Moments

I feel as if I have been absent of late from my blog. I have been busy with many many things and yet I have always been able to find the time to post things in the past no matter how busy I have been. I don't know why I have not felt much like recording the happenings going on in my life right now. Maybe because they are the repeat of things of the past. I tend to do a lot of the same traditions. Maybe I am stuck in a rut of sorts. I don't quite know what it is and yet I long to write. I long to put my thoughts down so I will remember the moments of my life. I longed for the time when I could be creative and uninterrupted at the same time. Yet, there have been opportunities as of late for that to happen and it was too quiet and that in itself was just as distracting.

I was thinking a lot today about moments in my life. As I watched how tired my sweet baby girl Toshia is in her 9th month of pregnancy I remembered the many times I was just as tired. I wanted Jonathan to spend the night to give her a break. A couple of nights ago he did just that. He was so fun. I remember those moments when my children were in the potty training stage. The learning to talk stage. The day to day happy moments they live. All wonderful moments that seemed to have happened only yesterday.

Summer has come on finally with the warmer weather and with it the traditions of swim lessons, concerts in the park, free lunch, reading logs to place stickers on, berries to pick, fruit and jam to bottle, gardens to weed, late movie nights and lazy snuggling mornings. Vacations are planned. Books on my reading list have been purchased. The crafting projects planned and some even already finished. All of these things create moments that become memories. The familiarity of it all is what connects me from the past to the present. But what about the unexpected moments. I love it when Toshia calls and says "Can I bring Jonathan over to play for awhile?". I never am so set in a schedule that I have to say no to these requests. I often plan things in my head never setting it to paper just so that when opportunities for spontaneity come along I can grab at them.

As hard as it was being a mother of young children those moments hang in my heart and I now connect them to the moments I experience now with my daughter and her young children. My heart is full of wonderful moments to hold on to and cherish when some of my young adult children give me trying moments to work through. I am so thankful for the joy motherhood has brought to me and the moments that will connect me to an eternal mother. I hope I am learning my lessons well. What I really hope is that the children see that I am happy in these moments. I want them to see the joy being a mother is along with all the hard work. I have a saying on my wall upstairs, "We do not remember days, We remember moments". These summer moments are not going by unnoticed, even if they are familiar, they are being cherished in our hearts and minds to carry us through the bleak winter days ahead!

What a weekend!

To start off there was Chloe's graduation! Yeah for Chloe. It was a nice evening and probably the shortest graduation we have been to yet. That was Friday night.
Then Saturday was full of fun and surprises! It was Paige's birthday. We had six ball games to go to and lots of yard work and things to do around the house to get ready for the birthday/graduation party on Sunday. Unknown to David and I the children planned a surprise anniversary party for us!

Many of our friends and family gathered at the park to celebrate with us. We were completely surprised. We spent the lunch hour taking Adrian out for his birthday lunch with us (his birthday was last week) and then we thought we were exchanging kids at the park so we could get Taylor to her game. When we drove up there were a lot of people around Toshia and I couldn't quite figure it out. Then I saw Marilyn, David's mom and I began to think something was up. We had a great time and it was so fun to see so many of our friends that we have not seen in a long time. The kids got us a new bar-b-que which we used to make lunch for everyone. Even though the day was already planned it was fun to throw all plans out the window and celebrate. We still made it to some of the games and I still managed to go out with my friends in the evening for dinner and a movie. Next time though I would like a warning so I at least could have not had such a bad hair day!

Sunday the whole family gathered again for our June birthday celebration and Chloe's graduation party. We had good food and lots of fun and laughter. It was so wonderful to spend almost the whole weekend with the kids. Especially the older ones who we don't see that often. I was exhausted Sunday evening. I think David and I fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow. Thirty years of all this family fun can really wear a couple out!

Friends

This says it all for me!

I have been thinking a lot about all my wonderful friends lately.

Each friend of mine has a special gift that they share with me.

Each gift at some time in my life has lifted me when I have needed support.

I love you all and hope that I can be as good a friend as you all are to me!