I love having older children

As I ate dinner with my children tonight, it reminded me of dinners with my own family that I remembered. I actually had the food ON the table instead of serving my children from the stove. We had a conversation. My children (mostly) ate. The table didn't look like we'd been fingerpainting with mashed potatoes when dinner was over. It was lovely. Then, we cleaned up the kitchen mostly together, with me wiping counters and cleaning pots while they took out the garbage and cleaned off the table. It was beautiful.

I spent so many years with disastrous dinners. Lunches and breakfasts, too. I hated cleaning the kitchen at 8 or 9 at night when I finally got back to it after getting kids showered, cleaned up, and in bed. Cleaning the kitchen right after dinner was something that only happened when Derek was home, and only sometimes then. Now I'm writing this as the children are reading quietly in their beds, the kitchen is (relatively) clean, and I've folded a load of laundry. What heaven compared to years before. I miss my cute little chubby curly headed twin boys, and my sweet tiny Evin and the cannonball Ian. But I don't miss the mess.

My like and dislike for the week

Like: I have been converted to Dove soap. (Thank you Lynnette for having it in your shower when I visited.) After years of using the soap that Derek liked because I really didn't care, I have purchased for myself Dove pink soap that smells like roses. Now my boys will leave it alone. I hope.

Dislike: Derek bought a fog free mirror for the shower so he could shave in the shower and be more presentable more often (this is his new goal). While this is great for him, it's not so great for me. I don't really like to see myself in the shower some mornings. Yikes.

Maybe I'll start again

I have started my nine weeks of summer. Maybe I'll start cleaning again. Maybe I'll start cooking again. Maybe I won't do anything. We'll see. I don't think the boys are ready for what Mommy wants them to start doing, but we have swimming for another week, so I can't get too mean, there isn't time. Maybe I'll actually start taking pictures of my children since my phone is better than my camera now. Maybe I'll start projects. Maybe I'll go back to bed.