Us, lately

We had preschool at our house the otherday. The highlight, of course, was snack time. Each child got a dollop of chocolate frosting and a gingerbread-man-shaped sugar cookie to frost "all by myself." Apparently, Grace did not think her dollop was big enough, and took matters into her own hands.

She looked so proud when I found her. "I'm having chocolate Mommy," she said. "On a spoon."

And it was cute. So I got out the camera before I took the frosting away.

This is silly, but when I uploaded the photos this afternoon, this one seemed like a representative metaphor of my life lately. There's snow outside. And gloves and boots and coats everywhere. And toys on the floor. All the time. And I'll admit the combination makes me grumpy sometimes. But there are those sweet, fudge covered moments too, if I take the time to notice them.

So here are some of the fudgey highlights of the last few weeks:

Sam started swim lessons last week. He was adorably nervous about it at first, but has ended up really liking it. Yesterday he came home and proudly told me about putting his head under water and blowing bubbles.

He's as creative and imaginative as ever. Every surface in our home is covered in drawings and lists. Here's a recent portrait of Jango Fett, Sam's hero and proposed namesake for Baby Miles.


Grace is giving me grief lately. She's always been opinionated, but over the past few months she's really grown into her role as self-appointed family dictator. In all of my daily tasks -- from driving, to peanut butter sandwich construction, I'm expected to bow to her expertise. As far as Grace is concerned, there's no such thing as a suggestion.

But then, she can be just so stinkin' sweet too. On the way home from church today, I saw her just sitting in her car seat, grinning. I asked her if she had a good time in nursery, and she said, "Yeah. I saw Daddy and ran to him."

"Oh, when he picked you up? Was that your favorite part?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said. And melted my heart.

Speaking of melting hearts, there's this kid.

He used to be kind of stingy with the smiles (except when Aunt Shana held him), but not anymore. Good thing too, cause I can't get enough.