Moments on my mind

How have I neglected this little blog of mine for so long?  It seems I have thoughts to write down that never get written. And in forgetting to write them, I've forgotten those moments.
I'm realizing,  more and more, that our lives are made up of those small, seemingly insignificant moments.
I might count down to the next BIG thing (graduation, summer, vacation, family visiting, holidays, birthdays, etc,etc) but really, the moments are what matter.

In this moment I am feeling overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed with love for my four sweet boys who love me no matter my faults.
I have so many plans and ideas of what I want to do with them, but at the end of the day the only thing i really want to do is curl up with a book or tv show and relax.  All of my planning goes out the window and I wake up to another day of flying by the seat of my pants. But they love me for my very imperfect efforts to mother them. Just yesterday we made goo. It's a favorite of theirs and i let them each pick a color.  As I was stirring my fourth batch of the stuff (since they ALL picked different colors, of course!)  Weston watched in excitement and said, "Mom, you are just the best!"  And in that moment, I agreed that maybe I wasn't as bad as I thought, maybe I was even the 'best.'

I'm also overwhelmed with appreciation for Jeff.  He works so hard, EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.  He often comes home, after the kids are in bed, to a tired and frazzled wife who just wants to talk. and talk and talk and talk. He sits with me, listens to me, and loves me. After our much-too-short moments together, he goes up to our office to work some more. On the few days he tries to make it home in time to see the kids, he walks in the door and is automatically in dad mode. Wrestling, pjing, brusing teeth, storying. He does so much. Then once the kiddos are in bed, it's up to the office to work until bedtime.  I don't give him enough credit for what he does. But I notice those sweet moments he gives to our boys.. they have his full attention and they bask in it. I appreciate him more each day.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for my life and the blessings in it.  This move to our new home has been hard on all of us. Mainly, we are missing being right in the middle of all of our friends.  With Jeff gone so much, playdates were our life savers...ALL of us.  We just had to walk outside and we were met with friends on every side. We loved it.  We are definitely a social bunch.
But Heavenly Father is looking out for us. And we know that this is where we are supposed to be.  We still see old friends and we've made lots of new ones too. Things take time.  And while they do, we are absolutely loving our new home. Since it's winter, we spend a lot of days entirely inside these walls, venturing  out only for carpools and school.  But oh the playing and running, laughing and creating that has gone on here.  We are learning to have fun together and these moments are truly magical.

I am overwhelmed with the beauty of life. It's hardships and trials and it's simple, sweet moments.  They are all part of this wonderful experience.  I am so very glad for the little life of mine.