the big game.

Today was Everett's final flag football game of the season.  For a kid who spent the first several practices climbing trees and perfecting dance moves, he improved tremendously.  I was proud of his hustle.  Proud of the way that he listened to his coaches and proud most of all when he ran off field to give hugs to his sisters.

We spent eight weeks of Saturdays bundled in scarves and boots to watch his team play the same opponents every week on the same field at the same time.  Impressive, considering the lack of sportiness in this house.  It's funny to me the way that families are woven together.  That somehow two non-athletes ended up with a boy who loves to play anything with a ball.

I tell him the same thing every week, "I love to watch you play."  And I mean it.

days like this.

My littlest one is sick. Like her brother and sister before her, her favorite place to be when sick is sprawled across her mama. An interesting feature of me is that I'm a crappy nurse.   Luckily, she doesn't seem to notice.  I am her safe place.

And I'm trying. And I'm grateful that the big kids have school this morning so I can hold her for hours without the distraction of big kid conversation or expectations.  

Praying that this passes quickly and that we move beyond the "licking surfaces of playgrounds" stage of development soon.

after all.

Even when you decide to grow a beard after discovering Duck Dynasty.
Even when date night ends with my fancy boots covered in our 2 year old's vomit.

You are still my favorite person.

my date with a jack-o-lantern.

A few weeks ago, this guy knocked a lower front tooth out while aggressively eating pancakes, because of course he did.  He spent the next week forcing the neighboring tooth out.  The result is my very favorite kind of smile.

Three years ago, pregnant with the Hunca Munca, the one I worried about was him.  My middle guy.  I grieved that he wouldn't get to be a baby, wouldn't get as much alone time as the sisters surely would.  Today, 2 1/2 years into 3 kids, it was relatively simple to drop big sister at school and leave little sister with grandma and enjoy 4 hours of pure Mister.

At five, he still wants me to stay in his classroom.  He'll still sit on my lap during circle time.  He whispered secrets the whole way to the patch.   But as soon as we arrived, he was looking for things to climb, mud and squished squash.