1 Mother 2 Another

Not to brag here – more like
I’m just wanting to capture it so I don’t forget that
such days exist when the dark times come – but we had
ourselves quite an awesome day yesterday.


The morning started earlier than anticipated, when Maddie
spontaneously awoke at 7 a.m. I thought I heard her rustling around
quietly, so I stuck my head out of my room and saw her sneaking
into the game room. "Maddie?" I asked softly, a question. She
turned to me: "I finished my book last night and wanted to get
another one." And sure enough, she grabbed another chapter book and
took it downstairs, snuggling on a couch with a blanket to read.
Smiling quietly, I got out our daisy-shaped pancake griddle and
proceeded to make a fun breakfast. We had a lovely slow beginning,
reading and cooking and eating things loaded with butter and syrup.


The girls and I hit our neighborhood pool around 9:30, and had the
place entirely to ourselves until 11 a.m. Cora’s hit an
intense diving phase – as in, “for rings” –
and she spent the whole time diving for rings, diving for glass
jewels we bring for “sunken treasure”, diving for her
goggles – you name it, she swam for it. Maddie, meanwhile,
had her snorkel gear on and was practicing breathing through the
snorkel tube, swimming like a cruising shark over the entire pool
without coming up for air. It was truly greatness.

When someone did show up, it was a friend
of Maddie’s, and they swam and played another hour before we
headed home for lunch. A slow, contented lunch later, it was quiet
time, to which the girls went without complaint (being tired out
from the pool, you see.) I had an awesome quiet time myself,
managing my personal Bible study, a workout, and some computer
time. I even had a chance to make myself a chocolate smoothie
– and DRINK it! – before quiet time was over.


More on that amazing smoothie another day.


After quiet time, the girls had their own fruit smoothies and
watched Magic School Bus before heading over to a friend’s
house for Vacation Bible School; see, our church does VBS in
private houses and calls it a Neighborhood Kids’ Club.
Yesterday was the first day and Maddie was delighted to see some
friends from school at the club. The girls sang, played games, made
a craft, and came home ready for dinner. We ate the meal I’d
fixed earlier while the girls watched Magic School Bus, and then I
disappeared into my room to fold laundry while Brian played with
the girls until bedtime.


Anything spectacular about the day? No. But I felt like I hit that
delicate balance of getting done what needed to be done while still
having time – and patience, and energy – to pay
attention to the girls. I felt like I accomplished a lot as far as
staying on top of meals and chores without burning out as a mommy.
I had a lot of fantastic play time with the girls, and we all went
to bed exhausted and happy.


And that, to me, is an excellent day.