When inspiration strikes

He sat down and added another chapter to a soldier story he started working on in his "free" time in school, when the mood seized him.

Because he doesn't like to sit still, it encourages me when he does like this.

That quiet time when his younger sis nodded off on our drive to school to meet him first before elder brother was done, was totally unplanned. While she took a catnap next to me, it worked out for me to watch him develop the story -- and let him know also how much I liked the details he gave to his drawings and writing.

I hope he is focused on his work during class time also -- paying attention, not talking. He thinks he can multitask and listen to the teacher at the same time!?! 8-l

Quick quip
Ben's lightbulb moment after showering: "Mom, I just figured it out... after 12, you turn thirTEEN! That's when you become a teen!" ;p

Gone fishing... ice fishing!

We were there an hour tops.

Tried, but didn't catch any fish.

Still, I really enjoyed the breather, catching the season's BEAUTY...

"The heavens declare the glory of God; 

and the firmament shows His handiwork."

 - Psalm 19:1

Lake Cocolalla. We were there at the end of the nice intro to ice fishing. Meimei and I almost didn't go, had she not felt better from her cold. So thankful we all did. Not having our snowboots on, hurrying out, put a slight damper on this first experience. Good thing the boys still think fishing in the warmer months is a cool thing to do. I enjoyed taking all these phone snaps :).

3, 2, 1... liftoff!

She wouldn't hold my hand -- walking to where I'd parked, after an hour's wait for the eldest to finish his afterschool chess club. That was when her two brothers paused goofing around and gave her a friendly boost!

When the kids play nicely, and lend us an uplifting hand, doesn't it help keep us super human* moms going? ;)

God is good! Our really busy week came with more boosts for all of us, including the husband in spite of his own hectic schedules:

An unexpected third place win for our cubscout at the derby race. Before that, merit badges and new ranks for our scout at that winter court of honor. And relying on the slowcooker to churn out the soy chix drums for that potluck, same day I squeezed in the CNY crafts in meimei's preschool.

All not to be taken for granted: blessings and bonuses. The up moments, that even though life also has its downs and things we struggle with, that remind us that each day is more than just another day of to-ing and fro-ing :).

***

*I mean we feel the frazzledness, fatigue, frustrations in the human being sense. It was my xth roundtrip of consecutive days of schoolruns and activities. In the mad morning rush, I forgot something as simple as the youngest's shoes. By my second trip out, I brought TWO PAIRS for her just in case (mom's guilt ;p)! Boy was I exhausted but was also hanging on to the things that went right, and what might help with my sanity :).


(Rolled out later than when I started writing this)