Russell preschool time

Russell is incredibly sweet, and I just love walking in to picking up.  He is always sitting in his chair, peering at the door looking for me.  When I walk in he is so joyful, I hustle over to him, and he gives me a giant hug.  It is seriously awesome.  I think it is a stretch for him, to do preschool.  He may not be my baby, but I still desire to baby him. 

A Russell hug after preschool is pure joy.

Quint teaches me about swimming

Our one major activity besides school is swimming.  I am eager for the boys to swim, and to love it.  I know the lader may not occur, but learning to swim is a safety issue...and I can hope...right?

    Admittedly, I love the smell of chlorine so I don't mind going.  

I have been a bit discouraged, because it didn't seem like there was much progress this fall.  

But tonight, Quint swam!   

I mean it was doggy paddle, but he did not sink!   I was over the moon.  I tried not to make too big a deal because Russell is not there yet, but I did praise Quint for his hard work.  

I said "Quint I saw you were swimming today!"  

He responded "yes!"

I said "you did such a great job with your swimming arms"

He said very confidently, 

"mom, you know that is called the front crawl."

I smiled to myself and thought "you don't even know"

but I responded...."oh interesting....your front crawl was so great"

{Grin}

Rhett waves to me at BSF

Today I went to pick up Rhett at BSF and he looked up from his toy and saw me.
He immediately smiled and he waved to me!

He is so cute, and I was so jazzed to see my little man waving to me:)

Quint prays fast

We were sitting down to eat, and it was Quint's favorite special burritos.
We asked the boys who would like to pray, and Quint offered.
He proceeded to pray super fast:)

BK and I looked at each other smiled and decided to let it go.

It was kinda genius.

The job Q desires....

We were cleaning up toys while working my gym shift.  I had loosely assigned jobs to some of the kids, when Quint came over and asked....
"can my job be to make sure everyone is doing their job?"

Such a Q question.  I thought for a minute....eventually that could be your career if you choose, but now he needed to help too.
"I told him he could encourage, and help others with their jobs, but he was NOT in charge" 
I tried not to giggle.

I love his love of order, rules, structure, having a plan, and desire to lead.  Now if I could just channel that to be used for good.....that is the challenge as his Momma.

The last time

Today I nursed Rhett for the last time.  I was sad, and I can't explain it.  I am ready to have my body back, but he is my baby and I am having a hard time letting go of it.  Quint  and Russell weaned themselves by this age, but I think Rhett would nurse forever.  I have to take medicine and I don't want to pump through it again, so I have decided it was time.  I did try to take it in, freeze the memory.  Snuggling, the closeness, sharing in the miracle of my body feeding him for the last time.   I don't know how many more babies I can carry, and raise well. 

I guess I always thought there would be more,

but I am feeling fully blessed, 

very challenged, 

so as we pause to determine what God intends with our family planning, 

I take in my mother moments.   

I enjoy Quint as I look at him and begin to see a boy,  stand in awe as I see Russell grow into a preschooler, and I let go of my baby so he may grow into a toddler. 

They say it goes fast....they didn't lie.

Love from out west.

I had a few moments, and I went on the computer quick to check email.  BK was on chat, so I sent him a quick message.  He wrote back and then said "got an interview invite from Arizona today.  Then he continued to say and a transitional year at Harbor (UCLA).  Now I know it does not mean we are moving there, or even if we want to, but I literally jumped.  I guess I realized in that moment how much I had been suppressing my desire to return west.
I have come to the conclusion that no where really feels like home, except where BK and the boys are, but some places feel more like home than others.

I don't know where we will end up.....but lately it has felt like a long journey.  For the first time we have a desire to feel settled, to have roots.  We have established some here, which makes Iowa more enticing than I ever thought we would feel, but today when BK told me we had a little love from out west...I immediately felt my desire for our old roots.  Maybe it is just my dread of impending winter, but a little sunshine sounds nice too.