Love Letter

“Dear Mom and Dad,

Can we have more time together? Then we can have fun. I want to get to know you better. We don’t see each other very much during the week. I want to have a game night. I want to have a movie night. Can we have a family dinner?

Love, Noah”

This is the letter I found in Noah’s school folder when he arrived home from school today. The words melted my heart on so many different levels.

First of all, his words make me realize we have established a safe and happy home environment for him. It is a place he would like to spend more time. For example, over Christmas vacation, I asked the kids to go see a movie.

They responded, “No, we want to stay home all day.”

“Why? Daddy has an extra-long day at work. We should go out and see a movie.”  I responded.

“No, we don’t want to see a movie. We want to stay home all day.”

So, we did just that, we stayed home all day.  We played upstairs, in the basement, in the back room and any other place you can think of. Why not outside? We avoided the outside because it was freezing.

Second, family game night, family movie night and family dinners are as important to Noah as they are to Dean and me. I guess it is time to plan a family game or movie night in the near future.

Finally, Noah is writing. He is writing to convey a message to other people. He is communicating clearly; using punctuation correctly.  Wow!

This was my response to Noah’s letter.

Dear Noah,

I know our weekdays are busy, but we always have weekends. Weekends give us a chance to slow down a bit and spend time together. We will plan a family movie and family game night soon. I am so happy you like to play games and watch movies with your mom and dad.

We love you!

Love, Mom and Dad

Princess

Doesn’t every little girl want to be a princess at some point? My daughter was speechless when she watched her cousin, Emily, model her “princess” prom dress.

She pranced around Emily, while saying, “You’re a princess. You’re a princess.” Most likely, Riley was thinking, how can I be a princess too? I do have to say, Emily looked beautiful in her prom dress.

Riley’s brain must have been processing how she could be a princess ever since. On Monday, she dug her Cinderella dress out so she could be a princess. While digging her Cinderella dress out, she spied my wedding picture.

“Mama, you are a princess. Where is your princess dress?”

“Yes, I was a princess for a day too. Just like Emily.”

“Where is it Mama? Where is your princess dress?” she eagerly questioned.

The rational side of my brain said, “Don’t unearth your wedding dress from the depths of the closet. There are dishes to wash, clothes to fold and carpets to vacuum.” However, the Mama side of my brain said, “Go for it!”

That is just what we did, we went for it. Into the closet we went, searching for the infamous princess dress. We quickly unzipped the white, dress bag and Riley begged me to put it on.

As I stepped into the dress, I heard the rumble, rumble, click, pop, pop of the garage door opening. Dean was arriving home from work.

“Mama, Daddy is home. Let’s show him your princess dress.” We quickly made our way down the stairs. I moved a bit slower since the dress was a little snugger than I remember.

We rounded the corner, saw Dean browsing the mail and asked, “How was your day?”

There is nothing unusual about arriving home from work to find your wife in her wedding gown. Okay, maybe it is a bit unusual; but you only live once. Will Dean laugh? Will he smile? Will the vision of me in my wedding dress bring back all the memories from our “royal” wedding almost eleven years ago?

“Pretty good!” Dean turned around and a radiant smile stretched across his face, as well as a bit of shock to find his wife in a wedding dress. So many memories of our magical day came rushing to the forefront of his mind.

“Mama is a princess!”

The search for the perfect princess dress for Riley continues. For now, she is content knowing she is Mama and Daddy’s little princess.

Harmony

“Happiness is when you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony”

One little word to describe a goal for myself this year is an interesting concept. After reading numerous blogs by teachers who are talented writers, I thought I would give one little word a try this year. I am surrounded by individuals who are making resolutions for the New Year. Maybe, if I approach the New Year with one little word in mind, I will achieve success.

Harmony is defined as agreement; accord; harmonious relations; a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement of parts; congruity.

My one little word for the year is harmony. I am looking to maintain harmonious relations with my husband, my kids, my dad, my brother and the rest of my extended family. For example, harmony before bedtime would be lovely. As the day comes to a close, my kids get wound up. Currently, while I am typing, they are running up and down the hall upstairs yelling, laughing and being kids. In a perfect world, the imaginary monsters they happen to be running from make me realize they are being kids. But, why do they have to run from monsters at eight-o-clock in the evening? Why can’t they run from monsters at six-o-clock? Then, I wonder did my brother and I drive my parents crazy when all they wanted to do was crawl in bed and sleep? Of course we did. I remember sitting at the dinner table, enjoying a home cooked meal and being difficult.

I would whine, “David is bothering me. He is staring at me funny.”

“No I am not,” David would respond.

Of course, the whining and taunting would continue, even though our parents would ask us to stop numerous times. This memory reminds me that I drove my own parents crazy; therefore, it is only appropriate my own children act like kids and disrupt the peace and quiet I long for at eight-o-clock in the evening.

Maybe harmony at bedtime is meant to be disrupted. I mean, life would be pretty boring if you didn’t have a chance to run from monsters once a day.