these are the moments

The kids started back to school last Thursday, and this is our first full week of school.  My schedule has changed, and now I am home with them when they get home from school.  It is such a shift from the way things were last year.  I am so happy to be able to be there with them and for them. 

I just wish I had a better handle on the schedule shift!

It seems one of the big first week of school projects this year is to decorate a composition notebook.  Excellent!  Girls, please step into my office and let's dig through the scrap supplies.  They were thrilled to have open access to the paper, stickers, die cuts.....  They were both expressing their thankfulness for having such a scrappy mom!

One of the girls remembered that I had told her last year what she owed me for such services, and she wanted to know if she could just put this year's stuff "on her tab."  Great.  I have already taught her how to shop on credit.

On our adventures through town we passed by a truck labeled "Wastewater Service."  My daughter wanted to know why there was a service to waste water.  "Yes," I told her, "that is where you go to just dump buckets of water out, and waste the water."  Then I explained to her what a wastewater service was.  I timed it perfectly as we passed the wastewater treatment plant.  I guess she never thought about that whole process before.  She was practically vomitting and declared that she would never be drinking or using water again.  Well good luck with that, I told her.  Then she wanted to know, Does the water that comes out of the refrigerator come from there?  Is there water in Juice?  Is there water in milk?  How about milkshakes?  She was totally skeeved.  I was sure to have a giant glass of water when we got home.

I have been coming to realize that my girls are clever, and they are starting to learn their ways around the system.  Good for them actually, because that is how real life works.  We pass an ice cream shop at the end of the street, so have to go by it just about every time we leave the house and return.  I have recently put a ban on asking "Can we get ice cream?"  So instead, yesterday they began to gear up on our approach past the ice cream shop by discussing amongst themselves how much they enjoy ice cream.  Not getting a proper reaction from me, they just began discussing louder and louder how refreshing and delicious ice cream would be. What could I do?  They did not technically ask for some, thus had not broken my rule.  Well played.

These are the moments, folks.  These are the moments I have been yearning for.  And I am blessed to have them.