Now We're Really Regretting ...

... that we missed the Living Nativity at the Provo Tabernacle this year. We were counting on them holding a Sunday night performance like they used to, but when we pulled up, the scenery was already taken down, so no dice. I was disappointed that we didn't get to take Eliot to experience his first live nativity -- he would have loved the live animals, even if he would have had to brave the cold to see them. The Provo one was especially meaningful to us because Grant and I got to depict Joseph and Mary in 2005. Last week the Tabernacle was declared a total loss after this heartbreaking fire broke out in the middle of the night. Farewell to our beloved Tabernacle, that housed so many warm memories for us during our first married years. How I wish we had been able to attend the nativity one last time ... so sad.

Worth Repeating

I posted this last year, though I've noticed it has undergone some changes since then. I love the music and message just as much, maybe even more, as I did then. Have a merry, Christ-centered Christmas. May His Spirit and the beautiful music and meaning of this season fill you with joy, hope, and peace.

This Holiday Season, I'm Looking Forward to ...

• Being HOME for the entire Christmas season. I get to decorate my home and enjoy it the entire month of December! It has been wonderful of my gracious in-laws to host us for the past few years, and a part of me will miss being in "vacation mode" (you mean I don't get to ditch my calling and housework responsibilities for a month?!), but, "there's no place like home for the holidays." We're looking forward to forming some of our own traditions as a little family. Plus (yahoo!) no cleaning out our fridge, no packing a month's worth of clothes (and praying we don't go over the weight limit), no stressful holiday travel, no worries of coming back to frozen pipes, mold, etc. ... just staying cozy at home! I feel so relaxed already!
• Breaking out all my favorite Christmas music ... Amy Grant, John Denver, James Taylor, Peter Breinholt, Kurt Bestor, the Tabernacle Choir, random mixes from over the years ... can't wait!
• Watching It's a Wonderful Life, Elf, White Christmas, Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street (Dylan McDermott version, please), and The Muppet's Christmas Carol.
• Going to one of our favorite local performances-- Peter Breinholt in SLC with my family.
• Getting to use our "Cocoa Latte" machine to have Stephen's Mint Cocoa and the Cannery's super-rich hot chocolate ... nummers!
• Making all the goodies I grew up making with my mom and pawning them off on neighbors and friends! Thumbprint cookies (with my own special touch of Marionberry jam in the middle), Wedding Cookies, Snickerdoodles, and fudge, if Lil will let me help her make it.
• Taking Eliot on a surprise excursion on the "Polar Express" on the Heber Valley Railroad. Grant and I went when I was expecting Eliot, and I have dreamed of taking him ever since. I don't know who will be more excited ... Eliot, or his mom and dad!
• Receiving Christmas cards in the mail from friends and family.
• Going to the Living Nativity at the Provo Tabernacle, and hopefully running into friends from our former stake in Provo, who host the event.
• Walking around to see the lights on Temple Square, even if it's fa-reezing!! (I think I've become acclimatized to mild Oregon winters!)

Officially Geeks

Please don't judge me, but Grant and I went to a midnight showing of Harry Potter 7 the night it came out. We started listening to the audio books back in March as a road trip diversion, and I got hooked (nope, this English major/secondary ed teacher had never read Harry Potter before!). I finished book 7 the day of the movie, and, as geeky as it may make us, we were SO excited to see the movie! Grant got free tickets from a radio station, my sister-in-law came and stayed the night with Eliot, and we, along with all the college kids and other Harry Potter "freaks," waited in line for hours. We may or may not have felt a wee bit out of place, seeing as we weren't in full-fledged costumes (I did bring a pair of oversized glasses and forced Grant to take pictures), and we were among some of the only parents there without children. A little silly, but worth it. We loved the flick, even with the unnecessary and "controversial" scenes (wow, Utah can blow things out of proportion ... the added scenes were laughably lame). The miracle of it all, considering I usually fall asleep on anything we watch at home, even if we start it early, was that I stayed awake for the entire thing (might have had something to do with the giant Coke I drank). I'm just glad I have a husband that doesn't mind being a nerd with me ...

Here's what I learned from my first-ever midnight showing experience:

• Bring food -- pizza, snacks, whatever. Even if you ate dinner and plan on getting popcorn and drinks to stay awake, it will be torture smelling everyone else's food and not having something of your own to munch on.
• Bring more than one card game.
• Tell the single guy who asks if he can sit in the lone empty seat at the end of your row that it's actually taken, even if it's not. His commentary throughout the entire show will sour your experience that you stayed up all night for.
• Don't go for the popcorn refill, as tasty as that first one was. The rumbling in your tummy in the wee hours of the morning when the movie lets out just won't be worth it.
• Be prepared for lots of movie-goers in costumes, many of which you will not recognize from the books or understand. Just go with it.
• The catnap in line worked like a charm. Next time, though, bring a more comfy purse to use as your pillow.

Counting Blessings

Over the past couple weeks, I have received bad news after bad news from dear people in my life. Really seriously sad things happening to people I love dearly. Heartbreaking things like one of my best friends losing her mother unexpectedly, running into a good friend from my home ward and learning that his wife suffers from a chronic illness that keeps them from having children, and, most recently, finding out that my brother-in-law lost his only brother this week. One of the hardest of all for me to take was learning that one of my mission companions lost her four-year-old son this past July in a tragic accident. I have been shocked and devastated to receive each of these pieces of news. And as much as I wish I could, I just don't have anything to offer these dear people in my life in terms of comfort. I'm mostly just so sad for them all.

Receiving all of this news all at once has kind of stunned me and opened my eyes to how much suffering is happening all around me, that good people are not immune to tragedy. I ache to love and comfort and yet know that each of these individuals has to pass through these trials in their own private way. It's part of our mortal journey, I know that. But it pains me to think of the quiet hours of anguish and sorrow that my family members and friends must endure.

As I have thought particularly about my sweet mission companion losing her little boy, my mind has taken me down the surreal road of how it would feel to lose Eliot, how I would possibly cope, trying to imagine all that my friend has been experiencing these past few months. One afternoon as I was contemplating each of these recent tragedies, I felt humbled to realize how much sorrow I have been spared in my life. Sure, I have had my own difficulties, and my life is far from perfect. My own family has experienced our own source of grief and agony, but nothing in comparison to what I see happening currently in the lives of those I love. Who's to say what will tomorrow will bring for me and my family -- I'm realizing, as I see observe these sorrows as an outsider, that things can change so quickly, that life can change in an instant. So for now, I humbly and gratefully recognize how merciful the Lord has been to me. Maybe because He knows what a wuss I am and that I could not bear any of those particular sorrows.

So what do I do for my suffering loved ones, besides try to express love and sympathy, to provide a listening ear or whatever service I might render? I'm not sure what to do. The injunction to "bear one another's burdens, that they may be light," has run through my mind over and over again lately, but I'm not quite sure how to best do that given the magnitude of these losses. I welcome your suggestions of what has helped you most in your own moments of loss or grief. For today, I am at least counting my blessings. Glad for each day that passes that we're together, healthy, employed, fed, housed -- all of the things that I probably take for granted far too often. Grateful for the gospel that provides hope and perspective, and hoping and praying that my faith would and will sustain me through the challenges of my own mortal experience.

Among my blessings, I am counting my knowledge of this great truth: "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold, I say unto you that he shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise" (Moroni 7:41).

Happy Fall (Now that it's pretty much over...)!

A few weeks ago, the weather was gorgeous and sunny, and knowing that according to the forecast, it wasn't going to last much longer (and it didn't -- it's now COLD and snowy in Utah ... I'm so not ready for this!), we knew we needed to take advantage and get out for our family fall picnic. So we grabbed our "finger-lickin' good" meal to-go and headed for the canyon. The leaves were pretty much done with changing color by that point, and most were on the ground, but we were able to get a few pretty shots and had a wonderful time together.

After dinner, the leaves were just too tempting, so we had to

make some piles and jump in them ...

And of course, throw them at each other!

Eliot had a great time in the leaves. His favorite part was building "dinosaur nests," aka leaf piles (we're just a little into "Dinosaur Train" around here these days ...).

We walked (or in Eliot's case, rode) the path to Bridal Veil Falls,

And enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Provo Canyon.

And naturally, if there are rocks and water, throwing has to be involved!

Goodbye for now, Fall fun ... we'll do it again next year!

"This is IT. This is EVERYTHING."

I have had some beautiful experiences in my life recently that have gotten me thinking about what matters most. About a month ago, Grant and I attended one of the sweetest events we've ever been to -- the sealing of a beautiful family in the Provo temple. We met Jesus and Evelyn and their sweet baby, Jasmine, a couple summers ago when we were called to teach the Gospel Principles class in Grant's parents' ward. Among our class members was that beautiful couple, who had been baptized right before we had returned to Utah for the summer. Teaching Jesus and Evelyn was like teaching on my mission all over again. They had such a sincere thirst for the gospel and were so excited to learn all of the simple truths we taught in that class. It was such a joy to share our testimonies with them and to see the light in their eyes as they were re-introduced to the beautiful teachings of our Heavenly Father's plan.

Grant and I could not have been more delighted to be called this past summer to teach the Temple Preparation course to a few couples in Grant's parents' ward, among them, Jesus and Evelyn. By then, little Jasmine was in Nursery with Eliot, and Jesus and Evelyn were just as thirsty as ever to learn more gospel truths and prepare to be sealed as a family in the temple. Our only disappointment was that we moved before we had taught Jesus and Evelyn all of the lessons; we wish we could have seen them through the entire course. It was such a privilege and joy to teach them and to be taught by them. It was humbling to witness their enthusiasm for their first temple experience and the covenants they would soon make; it made me want to not take for granted those same blessings in my own life.

Just a day or so after we had been to the temple for Grant's sister's sealing, I received a text message from Evelyn, inviting us to attend their family's sealing. I was so thrilled for the opportunity, and it was one of the choicest opportunities I have ever had. There is nothing quite like seeing a couple sealed to one another and then to have the doors open and see their little one, dressed like an angel in perfect white, brought to them to be sealed to them. Sweet Jasmine had fallen asleep in the temple worker's arms. It was a heavenly opportunity to witness that beautiful family sealed. We learned that day that Evelyn is expecting their second child, who, by virtue of the covenants they made, will be automatically sealed to them. As Grant and I walked, more like floated, from the temple that day, I said, "I don't think it gets any better than that."

Though a much different experience, today was also a sacred occasion for me. I attended the funeral of the mother of one of my best friends. My dear friend Melissa and I have been close friends since Junior High. She is a loyal, kind, non-judgmental, faithful, funny, and good-natured friend. She's the kind of friend that I can go years without seeing, and yet when we're back together, it's like we were never apart. I love her dearly and count my friendship with Missy as one of the great blessings of my teenage years; I know that my life and the choices I have made were very much influenced by having good friends like her. She has always been a quiet, righteous example in my life. Though I didn't have a close personal relationship with Melissa's mother, I always admired her quiet, gentle manner. I knew, as my own mother put it so beautifully this week, "Girls like Melissa don't just happen. They're raised by good mothers."

And Missy's mom was certainly a good mother. She was more than good. She was, as her obituary and the beautiful memorial service held in her honor attested, an "outstanding, wonderful, wise mother." One of her daughters gave this lovely tribute: "Mothering was her talent; it was her gift." As I listened to many more similar tributes, I felt over and over again that Melissa's mother was a heart-and-soul mother, a faithful member of the Church who gave quietly and willingly all her life. She was humble, kind, charitable, full of faith. As her wonderful Stake President and my former seminary teacher bore witness, she "understood what it meant to be a woman, and she became that." As sorrowful as I am for my dear friend and the unexpected loss of her mother, I could not help but walk away from today's funeral feeling enlightened, uplifted, empowered. Through the righteous example of that faithful family, who stand as a monument to the influence of a righteous woman, I felt blessed to move forward with faith and courage in my own role as wife and mother. I determined there is little, if anything, that matters more than how I fulfill my role as a wife and mother. I desire to be more like sweet Melissa's mother, a quiet, unassuming, yet strong and faithful woman, who can influence so many through the little things -- home-cooked meals; diligent Family Home Evening, scripture study, and prayer; informal teaching moments; withholding judgment and criticism; loving patiently, calmly, wisely, fully. Because that all makes a difference. We live in a world that seriously undermines and undervalues motherhood, which makes it sometimes all too easy to forget how incredibly important it is.

Which is the underlying message of what I have been feeling in my heart these past few weeks -- how much these things truly matter. How much it matters to be sealed in the temple for time and eternity. How much being a faithful, devoted, kind and caring mother matters. In the words of my awesome missionary cousin Amanda, "This is IT. This is EVERYTHING." In the quiet and sacred moments of the past month, I have felt profound promptings in my soul that these things are it -- they are everything. And at the heart of everything that matters lies "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Only because of Jesus Christ and His infinite Atonement is any of it possible. Only because of Him are families eternal; it is His priesthood power that binds us, it is the power wrought by His Resurrection that we too may live again and be restored with our loved ones. It is through Him that I have any chance of overcoming my weaknesses and becoming the mother I desire to be. It is only through Him that we can be given the strength necessary to keep our families intact in these trying times.

Next Sunday, my sweet Primary children will perform their sacrament meeting presentation. They, with the help of a very capable counselor and wonderful teachers, have prepared beautifully. My favorite part of the program is the brand new song they learned for this year's theme. It is called "I Know That My Savior Loves Me." I can't sing it or hear it sung without tearing up. It is so beautiful. The first verse is my favorite:

A long time ago in a beautiful place,

Children were gathered 'round Jesus.

He blessed and taught as they felt of His love.

Each saw the tears on His face.

The love that He felt for His little ones,

I know He feels for me.
I did not touch Him or sit on His knee,

Yet, Jesus is real to me.

Now I am here in a beautiful place,

Learning the teachings of Jesus.

Parents and teachers will help guide the way,

Lighting my path every day.

Wrapped in the arms of my Savior's love,

I feel His gentle touch.

Living each day, I will follow His way,

Home to my Father above.

I know He lives!

I will follow faithfully,

My heart I give to Him,

I know that my Savior loves me.

I do know that my Savior loves me, and, just as the Primary children sing so sweetly, "Jesus is real to me." And that knowledge is IT. It is EVERYTHING.

Melissa & Justin's Wedding

Grant's sister Melissa married her sweetheart, Justin, on October 14th in the Draper, Utah, temple. It was a beautiful day for a wedding!

Eliot and cousin Cole with the happy couple. Eliot's weird facial expression? Working on a fruit snack stuck in his teeth, of course.

My handsome boys at the reception. The reception center, the clubhouse at the Sleepy Ridge golf course in Orem, was so pretty!

Me with my handsome little devil before the reception.

My favorite memories of the day:

• The sealing was simple and beautiful and reminded me of my own. In lieu of marriage advice, the sealer walked the couple through the covenants they were about to make. I know I appreciated the repetition on my wedding day, since I may or may not have been in La la land!
• Seeing my sister-in-law so perfectly happy. She just glowed and grinned the whole day.
• Eliot as a dance machine out on the dance floor. He could not help himself when a song with a heavy beat came on! Great fun.
• Hearing both Eliot and his cousin Mikey bust out with "All the single ladies ..." over and over again for days after the wedding after hearing it for maybe 30 seconds before the bouquet toss. Awesome. Grant hates it.
• Getting my hair done (the cute girl who cut my hair that week offered to style it for me the morning of). It was fun to get fancied up -- I haven't felt that pretty for a long time (day-to-day mommy wear isn't that glamorous, I guess!).
• The chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce. Normally not a bread pudding fan. But how can you go wrong with anything ooey gooey chocolate and caramel?! Amazing!

Mr. Official

Grant's officially an attorney now! He was sworn in Wednesday, October 13th. It was kind of a whirlwind day that got tainted by a stressful little moment when Grant thought he had lost his debit card. He didn't even get to enjoy the reception after the swearing in ceremony because he was frantically searching for his card ... bummer. But, stressful or not, Grant took his oath with a couple hundred other new attorneys and is now official! We're so excited for him now that he has officially jumped through his final law school "hoop," and he can just go do his job that he loves!

Grant's Swearing In Ceremony for the Utah State Bar

Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 13, 2010

Left: My best attempt at a zoomed in, low-flash picture of Grant taking his oath. If you look closely enough, you can see his arm raised and you can even admire his spiffy cuff links. Lookin' sharp, Babe! Right: Nice of Grant's Aunt Debbie and I to wear matching attire for the ceremony (and nice of us to both close our eyes for the picture!). It was really fun that Grant's swearing in was the day before his sister's wedding because so many family members were able to attend.

The Saturday before he was sworn in, I threw Grant a "Bar Party" as a surprise. I linked it with a McEuen family book club to help cover my secret plans. And it worked! He was totally surprised when his family, not just mine, started showing up. Our "Bar party" was complete with a potato and salad "bar," cookie "bars" for dessert, an open "bar" of Italian soda fixings, for which Grant got to play "bar" tender, which he loves (he makes a mean pomegranate colada!), mini candy "bars" donning special wrappers with Grant's picture on them, and a very funny "mock trial" that my dad, who is also an attorney, helped me put together for our after-dinner entertainment. It was very creative and very funny. We even had an old-school English Barrister-style robe and wig for my dad, the honorable "Judge McEuen," and a prisoner costume for Eliot. Grant took the roasting in stride (the gist of the skit was that Grant was on trial for impersonating a lawyer). It was fun to actually surprise him for once. I must not be very good at surprises, or Grant might be a really good snoop, because I can never pull off a surprise with him. Happy to say I got him this time!

My dad with "little prisoner" Eliot.

Good thing he had his daddy to rise to his defense!

Judge McEuen reading his sentence while our convict tries to make an escape!

Left: Eliot, "Peppy" (what Eliot calls my dad) and Grant after the roast.

Right: one of the candy bar wrappers honoring Grant.

We are now looking forward to sliding into the background and becoming boring -- seriously! I can't wait for the day (sooner than later, I hope), when people ask me what's new and to have absolutely nothing to tell them. As exciting as this past year has been -- all good things that we're certainly not complaining about -- we are ready for life to slow down and settle into a normal little routine. Hopefully Grant's swearing in was our last big "hoorah" for our family for a while! Here's to being boring.

My Friend Laura ...

... was in town from Oregon last weekend to see her sister off to Europe, and she and Steph took time out of their busy travel schedule to have lunch with me and Eliot! It was wonderful to see her and hear her cute voice and contagious laugh in person. Laura is one of the most dynamic, energetic, and creative people I know, and one of many great women I miss so much from Oregon.

Laura has an amazing knack for drawing out Eliot's best smiles, as you might have noticed in our family pictures she took ... she's a gifted photographer (p.s. these are her photos), no doubt about it! Love you Laura!

On the Docket this Month ...

Autumn is finally in the air. A few days into October, temperatures started to drop beneath summertime temperatures here in Utah, and it finally started to feel like Fall. We drove the Alpine Loop between sessions of General Conference to see the fall leaves (they were pretty faded by then ... bummer), there's a pumpkin spice candle warming in my kitchen, potato-cheese soup is on the menu this week, and I may have to even break out a jacket for the first time in months. I love autumn. I love decorating my house in warm colors, making pots of soup to enjoy at night, turning my wheat bread into the yummy pumpkin-pecan version (which makes the best French toast, if I do say so myself). It's such a cozy time of year, and I loved the dramatic rain storm we had this morning that cooled off our house and made for a quiet morning inside of folding laundry and letting Eliot play with toys we haven't gotten out for a while because we've been too busy outside.

This month I look forward to:

• Going on our family fall picnic (this time up the canyon instead of at the Riverfont Park in Salem). The one time of year we indulge in KFC. :)

• Making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to serve at the very first McEuen family book club, for which I get to play hostess.

• Cheering on Grant as he gets sworn in as an attorney on October 13th! Yahoo!

• Attending Grant's sister Melissa's wedding to her sweetheart, Justin, in the stunningly beautiful Draper temple. The only thing I'm nervous about ... playing the piano at the reception! Better get practicing ... eek!

• Seeing Eliot in his complete Buzz Lightyear costume -- jet pack, space wings and all. He is THRILLED to dress up. Wait 'til I tell him he gets to go collect candy in it!

• Carving pumpkins, which Grant enjoys "just a little bit" (his family is obsessed with Halloween). Can't wait to see what his masterpiece will be this year!

• Watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," "Monsters Inc.," and "Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix" (We're almost done listening to all of the audio books in preparation for the newest movie coming out in November, and we've been watching each movie as we finish the book -- great timing to be wrapping up right before Halloween!)

• Wearing sweaters and jackets. The summer wardrobe's getting kind of old ... and I'm getting a little flabby since putting running on the back burner. Time to hide in baggy sweatshirts and forgiving sweaters!

• Trying out the fireplaces in our new place ... what could be cozier?

• Having my first slice of pumpkin pie of the season ... I'll take the cheap grocery-store version, please (I really do like it better than homemade ... I know, I'm weird). Oo, and pumpkin cheesecake too (thank heavens for the sweaters and sweatshirts!).

• Making a trip to a local pumpkin patch for a hayride and other fall festivities ... can anyone recommend a good one? We're thinking we'll try the Thanksgiving Point "Barnyard Boo," but I'm worried it will be super crowded. Please let me know if there's something a little more low key ...

• Serving my mom's deliciously simple potato-cheese-soup for Halloween in the darling pumpkin bread bowls they sell at Macey's.

• Surviving our first Primary Program practice ... also on Halloween. Not sure how that's going to go down with the kids all jacked up on sugar from the night before ... help! Again, please send suggestions my way!

• Potty training Eliot. It's just time. The weather's keeping us in anyway, I'm tired of dealing with really stinky diapers, Eliot has shown some definite signs of readiness -- now we just have to buckle down and tackle the dirty deed once and for all. A very scary month indeed! :) Tips or tricks also welcome on this one ...

Happy Fall, everyone!

Perfectly Ordinary

My sister sent this video to me with perfect timing. I had just had one of "those weeks." You know the kind. The constant power struggles with your toddler when you feel completely powerless, even though you're the adult. The kind of week when even though I knew Eliot didn't understand what he was doing when he balled up a fist and hit me or told me, "I'm tired of you, Mom," it drove me to tears nonetheless. A week of Eliot not sleeping at night, each time he awoke causing me to struggle for an hour or so to fall back asleep because of the whirlwind of worries about him and our power struggles, along with my Primary to-do list, etc., doing mental gymnastics in my head. And then came the little doubts creeping in to my mind, the ones that always seem to catch me off guard. The thoughts of wondering what I'm doing, what kind of mom am I anyway, feelings of guilt at the time I have had to spend away in meetings and obligations for my calling. The wishing for "the good old days" of working, which always seems to come around General Conference, when I reflect on the exciting flurry of activity happening at Church Magazines. At the end of the week, I felt a twinge of embarrassment when a friend asked me about our summer and what we did, and I didn't have much to tell her. For as intense and crazy as it felt getting Grant through the Bar, I sure didn't accomplish much. We went to the park and the pool, and that's how we survived. I had to give myself credit for training for my fist 1/2 marathon, but that's about all I could claim. No projects accomplished, no fun trips or new hobbies or skills learned. I just hid out and survived. Our week ended with a tearful meltdown on my part, the declaration that I'd "had it," all of which got solved, momentarily at least, by Grant taking Eliot with him to run an errand. Not our best week.

I know I'm not alone in those weeks. Every mom has them. Raising children is difficult. And though in our hearts we know as mothers that our work is a fulfilling, joyous one, there are a lot of days and monotonous activities about our work that don't feel so fulfilling or joyous. It is in those moments that it's so important to focus in on the small and simple things that make it worth it. The things that we won't have forever. I was grateful for the reminder in this video that childhood is fleeting, and that as much as I wish the temper tantrums, sleepless nights, and power struggles will come to an end, I dread the fact that my little boy will grow up, that one day he will stop being willing to give me kisses or hold my hand, that one day he'll be a teenager and the voluntary and spontaneous declarations of "I love you, Mommy" will probably get replaced with the hurtful and inconsiderate things that adolescents sometimes say. So this week I'm trying to take the struggles and the mundane daily tasks in stride, and focus less on them, and more on the things that are "perfectly ordinary" about my life.

Here are some of "perfectly ordinary" things I currently enjoy in my life:
1. Eliot's joy in discovering Diego at the bottom of his cereal bowl as he finishes breakfast. Diego's always there, but it's a blissful new discovery every time.
2. Splitting a banana, apple, or granola bar with my little buddy. Sometimes I wonder if I'll always break things in two ...
3. Answering the question, "what's/who's that?" a zillion times a day.
4. Hearing Eliot identify letters on any and everything as we grocery shop, drive in the car, etc.
5. The way a three-sentence prayer can melt my heart.
6. Making Eliot's day by allowing him to get a new video at the library or letting him watch his favorite "Superwhy" episode for the umpteenth time.
7. Snuggling in the rocking chair and reading (usually the same story over and over) before nap and bedtime.
8. The adorable "hello?" response when I knock on Eliot's door to get him after nap/bedtime.
9. The questions, "Are you going to stay with me?" "Would you like to play with me?" "Will you read it to me?"
10. Declarations like, "I love you, Mommy," or my recent favorite, "I'm going to take care of you, Mom."
11. Washing and ironing small little clothes.
12. The smell of Johnson's baby wash after a fresh bath.
13. Walks to the park and the joy of seeing pumpkins in a field, a helicopter or plane in the sky, or a doggy behind a fence.
14. Hi fives and fist bumps for completed puzzles, toys cleaned up, a caught ball, or successful big wheel ride.
15. Running errands and getting a special treat with my best little friend, and the surprisingly lonely and empty feeling when I enjoy the novelty of going alone. Who am I supposed to talk to?
16. Knowing that I know just how Eliot likes his sandwich, how to get him to eat his veggies, how to read his stories to him with all the right voices, the correct order of his bedtime routine ...
17. The pure delight a Halloween costume arriving in the mail, a new pair of shoes, a bowl of ice cream, or a smiley face drawn on a receipt at Costco can bring.
18. Seeing my son's face a little bit of his daddy, his Grandpa, his Nanny, and even myself.
19. Hearing Eliot repeat phrases of a verse of scripture.
20. Being absolutely thrilled the first time your child goes pee or poop in the potty. :) Sorry, that had to be thrown in!
21. Grant patiently showing Eliot how to dry dishes after dinner, and how much Eliot looks forward to helping his daddy.
22. The "pure boy" elements of Eliot that come out, especially when he's around other boys or men -- his natural instincts to wrestle, want to fix things with tools, or throw ... anything.
23. That infectious giggle. If there's a more heavenly sound, I don't know what it is.
24. Cooking together, playing cars together, making play dough creations, sticker pictures, trying to figure out how to teach things "left handed" so Eliot can do them ...
25. Eliot's pure faith that a kiss on an owie or just having Mommy hold or hug him will make it all better. If only it always could ...

What is "perfectly ordinary" about your life right now?

In the midst of my yucky week, I found a short, one-page journal entry that I had written last month, titled "My feelings about Eliot and motherhood." The final paragraph said this: "I love being a mother. It is hard, repetitive, often thankless work, but it is very rewarding. I enjoy the simple things -- going for walks and to the park, quiet time at home, reading together. This summer I enjoyed time at the pool with Eliot and hosting play school classes for him and Mikey (his cousin). I am doing what I've always wanted to do, and what I most want to do now. I am happy and so grateful for the blessing of being a mom."

Have a "perfectly ordinary" week.