Things that make me happy.

When I opened up the camera this morning to share here, I realized that I have a whole bunch of things on there that made me really happy.

Like this little gem-- with Mara wearing costumes and hanging out beside Lauren on the chair in our living room.  I love how Mara's smile literally takes over her entire face these days, leading to squinted eyes and a grin that just can't help but make you smile right back at her.
 

I love how breakfast has included Joshua's DS more times than not in recent days as he has developed quite an obsession with Super Mario Brothers.  I especially love that he continues to wear his silly doctor glasses that came in a doctor kit a few years ago.  Even though he's getting bigger by the day it seems and is all of a sudden such a big boy (in stature, wisdom and sadly....attitude), he still likes to pretend.  And I love it.

 I love opening Mara's bedroom door and finding this scene every single morning.  She makes me smile.

If this doesn't spell MISCHIEF, I don't know what does.  This is pretty typical....we probably load and unload that lazy susan at least 12 times a day.  (And please keep in mind that I am not at home for 7-8 of the 24 in the day!)

Sister love makes me so happy.  Someday when these two are teenagers and cannot stand to be in the same zip code with each other, I'm going to pull this out, have it printed on t-shirts and make the two of them wear them.  To school.  Or maybe to the prom.  We'll see.

I love love love Spring trips to the park.  We knew when we woke up on Saturday that one of two things was going to happen.  Either we were going to get the children out of the house to blow off some steam, or else we were going to have to sell them.  I chose option 1 and powered through my chores so that I could take them to the park to let them enjoy the beautiful day.  This was Mara's first experience to put her little shoes on the ground and explore on her own two feet.  It presented minor challenges because the big two weren't satisfied to stay put on the "baby" equipment, and Mara was far too small (although she didn't think so) to go on the big stuff with Lauren and Josh.  So, I did my best to keep my eye in three places at once.  It wasn't easy, but I did manage to bring all three of them back home for supper.  So I guess I did OK.  They're begging to go back every single day in the summer.  And while that will not happen, I am hoping we can find lots more time to spend there together.