Friday Favorite Things

So I'm trying a new thing... each Friday, I'll post favorite moments from the past week.   In no particular order...

1.  Wednesday night, we had dinner in the Sukkah.  Marc built us a little hut outside, and Friday night, we bundled up in hoodies and had beans and hot dogs outside.  It was lovely, peaceful and sweet.  Jessie brought out her spelling words, Sammy chatted about how much fun school had been, Julianna ate her beans and hot dogs and babbled along with us.  There's something magical about the five of us together, and I never take that for granted.

2.  On Wednesdays, I cover Jessica's library class.  Sam's teacher lets me pull him out of class each Wednesday so he can come and be my helper.  I love that we get that little break in the middle of the week together.  He's doing so well in class, I'm so proud of how he's adjusted.

3.  There's a whole bunch of third graders out there that still refer to me as "Mrs. Jessica's Mom."

4.  Last night, we did two sheets of Mad Libs that Jess brought home from school.  And it turns out that Marc really does still have the sense of humor of a toddler.  Or no, it's actually more like a ten year old boy.  He kept  using completely inappropriate words (madlibs are supposed to be inappropriate, right?), like "penis," "toilet" and "booby."  It was ridiculous, and the kids were thrilled.  But the best part for me was that Marc was absolutely delighted by this - it's like some part of him just didn't mature past early adolescence.

5.  We play "Find the Sukkah" in the car these days - which is similiar to "Find the Christmas Lights" when you drive around and yell excitedly when you see them.  Only sukkahs are mostly in people's backyards and not all that pretty... but either way, I've been playing it in the car on the way home from school with the kids, and my stepdaughter Sarah really gets into it.  She's so much fun to play it with.  The older she gets, the more I like her :-)

6.  Jessie is actually reading at night in her room.  She's been on a reading strike, as of late, and it's making me insane (which is why she's doing it, I'm sure).  She actually took Hop on Pop out of the school library on Wednesday.  But the past two nights, she's been snuggling up with a real chapter book before bed, which thrills me.

7.  Julianna is now really, really into brushing her teeth.  She loves it, and is so enthusiastic about, she'd do it three or four times a day if we'd let her.

8.  I just sent Marc to the store with instructions to get me something lovely.  And he will.  Enthusiastically.  I like that :-)

9.  My sister, this morning, sounded happier than I've heard her in a long time.  Joy is contagious.

10.  My niece Abigail Bridgett, is officially a crawling girl.  Mere weeks away from being a toddling girl, as she's pretty enthusiastic about walking along when someone is holding her hands.  I can't wait to see Julie and Abby running down the hall together giggling, and this is a major step in that direction.