Breakfast by Candlelight

My new winter tradition is to burn candles on Saturday morning while Greg makes breakfast. We usually listen to some music, too.


This seems to have distracted the children from running around and screaming and getting into fights before 8:00 a.m. For the longest time, I couldn't figure out a good way to enjoy candles with children in the room. This is the way! Here they are helping to set the table.


Yesterday was cold and rainy. We spent the day cleaning house and horsing around. Nathan wanted to build this cushion tower. He climbed up and rocked around on it for a while.


Mark tried it but got frustrated when he toppled off. Later in the day, we had "tickle time." It had been a long time coming. There was lots of laughing and rolling and begging for more.

After we put the kids to bed, I took note of the contents of my pockets. I was carrying half a plastic fish head that always finds its way into Mark's mouth, a pair of fingernail clippers, and some pieces of scotch tape. The night before, the inventory included some tiny rubber wheels (also one of Mark's favorites for nibbling), a plastic banana, and some band-aids, which leads me to explaining the scrapes and bandages on the boys' heads.


On Monday, I let Nathan wear his boots (it was kind of drizzling that day.) We were playing outside and I was chasing him, when his feet came out from under him and he landed head-first on the driveway. Big scrape, big tears. Big fear of the whole process of cleaning and bandaging the scrape. Even bigger fear of having the bandages changed the next morning, when I realized I had used some that were too small to adequately cover the wound. Oh my. Thank goodness for Daddy and his calm, reasonable nature. And thank goodness the scrapes have now healed enough for band-aids to be taken off. We were down to one little tiny square one as of last night. Nathan came to our room early this morning, shining his "buzz light." He climbed up on the bed and said, "Mama, I just wanted to show you something. I figured out a way to get that little band-aid off all by myself." Praise the Lord.

Now, Mark's turn. We were doing some singing and dancing in the living room yesterday afternoon. Mark was spinning around and landed his head on the corner of the coffee table. Not a lot of drama, but a little bit of blood. All is well. He recovers quickly. Quickly enough to want to dance all around the den with me last night, while Nathan and Greg played Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys on their guitars. He said, "Take my hand, Mommy!" and proceeded to spin me around and around, jumping as he went. Full of joy.