I Can't Stop Smiling

Today was the perfect day to catch up on my chores. The 2 older kids were in school. DH took the 2 younger ones to Riverside to visit Grandma. My plan was to get some of my chores done in the morning, hit the grocery store for my weekly shopping trip, pick up DD1 from school, head home, have lunch, finish up my chores for the day, pick up DS from school and get our afternoon/evening routine done.

Some of it got done.

I was able to get a load of laundry washed and hung out to dry.
I got my grocery shopping done.
The rest of my chores remained undone.

I picked up DD1 from school as planned and did my grocery shopping after picking her up instead of before. I asked her if we could have a late lunch instead. She agreed.

"Can we have our special time today?" she asked.
"Sure," I answered.
"Can we go to the park?"
"We'll see if we have time."
She smiled at me and held my hand as we entered the grocery store.

I bought her a smoothie at Jamba Juice to tide her over. After shopping, we drove thru McDonalds and shared a meal. I had the burger. She had the fries. We went to the park to have our lunch. Of course she finished as fast as she could eat since she wanted to play. After eating, I joined her in the playground. We rode the swings together. I even climbed up the wobbly ladder as she tried to hold it steady so Mommy would not fall. I went down the slide behind her. We stayed in the park longer than I had planned. But it was all good. She was having fun. I was enjoying her company too.

We had barely gotten home when it was time to pick up DS from school already. Sigh. No other chores done.

I left DD1 with Lolo to pick up DS and decided to swing by the library to borrow new books. DS was ecstatic!! We spent some time looking for books. This was our special time together. Time passed by quickly and before I knew it, almost an hour had passed. We capped our "date" with a double chocolate chip frappuccino from Starbucks.

I arrived home to see the rest of my family back from Riverside. Lola was preparing dinner (Thanks Lola!). I cuddled a little bit with DD2 and admired her new haircut. Soon after, it was dinner time.

Yes, time had flown by today and it seemed like I got nothing done.

"Mommy?" DD1 whispered quietly as she knocked on my door.
"Yes, sweetheart?" I answered back.
"I'm happy we had our special time together."
"I'm so happy we spent time together too," I replied as I hugged her tight.

She left the room and immediately came back.

"What is it?" I asked.

She looked at me shyly then stood right in front of me,
"I'm so happy that I can't stop smiling!"

Right then. Right there. My heart swelled with happiness and love.
This is what motherhood is all about. This priceless moment makes everything worthwhile.

I hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear,
"Oh sweetheart, you've made me so happy that I can't stop smiling either."

3 comments:

Gabi | Tuesday, April 28, 2009 5:41:00 PM

Awww, such a sweet story, Joy!! And YES, this is motherhood!!! :)
I'm happy you had such a great time with your sweetheart.
xoxo,
G.

donna | Thursday, April 30, 2009 8:54:00 AM

beautiful story! you are so blessed to have such sweet, loving children.

caryn | Saturday, May 02, 2009 6:06:00 AM

that is such a sweet story ;-) i think its great that you spend "special time" with your kids.