It’s Fun Fun Friday

We are done with school for the day.  The kids and I decided that today was going to be extra fun and so we set up the tent outside.  The sun is shining but it is very cold.   We are now going to the bookstore so we can get books to read in the tent.  We also have to go to the grocery store for the ingredients to make the best birthday cake ever.  The ingredients for SMORES would be nice, too.  After all, what’s a camp without a fire and some food?

UPDATE (hours have gone by):

Bookstore Pictures:

 I love seeing my children reading. . . . .

Now it’s time for the CAMPFIRE:

We were proud of Ethan–for being the best at producing charcoal!

Jacob is showing Ethan how to toast a marshmallow without any BLACK.

Ummmm, David?  I don’t THINK that’s going to work.  Look how much he’s concentrating!

Fun Fun Fun

She said she usually cried at least once a day
not because she was sad
but because the world was so beautiful
and life was so short.
Brian Andreas

  Today, the sun is shining and I have my children around me.  As I go around the house I smile at things: when I hear Grace’s laugh–which is a mixture of a squeal and giggles; when I look out the window and see the boys zooming around the driveway on their bikes; when Caleb brings me his favorite book and makes his “please read” noise.  I smiled yesterday when my husband came home early and surprised me.

I read this in a book yesterday:

Mr. Boeff never traveled around the world
or even drove a car.  He was happy to let
Florence do the driving.  He had a good job,
a house with big yard and a sleeping porch.
Sometimes he and Mrs.Boeff would sleep
out there, he says, “look at the moon
and talk ourselves to sleep.”  He loved his
wife and his baby boy.  He wasn’t lonely.
He wasn’t searching.
Harry Boeff had everything he wanted by the time he was thirty.”

“He had everything he wanted by the time he was thirty.” — That’s how I feel about my life.  I told that to Rich and he didn’t like it.  He thought I was saying that I was sort of “done”. . .”ready to die”.  That’s not what I mean, though.  I do look forward to whatever comes, whatever God has planned for me in the future.

But for now, I am simply happy.  Content.  Fulfilled.  I am a firm believer in “cherishing the moment”.

I read this quote last night in something Joanna sent me:

When she was in her eighties,
she told her husband that the
happiest time in her life was spent sitting
at the round kitchen table in their small house
with all her children underfoot.  M.Stoddard

I’m in that stage of life right now, when “the children are underfoot.”  I’m determined to relish it.  When I’m 80 I want to relish that age, too.

Cherish the moment.  Be here now.  Live today.

I heard a man who was over 100 years old say, “you don’t realize how fast life goes by until you’re up in years”. 

Everyone says that “time flies”.  And it does. 

Today I want to be aware of my baby’s soft breath on my cheek.  I want to smell Grace’s hair as I brush it.  I want to record Jacob’s laugh and the feel of Ethan’s hug.  I took pictures of my kitchen helper today-my David-to help me remember that once upon a time I had a little boy watching and helping his mommy mix cookies.

“MMMMM, this dough is GOOD”, David said, as he helped himself to more.