today

- I got up at 5:15 to have some pre-kid time before the day began
- I had just enough time for a cup of coffee, a few moments in sleepy prayer, and a few minutes to look around online before the big kids woke up before 6:00 (!)
- Luke left at 6:30 to get to work for his 8am class
- The kids emptied the dishwasher and repeatedly ran into where I was drying my hair with invitations to come see the towers they were constructing out of the clean dishes
- Noelle accidentally poked me with a knife, sending her to think/cry around the corner and a group decision that she isn't quite ready to take sharp knives from the dishwasher
- Lucy woke up smiling, kicking, and as cute and soft as she could be
- We sang "Down by the Bay" and "Apples and Bananas"
- I snuggled with my kids while reading poems, learning about frogs and the gold rush, and reading a true story of a man who rescued a baby dolphin from a fishing line
- Noelle scream-cried over a chair she wished she could sit in that was already occupied
- Lucy took 3 naps
- Isaiah sat and watched our maintenance guy work on an electrical outlet and replace a ceiling fan with a light
- I realized we don't own a rolling pin
- We painted with straws and then with paint brushes and then we painted rocks
- I took a short nap while the big kids played together in their imaginary world
- The kids continued to primarily call Lucy "Lulu" or "Little One"
- Isaiah got Lucy out of bed on his own and carried her to me when she woke up from her nap!
- We played Go Fish and the big kids were on a team.  They hugged and cheered when they beat their mom
- Noelle went down for her nap without a fuss
- Lucy sat unassisted for long periods of time.  It's amazing how quickly it all happens...
- I mailed a rebate form.  $25 coming back to us in 8-10 weeks
- I lamented with Shannon over text that she couldn't come over and eat brownies and watch Parenthood with me tonight
- The kids were less than enthusiastic about eating meatloaf sandwiches for dinner, but ended up liking them
- I did 5 loads of laundry
- Isaiah and I put Luke's orange shirt on Lucy and he had the idea of making her into a caution cone for Halloween.  She'd be the cutest little cone ever.
- Luke went to a dinner w/ other dads from our school
- The kids argued about how much to leave the door open while they were going to bed
- The air conditioning was on almost all day - the temps are in the 90's this week.  Again.
- Lucy was not keen on the carrots I pureed for her last night, but she has been loving chunks of nectarine in her feeding net thingy
- I learned I could make brownies in my cast iron pan without dirtying a single bowl.
- We watched Ice Age
- Lucy took a bath.  Her few times a week baths have increased to daily baths now that she's putting sweet potatoes in her eyebrows
- Luke taught on C.S. Lewis' space trilogy and had coffee with Clark
- We're ending our day with full bellies, a comfortable home, a family full of love and snuggles, and plans to swim with friends in the morning.  Today marks another anniversary of 9/11, and I'm not unaware of how precious and fleeting and temporary all of these moments are.  Thank you, Lord, for another undeserved day.