feeling needed

Once again, another great day. it is such a wonderful feeling at the end of the day to feel as though something was accomplished. Today for me it was Sunday School ( the last day) a little garden project for Emma, cleaning out a closet, studying, running ( 5 miles - YEA!) and then relaxing with the family.

The last day of Sunday School went well. We had a really good bunch of 3-4 year olds as they all listened well, did what we asked, etc. I could tell it was getting towards the end of the year, though, as they were all acting a bit more wild, goofy, and starting to gel more as a group. It was pretty neat to see. I am not sure if I will do it again next year. I liked it; it was very rewarding and St. Ambrose really had everything together for us, but Tim and I have discussed the possibility of joining another church that is closer to home and may have more of the kids' future classmates or even finding another religion that seems to fit with us a bit more. But, more on that later.

When we got home, Emma and I decided to get our hands dirty and make her a little garden. As of now, it consists of little pots with random seeds in it that she planted all by herself. Hopefully they will grow, some of the seeds are over a year old, and we can plant them in the actual garden so she can see them grow. Evan, once Tim and he arrived home, had to join in on the fun and instantly got his little shovel and started to "help". This led to "EVAN! NO!! MY GARDEN!" and fights between the two, then Evan collapsing to the ground, kicking his little legs as he didn't get his way.

Despite the wind, we played outside a lot and had the neighbor girls over for a bit also. It is always nice to have a bit of a distraction for the kids and they play together so well. It is nice when the 4 of them can get together.

Tonight was a bath night, as we were playing in the dirt today and tonight was a sticky dinner of nachos, chicken wings, hotdogs, and home-made strawberry shortcake. Yes, all healthy wonderful choices :-) It was after Evan's bowl of strawberry shortcake fell to the floor and Emma stepped in it that I decided to throw them in the tub. Emma does pretty well in the baths, Evan, well, HATES going in them and then HATES getting out of them. He will kick his little legs back and forth and do the running man for both instances. If looks could talk, his would say " OH! I am so mad that I am so little and you can pick me up and make me do stuff I don't want to do!"

Emma has taken to doing everything herself. "MAMA! I am almost 4. I can do this." So, she now washes her hair and washes her body because, as she declares, "Mom, this is my sponsiblity now. I can DO it."

The night ended peacefully enough with Tim finishing some garden jobs and the kids watching some TinkerBell so I could do some of the dishes and clean up the floor. Sometimes I let Emma stay up a few minutes later than Evan, since she is a big girl, and tonight was one of those nights. Emma's eyes light up when I tell her that she can have 10 extra minutes as she is older and she puffs out her chest and looks down and you can tell how proud she feels. I have to admit though, I had ulterior motives, as I wanted to have 5 minutes to rock Evan to sleep.

He had a rough day today. He insisted on wearing his Transformer rain boots outside to play and before he even made it there, he tripped, fell, and his head hit the chair. This was right before I was going out running and he is screaming, tears streaming down his face yelling "MAMA! Bye-bye?? MAMA! Bye- Bye!...." Then of course, he reaches up his little arms and I can't resist. Then, later that evening, he was struggling with supper and he just had to get down to play. Tim and I wouldn't let him and he let's out a big NO and folds his arms up, drops his head on them and starts crying. Grrrr....

But then at last, we had the sweet times. I had just got him out of the tub and was putting his jammies on. I picked a random blue pair and he started kicking his little legs and saying "Ball! Ball" He wanted to wear the jammies with the basketballs/baseballs/footballs on them. Then, finally, bed time. Emma was happily watching TinkerBell, so I brought him upstairs, turned on his glow-worm and sat in the rocking chair. He looks at me, squeezes my cheeks in his pudgy little hands, and lays his head on my shoulder. It was so nice. I rocked him for about 5 minutes, while he lightly stroked my arm or my side. He would murmur "mama" every once in awhile and finally started to fall asleep. Nice! what a great way to end the busy night.

Now this week, it is the same old thing - but throw in more studying. Wish me luck on my big test for later this month. I am pretty nervous about it.