Fall Haiku

Staley's fall haiku:

The trees are painted.

Leaves fall like colorful rain.

Green no longer rules.

Siblings Make the Best Friends

I have often said that I feel very blessed with how well my kids play together and how much they enjoy each other.  There is no time I am more thankful for that than during this pandemic when our time as a family at home far outweighs anything else we are doing.  As Staley gets older, she spends more of her free time reading or writing alone in her room. Although they always LOVE when Staley joins in to play, Adelie and Briggs really have a good time playing together.  As I type this they are playing in the playroom with figurines, matchbox cars, and the dollhouse in a lively make-believe world.  Sometimes they build together.  Sometimes they craft together.  Sometimes they read together.  Sometimes they make up performances together.  Sometimes they play school or pet store or spy camp.  Whatever it is they find to do together, it fills my heart to hear them playing together and makes me so thankful that they have each other.

They made Halloween costumes for their stuffed animals.  Bear Bear is a banana and Fuzzington is a snowman.

They had a great time playing with the marble maze.

The play room is usually a disaster after an afternoon of crafting fun.

They spent a long time yesterday making puppets, writing a script, and performing their original puppet show.

Siblings truly make the best friends!

Mouse Tales

Zach and I saw a mouse in our house last night.  I was less than enthused and Zach went out right away to get some mouse traps.  This morning when the kids got up, I told them about the mouse and the traps so they knew not to touch the traps and why they were there.  I figured my kids might freak out a bit.  Instead they were all pretty excited.  Staley asked a bunch of questions, Briggs excitedly came up with a few ideas of how to lure or chase the mouse into the traps, and Adelie wanted to make a live trap so she could catch it and keep it as a pet.  Guess I'm the only one freaking out about a mouse in our house.  

He Says...

Briggs came into our room around 3:30 in the morning.  He woke me up and said, "Mom!  I just heard a train.  But I don't think it's a steam engine.  It's probably a diesel."  And then he went back to bed.  I guess there are just some things worth waking up for.  Trains might not make my list, but they definitely make Briggs'.

Zach made dinner tonight and Briggs started complaining about what Zach had made.  Staley scolded him and said, "If you worked hard to make dinner for someone, how would you feel if they complained about it?"  To which Briggs replied, "It will probably happen when I have kids and I'm a grown-up.  My kids will say, 'I don't like that' and I'll tell them, 'You haven't even tried it.'  #truth

Winning

We decided to have a challenge at dinner tonight.  I told the kids that if everyone could remember to only speak in a whisper for the entire meal, then we could all have dessert.  The kids rose to the occasion and everyone got dessert after dinner.  The kids might have thought that they were the winners, but we all know who really got what they wanted.

The Sound of Silence

One thing that this COVID pandemic has granted us over these past 7 months is family time.  Lots and lots of family time.  We have very few extra-curricular activities.  We rarely have any week-end plans.  We have limited our outings and trips and activities.  We have kept our social calendar relatively empty. When you add that all up, it means that we have way more time together at home than we have in the past.  There is something wonderful about family time and I do try to cherish it but sometimes it is just a lot.  A lot of noise.  A lot of singing.  A lot of talking.  A lot of stories to listen to.  A lot of needs.  A lot of tattling.  A lot of whining.  A lot of small people in my personal space.  A lot of hours together in a confined space.  A lot of togetherness.  So much togetherness.  

I do not want to complain.  I love my children.  I love my husband.  I love spending time with them and creating memories.  I know we are trying to make responsible decisions and follow appropriate guidelines, which means that life needs to look different right now.  I get that.  But somedays I have flashbacks to my at-home days with 3 kids under the age of 5.  I remember how I would count down the minutes until nap time and bed time just for some alone time, some quiet time.  Right now I find myself doing the same.  On our totally free and open week-ends, I look forward to a long run or a lengthy shower or those precious moments of quiet.  Movie night has become at least a weekly occurrence as it is a family activity that we can all enjoy together QUIETLY.  As much as I thought I cherished those 1-2 hours of quiet after the kids had gone to bed before all this, I appreciate them all the more now.

I know we are blessed.  We are healthy.  We have not been personally impacted by the financial hardships and job uncertainty that so many are facing.  Our kids are going to school in person 5 days/week.  Our kids can play well together and entertain themselves and find joy in all the home time that we are experiencing.  I have so much to be thankful for.  And right now, with the kids all tucked away in bed, I am thankful for silence.

Hope

When Staley was younger, she was the slowest child in the history of the world when it came to doing just about anything.  That is no longer the case.  She has improved by leaps and bounds and moves at a regular person pace now.  So when I'm pulling out my hair trying to get Adelie and Briggs to get ready for bed or to get out of the house for school in the morning, I keep reminding myself that Staley was the slowest of the slow and now she's not.  There is hope.

She's come a long way!