little moments

Believe it or not, I've been a little emotional today.

(I can just see my friends and family rolling their eyes - Mandy and Trina specifically)

I've been 'a little emotional' a lot lately.

Its just that I stare around me and I am constantly hit with how fast time is going.

Does the earth actually spin faster the older we get?

It feels like it.

I want my kids to stay little.

Or at least not to ever leave Elementary school.

Cause I am pretty sure I cannot deal with Middle School and High School.

Nope. Not gonna do it.

We have fun ages in our house right now.

9, 6, 5(in about 3 weeks), 2 and baby.

Great ages.

Hard ages.

It is hard a lot.

Its loud and I swear at times we break the sound barrier.

I feel overwhelmed and suffocated periodically.

Jordan is gone a lot. He seems to work constantly.

The kids fight.

I yell.

But this is a season.

And its a short season.

I cant tell you how many 'older' mom's have told me that lately.

And told me to hold on while I can.

And I literally do tell myself many times during the day, 'Soon they will not be here on a Saturday, soon they wont come to me with all their needs, soon they wont want to be carried and snuggled, soon I wont get to wipe their little hands and faces.'

Today was one of the days where even their imperfections seemed cute to me.

And then I went to the grocery store when Jordan got home from working and

Brad Paisley came on singing this...

"I know they're not perfect but they try so hard for me

And I thank god that they aren't 'cause how boring would that be

It's the little imperfections it's the sudden change in plans

When we misread the directions and we're lost but holdin' hands

Yeah I live for little moments like that."

See, I told you - sappy and emotional.

So here is a snippet of the cute imperfections of the day:

1. Lauren. She has a serious sense of what is right/wrong fair/unfair.

Normally I love it in her. But sometimes, especially when she is feeling gipped by her little sister, Avery, I get annoyed. Today she was in tears because Avery was not being patient with her. I scolded Lauren. Afterwards I realized that her tender heart is so sweet and I need to enjoy it while I can. And wipe away her tears while they are still this innocent.

And wow, her eyes are really really blue when they are filled with tears.

2. Avery. She is really taking off with reading. And writing. She is constantly writing.

And asking us how to spell things. I actually really love that. It is very fun to watch your child learn to read. Today she wanted to spell exclamation point. I believe in a hurry, I said, Avery its too long of a word.

So she walked away and did it herself - this is what she came up with -

'eclcshmashnpoet'

Could anything be cuter?

She's not the greatest speller - but she tries REAL hard!

3. Sulivan. He got to spend the night at my mom's last night. She called while he was there and said he was a delight and a joy and she loved playing 'boy toys' with him. She said he reminded her of 6 other little boys she used to spend time with. When he got home he went around to his sisters telling them he missed them. It was adorable.

Then he got to Tess and said, "Tess, I didn't actually miss you...

cause I had a dream about you and you were mean!"

Sully is honest to a fault!

He also told me today that someday he and his wife will have a sleepover with me so I'm not missing him.

He's also incredibly aware of his mom's emotional roller coaster of late!

4. Tess. Tess informed me today that pooping in her diaper is fun.

Enough said.

5. Jordan. He works too much. I am reaching a breaking point with it. But he keeps reminding me that we have a weekend get away coming up soon and that I basically need to chill a little.

His form of encouragement is sometimes the 'Mandy Yoder - rub a little dirt on it and move on' type. And he usually adds in some humor. It gets me more worked up more often than not. But he is pretty funny. And he also reminds me a lot that he loves me more than anything. He also listens to WAY too much Weezer!

(the baby doesn't get any listed because she's too sweet to have imperfections...so far!)

And you know...after writing about all their imperfections I noticed that it was more about MY imperfections. (choke) And I hope they forgive me for mine and find them as 'cute' as I found theirs today!

Ah, little moments...