We had a pretty fun afternoon yesterday just hanging around the house. The boys rode their bikes, played with their trains, and played outside a bit too. We took a break for a yummy dinner...
(baked tilapia, carmelized onions, sauteed kohlrabi greens and a dill sauce)
...and afterwards the boys took a bubble bath in the baby pool...pretty funny! It might become a new trend around here.
Lately, I've been trying to live by this motto...
I'm definitely feeling healthy...still waiting on the wealth. Haha! Wealth is relative right???
I managed to get the boys in bed by 8:40 last night which is a record since the time change. We never recovered from it. Since springing forward, we'd been slowly drifting towards later naps and later bedtimes and I'm hoping to eek back in the other direction. The earlier we can get going, the more likely we are to squeeze in some outdoor activity before it gets too miserable out there...like today's 100 degree heat index...yikes!!! The UV index is EXTREME too so I'm figuring it's best to keep things inside during peak sun hours...basically all day here :-) Thank goodness for our pool when the sun's not blazing on it.
This morning we succeeded in the early to rise department and I had time to drink coffee, do my devotion, and check my e-mail before the boys got up. This little nugget was in my e-mail from MOPS this morning and it stuck a cord in me...
Wild Laughter
by Jessica Fick, mom of two
I hear his deep chuckles as he tosses his spoon on the floor in favor of eating his oatmeal with his fingers, his squeals as he burrows under his brother’s newly made bed to hide, pop out and scare us and his low hearty belly laugh that signals his joy, delight and mischievousness as he explores the world. My second son, Oswald (2), is a reckless adventurer unlike his older more cautious brother, Reuben (6). While Reuben will politely ask for a juice box or graham cracker, Ozzy will independently push a dining room chair to the pantry and giggle with delight that he is able to help himself to a snack. Or start crying because he has managed to fall off the chair even though I have only turned my back for a second. I hesitate to even admit that – but the reality is my kids fall down sometimes, no matter how much I keep an eye on them!
There are times I dread the wild laughter of Ozzy - because I know that it might mean that the clean laundry I’ve just folded has now become his fort, or that he is delighting in artwork involving a black Sharpie on our dining room table. Some days I’m too busy and stressed and don’t acknowledge the gift of his wild laughter. I just want to get through the day and am counting the minutes until naptime. A wise teacher in the Bible said, “There is a time for everything and a season for everything under heaven…a time to weep and a time to laugh.” With preschoolers the weeping and laughing often come within minutes of one another.
Other days I look at his head thrown back in laughter, mouth wide with a smile and give in to the wild laughter myself. I hide with him under the covers in the morning when he’s crawled into bed to laugh as we yank them down to surprise daddy or brother. It is easy to miss the wild laughter if I don’t join in sometimes. I often want to weep with tiredness, frustration or exasperation (the Sharpie again?! Where does he keep getting these?!) but I also don’t want to miss the laughter.
Dear God, thank you that you delight in your children. Help me to delight and to laugh wildly with my own kids.
Sometimes, I need to remind myself to just laugh...it's just not worth getting frazzled over. And who doesn't like to laugh??
Once the boys were up, we were able to squeeze in a run with our running buddies before story time. We covered 6 miles in not-even-close-to-record time but we were out there and that's all that matters. It was HOT!
I thought ahead and brought 3 hardboiled eggs, a banana, and some almond butter which I ate before story time. It was satisfying and a good go-to breakfast to keep in mind on mornings when breakfast has to be on the go. Still going strong on day 22 of my Whole30 experiment. My energy is back in full force and I'm feeling fantastic. I'm glad I stuck it out through the first rocky weeks.
Today's story time features were...
I'm still on my Tony Mitton and Ant Parker kick, as you can see. One more week of it to go :-) I just love their books!!!!!
We stopped by a friend's house for a little play time on our way home from story time...
The boys had fun checking out all the new toys. Their favorite was the remote control fire truck. Cool stuff!! I had fun chatting with my friends. It's so nice to have girlfriends...especially one who runs with me. The miles pass much more quickly with company. I can't believe I resisted for so long...live and learn, right???
After our play date, we headed home for lunch...
...more baked tilapia on top of romaine, tomatoes, roasted kohlrabi, and that dill sauce thinned out a bit with rice vinegar to make a dressing. YUM!! The boys ate their fish with sweet potato "fries."
I've got a chicken and a butternut squash roasting in the oven right now and it smells divine. After I reheat some steamed broccoli, dinner will be ready whenever we are. Love that...especially on nights when we've got a couple of errands to run before dinner. I'm going to top my squash with the coconut cashew butter I made yesterday...gotta get my healthy fats in. :-)
I'm off to indulge myself in a little bachelorette catch-up session. I've missed the last 2 weeks so I might have to do some fast-forwarding and just get the gist of it. Oh well!
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