Today

Today I substitute taught gospel doctrine.  After supper Cowen was reading on the couch and I was holding Clover in my nursing chair and Cowen looked up and asked, "How did your lesson go today, Mom?"  It was so sweet.

Today Timothy watched the kids while I took a nap.  It was awesome.

Today I saw a three week old baby in the mother's lounge and mourned a little at how huge Clover was in comparison.  But then I hugged all her perfect squishyness and didn't really mind anymore.

Today I watched Cowen wrap his arm around Oskar and carefully help him take the sacrament water.  It was so tender.  I felt like a good mom for minute because I gave my children each other.

Today Timothy spent a good 40 minutes wrestling with the kids.  He had an excellent strategy: contain Cowen.  The rest just don't have the same sort of physical harm capacity.

Today we made the older kids take breaks from wrestling so Oskar and Harriet could safely wrestle during their turn.  Oskar's version of wrestling is him running to his dad yelling, "Dad!" then getting tickled and growled at by dad, then racing back to me for a hug.  I love that my hug was just as important as dad's growls and tickles in this game.  I'll be your safety net as long as I can, little buddy.

Today I learned about a new game (story?) that Timothy plays with the kids.  Timothy is in charge of the bedtime story/song ritual so I miss out on a lot of hilarity apparently.  Timothy takes one of the children and either sits him on his lap or stands him on his lap-depending on the size of the child.  That child is the "drawbridge" that protects Castle Gloomshaven from unwanted guests.  The child gets lowered when someone approaches the castle and then gets hastily raised when it becomes apparent that the person is not wanted in the castle.  The "story" part of the game is the good part.  For example, a lady came to sell cookies (a good thing) so the drawbridge was lowered. Then the guard (Timothy's guard voice is exceptional) asks what flavors the cookie lady has.  When the cookie lady answers, "Spinach flavor, broccoli flavor, spaghetti flavor," she immediately gets booted out of the castle and the drawbridge is hastily drawn back up.

There were several other visitors and the kids kept demanding that I hear about every one.  There was the "new guard" who was told to admit the ice cream man, the cookie lady, and the king's mother, but not admit the music man.  The new guard gets it all wrong.  I thought Cowen was going to die when the new guard wouldn't let in the king's mother.  Timothy's "king's mother" voice was pretty funny.

The stories all went back to the music man--who was a terrible music man.  He sang "new" songs that the "kids liked."  Timothy made all sorts of wonky sounds to demonstrate the music man's music.  Hilarious.  The kids loved every second of it.  They loved it even more that the music man always got summarily tossed out on his ear and the drawbridge (child) was drawn back up.  Fun, fun.

Today I made the mistake of asking if the kids had given their cat fresh water.  They found a cat (bleeding) in the mountains last week and brought it home.  They then smuggled it into my house, getting blood all over.  I was unimpressed--especially as I am allergic to cats.  Once I kicked it (not literally) outside, the kids put it in the currently unoccupied dog run.  Timothy and I have been discussing what to do about it ever since.  I sincerely hoped it would just wander off as cats are wont to do, but it hasn't.  Since the kids have been feeding it and giving it water, and it is extremely content to laze about in the dog house, I guess we have a cat now?  Maybe??  It is a really pretty gray color.  The kids are calling it Smokey.

Today Timothy gave us ice cream.  Yum.

Today was a good day.