A moment of reflection....then back to the busy day!

I was reading a blog this morning from a gal I love to follow...http://brookebenton.blogspot.com/ and she was talking about how she misses her old house and the simple way life seemed to flow.

There have been many times that both Mike and I have missed our old house and our old neighborhood. I even have a recurring dream where we are back there, living our life, but the people who bought our house live there and we have to leave before they get back....strange, huh. I think I was trying to read too much into that dream sometimes....

When I read Brooke's post this morning, I decided that it was the way of life that we miss sometimes. Don't get me wrong, there were hard times there for sure, but with smaller children the world was on our schedule most of the time.

Yet, we LOVE the ages our kids are right now. We love discovering that our pre-teen has such a great sense of humor and love of life and has boys who are crushing on her, but she only has eyes for Justin Bieber. We love Sydney's stories and the fact that we have to calm her fears about 'Bloody Mary' since she heard the story on the school bus. We love that Brandon is all boy and yet loves to play 'Just Dance 2' on the Wii (he's really good, too!).

And those are just the things from this week!

But, our days are filled with Mike's busy work life, me trying to be a Mom and a piano teacher and make dinner every day, Amanda's multiple 'practices' and then add in Young Women activity nights and a bunch of homework every night, Sydney's busy Monday, Wednesday, Friday activities (luckily, not much homework) and Brandon's dislike of homework. Although, when we sit down to do it, he is very contemplative about every picture he has to draw or page in the book he has to read. I can almost see his brain working and absorbing this new knowledge.

The girls used to zip through their Kindergarten homework pages and zoom through their books. I always felt guilty when they'd do it all by themselves or feel bad that I didn't ask them the questions I'm supposed to at the end of their 'See Sam' books. But, I am definitely making up for it with Brandon and I feel like he is really learning.

When we thought we were moving last month, I started looking at this home in a different way. I was going to miss it. Not because of the structure of this space, but because of the memories. Watching it being built. Picking the colors and furniture to fill our home. Mike building the girl's bunkbeds and then suprising them when they came home with us the first time. Then, how I had to sleep on their floor, 6 months pregnant, because they heard strange noises. Bringing our boy, Brandon home and having our cute friends decorate our new place with balloons and a poster announcing our baby. Having our family in our home as we blessed Brandon in our family room. Lovingly, putting in the yard and being amazed the Friday night that our friends and family laid sod so quickly. Birthday parties, dogs, first and last days of school, dinner parties with dear old friends and new ones. Soccer in the backyard, dinners on the patio, Mike perfecting his dutch oven cooking, talking to friends and neighbors over our short fence, our makeshift ski 'hill', sledding in the front yard, Halloween parties, Christmas parties, activities committee meetings, sitting on our front porch, tears, laughter and love....all in this home.

And I'm so glad we are here. This is our home and I love it. I am so grateful and so blessed. I am trying to live my life in the now and trying not to worry about the future-when our kids are grown-up and on their own. I'm sure I'll look back at this time in my life and wish for it even though I know Mikey and I will enjoy that time together.

So for now, I'm done reflecting and am going to run to Costco before the school bus brings our kiddos back home.