Some days . . .

Some days just feel "right," and so far I've had three in a row. Saturday was a perfectly beautiful Texas fall day. The kids were in t-shirts and jeans, but it wasn't cold enough for jackets. All six of us went to the barber shop so Allen, Ben, and Jon could get their hairdos cleaned up a little bit. I have been cutting the boys' hair by myself, but now we have our holiday photo session scheduled, and I thought the little ones needed an expert to cut it this time. The kids all were very well-behaved so we went to the mall for a little shopping. That went great, too, so we pushed our luck just a bit more and went out for lunch . . . at a sit-down restaurant. Again, it went very smoothly -- no tantrums, no cranky kids, just smiles, kindness, and joy radiating through all of us. We came home for naps, and Allen and I took a few minutes to clean up the office since I've been in the mood to scrapbook lately.

Sunday was just as peaceful as Saturday for me. I did a little scrapbooking and we played in the backyard after naps. The little ones are getting really good at climbing the ladder, and I got many chuckles out of the different slide-landings. Sometimes they'd flop on the hands and face, sometimes it was a big plop on the butt, and other times, they smoothly landed on their feet and kept running, ready to do it again. Jon was very clear about when he wanted to "'lide" or "whing" and Allen said the others were, too, but I didn't hear their versions.

Today is Monday. Maybe it feels right because it feels like fall today, who knows. When I was getting out of bed late at 8, I wondered if it was rainy -- that's about the only time the kids sleep late. Will came downstairs around 8:30, and the babies finally woke up at 9:00. Sure enough, it was rainy and rather cool. The kids played while I rotated laundry, then we all sat on the floor reading for a long time. Will wanted to color, so I sat him in the kitchen on the floor and put the blocks out for the little kids to play at the table. It was fascinating watching them, and after just staring for awhile, I finally got the camera out to try to freeze time for just a few moments. Will was happy coloring and writing his letters. He proundly showed me a picture he made of me wearing purple lipstick and my necklace, as he explained to me. He is standing next to me and we are at the grocery store.

The babies had a great time with the blocks. Jon is very good at stacking them -- does a two-year old usually have such good balancing skills? None of my other three did as young as he did. After stacking for a bit, he started getting only the purple blocks and stacking them. He took all the red blocks and handed them to Ben, then started an orange tower. He was clearly sorting the colors and it surprised me. Looking over at Maddie surprised me just as much. . . she had all the semi-circle blocks in a perfectly straight line, right next to the cylindrical blocks, again in a perfect line. She was sorting the shapes and ignoring the colors, but making very straight lines. Ben was sleepy most of the morning. He laid down while the others played and read, and at the table, he played with the lid and can that the blocks fit in. He used the shape sorted, putting the square blocks in the square holes, the round ones in the round holes, but he wasn't getting into it like the others were. It wasn't long before I looked over and Ben had fallen asleep in the chair at the table. When I picked him up to carry him to bed, he didn't wake much.

The little kids have been napping and I got some stuff done around the house. Not much, but a little more laundry, worked on getting bills paid, got the mail, not much. I've had a cup of warm tea, and I'm just relaxing and enjoying the day. . . . it just feels "right."