It's the Small Things

My daughter teaches me so much about life. Lately it has been about enjoying the little moments in life. She get's so excited over the smallest things. She doesn't want big expensive things. She can have fun with a $1 shovel and a pail of water. Too often we all get caught up in wanting bigger and better things. A bigger house, a better paying job, more of this or that. We have all heard it before, but all the money in the world cannot buy you happiness. Of course there is nothing wrong with trying to better yourself or your family just remember not to let it consume you. Take joy in the small moments, don't stress over a little extra housework or being a few minutes late. (I know I am always late and I really do try to be on time). The other day I was cooking dinner or doing something in the kitchen. While I'm cooking I let Claire play out back. I open the blinds so I can watch her and leave the backdoor cracked open so she can come in and out. She was out playing in her sandbox and running through the yard with Cooper. Next thing I know Cooper comes inside. Poor guy is getting old and doesn't like the heat for long. A few seconds later here comes Claire. I hear her "I'm up to something giggle". I was busy and not paying a lot of attention to what she was up to. Then I hear her break out into uncontrollable laughter. That of course caught my attention. What had she done? She carried a fist full of sand into the living room and fairy dusted the poor dog. (When I was in kindergarten I got in trouble for fairy dusting the boys, more on that some other time) I couldn't help but laugh. She was so proud of herself and the dog looked so sad.  In that moment I could get mad for having to re vacuum the living room or enjoy seeing the look of utter joy and satisfaction on my daughter's face. I chose the latter. Although we did have a firm conversation later about keeping sand outside.

Little girl is my little fish or "ish" as she calls them. She loves the water. Her water table has seriously been the best toy investment we have bought her. The other day we were outside playing and I look up and she decided to turn the water table into a pool.

She was so proud of herself for climbing in there. She had a blast splashing everywhere. I decided that maybe she needs a swimming pool. Last year I bought her a blow up pool that holds like 3 inches of water. It is still in good shape and even has a canopy over it, but I get so tired of blowing that thing up. It slowly looses air and by a day later it's time to blow it up again. She didn't need anything fancy so we went and got her a traditional plastic pool. We splurged haha and got her one with a slide. The kid loves slides and Eric thought she would like the slide. We greatly underestimated just how much she would like it. She LOVES it. Eric put it out back tonight and I had no intentions of letting her in it tonight. The sun had gone down and it was close to dinner time. Well, her infectious excitement watching Eric set it up spoke to my heart. I put the hose in it and filled it up and let her hop in with clothes and all. She giggled and splashed. Poor thing was freezing, but she didn't care.We had to plead with her to come inside to eat. Take lessons from your children. They know how to have a blast doing things we might overlook.