The kiddos growin' up. The top picture is a picture of my children looking nice and neat because their father combed their hair and put a clip in Annie's. What a good dad. The bottom picture is our attempt at a hike! It was just me and the kids and after I took this picture I realized how well Archie blends in... good thing Ben dressed Annie that day. He may be good at hair, but we are still working on the matching. (Although he explained that the clothes do indeed match, which was my request; they both contain the same colors, but the shirt has a white background and a large print and the pants have a brown background with a small print so it looks slightly funny, but yes they do match:)) We didn't lose anyone on the hike, a couple of spills, a little blood, but at the end of the day everyone was happy. That pretty much sums up our day to day around here. Everyone is happy. We have tantrums, we have burnt dinners (once in a great while), we have messes and dishes that sit in the sink over night and sometimes through the next day. But the four of us have our rituals that we love; cuddle in bed, eat breakfast together, read scriptures, say prayers. We love each other and work at loving each other and making things easier on one another. We try to serve, be polite, be grateful and be present. Nothing, and no one in this family, is perfect- I am late almost everywhere and am trying to correct that! Along with many other imperfections. But the rule of the day and in this house is
BE KIND. Be thoughtful. And if you are not, go back and try again. The more we try the more we see what kindness can be, what it does and how it can invite the spirit into our minds, hearts, activities and words. While I was writing this Annie got mad that Archie wouldn't give her a toy; she decided to take her anger out on three things. 1. The marker she was illegally using was thrown behind the filing chest, now lost forever. 2. The hair clip that was so lovingly placed in her hair was ripped out of her hair and pitifully thrown about one foot. 3. The paper she was drawing on was thrashed around for 10 seconds before attempting to throw it; it made it about 6 inches concluding with a most unsatisfying throw. Bummer. She then took solace in sucking on her fingers and laying on mommy. Archie has the toy, hiding in a corner, by himself. Life is hard, we're working on it.
