Operation Christmas Child. . .and thoughts on motherhood

The oldest two look forward to packing shoe boxes every year! This year we will be following our shoe boxes and the kids can't wait to see where they end up!! Such an awesome gift. . .we only wish we could hand deliver them. . .add that to our dream lists of travels, including meeting our Compassion Child and helping at an orphanage . Ainsley packed a box for a girl her age and the boys packed boxes for boys their age. A few snapshots of the notes they stuck in their boxes. . .

Completely unrelated, I have been doing some deep cleaning and came across this sweet card. . .some days are rewarding as mothers. . .

others have been not so much. I was chatting with some playgroup and mops moms the other day about how mothering has changed. Those days when they were all really little sometimes got long and lonely. . .counting down the hours til we'd greet daddy after work. Now the urgent demands of mothering tiny ones have somewhat passed and we've moved on to a busy with activities/friends age, but there is still plenty of family time too. As much as I enjoy myself a brand new baby and then those cute toddling steps Ryker is currently taking, I am so enjoying my kids that can put on their own shoes, buckle themselves up, talk with me, run to greet daddy themselves, etc :) Like mama always said, each age is fun. And mamas of those tiny ones, you will make it. . .in the mean time, stop over or meet up with us or give me a call. . .I always enjoy fellow mom friends! By the way, I am mom now to Porter, not mommy :) He must be too cool for that mommy talk, but he still did hold my hand on our recent date.

PS Have I ever mentioned I always use the last of the cookie dough to make a heart shaped cookie for my man? Well, I do. And I just did again the other day.