Normal again...

After a long road to recovery around here, we have finally gotten back into our groove after being gone for so long. There for a few days I was really beginning to wonder if we would ever recover. I must give a shout out to every one who had a hand in making my children more rotten than they already were, job well done!!

We had a wonderful weekend filled with church, good food and friends and lots of down time! When we weren't at church we were huddled in the living room snuggling under blankets, playing with play dough, wrestling and watching football and cartoons. It was nice.

For a few nights after Audrey got sick in New Orleans, she slept in the bed with me. It was during one of those nights that I had another one of those moments where I looked at the sleeping child beside me and realized, she's not a baby any more. I've had those moments before, every mother has, and each time I have one it makes me a little melancholy for a while. Another stage has passed, another moment with her gone. While I was watching her that night, breathing softly beside me, it struck me how long she was and how much her little features have changed. Her features are still little (thank goodness she still has quite a few years before she hits that awkward stage like her poor mama did!) but they look older, not quite so babyish. Her hair is longer and she acts and talks like she's 12, not 2!

I cherish each and every moment with my kids and I know that one more day I get to spend with them, to love and nurture them, is a gift because we never know what the future may hold. I try not to dwell on the fact that my children are growing up right before my very eyes, that before I know it they will be so long and gangly that it will be nearly impossible for me to hold them on my lap and rock. So, I'm trying intently to enjoy this stage of Audrey talking my head off from the moment she wakes up till the moment she goes to sleep (I have a feeling that this particular stage will last forever!). I am laughing hysterically at all the funny things my son comes up with to say, almost on a daily basis now. And I am trying to keep a record of all of them so I can laugh at them when I'm 50 and going through empty nest syndrome! I am making a conscious effort to stop more times through out the day to read, do something constructive or just to laugh with them. We started having a family game night every other night and that has turned out to be the best thing we ever added to our nightly routine!! We play Memory(our version of it!), Hungry Hippos, Whack a Mole and bowling. Jon and I have enjoyed ourselves so much and the kids, well, they get over the top excited

when we tell them it's game night!