This Amazing Life!

Today has been truly an awesome day!

Started off with all of us sleeping in wickedly late... it was almost 8 before we rolled ourselves out of bed. Then while I fed the baby my little bear made us some toast and hot cocoa. She was so very proud of herself for having made breakfast all by herself. It was really fun to sit there with her sipping hot cocoa and eating toast and jam :)

As we talked about what we were going to do for the day, she was a funny little bear. I was giving her a run down of where we needed to go and what we needed to do and in the sweetest voice she says "Mommy, could brother be big like me and me little like him?" I asked her why and she says "Because I don't want to exercise today" She made me giggle. We decided that all that exercise deserved a special treat and we voted on a banana split from a local hamburger stand. She decided being big was better at that point.

After that she and I did some housework together. She loves to help clean things. So we caned the kitchen up, washed the dishes, got the trash out and watched a couple of tv shows and then it was time to run the errands...

Off we went... it is interesting that anything that takes 10 minutes to drive to will probably take 30 minutes to walk to. I don't think one appreciates conveniences available to us until you live without them for a while. I am really looking forward to getting my new car at the same time I am enjoying this getting exercise time. I wanted a gym membership... this way I am saving loads of money through the car ins., gas, tires, and gym fees and I am getting that exercise :)

So anyway, the kids and I were off~ My little bear and I decided that we needed to have some lunch before we went too far so we stopped to get that and then back on the road we went. Got the most important bills paid. As we were doing that there was a little HURRAH moment at the electric company...

I went into pay the bill and had forgot to bring my bill with me. So I had to have them look it up. It was a little bit more than what I had budgeted for and I was wondering what I had done to screw it up. Here I thought I was on target and keeping up on everything... So I asked when my new bill generated. I was so EXCITED! It just generated! Next payday I am only paying a very small amount and I am all caught up on my electric and in good shape :) One of those benefits to having a smaller place, my electric bill is only about a 1/3 of what it was in the old house! YAY!

Little Bear and I spent the entire day chatting back and forth about many many things. Like did you know, I bought her 30 band aids and she has only used 4 so she can 26 more owies before I have to buy more band aids and she thinks that will be in 50 days. Yes she did all that math stuff on her own :) Of course when I asked her when 50 days was... she got confused. But it is ok, it will come to her soon enough. We had that discussion at the market when we were buying a few things.

She had me laughing when I told her to grab some butter. She goes over to the brand we usually buy and looks. Then she says "Mommy, that is expensive!" I go over to her and we look at all the prices and we decide that we can try a new brand and see how it tastes. Saved a dollar. Not a lot saved but it was cute that she is learning how to shop for bargains already.

Finally it was time to head home...

It is quite a walk from one end of town to the other. I sort of wish I had a pedometer to see how far we walk each day. But anyway, we head home and are on a road that we usually don't walk. There were lots of new things for my little bear to see. Lots of new signs for her to read. Her reading has just exploded over the last few months. We saw a cute little house, painted blue with a white picket fence. My little bear saw this house and said "Momma, that is the kind of house I want when we get a house again." My little girl has amazing taste in a home :)

The lawn was manicured, there were wild roses along with some topiary and several small flower beds. A delightful little railed front porch with a couple of chairs sitting on it. Looked to be a 3 maybe even 4 bedroom house since it did look like it had an upstairs room.Really a nice little place. Reminded me of a country cottage sort of thing. I liked it.

So I told my little one that we would look for a house like that when we got ready to move back into a house. Something I have realized over the last few months, it isn't so much WHERE you live... it is about LOVE the JOY in the place you live. Any place can be a home if you fill it with love.

Finally we got to have our Banana Splits! Our local little hamburger stand isn't a chain thing. It is a Mom and Pop place that makes the BOMB giant hamburgers and has YUM YUM YUMMY soft serve ice cream. Not to mention having a wide variety of other great things on the menu. Anyway, today it was all about the banana splits...

We gobbled them down while talking. I was just sort of curious how she was feeling about all the changes she has had this year. She is amazing and a reminder about how important it is for us as adults to be resilient like kids. She misses Grandma and Brother. Especially Grandma. She was wondering if Grandma was in heaven watching us. I told her I thought she was. When we got home she went and got Grandma's Eeyore and held onto it for a while. I think it helped here feel closer to Grandma.

I asked her how she felt about what is going on with her little brothers father. She was very matter of fact in her answer. She loves him but she is glad he is gone and not making everyone sad. (Everyone I s'pose is me) I was telling her that it was ok to miss him and she looks at me and says "I know Mommy. But I don't miss him. You haven't cried since he left."A reminder to me just how important a parent is in the way a child adapts to a situation.

Finally we were back home and all I wanted to do was take a nap after the long walk and being full of banana split. But that wasn't going to happen. Within minutes of us walking in the door our home exploded with neighbor kids coming over to play. It is nice to be in a place where Little Bear is able to have so many friends. 4 little girls running through the house, laughing and playing was a lot of fun.

The end of the day finally came. The two kids and I snuggled up and within minutes all 3 of us were sound asleep. I woke up a little later able to sleep and figured that I would get the happy feelings about today out and in my blog.

Truly an awesome day that I am so glad to have had the chance to enjoy! It wasn't even planned to be a fun day. Just sort of happened. Those sometimes are truly the best!

Well I am off to get a little more sleep before my babies wake up.