Quote of the day: Talented

Sitting here with my girls, just after having our breakfast and my middle child is getting into the dress up box. She comes over to me with a silly little ruffled hat I knitted and announces "I can spin all kinds of hats because I'm talented. You can do that when you're 3 mama!" Her matter-of-fact tone just slays me! I love her! And I love these moments. Helps make the harder moments bearable and worth it.

Happy baby. Happy mama.

This is a picture of me and my littlest munchkin. She was enjoying an organic vanilla teething cookie. I was enjoying the rare moments of cuddle time. She's a girl on the move these days! Walking, running, climbing & wanting to do it all herself. She's never been a super cuddly baby, at least not with me. She's too busy checking out what her sisters are doing, getting into spaces and things she's not supposed to, learning new things and eating, eating, eating! But lately she's been a bit more cuddly, a bit more eager for a hug or to be held. Maybe because she is recently weaned, or maybe it is the whole separation anxiety stage that little ones start to go through at this age. Whatever the reason, it doesn't really matter. I'll take it! She is my last baby. I'll hold her anytime she wants to be held, and I will ignore those who whisper that I am spoiling her. I'll hold her even when she seems too heavy to carry. I'll hold her even when it's not convenient and I'm in the middle of some other task.

All too soon she will truly be too big to carry. She'll be "too old" for wanting cuddle time with mama. She will be running off with friends to giggle about boys instead of crawling up into my lap to giggle about nothing. So for today I am relishing all the cuddles and the giggles and the fact that she still fits in my lap. Today she's a happy baby and I am her happy mama.

Around the breakfast table...

I was talking with the girls this morning and Doodles, my middle child who is almost 3, says "Why did Jesus have to die?"

My 4 year old quickly answered "Because that's the rules God made so he can rescue his children!"

"That's right Ellz!" I said and then told them about sin. I reminded them about Adam and Eve and how the cost for sin is separation from God & death but that Jesus came, died & paid the cost by taking on our sin on the cross.

Ellz sat and thought for a minute and blurted out "Satan is a mean blue and yellow snake!"

I said "Yes, but he can look like many things, a beautiful Angel for example."

And Ellz looked around the table and replied, "Yeah, or a piece of fruit!"

I love the minds of children! And so does God. Pretty sure He smiled over our conversation this morning!

In the middle...

My middle child is my extreme child. She can bring the greatest frustration and the greatest joy! Everything she does is with fabulous flare. Whether it be her contagious whole body giggle or her tenacious stubborn defiance - she does it all in grand style. When she walks, she stomps like a herd of elephants. Whisper is a word outside of comprehension. Don't get me wrong, at almost three years old, she knows HOW to whisper, she just can't seem to do so when it is called for. Her eyes twinkle and her little nose wrinkles when she smiles. She's goofy and silly and delightful. I love to listen to her earnest little prayers at meal times. And I love to watch her skip around the back yard with her whispy blond hair flying around her beautiful face. She can drive me crazy and sometimes brings out the worst in me. She will be the cause of every grey hair I will some day possess, and the cause of so many smile lines.