much so) with ginormous lollipops from a friend’s wedding. After much licking, Elsie stuck out her tongue and said, Dad, look at my tongue! It’s a colorful one, isn’t it?
Tucked inside my week are always many excitements, unplanned occurrences, etc. One such event involved smelling smoke from upstairs. My internal Mommy smoke-detector went off and I ran downstairs to investigate. An unnamed culprit had burned some papers inside the recycling bin. Rightly scared, they took it outside to extinguish it better without further smokeage. Fortunately no harm was done. Unfortunately for them, Mom’s nose never lies.
We have hit the “When-it-gets-quiet-you’d-better-go-check” stage again. This time it is with little Betty. Powder all over her room. Markers all over her body. Oats all over the floor. Scissors in hand. It’s all or nothing, baby. She wears her little pink flip flops backwards. She works hard in the garden. In addition to the messes and disasters throughout each day, another thing is for certain: at night, all is at rest, they are still, and we relish the gift of sleep. The only thing they’re chasing are their dreams.
The roller skates have come out in full force along with the crocuses and tulips.
It’s hard to believe this little guy will be seven years old in three days!
Sometimes when the snot is running, the tempers are ranting, the fridge is emptying, and the feet are stomping, I forget to breath. Yet when those little arms squeeze my neck and those eyes look up at me with a grin, the snot and mess fades away. In the really challenging moments, they need love. Sometimes love is jumping on the trampoline until your hair stands on end. Sometimes it looks like pancakes made from scratch. Sometimes it means lying next to them way past their bedtime and reading one more book. Sometimes it’s a sticky lollipop… a really big colorful one.
Grow Old With Me 