This post is from three weeks ago, before Jacqui’s last two CVS episodes hit. We were all still down with pneumonia and ear infections, but looking forward to a better week.

It had been a long week. A long very long week and I was tired. As I walked through the living room picking up toys, a silver moonbeam glinted through the window. I curled up on the couch with a sigh. I lifted my face to the light and watched as darkened clouds clamored through tree branches below the curve of the moon. I wondered to myself how my lovely friend, Jo, would write such a moon in such a sky… and I closed my eyes as the weariness of the entire week washed over me. And then I heard it. A kitten-soft step.

A tiny hand slipped into mine and I caught the scent of lavender bubble bath as she leaned down to whisper into my ear, “It’sa crescent moon, Mommy… idn’t it ‘chanting?” And all at once, I couldn’t breathe. Didn’t dare. Letting the beauty of that moment hover and stretch… until it flitted away with a butterfly kiss on my cheek and a hop-skip-pirouette down the hall. A fairy giggle muffled by a blithesome bound into the softness of pillows and quilts.

I turned my face back to the moonlight as my heart sung within, “It is worth it… every minute… worth it all…”

Special thanks to Corey at Living and Loving Every Minute of It for inspiring me to finally start posting some of my half-done posts from my over-stuffed drafts folder - Thanks Corey!

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Just a few pristine moments from our beach trip… left the kiddos strapped in their car seats, back in the van with Dad. Gotta grab those quiet moments wherever you can find them!

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While last week everyone was so sick that it was a real challenge to find a moment that I truly wanted to remember, this week was packed so full of them that I couldn’t possibly choose just one.

There was the smile on Jacqui’s face as she she showed me her gingerbread house creation that she made at her play group on Christmas PJ Day.

The joy of making Christmas cookies with Jacqui while Kyle scrambled excitedly about our feet with his mixing spoon and bowl trying out his first attempts at the word, “Koooooo-kie? Koooo-kie? Keee-Kooo? Koooooooooooo-kie?”

And there was our wonderful evening walk through the neighborhood, looking at all the Christmas lights. We piled the kiddos in their Radio Flyer red wagon with pillows, blankets, warm water bottles, and sippy mugs filled with hot chocolate. They were snug as bugs and giggling those magical Christmas giggles, the ones filled to bursting with anticipation and twinkles from widened little eyes.

Then off we rolled on our neighborhood tour… Jacqui yelling elatedly, “Wow! Look at dat! Oh, Wow! Look over dair!” And Kyle joining in with a mittened paw pointing anyplace he saw light, including street lamps with his one beautiful baby word, “Yoook! Yooooook!”

Jacqui slurped down most of her hot chocolate, spilled some, and then attempted to go after Kyle’s. Nothing doing! Kyle held on with mittened temerity, “Mine! Miiiiiiinnne!”

The last stop on the tour of lights was our neighborhood Grand Finale House. Every neighborhood has one. You know the one. The house so lit up that you can probably see it from space. Even the kids were in awe. Their little exclamations turned into whispers - “Wow…” “Yook…”

Kyle made me giggle on the way back home as he leaned back into his pillow, arms propped perpetually out to the sides by layers of warm clothes. He made me think of Randy in A Christmas Story… “Help!! I can’t put my arms down! Help!!!!”

As we wobbled along, I noticed Jacqui tapping her mittened hand to her head. I caught up from behind and looked into her face - her eyes were closed as she continued to tap. I smiled and asked, “What are you doing, Jacqui?”

She paused mid tap and opened her eyes, then gave me a wizened little smile, “Making a memory, Mommy. A Christmas memory. I want to ‘member dis for never and never.”

And my heart melted. Right there on the frozen sidewalk.

I slipped my hand in hers as the wagon creaked along, “Me too, Sweetie. Me too.”

We rolled the wagon back towards home for pajamas, bedtime stories…

And the inevitable Christmas meltdown. Even the tears I will tuck away in my heart to remember with a smile on a Christmas many years from now when my head is gray and our house is silent. I know that these moments are fleeting. In nothing more than a blink my tiny children will no longer be children. I want to soak in every ounce of these moments, down to the very essence of them. I look into their faces and and etch the memory of them on my heart - the curve of every baby feature, the magic of every giggle, the sparkle of Christmas excitement in every widened eye. These will be the Christmas gifts I cherish for years to come.

This post was written for the Wrapped Emotions writing prompt:

“Capturing the Gift of Every Moment”

Please click on the link below to visit Wrapped Emotions to see how other writers took on this prompt…

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We’ve had a really rough couple of weeks… everyone has been sick. Thursday night things really got out of hand and both kiddos ran 103+ fevers all night long with Kyle coughing so hard that he threw up in his crib. I got absolutely zero sleep and decided to haul both of them back in to the doctor in the morning. On the way out the door, Kyle managed to throw up again on me, Jacqui, himself, the inside of the my purse and the cat sitting at our feet. We were late to the appointment and arrived smelling like rancid dairy products.

So… needless to say, I’ve had a hard time coming up with a post for Melody’s weekly ‘Capturing the Gift of Every Moment’ project over at Wrapped Emotions.

And then, like an exquisitely wrapped and unexpected Christmas gift, the moment arrived. This evening as I was getting dinner ready, I heard the kiddos over by the living room window:

Kyle: Yook! Cows! Moooooo! (Kyle thinks the animated reindeer lights in our front yard are cows).

Jacqui: No, Kyle. Doze aren’t cows! Dey’re reindeers!

Kyle: Cows! Mooooo! Moooo!

Jacqui: No, Kyle. Reindeers don’t say ‘moo’! Dey say ‘freeeeeeep!’ (Jacqui just watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and was doing her best impression of the sound Rudolph’s blinking nose makes in the cartoon Christmas special.)

Kyle: NOOOOO!!! No Beep! Cows! Mooooooo!! Moooooo!!

Jacqui: Ok, Kyle. Mommy says you can call ‘em cows if ya want to ’cause you jess little. When you get big like me, I’ll teach ya to call ‘em reindeer, OK?

Then she hugged her little brother and as they sat looking out the window at the Christmas lights, Ken’s car pulled up and both burst into elated giggles and shouts of “Yay!! Daddy’s home! Mommy! Daddy’s home!”

Even during the rough times, there are moments like this to be cherished. Thank you, Melody, for reminding me to be looking for them.

This post was written for the Wrapped Emotions writing prompt:

“Capturing the Gift of Every Moment”

Please click on the link below to visit Wrapped Emotions to see how other writers took on this prompt…

parenting children motherhood illness sick day kids Christian group writing project Wrapped Emotions SAHM Christmas

Well, here’s a little clip of Jacqui’s ballet for you all. Jacqui is the one in red on the far left of the stage. It was her very first performance and I really wish I could have taped the second or third one. She was a bit upset during this performance because one of the assistants told her just as she headed out on stage to remember to “stay in line” when she was dancing.

Jacqui just gravitates to center stage like a little spinning top and whirls there like she’s the only one in the ballet with a huge grin on her face. The slight reprimand just as she was walking on stage really rattled her nerves and I wished more than anything that I could have rushed over and reassured her with a hug after the look she shot over her shoulder at me as she headed out on stage. From behind the curtain, I could see her look of concentration as she looked at the floor, trying to stay in line. She was like a little deflated balloon… all the joy just gone! You can see her sad little limp off stage at the end… she usually skips off, and giggles full of smiles. In the middle of the clip, the little “Ooooo!! Oooooo!!” that you hear with the audience giggling? That’s Jacqui… Worried about getting back to her place in line after dancing in the butterfly circle.

When she got back stage, she was just about in tears. “I ‘membered evvyfing, Mommy… ‘cept I forgotted to smile! I forgotted to have fun!”

I gave her a big hug and told her how great she did and let her know that in the next performance she could try again and not to worry about lines - That she should just go out there and have fun dancing. She grinned and took the advice to heart, pulling off two more priceless performances full of joy and exuberance plus a final bow scene on Sunday evening that I’ll cherish for years to come with all that is precious from her childhood.

Even though she’s a slightly dejected butterfly in this clip, she’s still adorable! Scroll up to the next post for some great photos of her weekend as a prima ballerina!

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