Time Well Spent

So it happened. The heavens smiled upon us here in Arizona and deemed us worthy of a bit of cool, fall weather. Just a bit. Temperatures have gone back up. But for a couple days we had some A-MAZ-ing weather.

And what did I find myself doing on these blessed days? I was inside. Trying to get Ammely to self-entertain so I could do two days' worth of dishes and vacuum and get dinner together and finish some laundry and iron Ammon's work shirts, etc...

Then I had a moment. One of those mommy moments that I'm sure will come in plenty over the next infinity of years. Ammely was fussing and I was feeling frustrated with my ability to get anything done in a day. Then I took a deep breath and allowed some calm and inspiration to flow into my heart. And the realization came to me - right now I am fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mom. And surely this implies trying to keep a clean house and make things nice and ready for your husband from day to day. However, the emphasis here is mom. I shouldn't spend so much time trying to get Ammely to play with the same toys she's seen a million times so that I can get something else done. I should spend more time WITH her...doing things she wants to be doing. I should get down and play with her. Explain to her that she has toes and fingers. Show her some colors. Read her a book. Let her look out the window. Go for a walk. Take her to the park.

And so we did. We went for a walk. To the park. I hadn't showered or put on makeup. I left the dishwasher wide open right as it was in that moment. I packed up the diaper bag, put everything in the stroller and out we went. And she LOVED it.

She stopped fussing. She watched the big kids get off of the school bus. She felt the wind on her face and watched the leaves rustle around on the tree. She looked at the flowers on the bushes. She listened intently to the birds.

It's easy to forget how new everything is for her. How big and grand. How marvelous. How beautiful. She's experiencing all of the Lord's handiwork for the first time. I need to do better to remember that it is my privilege to share with her in her discovery. To show her the beauty. To explain what it is and where it comes from.

And if I do that - who cares if my dishes are dirty? Or the laundry isn't finished?

But guess what? That got done later too. Amazing.

It was so amazing in fact, that we did it AGAIN the next day. We went for a walk. To a different park.

I was a little more prepared and had blankets and bottles so we could stay a while.

And boy, were we enjoying it...

...until...

Yes, the best laid plans...

I did a pretty impressive job of turning off the camera, grabbing my phone, and hurling myself over Ammely to prevent too much water damage.

I also did an impressive job of timing the sprinklers so that we could leave the park without getting completely drenched.

So it didn't go like I planned. But oh well. We made a memory.