A Wonderfully Ordinary Day

Yesterday I woke up to sunshine streaming in the window, and a sweet little girl who'd curled up next to me.  Time for us both to get up, since it was a Kindergarten day.  She looked so peaceful... I waited for a moment before giving her a nudge.  She opened her eyes and focused on me, smiling.  We stretched, yawned, and made our way downstairs.  Soon my son was up too.  Another happy child... it's so nice when they both wake up "on the right side of the bed."

Didn't take long before I had two children chiming in for pancakes... how could I say no?  As it turns out, I flipped as they ate.  My daughter ran upstairs to put on her school clothes and to finish getting ready.  As I was cleaning the mess of dishes, my son came closer and asked, "Mom, what are we gonna do today?"

I thought for a moment, and glanced out at the sunshine.  "Would you want to help me in the garden?"  His wide grin and eagerly nodding head was a pretty clear reply.  My daughter came back downstairs, and we stood out on the porch as I finished doing her hair.  We said our morning prayer, and had a good laugh when we thought a yellow cement truck was her school bus.  Sure enough, the real bus came, and we all waved our goodbyes.

Soon after she'd left I had the idea to make Jell-O.  My little guy picked out strawberry flavor, and we made it together.  He handled it pretty well when I told him we couldn't eat it just yet...  pretty sure it also helped he knew we were going outside.

Once out in the flowerbed, I started digging and pulling... and noticed there was a growing number of toy dump trucks and tractors lining up nearby.  My son came to stand beside me, a little winded, and said, "We're ready to help, mom!"  As I pulled up clumps of grass and other weeds, he loaded them into his various little trucks, and transported them to a designated dump site.

While working in the dirt, we talked about grubs and worms... and those noisy birds chirping in the crab apple tree.  At one point, I heard, "Oh, I forgot something!"  and looked up to see an excited little boy running inside.  He returned carefully balancing our jello and 2 spoons.   "Is it ready now?"  It was, and so we took a break and he leaned against me, saying, "You know... I love helping you work in the garden, mom."  One of the sweetest moments of my day.

We went on to pick my daughter up from school, have supper and bath time... I tucked my son in to bed first.  He said, "I can't wait for more weeds!" and thanked God for our garden in his prayer...

I gently shut his door and led my daughter to bed.  We noticed the moon in the sky, and she shared how she loves to look up at the moon sometimes from her bedroom window... "even after Daddy tucks me in bed."  Moved, I said, "I do the same thing... I've always loved the moon too.  I turned to face her, and said "You know, today has been one of the best days I've ever had."  To which she responded, "Well, that's good... now just go to sleep."

I chuckled at her perfect timing, and smiled as I closed her door.  In fact, I believe I smiled until I finally drifted off... reluctantly closing the book on such a wonderfully ordinary day.