Blessings from Wes & Calvin

I've had a rough couple of weeks. In the last 8 days, I was diagnosed with a bladder infection, kidney stone, and then kidney infection. We had to cancel our San Diego vacation with our friends because of this (planned for months). My old dog had a seizure with vertigo last night (emergency vet assumes), and I thought she was dying. And. Insert big sigh. My sister moved away - something I still can't discuss without breaking down. It has been a crummy, crummy week. I've been feeling sorry for myself. And that's okay . . . a little.

So each day I've been counting my blessings. I have so, so many blessings. Each day something so cute or funny happens with my kids that I want to tell everyone about. I always talk about Alemitu, so I thought I'd share a few of my blessings from Wes and Calvin:


A few nights ago, the boys were pretending to be Mario and Luigi. Of course, Alemitu wanted to play. The boys always make sure she gets some of their toys, but this time they went further. They dressed her up to be the Princess on Mario Bros. (They also said our dog was Yoshi.) To walk into my bedroom, and see all three kids dancing on the bed, pretending to be Mario and Luigi, and singing with pretend microphones in their hands --- aaahh. Life just doesn't get better than those moments. I love those moments.

This week, I also caught Calvin saying "Dammin" and Wes saying "What the hell". They had no clue that they were saying anything bad, and so we talked about words that just aren't very nice to use. Moments like these where I can sit and discuss with my kids about being "respectable young men" (per Coach Justin), are moments where I realize that life just doesn't get any better than this.

This week, I also sat down and played Mario Brothers on the Wii with the boys. I have been working with my boys to defeat one of the games. We take turns playing, and there is so much encouragement and laughter in these moments (slight frustration too if you were to ask Adam). Everytime we pass a hard level, my boys give me a huge hug and tell me how much they love me, and then they dance around the room. I'm their hero in that moment. What a great feeling. Life is good in those moments.

A few days ago, I took the boys to the splash park to meet some of their friends. When we got home, Wes turned to Calvin and said, "This was the best day ever, right bud?" Calvin agreed. Wes has a ton of "best days ever". It makes me laugh every time I hear him say that, but how amazing is that -- to have a life filled with "best days ever". 

This week, I saw the boys get a little sneaky. Aunt Jenna's birthday presents for them were shipped to our house. I opened the box from Amazon and saw the gifts inside. Nosy Wes walks around the corner and says "Mom, what's that?" I told him that it was gifts from Aunt Jenna and to keep his grubby hands out of the box. I put the box up high on our 3/4 wall between the family room and kitchen. Five minutes later, I walk into the room again. Wes has a guilty look on his face. I turn to see where Calvin is, and he is trying to climb the wall to get to the presents. My sneaky little boys.

Even though I'm sad, my life is filled with happiness and I feel it daily. Life is good. So ready for my upcoming vacation though. :-)