Day of Rest?

Anyone that knows me... knows I LOVE Sundays!

But today was crazy, hectic, upside down day for me.

As a Relief Society Presidency we have lots of kiddos that intermingle at weekly Presidency meetings, which is usually fantastic... but we have managed to cross-contaminate each other recently.

So I was the lone Pres. member standing this morning... not that I didn't have sick kiddos, Savannah has the flu and Christian has yet another plague of poison ivy, but at least my kiddos were old enough to be left at home.

Off to church I go, with Ty in tow!

Thankfully my sister, Misty, is our new Secretary so my sanity did manage to hang on by a thread, but hanging on is a blessing some days.

I rushed home after church to start supper, so we could all sit down and eat fast, fast, fast.  We had hometeachers, which we adore, coming.

Then Shawn had to leave again for Bishop's Youth Discussion, minus our normal attendees of Christian and Savannah.

So I finally exhale once Shawn leaves and think my day is finally going to wind down.

But seems Christian was BEYOND bored after being home all day... him and Ty pestered each other terribly... known side effect of said pestering is their mommy is a total grouch.

So I ordered them to come kiss me goodnight and go.to.bed!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Sweet, pityful daughter is medicated and sleeping soundly,

Sons are probably not asleep but are in their separate rooms and not making a peep,

Hubby is home from his meeting, safe and sound...

And I have a quiet, peaceful Sunday... it only took till 9:58pm for me to achieve it.

I heard the following quote and want to record it because it rang so very true for me today, with my church calling, kiddos, and millions of to dos:

Mothers have the uncanny ability to derail a train of thought in a heartbeat,

jump to another track,

and run on it... with all engines smoking.

Does that sound familiar to any one else?

ChooooooooChooooooooooo!

I almost lost my mommy license for this one....

First things first... a bit of explanation, with a little pinch of self-defense, in an effort to plead my case:

I do not own a sweet tooth.  I was not born with one, have not found one, nor have I developed one in my many years of tooth ownership.  I do however own plenty of salty, crunchy, chip loving teeth...

but no sweet tooth.

With that stated upfront, I think it may help explain why I forget about all the sticky, sweet, fruity, gooey, yumminess available in this wonderful world of ours.

So imagine Ty's surprise when I took him to the ChickFilA Pumpkin Patch Extravaganza a few weeks ago... and he is handed Cotton Candy!

Ty, at 7 years of age, did not know what it was!

GASP!!!!

There!  I own it!  My poor son looked at the Cotton Candy and gave me a questioning look of.... 'what. have. you. been. keeping. from. me.?"

I reassured him that it indeed was edible.

So he sampled it, grinned from ear to ear, and proceeded to say, "how long has this been invented?"

I really considered lying to him, yep, I really, really, considered telling a big fat fib.

How does a mom tell her son that Cotton Candy has been around since the ice ages?... or at least since I was a little girl... which to him WAS the ice ages.

He finally stopped giving me accusatory stares when I stood in line to get another cotton candy, under the premise it was for me, knowing that I would give it to him...

Then, and only then, was I forgiven for my monumental oversight!

Ty keeps calling it Cotton Candy Candy Clouds... isn't that cute?!

No stone Unturned

Christian is my child that experiences everything. He loves new things, is not easily intimidated, and is always 'up' for anything. When he was a toddler I had a HUGE learning curve with him. I could not reason with him like I easily did with Savannah.

Christian often learned things the hard way. After months and months of trying to convince him that he was going to hurt himself climbing on the back of the couch... he had to learn by falling off... taking a lamp, answering machine, phone, and side table down with him in a mess of brokenness. Then, and only then, would he point to the back of the couch and simply say, "ouch".

Another example was how he would run full speed across the yard and plunge into his little blownup swimming pool. He would come up choking and sputtering. I tried to tell him to plug his nose before leaping in... but NO!! How could he get the needed 'lift off' to create the maximum splash in the pool if he had to have one hand plugging his nose! And so he continued to half drown himself that whole summer. That ever present dilemma of motherhood of knowing when to step in and prevent... vs. get out of the way and allow your child to experience. It never ends with this son.

But I have learned that the flip side to this is that he enjoys things to the fullest! The most mundane things are a thrill for him. He finds the interesting aspect to anything. He looks at things and sees a creative spin, or a new approach, a joy in the process.

I can honestly say that the day I had Christian... I was transformed into a better mother. I get him. Seriously. I love to watch him be. Christian formally tests in the genius levels, but he is an 'outside the box' thinker and I can't wait to see what he attempts with his future.

My heart flips when I see Christian. He makes me laugh more than any one thing can in my life. He challenges me to enjoy things and not simply react... does that make sense? I love this boy to the point that it takes my breath away.

This week Christian needed to learn all aspects of laundry care for a Boy Scout requirement.

Simple... right?

Not.

Cause he's got to truly understand all the ins and outs. Look at the ingredients of the Spray and Wash bottle and try to formulate, in his mind, why its able to accomplish its goal of stain removal.

Don't laugh!

Seriously, this is how Christian absorbs any speck of knowledge in his life.

So, imagine my exhaustion when we finally arrived at the end of this Laundry 101 Lesson.
Seeing him ironing his clothes, knowing that another life experience is now filed away in that brilliant mind of his. Knowing that as he uses this skill in the future, time and time again... that it will never be mundane, cause nothing in Christian's life is mundane.

And I don't even mind that he had a chance to turn the tables and laugh at me for once... as I quietly started humming... "I hope they call me on a mission"... moms gotta plant those little seeds whenever they can, Right?