Isn’t it great when you have one of those days?  It’s a day where you have not so many commitments and you can just relax and spend time with family.  Yesterday, Sunday, was one of those days for me.

We had our church time in the morning but afterward we had only one other commitment for my son and husband, so it ended up being just us girls.  The best part, I was able to hang out with my daughter all afternoon.  Sure there were chores and errands I could have been doing like vacuuming the floors that are currently covered in A LOT of dog hair or cleaning the bathrooms but those things can wait.  Instead, I chose to let my daughter pick our activities for the afternoon and we had the most fun.  Precious time with my precious girl.

She is an industrious little 8 year old and really likes to straighten and clean…I know, I’m very lucky!   She had already been in our sun room, which doubles as a very messy playroom/craft room, picking up and putting things away as well as using the floor sweeper to get some of the extra craft bits off the floor.  Then I realized she was doing all of this, not only to be helpful, but she wanted to play in the sun room, with me!  I was so excited!  Sometimes I feel like she is growing up too fast and won’t need her Mama to hang out with her much longer.

We started out with a quick lunch in the sun room at the table she had taken time to set up before inviting me to join her.  After lunch we watched some videos on how to waterfall and ladder braid hair and then gave braiding a shot.  We were not very successful in our attempts to do these fancy, tricky braids and had to laugh at how badly we braided.  We will have to keep practicing.

Next up..marbles.  We carefully built our marble mazes and sent our marbles racing through.  First we built our own contraptions then combined both of ours to make one giant marble maze.  Turns out playing with marbles is very relaxing and mesmerizing.  Holding their smooth glass in your hand and then watching them go around and around in the marble maze almost put me to sleep.

After marbles we moved to the kitchen table for a drawing competition, eyes closed at first then we actually got to look at the paper while we drew.  Marshmallow, 3-D letter “A”, salt shaker, bacon and Elsa were among our artistic attempts.  Oh and Hannah Rae drew a smiling face on everything, bacon included!

While we were playing I told Hannah Rae how, when she was younger, she used to put me down for a nap and cover me up with a blanket. Soon after we were done with braiding, marbles and drawing, she decided she should put me down for a nap.  After she got us both some candy, she snuggled down with me for nap time.  I still love it when my kids snuggle with me.  Pretty certain that will never get old.

It was the sweetest afternoon.  I forget sometimes when we get into the swing of things that I need to give my kids one on one attention and not just one on one help with homework.  They need it and I need it.  It was refreshing to just be, to forget about the dirt and clutter in the house, to be home with my baby girl pushing aside all other responsibilities.   However, I do realize we cannot take 3 hours each afternoon to play and have fun like this.  I know homework and schedules will not allow this type of interaction all the time.  But I do know there are moments each day when we can steal away for a few minutes to have some quality time as a family or in a one on one setting.  Maybe we can spend a few moments in the morning before they rush off to school or maybe it’s when they get home from school.  I don’t read them books anymore at bedtime because they can read but I can take a few moments, before they go to sleep, to talk with them about their day or ask them their very favorite part of the day or week.

Yesterday I realized maybe I hadn’t been paying as much attention to my kids individually outside of all the daily routine stuff.  Of course I pay attention to them, feed them, help them with homework and see them during the day but do I really SEE them.  Do I see when they are struggling or maybe didn’t have the best of days. I know I did a good job spending time with them when they were younger but now they in school and have more commitments.  I wondered,  “Do I really focus in on what is happening in their lives aside from their daily routine?”  I’ve given myself a new challenge: Make the time to create those special moments.  Find the time to be in tune with what is happening in my kids’ lives.  They are growing up so fast, too fast, and time doesn’t seem to be slowing down in spite of it.  Try to capture sweet moments each day, even if it is only a few minutes.  They are only young once and before I know it they will be grown and out of the house.  Make each moment count!

Now I have my challenge in place and I’m ready to seek out quality time with my kiddos, but right this moment I’ve got to get some of those chores done that I neglected yesterday like vacuuming all the dog hair off the floor.

Have a most wonderful day filled with the sweetest moments!