The Little Things

There are times during the weekend where things are chaotic...kids screaming or fighting. (Why do brothers love to antagonize their sisters? Why does Charlotte hit her brother, totally unprovoked?)

Then there are moments like all of these, where I always want to remember their faces, the little moments.

Cole always has had a love for books...he came home from the Londonderry library with Brendan on Saturday with a great big bagful of new books. This was in addition to the 3 books he checked out at the Moose Hill Library.  He still picks out a new Jack and Annie (Magic Treehouse) book each time he goes.  He picks out books that he has heard before or on a subject that interests him in the moment.  This past Friday when it was just him and I home we sat and read almost the entire Jack and Annie book he had which took us about an hour. He listened intently the entire time. 

Charlotte's love of books has evolved as well and she'll also sit and listen intently for quite some time (but only with picture books!). 

Singing Happy Birthday to anyone and everyone!

A plastic bag? No!  A sleeping bag, of course!

 Charlotte loves to pull the stool into the living room to make herself taller for her kitchen. 

 Bath time makes anyone happy (especially after a nice little tantrum!)

 Tickle time anyone?

 We spent an hour playing Legos. I love Legos. I could spend time building without the kids!  Charlotte loves to build all of the people. Cole builds spaceships, fire trucks, army trucks.

On Saturday we played and danced to a lot of Broadway music.  Much of it brought back a lot of memories.  Brendan and I used to listen to it a lot back in the day.  One song from "The Full Monty" is called "Breeze Off The River" which is about how much a father loves his son.  Brendan put the song in the home movie he made for Cole's first year.  As soon as I heard it I thought of the movie and that little baby we brought home 5 1/2 years ago. I hugged Cole so tight and told him why that song was so special.  He hugged me tight right back and then waved at me with a big grin on his face, saying "Bye Mommy," as he walked to the living room. It made me  laugh. I had him wave at me again so I could take his sweet photo.

 We made brownies to bring over our friends' house later that night. This is quite  possibly the most unflattering picture of Charlotte ever but it made me laugh.  Licking that mix off of the fork is crucial!

 Playing air drums to some good ol' Billy Joel.

We went over a friends' house later that day/night.  Zach and Mason are missing from the pic but they were bouncing around somewhere.  We are so thankful for the this great group of people we have become close with this year!  I laughed so much that night!  The kids stayed up until 10pm and did reasonably well today.

So it's some of these little things I am thankful for.

Family, friends, love.  

It's incredibly cheesy, but true.