an ordinary kind of day...

...but a little different!

Today was simply fun!  Ya know how at the end of some days you feel like...."well that was a waste....or not how I wanted things to go....or now what did we actually do of meaning today....or gee...sure could have done a lot better than I did."  Well maybe you don't feel that way at the end of some days, but I do.  Anyhow, today was NOT one of those kind of days.  It was just great!   And just so I can remember some of the ordinary just great days too...here's one for the memory book.

We had a yummy oatmeal pancake breakfast-everyone's favorite-and about 5 cups each of orange juice.  (Sure wish OJ wasn't quite so expensive!)  Then I told the kids I needed to get the bathrooms cleaned before we did anything;  so I quickly got to work.  Then much to my surprise, Benson came in the bathroom and grabbed the garbage out of it, and then he quickly went on to ALL the other rooms of the house and emptied each trash can and took them to the outside bin.  He then got out the vacuum and vacuumed every rug in the house and the kitchen floor.  He put away all the clean dishes that were drying on the towel and cleaned off the kitchen counters.  We were both done about the same time and gave each other high fives for a job well done.  Claire entertained Mabel during this time by playing mom and baby...she, of course, being the mom and Mabel being the baby!  Aleena helped wherever help was needed with the girls or with Benson and kept the laundry going from the washer to the dryer.  By 10:52 we were done and ready for fun!  (Did I mention yet that Jared's in Colorado?  He's off to work and excited for us all to join him the end of the month.)

So we grabbed some lunch and went to Silver Lake Park for a picnic.  Eating is just so hard when there's an enormous playground just around the bend, but we did our best.  And then they played!  And played and played for the next 3 hours and 47 minutes.  That just may be a record for how long we've stayed at a park.  It was a beautiful overcast day which made it easy to be outside.  And I found that if you stay there long enough, a friend just might come along to keep the fun going!  And they did!  Some friends happen to come and added a whole new dynamic of play for the kiddos.  No one even complained when it was time to go because they truly had their fill of park fun for the day.

On the way home Benson and Claire had an ingenious idea:  how about we be the mom and dad and you be the kid for the rest of the day?  Perfect.  I'll take the switch!  So they took care of themselves just like a mom or dad would.  They even took care of their youngest daughter, Mabel, as well!  They showered themselves (without fighting or making a water mess of my newly cleaned bathroom), cleaned up after their park day, and then began the dinner preparations.  They planned, prepared, and cleaned up every inch of dinner tonight--their menu consisting of spinach salad with chopped almonds and ranch, carrots, snap peas, bread with butter & honey, and pears.  They gave their dinner a rating of 10 out of 10 and I would have to agree...other than we all were a bit hungry for bed-time snacks tonight!  But we filled up as the evening went on and they still had the satisfaction of creating a fantastic dinner on their own!  Benson had the idea of having "book" time after dinner clean-up for 30 minutes while I showered.  They read, I got clean, and we were ready for family prayer by 7:00.

And so since they are the adults and I am the child...I GOT to go to bed EARLY!!  So here I am, in my room, in bed, typing on my computer (shhhh....don't tell them I'm not asleep yet) and they're up watching Tom and Jerry.  Mabel, of course, went to bed at her regular time and is sound asleep.  So I'll type, I'll read, and I'll set my alarm for 10 pm just in case I do so happen to fall asleep to give Claire her night-time medicine....and we'll see where they're at then!  It's summer....a late night here and there is what it's all about, right?!  They're loving every minute of it and so am I!  There's been zero fighting, zero attitude, zero orneriness---and LOTS of sharing, LOTS of helping hands, and LOTS of smiles!  Awesome.  How is it we haven't done this earlier?

Turn off the lights and sleep tight my little kiddos!  I've got a good book waiting for me.