12 Seconds of Peace & Sleepoverrrr

"Ok, time to say bye bye." is top 3 worst sentences a mom can say to a toddler. It pretty much never goes well.

Like, today, for instance, when Beckett noodle-legged in the middle of the Starbucks parking lot as a car waited for us to cross. I drug his lifeless body by one arm the remaining 15 feet to the car. The driver of the other car thought it was hilarious.

It was in that moment, after I'd wrangled a tantruming toddler into his car seat and heard those two glorious clicks of the buckles, that I found my piece of heaven: the walk from the back right door of my car to the driver's side. The kid is incapacitated by his 5-point harness system, the closed car doors are muffling his screams of protest...sometimes that short, peaceful walk is the highlight of my day. My eardrums' highlight for sure.

The driver who stopped to let us cross came up to me after he parked. I apologized again for making him wait and he said,

"Why would you apologize to me? It happens. And you'll survive. We've all been there. You'll be fine."

Precious man.

I was semi-hoping he'd offer to buy me another Starbucks drink since he was driving a sweet new Mercedes and wearing the standard retired-rich-man Hawaiian shirt and loafers and no socks, but no such luck.

He may be stingy with his money (so what if I already two drinks in my hand), but he was generous with his encouragement. And for that, I thank him.

this momma is lucky her tantruming toddler so cute. especially those little lips on a straw.

Sleepoverrrr

This past weekend was the 6th grade girl sleepover and let me tell you...it was epic.

Yea, we accidentally spilled purple nail polish on Kylie's pretty white rug, and, yea, I might have thought two of our girls got kidnapped because they hid so well during a game of sardines, but other than that, we had so.much.fun.

At next year's sleepover we'll be sure to research safe alternatives to tranquilizers for bedtime and buy 5x as many donuts as we think we'll need for breakfast, but this year was still pretty great.

We talked about boys and friends and pizza and Instagram and tampons and Jesus and hair and school, in no particular order. We explained what a phone jack was. We painted nails (my manicurist was a pro, Kylie's got distracted and quit after 4 nails), did our hair, and put on facial masks. We played Mafia, sardines, and some other game one of the girls made up that I can't even begin to describe to you (it involved a "trophy stealer" and different characters and screaming - your imagination can probably come up with a game that makes more sense than the version we played).

Before bed, two of the girls led a short devotional entirely on their own. We had no clue they had been planning it. I had a hard time paying attention because I was too busy resisting the urge to squeeze their faces off.

I'm so so proud of all of these girls. They're beautiful and talented and fun and full of joy. I am amazed to see God work in and through them at such a young age. And I'm extra glad they let Kylie and I hang out with them.

7th grade, watch out. Buncha awesome girls headed your way.