Mommy's Ready for a Sandbox

Need I say more?

I didn't think so. (Okay, those boys are darling, but cleanup is a rather major endeavor in cases such as these.)

In other updates, church was totally the best-of-times, worst-of-times yesterday. The first two hours were somewhat miserable, as both my children totally felt apart. Stomper spent the first half of primary under a table and the second half with me, curled up and crying. He acts so traumatized sometimes and I can't figure out what the trigger is. Bitty also spent a good chunk of the morning in tears, also for unknown reasons. I was about to throw in the towel and just go home when I guess somebody flipped a switch, because Sacrament Meeting, which we have last, was really quite enjoyable - not something I expect on a normal basis. Stomper colored pictures for the older girls he adores (both of them are pre-teenagers who pay attention to him and he's rather smitten,) including writing "To Sarah From Stomper" in very nice writing, and then passing them secretively through faithful messengers like his little sister. My heart just fills with joy to see him do this (the writing, not the note passing) because he has never shown much interest in learning his letters, coloring nicely and carefully, or fine motor skill type stuff like that. And then suddenly in like the last three weeks it has just clicked and he's drawing all sorts of great pictures instead of scribbling and doing so well with his letters. Being a mom is all about reveling in your children's lives. Something as little as him writing his "s" correctly just makes my heart sing. And Bitty got all cute and cuddly. That hour almost made up for the previous two!

After church we had been scheduled to have an afternoon at our friend's the Tuckfield's home, and it got pushed back two hours later than we had planned. This was no problem for me - the minute Troy passed the message along I crawled into a cocoon of covers and settled in for a long and snorey nap. Then I heard my daughter's approach, and as she climbed up on the bed I thought to myself, "There goes my nap!" That was the last thing I remember for 1 1/2 hours. She just curled up into the proper spooning position and we both zonked. It really was very sweet. You know what that means, though, right? I planned on having a very late-night mommy-daughter date with her, but after several hours of total bliss at our friend's house (they have lizards, beagles, big kids who like little kids and can also do flips, not to mention the trampoline - what more is there in life?) I guess we wore her out. After putting Stomper to bed she starting crying and saying, "I need to go to sleep with my brother!" She climbed in with him, and we didn't hear from her again until the next morning. Yahoo, yipeee, amen.