instead...

I found an old photo album in the garage yesterday.  Mostly, it contained pictures of my oldest daughter Emma (6) when she was a baby/toddler.  I got all nostalgic and gooey. Maybe it is the fact that she is wearing earrings now, or maybe it is that she is getting all of her "big" teeth, or it could be because most days she knows where to find my car keys when I don't- but I felt like time was slipping away.  In 5 days she will march off to 1st grade and part of me is afraid that she will never look back.  (told ya I was all mushy)

It seems like every day there is this constant internal struggle.  How should my priorities line up?  What is most important?  How is my time best spent? 

Because you know that there is always this:

And even more of this:

But how can I resist this?

So, I let the dishes attract a few more fruit flies.  And the laundry sat for another day (sorry Carl- I promise I'll get to the towels tomorrow). 

Instead....

We jumped in my bed and did this.  It was a non-nap and it fit perfectly into that moment. Time well spent.

Issues

Do you remember those commercials where some poor individual had forgotten to drink their V8 and they were walking around tilted to the side- totally off balance?  Yeah, that has pretty much been our day today.  Before 9am we had honey on the carpet, tears from everyone (me too), arguing, lovely scribbles on important papers, frantic searches for something "wearable" in the dirty clothes basket, and the customary object being run over when backing out of the garage (basketball)  What the he**?  Was I just due for a crappy day or what?  Why does it all fall down on us at once?  I felt like Cinderella and we were all turning into pumpkins!  At some point in the morning I completely abandoned all expectations of getting anything done.  We found ourselves at the park.  And then, there was this:

 

A peace offering.  I gladly accepted.

together time

As a child, I remember that my family did a lot of things together.  We ate meals together.  We went skiing, camping, golfing, and bike riding together.  We watched Saturday morning cartoons together and did chores together.  Every summer without exception we took week-long family vacations together. It was wonderful.  I felt like I really knew my parents and they knew me.  My brother was my best friend (except when I hated him.) Our home was a safe place to retreat to.  I want my children to be able to say the same thing. Unfortunately, I don't think families today do enough as a whole.  With the school year soon to be upon us, there are so many opportunities for our family to be apart.  So many opportunities to be busy.  I don't want that.

I think it is important to have certain periods of time when it is mandatory to be together. Meals are a big one for me.  Sometimes when I tuck my kids in bed at night I ask them, "what was the best part of today?"  Often times they answer, "eating dinner with my family."  How sweet is that?  The other thing that we love doing is playing games.  Last night we played Pictionary.  It was hilarious.

In the middle of the game Hannah said, "this is so much fun mom!"  It takes intention to be together.  You have to plan it on purpose.  Often our family time is spent lounging together on our bed.  We are not always very organized or formal.  There are also those days that unfortunately slip by without much communing. But when we do make it happen, it is as if we are mutually saying, "in this moment I choose you over everything else."