To remember.

I woke up grumpy today. I think this is an occupational hazard of motherhood: consistently and constantly performing the most mundane and uninspiring tasks on reduced sleep while teaching life lessons and skills, all with a sunny disposition (which may be the most important life skill of all). Sometimes I just don't have the energy, and little things (like finding dirty dishes left in the sink when the dishwasher is obviously dirty) set me off.

Use your imagination to picture how the morning went.

I didn't lose it, but I wasn't earning any Cheerful Points either. So I was more than a little surprised when this afternoon turned into an idyllic moment for an hour or two. It was coolish today (in the 60s), and Caleb had a friend over. They sat in the clubhouse part of the swingset, scheming a little and mostly racing cars down the slide. I sat Cecily on a blue quilt on the lawn and watched her as she yanked out grass by the roots, alternately eating it and throwing it to the wind. It was a beautiful day: I could hear the boys saying funny things to each other ("I'm wearing green pants. It's because I have some green pants."), and CC was delighting herself by declaring "rah rah" and "yah yah."

And that is the occupational blessing of being a mom: being present for all the little moments, saving them away to remember how sweet life is, even when the people who were there won't even remember that any of it ever happened.

I promise her hair only looks this red in pictures.

And the reason why pickin's are slim for pictures for Caleb is that he refuses to be photographed.