Just Try to Keep Him In!

We are struggling to keep Jacob satisfied indoors. He screeches like a wild banshee if we shut the patio door...ie his exit into the free world. This boy LOVES the outdoors. I vaguely remember a less intense version of this last year. Two year old Jacob however is not so shy about making his most minor desire known.
His true passion lies with his ducks.
I am afraid when we move (to a house with no pond in the backyard...)he is going to be very upset. He feeds them, watches them intently, has mastered the "duck call", sings about them and to them and is just plain in love with them.

His Hand

I think if someone had told me about my life today a year ago...five...ten... I would start to sweat, cry, run away! I would think "NO! I am not strong enough, I can't do hard things like that! I don't want to!". I would imagine myself crumpling up under the weight of so many crushing elements. A move...surgery...baby...small children with their world upside down...all at once.
Impossible! I would think.
Instead, as we wrap up the most difficult week yet...I don't feel what I imagined.

I feel grateful.

Grateful for every moment of every day I have with those I love.
Grateful for the reminder that we are not promised any tomorrow's.
Grateful that since the moment I first saw Jon after he woke up from surgery that my heart flipped into my stomach like it was our fourth date...and has every time since.
Grateful for him.
Grateful for his example of strength. He has never once complained, or expressed resentment or negativity. Though in the last week I have seen him truly struggle and hurt. He is amazing.
Grateful for a surgeon who knew what he was doing and gives his life to prolonging others if he can.
Grateful for a Mother who more than took over for me at home with my children so I could focus completely on my husband...in a house that is 75% packed for a move.
Grateful for a Dad who finished up all our pre-move projects that were lingering and got the extra energy out of some little boys who are crazy about him.
Grateful for sunny and 20 degree days in March (MARCH?!)
Grateful for Jon's parents who don't stop parenting their child even though he is all grown up.
Grateful for friends and family who continue to email and send sweet cards in the mail.
Grateful for strength and health.
Grateful for this little baby and her kicks that make me smile.
Grateful that my children are so young that they accept just what I tell them.
Grateful that even though Jon and I can't lift a box ourselves, we will be moved into our new house in two weeks thanks to the support and love of so many around us.
Grateful that after a storm the sun is so much brighter then you ever realized before.
Grateful that we have a new and stronger perspective and sense of compassion for others.
Grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who I once believed knew and loved each of his children. And now I KNOW. Undeniably, in-arguably, unequivocally, I KNOW this. His strength and Grace have been gifted to us in ways that we could never even thought to ask for. We have been the recipients of miracles in our life, large and small. Undeniably from His hand.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 41:10

Wrestling

I admit...my efforts at getting these two to stop pummeling each other are fruitless. I think it is like a hug/handshake...when little boys have a desire to show affection for one another it manifests all to rarely as an actual hug and more often as one lunging themselves on the other...sometimes from across the room or from the top of a piece of furniture.
Sigh...

Backyard Visitor

"Mommy! Quick, I need a piece of paper to write down my clue! There is a mystery animal in our yard with tracks that look like THIS!"

...Yes, it was indeed a little gray bunny!

Why Sleep Alone?

when you can have a bed full of toys?!

Catapult

My Angry Birds loving boy was thrilled to build a REAL catapult with Daddy...it works great. I have had plenty of tape balls to the head to prove the accuracy of the contraption...

***We told Ben to "pose" with it...and pose he did!

"Wiss Lists"

Sometimes things become so commonplace that they seem normal...until it occurs to me that it may not be typical for everyone. This dawned on me last week at the store. When Ben asks for something new we always tell him to put it on "the list". This was case last week at the store, standing in line waiting to pay for our purchase (that did not include the logging truck he desperately wanted) "...I will put it on my "wiss list" (wish) AND on my birthday list. I would put it on my lost list except that I can't find it" (he is too young for the irony but the couple in front of us couldn't stifle their smiles at his running dialogue over the lists he keeps)...on my wiss list I will write a check mark on what I really really really REALLY love and an X on what, I don't just REALLY love...my logging truck will get TWO check marks...." You have to give him credit for his last attempt....I think he almost convinced the couple in front to go get it for him.

Yes...Ben and his lists... they make me smile, but are such a "normal" thing for him.

The other thing that makes me smile every night is when I remove from his bed the worn, torn, well loved and dog eared, marked up, circled, checked and X'd Christmas Sears wish book catalog. He has slept with it in his bedroom every night since it arrived in November and often times with it right beside his head.