Welcome to the late edition of Saturday smiles. It is NOT Saturday, though maybe if you had today off for Columbus Day, it might feel like a Saturday. We can pretend, if you want to. Actually, my husband is on break from school, so today definitely doesn’t feel like Monday to me. He’s usually in class. Tonight he’s home.
Anyway, I had a previously scheduled blog for Saturday (Book review of Kathi Macias’ A Christmas Journey Home, if you’re interested and you missed it.) and we planned a family day, so I postponed this week’s list of things that make me smile till now. I hope you don’t mind.
It’s mostly visual this week, although that’s hard for a writer. I’ll try to stay out of it. Mostly what made me smile this week was my kids. Isabelle using big words like “situation” and “frust-er-ated” (how she says it) and earning a Mommy-Daughter Date for having 5 days in row with no potty accidents. Corban saying “please, Mommy” followed by any request up to a trip to the moon. He asks so sweetly, I’d give him anything.
And moments like these.
Here, kitty kitty. Kitty (whose name is Buddy. Neighbors named him, not us.) wants no part of the kids. But it still makes me smile.
And I spent most of Saturday smiling because of this:
Our kids’ first tractor-pulled ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out their own pumpkins. Corban is a little concerned here because the tractor, which he couldn’t wait for, was a little noisier than he thought and the ride was bumpy. Isabelle is already plotting her strategy, I think. Pumpkin picking is serious business.
I had no idea, until this happened:
“Oh, it’s a baby one. I have to watch over it.” She found this pumpkin seconds after we got off the trailer. And we had to gently persuade her to pick out another, bigger, pumpkin. She’s turning into quite the little mommy. We also picked out a family of gourds to help her watch over this little one. We probably could have walked away from the pumpkin patch with $5 worth of tiny gourds, but Phil and I insisted on at least one big, orange pumpkin. Creative persuasion for the sake of tradition, if you will.
Corban helped us out, finally picking out one with his trademark overexcited “ooooo.” That, in itself, makes me smile. No matter what he’s “oooo”ing at.
Here he is helping Daddy make the final cut.
Of course, the best smile-maker of all, we saved for the end of the day.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.
Two days later, this still makes me smile. And that’s what I’m appreciating about this weekly exercise. I find myself reflecting throughout the week about what makes me happy. What makes me smile. And what makes me downright laugh out loud.
What’s got you smiling this week?
Living Echoes 