The wonderful joys that I experienced this week:
The sweet smiles of my little boy, although they were few and far between! Between 2 days of childcare with strangers, 7 days away from Daddy, lots of car time, and teeth coming through, Logan was not our usual always happy boy! But these smiles always bring joy to my heart :)
Getting to be there for my nephew's 8th birthday!!
Getting to spend lots of time with this happy baby boy :) This was the most time I've gotten to spend with my sister-in-law and my nephew Braden, and it was fabulous! It was fun to hear his squeals and coos, a phase I definitely miss!
Playing "HORSE" with Jacob, and losing, pitifully. :)
Watching my little man prove that he IS strong enough to climb up the slide, much to his Mommy's dismay!
This little boy sure does love to be outside.
Watching Mattie read to Logan, and remembering when she was his size. Which means in no time at all he'll be as big as she is now! Crazy.
3 cousins out for a walk :) These pictures and walks don't happen nearly often enough, and I treasure them when we get them!
Watching the frog on this little hiney wiggle back and forth as Logan tried to run to catch up to the bigger cousins. So stinkin' cute.
Sitting by the lake, laughing as we watched Mattie get nice and wet, then lay in the dirt and do "sand angels" on her belly. Her mommy so accurately describes her as a little girl who wants to wear princess dresses and dig for worms!
Getting to be a part of Braden's first outside water experience.
Finding out that even after a few months of no water, my boy is still a little fish, and loves being in the water. Doesn't love landing face first in it quite so much, but as long as he's rescued he doesn't care too much!
This last picture was definitely an entertaining moment, although not one of the most joyful at the time!
As I mentioned earlier, Logan was not on his best behavior this week, and this picture was taken during his lowest moment I think! He was insisting on being on my lap, regardless of the fact that I was getting my hair cut. You can tell from the fairly crabby look on his face just how happy he was about life right then. This was soon followed by a forced exit from my lap so Lissa could cut my bangs, which kicked off a solid five minutes of screaming bloody murder while both my Mom and Cherilyn (my SIL) tried to do everything they could think of to entertain him!
Another side note from this picture...so that wonderful lady behind me cutting my hair is my sister Melissa. In my entire life, I've had my hair cut in a salon 6 whole times. 6! That's because my sister is absolutely wonderful and cuts my hair every time I see her. Sometimes it's just a quick trim, other times it's more involved because it's been months since I've seen her, and sometimes it's three days in a row of changing this or that to make it just right. She's awesome. I don't trust anyone else with my head!! She does such a great job, and is always so willing to take time out of her vacation days to serve me like this!
It was a great week :) I loved watching Logan play with Braden, trying so hard to share, even to the point of giving him a toy, just for it to be too much, and to take it back. I loved watching Mattie read to him, and Jacob play with him on the swings. I loved watching him run after them and do things just like Jacob, because you know, the bigger boy always does things cooler.
I loved having hours to sit and chat with my mom, my sister and my sister in law. I loved getting to be a part of my sister's special needs festival at her church, and chatting about different phases of parenting and life. I just loved it, every moment of it. Well, actually, not quite. I didn't love the multiple nights of little sleep thanks to a little toddler in bed with me, although it was more snuggles than I'd normally get! But I didn't always love those moments. But it was a fabulous week. Fabulous, I say. 
