Intracasies of Raising Children

Image artist: Rebecca Peragine

Some day last week we were having one of our typical weekday mornings...boys were eating bowls of Cheerios, Elyse was throwing Cheerios, and I was cleaning up Cheerios. You know, just another delightful Thursday. :) But somewhere in between our usual day-to-day stuff, I stopped and listened, I mean really listened and this is what I heard....

"Brother, Mommy said we could have......TRAIL MIX!" - Grant

"Mom!, Elyse just ate her first sunflower seed!" - Benjamin

 "Grant, today I have soccer practice. You can come, just make sure you don't come on the field unless we're having a break." - Benjamin.   "No, Mommy said I can play at the park."- Grant

"Mom, is it okay if I wear this today?" - Benjamin holding up his STAR WARS t-shirt which I'm pretty sure he had already worn twice maybe even three times that week.

I know these short lines of conversation from my kids doesn't sound like much, but on this simple day last week I savored it and really wanted to remember it. A few weeks ago (around the time when everyone was getting ready to be in back-to-school mode and we were still in lots-of-days-at-home mode), I decided on a new schedule for us.... 

Mondays we play by ear. 

Tuesdays we go out somewhere. 

Wednesdays we have a play date.

Thursdays we eat out.

Fridays we go to a park.  

Simple, but just what we needed to get us through to a new season. Benjamin also recently started back up with soccer (which I love by the way!~ new friends to make, new parks to visit, treats to bring, speedy son to watch soaking up every minute of his intense new life as a real athlete). Grant, Elyse, and I have some other kid-related classes that we'll be starting up with soon too.

Whenever I write about children on this blog, I try to balance the funny/real life stuff with the incredibly sweet moments that they so very often add to our lives. Here's some quotes I've been collecting that I feel do just that too.....enjoy!