Grins saves the day

Today was somewhat difficult for me. The Mr. hasn't been around much for the past several weeks, and then he had TWO days off in ONE WEEK! IN A ROW! Pretty much unheard of in our family lately. So, we took a little trip down to Boston, saw the temple, visited some friends, watched a parade, and, most importantly, spent time with our ENTIRE family. BOTH parents. It was lovely (for me) to have an additional set of hands, a stronger (and more revered) voice, and someone to prevent the children from destroying the house while I showered! And, because of how thoroughly I enjoyed having the Mr. around, his return to work today left a more noticeable void than I'm used to - sort of like waking up from a fantastic dream and realizing you're really in jail. (OK, maybe not that extreme, but you get my drift.)

Anyhow, I hit an all time low this morning when, while Mr. Exterminator was explaining how he was planning to eradicate our carpenter ants, I suddenly noticed white, greasy footprints all over the carpet in the front room. After tracing them to Wiggles' room, I opened the door and found Grins and Wiggles covered with diaper ointment. Have you tried washing that stuff off? Pure grease. Non-removable. Fantastic. Lucky for them Mr. Exterminator was still in the house, so I used my very calm Mommy voice. But it seemed to set the tone for the day.

(Self Portrait, by Grins)

Fortunately, though, Grins managed to save the day later on, with his adorable little remarks.

First, he told me that "I can't wait until I get to Heaven and get resurrected, because then my body will be perfect, so I'll be able to eat 100 candy bars and not even get sick!"

Next, after waking up from his nap in a foul mood, he followed me around the house, screaming. I kept asking him what he wanted, and when he finally calmed down enough to answer, he said "All I want is for you to hold me!" (Does it get any sweeter than that?)

Then, while the Mr. and I were out digging dandelions in our front yard and Grins was playing baseball, he accidentally hit a ball which hit the Mr's face. Feeling bad (but not bad enough to apologize, apparently,) he said "Daddy, when someone hits you with a ball in baseball, you get to walk to first base. So I just gave you a base. Isn't that awesome?!"

But the icing on the cake was what he told me as I tucked him into bed this evening: "Angel went with Daddy on the School Bus on her first day of school. So she was lucky, but not the luckiEST. She should have picked you because you're even a little bit better than Daddy. But actually, you're both pretty great!"

What a sweet little boy! How did I end up with such darling children!?!