March 28, 2014

The boys are all out playing in the backyard, and I had a quiet, sunny moment, so I wanted to write down some thoughts about it before the bedtime chaos breaks it all up!

Earlier today there was a thunderstorm.  The whole sky went dark and run started pouring down.  BK was off work early, and so the whole family was in the van--the two babies had fallen asleep on our way to pick up Landon at school, so we were thinking of errands to do to prolong their nap a little longer.  We drove to the bank to deposit a check, and then took the long way home, as we watched the lightning fill the clouds, and felt the thunder rumble our car.

We got home, and BK decided to go into his other, more optional, job to get some extra $$.  (Probably to pay for all the new clothes I keep buying myself.  I'm turning thirty in a couple months!  New decade!  New wardrobe!  Right?!) I put a movie on for the boys, and almost sat down to read a book, but then I thought of all the cleaning I had completely neglected this week.  Literally, I did NOTHING this week.  Weird mix of energy, hormones and emotions all over the place, getting back to normal after a baby starts weaning and your body tries to balance out.  Basically nothing anybody in my house understands because I'm the only girl... But anyway, I was just going to start over fresh on Monday, and then I thought, no, I can do this!  And I proceeded to get 5 loads of laundry done AND put away... and vacuumed and picked up the entire house.  And as I did that, the storm started to dissipate, and I watched the sky start turning lighter and lighter until I could turn off all the light bulbs in the house again because my windows were filled with sunlight again.

And I tell you, there is really nothing prettier than sunlight streaming through my windows onto a clean floor and mess-free house.  Of course that only lasts for like 5 minutes before Spencer starts building forts again, but that's beautiful in its own way, too.  We got pizza for dinner, as we usually do on Fridays, and now the boys are in the backyard playing soccer with BK.  He's holding Owen while he teaches Landon something called a "one-touch" or something.  Spencer is... building a fort out of lawn chairs.  Surprise, surprise.  And I'm just sitting at the desk, in a completely silent house, except for the sound of the dryer going.  (We're waiting for the dryer to be done before we put Owen to bed because it has his bunny and blanky in it.)

I think it's moments like this that I'll remember when, in ten years, I'm turning 40 and think back on what life was like with small kids.  I'm sure I'll remember the chaos, too, but I think ultimately the memories that will hold fast in my mind are my boys outside laughing and playing soccer in the golden sunshine in our first house.