Adventures in Childhood…lazy Fridays

Somehow we’ve fallen into a Friday tradition. On most days, after Mackenna gets on the school bus, we have somewhere to go. Preschool. Taekwondo. Bible study. But not on Fridays. Fridays seem to be our lazy days.  The boys and I stay in our jammies.  I try to tackle the week’s mountain of laundry. There’s some wrestling. Some cartoon watching. Some more wrestling. Some laundry folding.

It’s a lazy day in the good sense. In the sense that we are not rushing anywhere and there is no agenda. We may get the laundry done, or I may end up playing cars in the kitchen with Lucas or doing beads with Caleb.

Our lazy Fridays have become my favorite day of the week. A couple of Fridays ago, I decided to document our day in photos. These images are real. They are not perfect in the standard perfect-photo sense. I did not wipe faces first. I did not declutter first. I did not pose anyone. This is an authentic portrayal of our days at home. In a couple of years, it’ll just be one of these little guys at home with me. And a couple years after that, the house will be too quiet during the day. I’m thankful to have these images to look back at when I’ve sent them all off on the school bus and returned to an abnormally quiet house.

Happy lazy Friday!

 

Two things that are ever-present in my life…things that are always there no matter what: kid clutter, and the promises and instructions of God’s Word. They both stare at me first thing, every morning. I am thankful for both of these constants, for much different reasons.

Laundry, piles of shoes, dirty floors, probably-too-much tv time…

In case you don’t have little boys at home and you may be unaware of this fact: boys wrestle.

a lot.

And in case you don’t have little ones at your house, you may not be aware of this fact: they play everywhere.  There is no such thing as a play room or a toy room…your whole house is the toy room!

How about this for a super random photo?!  That row of condiments is there because the shelving they used to reside in is under construction.  The silver bucket holds my hot glue gun and hot glue sticks…it’s there from a leftover project.  (Sorry Justin!) But that ipad screen…that’s a constant.  That’s my glimpse into how Mackenna’s blood sugars are treating her while she’s at school.  Not too bad on this lazy Friday!

More wrestling.

And sometimes the wrestling gets a bit out of hand (during which I have to set my camera down so I can deal with it), so I suggest some jumping. Only one kiddo on the trampoline at a time.  That’s the rule.  But of course they both want to be first.

Someone has to wait for a turn.  (Don’t you just want to smooch those cheekers?!)

His brother is kind, so he gives up his turn pretty quickly (notice the time on the clock).

Jumping makes boys hungry.  Mac-n-cheese for lunch.

And then mom insists we need to get some laundry done.  One brother helps.

One brother relaxes.  He’s tired.

He heads upstairs for his nap.

Every day, Lucas picks a toy to “put down for its nap”.  Doesn’t matter which toy, but he puts it in the same spot every day, kisses it good night, and then climbs up into his bed.

And while little brother sleeps, Caleb gets to do a big boy project.  He LOVES perler beads.

Before we know it, Lucas is awake again.

Kind of awake.

And pretty soon after that, we watch for Mackenna’s school bus.

Reunited.  The after-school sibling hug.

We didn’t get all the laundry done.  The boys are still in their jammies, so am I.  The floors are still dirty.

But my kids are happy.  And they love each other.

Some things matter more than others.