Kids!

Can I brag about my kids today? Can I interrupt the goings on in my kitchen to talk about the loves of my life. :-) Today I was outside sitting in the grass having a picnic with Zander, and thought to myself - This is what life is about. It's about peanut butter and jelly and ants. My kids are such treasures. Saturday morning we were up pretty early, so we decided to go out to IHOP for breakfast. We haven't done that in such a long time, it was so great taking the kids out for a treat. And while we were out, we decided to give their wardrobes some much needed attention. Fortunately for us, the newly relocated JCPenney was open for business. Abigail was so much fun shopping. She has such an eye...Mostly for anything pink or princess related. But she had so much fun trying on clothes and shoes, and picking out just the right pieces that her friends would like. Be still my heart. And of course, Zander was not to be denied either. While Abigail and Mommy were making their selections, Zander had Daddy busy in the little boys department looking for the correct size of a Thomas The Tank Engine shirt. Both kids proudly carried their selections to the register, and we hadn't even gotten into the van before the kids were clamoring to put on their new things.

From there we headed to Home Depot, and lucky us, they have their garden area going up. The kids were so excited to see all the plants and flowers. And by golly, if they didn't spend time smelling each and every single flower, just enjoying each flowers beauty and unique fragrance. These are children who know the meaning of life! After arriving home, Abigail and Mommy got busy working on her new tie shoes. I demonstrated a few times the method of "loop, swoop, and pull", but the poor girl got so frustrated. So I tied them for her, but told her she wouldn't be able to wear them to school until she could tie them herself. Wouldn't you know, a few hours later she was hiding behind the shed when she yelled- "I did it!" and came running out with 2 perfectly tied shoes! She forgot to practice yesterday, but promised she'd do so after school today, so she can wear her new shoes this week yet.

Lately, Andy and I have received criticism for some of our choices as parents. I expect we will forever receive such comments, but the one I find almost funny is the complaint from people when I tell them that our kids do not have babysitters. There have been times where we have left a child or two in the care of Grandma, or one if their aunties. But most often it's for things like a doctor's appointment, or a necessity. We certainly don't get a sitter for leisure activities. What would the point be? Seriously. Why on Earth do Andy and I need to pay a sitter $5.00 an hour so that we can go out and spend even more on a nice dinner and a movie, only to spend the entire time discussing our kids? Undoubtedly we end up picking up a few things for them as well, and the whole evening we spend simply wishing we had our kids along with us. They behave incredibly when we go out to dinner, so why not just take them with us? Why, because as a married couple you need your time together, to be a couple is what we hear. Um, yeah, except that our kids go to bed every night no later than 8:00 pm, we certainly have plenty of "couple time" every day of the week.

About once a month both Andy and I take time for ourselves to get out and be alone, or connect with a friend. I think we both find that so much more rejuvenating than going out together. I love Saturday mornings in the summer. I get out and go to the Farmer's Market and do some shopping, all by my quiet self. I just love it. And that time away makes me come home and appreciate my family so much more. Maybe we're just wierd. Maybe we're just the oddball couple who's kids ARE everything. We've also been told that we spoil our children too much. Absolutely, and they deserve every stitch of it. They both have their moments of naughtiness, but they are both so darn well-behaved. I can't tell you the last time we bought something like a DVD for ourselves. What for? We have a lifetime together to catch up on our movie viewing. But our time with our kids is now. They won't be here with us forever, and we need to make the most of every precious second. And if that means we get a little less time to be grown-ups...well, all the better.