friday night par-tay

I am trying to be a little more laid back these days. Trying to let my kids be kids a little more, and savor the moments. Trying to find joy in their purity and encourage their exuberance. Who wants a mean old mom, right? So, Blair and I decided to let the kids stay up late tonight and do some fun stuff.

First of all, after dinner we went on a walk around the yard and made some leaf art. (This is inspired by my friend Christina...see her blog, Moment to Moment). We all had looked at her beautiful creations online and had alot of fun walking around, trying to find leaves and plants that would work well. Then we went back to the porch and played!

Elliot, whom I thought would be so into this, wasn't so much. :) He helped Novah with this one, here, then went off to pick some berries that he found while scouting for leaves.



Connor, whom I thought would not be so into this, actually was. He took it very seriously and really got focused with it. Isn't this beautiful...




And Hayden got into it as well. She was so proud.


And here are two variations of my own.


I would have liked a bit more color, but was honestly just too lazy to go out to the fields. So, I just made do with what was closer around the house. It was really fun, though. We all enjoyed it.

Hayden is so sweet with baby Gil. She loves him so much, and takes such good care of him.


After this, the kids decided they wanted to go for a swim in the creek. They have been spending almost every afternoon splashing around in the creek for the last week or so because it has been so blazing hot. The boys have been having a blast with these vests, because they love to float and let the creek's current push them along.




They splashed around until it was almost dark, and then moved on to scout out the berries that Elliot had found along the fence line.





Then began the lightning bug hunt. This was a huge treat because they are normally in bed way before the lightning bugs come out, but hey, this was a party.

They ran around , caught some, and marveled at the first few stars that popped out in the night sky. And then, things got really crazy when Blair brought out one of his Organic, Fair Trade Dark Chocolate Almonds bars (from his private stash) and split it amongst them all. Cra-zay. :)

See, it takes a moment like this to set me straight. I get so upset and frustrated and exasperated so often over small things. Insignificant, minor things. (I mean, I get upset because often a small thing, multiplied by 5 and complicated by infinite variables usually ends up to be a big thing). But still. I just know that one day, when my kids are all grown up they'll remember a special night like tonight. They'll remember that rules were ignored and bedtimes tossed and chocolate was broken out. And me....what will I think then? Will I think, "Wow, I sure wish I had yelled at everyone a little more and freaked out every time someone dumped their bowl over. Sure wish that the kids were put to bed on the spot every single night of their lives. Sure hope they'll always remember me as being exasperated and uptight their whole childhood!"

I won't even remember the spills. (probably) But I'm pretty sure that I will remember this night and others like it...the pure fun and freedom in their eyes, and the thrill that I know filled them up and spilled out of them as they went from one awesomely fun thing to the next. And I know I'll wish there were more days and nights. I hope there will be.

Okay, wipe your tears, back to business. After things began to wind down, they came inside and after a night like this, who should have to go to bed?? Not these kids. This calls for a sleepover in the fort. The fort is a recent construction under the stairs. Complete with art supplies, changes of clothes, sleeping bags, etc...




So, they camped out down there, and even though I'm still hearing murmurs at the ungodly hour of 10:54pm, I'm cool. Well, I'm trying to be cool. And I'm actually banking on the hope that they might sleep in past 6:30 tomorrow. Wouldn't that be sweet.

And to finish, a moment from the week that I wanted to capture and remember. I was looking out my front door, watching Novah run out to meet the older kids at the creek. I love the way she runs...more up and down than forward. And I loved how beautiful it looked all around her. I am blessed.
Be blessed. Thanks for swinging by. And a happy Friday night to you.