The Perfect Day

Yesterday was one of those perfect days that come along every once in awhile that you just want to treasure in your memory always. Nothing spectacular or extraordinary happened, just a plain ordinary day spent with a special little girl, doing ordinary things.

For the first time in several days I didn't have anything else going on besides just being able to hang out with Megan. She asked me the other day on the way home from preschool, "Mom, can we go home and make cookies together? The kind with the chocolate in them?" I wasn't feeling well that day, so we didn't do it then. I decided today would be the perfect day to make cookies together, the kind with the chocolate in them.

Enjoying our finished product

Megan even asked if she could rinse the dishes that were in the sink after we were done making the cookies.

After we enjoyed a cookie, or two or three, together we headed outside to feed the chickens and to check for eggs. (Another story for another day, but we somehow ended up with no roosters. That means we have 26 hens. Can you imagine how many eggs that means? I can't either because they haven't started laying yet!)

One nice thing about having chickens is they looooooove leftovers. I don't feel as guilty now when I have to throw food out. Our chickens love to eat and we are happy to oblige.

The feeder which is just as fancy as the hen house. My husband doesn't know the meaning of mediocre!

Now if only they would start earning their keep, ie laying eggs.

After we fed the chickens and found no eggs, we decided to swing. Megan loves to swing and is really good. Now that she finally has the hang of starting and pumping by herself she is a pro. She even does "tricks" on the swing.

After swinging, we headed to the trampoline. I actually got a picture of one of her "cool tricks" on the trampoline.

I joined her on the trampoline and she wore me out jumping and playing and laughing together. She taught me how to play dead man, a game that her older siblings taught her. One person lays down in the middle of the trampoline (the dead man) while everyone else runs around the trampoline chanting, "Dead man, dead man, Please wake up. If you don't I'll shut you up." (I tried to talk her into saying something nicer like...if you don't I'll tickle you a lot. She didn't like it! Maybe because it doesn't rhyme?) Then they count 1-2-3 and start running around while the "dead man" gets up, eyes closed and tries to get you. Only when Megan is the dead man, she opens her eyes. Convenient! I nearly ran into the side of the trampoline several times and lost my balance more than once while trying to catch her with my eyes closed. Fun!

When I was too tired to play on the trampoline anymore we went inside to play a game. She picked one of her sisters games, Feed the Kitty. We've played this before many times, but as we were walking into the house she was telling me how to play. She was so cute and so right. She is a little smarty.

I have so enjoyed my time with Megan. Not just this day, but since the day she was born. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent this little angel into our home. She has been a bright ray of sunshine in our lives.

Don't get me wrong. I love each of my kids so very much. I have just enjoyed so much the time that I have been able to spend with Megan. By the time she came along I was more relaxed and better able to handle being a mother. Besides the fact that she was born when Jordan was 5 1/2 and the twins were almost 4, there was only one of her and she didn't scream all the time. After having Jordan, who spent an entire year screaming, then having twins before Jordan turned 2, Megan was a breath of fresh air! It was a piece of cake taking care of one happy little baby.

I regret not enjoying my time with Jordan and Kimberly and Kaylynn more when they were younger. Somedays it was all I could do to just make it through the day with all of us still alive. On more than one occasion, at any given moment you could have found all four of us (Jordan+twins+mom) crying. Some days I would hide in my closet, after safely depositing each of them in their beds, so that I could have a good cry all by myself. There are many moments from those first years that I don't recall. We were in survival mode and did what we had to to get by.

I've tried really hard not to have regrets, but to be positive and enjoy my time with Megan while she is still home. I feel that she is my gift from Heavenly Father for surviving those first trying years. I am also trying not to pass up on moments to spend with my older kids either. I've taken too much time for granted, thinking that it would last forever. It doesn't. In the blink of an eye they grow up. I know I still have lots of time left with my kids before they leave for good, I just don't want to miss out on anymore precious moments.

That is why yesterday was the perfect day.