Its Me!

Sunday morning the weather was horrible (again) so Jamey and I debated for a bit on who exactly was going to church. I had to go that morning as I was participating in the service, but with the rain pouring down and the wind blowing things around in the yard, we considered having him stay home with the kids.
There was a short break in the rain, so we decided quickly that we would all go.
The process of getting ready for church was put into warp speed.

While I was in the shower, I hear little feet in the bathroom.
"Who is in there?" I hear Stephen yell in my direction.
"Its Mommy." I tell him.
"Oh" he says.
"Who are you?" I ask him.
"It's Stephen." He replied. "The boy that lives in this house and has a big bed."

My thought at that moment was that Stephen knows he belongs here. This is his house and he likes us! Our family would not be complete without Ansley or Stephen. They are at home here with us. And although they don't know it to tell you: they are safe here. Safe to be silly, to run around after bathtime wrapped only in a towel, safe to tell us how they feel and what they think.

I am glad to be their mommmy. And I am glad we live here together. I would not have it any other way.

A great parenting moment...

So I have been really making an effort to help my kids in the being thankful department. So last night, as we all say by the fire watching a bowl game (ugh) we could hear the wind blowing. It was probably about 25 degrees outside.

"Wow", I said. "Jack Frost is really blowing out there. We are so lucky to have a warm house and warm pajamas!"
Stephen asked, "who is Jack Frost?"
"He brings the cold air" I replied.
"oh" said Stephen.

We did not discuss it beyond that.

About 30 minutes later, I was tucking him into bed. He looks up at me and his eyes are full of tears.
"What is wrong, baby?" I asked him.

We now have full on crying so it takes me a moment to decipher the words between the sobs and tears.

"I been good mama. I was good at Ms. Debbie's" he tells me.

"of course you were!" I say.

"So Jack Frost wont blow me to the cold air??" he asks with wide brown eyes.

Um, ok, so perhaps I didn't really teach that lesson so well. In my attempt to teach him to appreciate his warm house, I made him worry that some guy named Jack was going to come blow cold air on him while he slept.

Well, you can't win them all.

New Year

It is 9:48 in the morning on New Years Day and I am the only one awake. Even Macy is snoring on the floor next to me. The sun is apparently not showing itself today, so my family may sleep all day. I am not sure how I ended up with kids that like to sleep in, but I will take it. I like being the first one up in the mornings.

One of the best sounds in the morning is little feet running down the hallway. And I mean, running. They wake up, and they run full speed around the curved hallway. I am then greeted with a gigantic sleepyhead grin. Now on school days? Not so much. I don't think Ansley actually wakes up until we are almost to her school.

Jamey and I had a really nice dinner with friends last night. We were then tempted to go watch the moonpie rise over Mobile Bay, but we actually decided against that and came home earlier than we thought. And it was nice. I was in my bedroom that was actually clean for once (yes, all the clothes were hung up or folded in the drawers - surprise, surprise) at the stroke of midnight. After a new years kiss from the my sweet husband, I was snuggled in and fast asleep in clean sheets warm from the dryer. Happy New Year to me!