Little Happies: 20 Things I Don't Want to Forget

1) Letting her be her.

(At the doctor's office.)

2) Quiet time activities that give me a little peace and them a new opportunity to learn.

(Those sweet, tiny hands with multiple Band-Aids and tattoos.)

3) My newest Sioux Chef. She's become very eager to help in the kitchen....and take a taste of the chef's wine.

4) Tiny fingers and Cheerios.

If there was one thing I don't ever want to forget from these days, it's this...

5) The first three pictures I took with my new camera (thanks Davie!!). Magical.

6) This...

7) The night the older two insisted on being babies too. They loved it until they realized they couldn't get out unless I let them out.

I enjoyed it probably more than I should have.

Then I later caught them with pacis in their mouths.

8) How handsome he looks in this sweater. (Thanks BaBa and Pop Pop.)

9) How true, deep friendships can blossom no matter the age if we're just willing to take a leap of faith.

10) That no matter the temperature the sun still manages to prove that warmth is just around the corner if we wait patiently enough.

11) Watching their artwork evolve.

12) His confidence in the snow.....

...her apprehension,

(Careful watching followed by a little pouting and then we venture out....)

(...then come right back in.)

and this one's constant giggling at it.

13) The mazes he works so quietly and diligently on that initially makes me want to clean up after stepping on thirty pieces but his look of eagerness reminds me to ignore the annoyance so I don't stifle his creativity.

And also being wise enough to recognize that I will one day miss finding these tiny objects along my path that make me stop in my tracks and remind me to enjoy the moment.

(These wind through every room in our first floor.)

14) Our handsome swim coach and learning more about letting go.

He won over his begrudging wife to take all three to the pool alone. He proved that letting go is often times in our best interest when he taught our two and four year old how to swim entirely on their own.

15) Doing our best to be role models for our kids to try something scary and to not let fear get in the way of experiencing something we may find to be empowering after all.

(Our fingers were literally fully numb but we promised to tough it out to say we did it at least once.)

Letting go...

(Daddy coming to the rescue.)

(He was so cold that he kept his head buried.)

As soon as he got in the car he triumphantly smiled and said, "Mommy, I did it!"

16) When he told me that he wanted to make a snowball to throw at Daddy. I made one to which he said, "No, I mean BIG!" so he made his own.....yeah, I think this looked more appropriate.

17) How tiny she looks at my childhood table....but also realizing how big she looks at that table.

18) Watching them together and hardly remembering them before they could reach the counter.

....or get frustrated at messes.

(Please don't ever let me forget what this looks like.)

19) Remembering the importance of dancing to the beat of our own drum regardless of what others think.

20) Consistently working to savor the littles in life that make it BIG and exciting and creating a space that surrounds my children with happy childhood memories. And that means embracing both the rainbows and the rain.