Its a pretty busy week for me

But I feel so blessed at the same time. I really love living in Cedar Falls. I feel like I have a huge support system right beside me in this stage of life while mothering with little kids. I know moms who are in the same boat as me, some who are a little further ahead with some or all of them in school, and some who have college age kids AND little ones at the same time, its so neat. Even though I had to miss the first half of Bible study this morning, the last half was encouraging to me. We are reading this book about Life Management, and the lessons seems so simple, yet hard. I really need to work at creating more fun in my kids' lives and stopping what I'm doing (because there is ALWAYS something else do to!) and give them my attention and time. Today I spent 2 hours outside with both of them on the neighbor's swingset. Calvin didn't mind the swing today, he sat there and smiled each time he saw my shadow get near him. I gave Violet a few underdogs and she laughed so hard I thought she was going to fall off the swing. She kept saying "Do that same game with me mom, run under me!" over and over and over. I met one of the neighbors 2 houses down. Her name is Cindy - she has three older children, one in college. She told me (and I feel like I hear this ALL the time, apparently its true! LOL) that the time just flies by with little kids and all of a sudden they are grown up. How do I sllllow it down? How do I really ENJOY my kids when they are this little and sometimes make me feel like all they do is annoy me and drag me down? I'm still learning, and I fear that I'll learn it too late. I have a lot of help this week lined up, I praise God for him working it all out. A friend of mine brought her two older daughters over tonight and played with my kids (and even bathed Calvin and got Violet all ready for bed!) so I could spend a couple devoted hours in the kitchen baking cookies for the bake sale this weekend. That was so sweet of her to do that, she asked how she could help, so I put her to work! Tomorrow I have a babysitter coming by for 3 1/2 hours, and Friday another friend of mine so graciously agreed to babysit for my kids during the time I am working at the sale, and my mom is coming late Fri night staying most of the day Saturday. Dave's work trip couldn't have been timed any worse, but God knew what he was doing when he sent Dave away during one of my busiest weeks. He wanted me to learn that He could work things out in a way that I couldn't have planned myself. I have a weird tummy ache, I hope it goes away. Last night when I crawled in bed (too late, of course), I fell asleep almost instantly. I NEVER sleep on my back, I can't sleep on my back. But last night I did. I got into bed, turned off the lamp, and I must not have even taken the time to roll over on my side and get all comfy, I just konked out face up, and woke up face up. I surprised myself when my eyes opened to the sunlight pouring in my room, my eyes settled on the ceiling fan, of all things. Usually I see my closet door first. I just couldn't believe I slept that way all night long. This morning Calvin went to his 15 month well-baby check at the doctor (a month late, but oh well). He is doing just fine, he weighs an ounce short of 25 pounds, 31" tall, and she says he's coming along just fine. He got his LAST round of shots until he is 5 and has to go to school. He got 3 shots in his legs, poor guy, he screamed so loud, and kicked his legs so forcefully after the first one that the nurses had to grab his legs and reposition him to give him the 2nd shot. I had to hold his arms, not a fun thing to do. I wonder what he was thinking. He had a dose of tylenol before the injections, and another dose tonight before bed. He took a really long nap today and I'm guessing he'll sleep in longer than usual in the morning. But the good thing is, he won't remember them. A funny thing before I wrap up for the night. Last night when I was getting Violet ready for bed (and she has this thing now where she has to collect ALL her bedtime stuff and crawl into my lap and we sing songs), we were singing "Do, a deer, a female deer, Re, a drop of golden sun..." and so on and so forth. You know the song. We got through the whole thing once, sang it again, and after singing "Re, a drop of golden sun"...Violet stopped singing, got a very confused look on her face, and let out a HUGE laugh, and said "Mooooom, we don't drop the sun!! Silly mommy!!"