Highlight Reel

Some days aren't the best.  Some days are long and frustrating and stressful and overloaded and without enough of the things I love the most.  It is on those days that I find an exercise in identifying the best of recent moments is most beneficial.  When you are writing them down, you can't help but focus on the positives.  After all, life is about the moments, right?  I want to preserve the good ones.  So, here is my highlight reel of recent days:

• Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with our little pumpkins.  We took pictures beside the growth chart pumpkin on the side of the barn.  (It is amazing to think that last year, Everly couldn't even stand next to her brother for the occasion; this year she stood with her purse on her arm saying, "cheese!!")  We walked through the corn maze.  We played in the grain shed with dump trucks and diggers.  Everly had her first hayride; she sat perfectly still perched on a hay bale between John and me and loved every minute.  The rest of us did, too.  And of course, we picked the best pumpkins and took home a gallon of apple cider.
• A picturesque Sunday morning spent climbing over rocks and tree roots through the woods at one of the most beautiful places around. 
• Cortlan getting to be "Star Student" at school for the week.
• Everly drinking out of a big girl cup like a pro.
• A text that read "What are you doing on November 14th at 8:30 AM?"  Ummm....not sure.  Eating breakfast?  Having a cup of coffee?  Saying "Happy Birthday" to my husband?  Nope! Those things will need to be done a bit earlier on that day, because at least until the date is confirmed, I now have tentatively written on my calendar that I am going to become a Godmother to one of the most precious baby girls!  Yay!  So honored and happy. 
• A family yoga night.  We actually all did yoga with the wii.  Even the kids did some of the poses.  It was hysterical and so much fun.  Down dog is so much more enjoyable with a 19 month-old giggling as she crawls under and her brother following suit.
• An early Halloween play date with "mummy wrap hot dogs" (of which Everly ate two and a half), mac and cheese, and delicious spaghetti squash (well, at least I thought it was delicious), painted ghost hand puppets (with paint that actually went where it was supposed to, for the most part), an awesome storytelling friend (I enjoyed listening as much or more than the kids did), a counting and tally-marking activity with yummy ghost marshmallows, and Halloween cupcakes to top it off.  (Can I tell you how much I love my elementary school teacher friends??)
• And finally, I can't forget the moments in between - the hugs and kisses, the "I love you, Mommy"s, the bedtime stories, the family dinners, the singing and dancing, conversations with friends, even the breakthroughs with students and an entertaining play rehearsal - all of those things that too often get lost in the stress of the shuffle of the day - the moments that make life worth loving.