Time to Be

I cherish our simple life. I really do. I love being able to stay at home with the boys and just spend time together. We don't schedule a lot of extra activities and aside from exploring nature whenever we can, we don't go out a whole lot. The kids spend their inside time building lego, racing cars, or playing make-believe with their stuffies. They spend the majority of their days developing and using their imagination and problem solving skills. A lot of the time they are left to their own while I fold laundry, do up the dinner dishes from the day before, or scrub bathrooms. I listen with a smile from wherever I am while they play house, fight bad guys, or build block towers. I love when we're together and the children are forming friendships with one another.

The other day Camilla came home from school and told us about all of the fun things that she did that day. Hyrum piped in, "That sounds like fun! I wish I could go to school." Camilla (wise beyond her years) replied, "Ya know, Hyrum, sometimes you guys do a lot of fun things and I wish I could just stay home all day." It warmed my heart to hear her say that. Sometimes when I look back at what we did over the day I wonder if I did enough. If I gave enough. I sometimes wonder if I should be putting my kids in more extracurricular activities like all of their friends. But I can't stand the thought of running all over the place to make it to dance, hockey, soccer, baseball, swimming, piano lessons, and the like. While these guys are small I am totally cherishing the time we have together. Right now I am loving our slow, easy afternoons full of discovery and delight.

While we were eating our lunch today I glanced out at the sunshine and sparkly snow and decided to take the boys outside for part of the afternoon. The weather was gorgeous and the sun warmed our cheeks as we played. Finley was thrilled to escape the confines of the house and explore!

It wasn't anything special, and we weren't outside for an overly long time, but we enjoyed each others company. I loved listening to them giggle as I pushed them "higher and higher, Mommy!" I loved watching Finley break path in the snow, falling and getting up over and over again. I came back in feeling refreshed and grateful that I tagged along instead of just sending the older boys to the park to play. 

With Hyrum reaching Kindergarten age a lot of people have started asking me if I am going to send him to school. I have a feeling I might keep him home for Kindergarten, just to soak up days like these for a little while longer.

I stumbled across a really great blog post the other day and she totally expressed exactly what I needed to hear. "We don't need to rush from one enrichment activity to the next. We simply need the time to be together...Constant activity without time to recharge is like growing a plant without roots. Children need roots."

Our life may not seem overly exciting to some, but we sure love having time to just be together!