as of late

Madeline and James building a sofa-cushion fort and Audrey spinning around the living room.  For a moment I thought I should be doing something other than sipping a coffee and watching.  But I let the thought slide away and enjoyed the moment.

Pinterest at its greatest.  Each girl had an idea of what they wanted for Valentine boxes.  We found pictures and crafted away.  The perk of having an over-supply of scrapbooking papers and stickers and a January snow day.

As Audrey geared up to her birthday...

Me: Thanks for getting your laundry put away.  I appreciate it.

Audrey: Yep.  That's what five-year-olds do.

I'll take that.

Amidst the noise of everyday life, I've always needed an afternoon quiet.  When he worked from home Darrin joked that he wasn't supposed to talk to me from 1:00 to 3:00.  It wasn't a joke.  Two years ago I gave up my daily Days indulgence and I've taken to leaving the tv off and enjoying the silence of the house during rest time.  It's never two hours long anymore, but I'm also not in the swings of infant vs. toddler vs. kindergartener vs. parents exhaustion.  But it's still a few moments of glorious silence.

We've been making it outside more and more.  Swinging, throwing balls, digging in snow (as available), and running in circles around the driveway are James' favorites.  Madeline has started joining the neighbor boys in shooting baskets and seeming like one of the bigger kids, although she still loves to play pretend with the girls across the street.

Sometimes I see glimpses of the life I once knew before kids.  The other day James was still napping and the girls were across the street playing.  I was home alone with dinner cooking and no chores (that I wanted) to do so I sat down and read a book.  It's bittersweet.  The feeling that it's going by so fast, yet at times not fast enough.

Oh, Deer!  It's Valentine's Day! But it took me an extra month to post a picture of it.