Evening Prayer

This evening as I finished reading with Zach before bed, he asked me to put his ring (a nice green, plastic thing he got out of a treasure chest at the library for completing a reading challenge) on his nightstand for him. I put it on there, back where he couldn't reach it, because I was worried he would grab it and play with it rather than going to sleep. I know, what's the big deal? No big deal, really, now that I think about it, but he was up before 6 this morning, so I didn't really want him messing around too much. Anyway, he started to get a little upset because he thought I didn't put it right where he had put it before. After more fussing than was necessary, I told him that if he continued to whine and fuss about it, I was going to just leave his room without praying or singing like we usually do. So he quieted down, and I started a pretty standard bedtime prayer:

"Dear God, thank you so much for this awesome day and all the fun we got to have today. Thank you for giving us so much time to play outside in the sprinkler, and for swim lessons, and for all the time to play with Grandma and Grandpa tonight. Please be with us all tonight and help us all sleep well and have a great day tomorrow. Help Zach be brave at swim lessons and remember to stay down in the water to stay warm (an extra reminder for Zach, really), and help us have a great time at the library, too. Please take care of all of our friends and family, too. Amen."

Zach then said, "I had something I wanted to say. 'Dear God, please help Mom not to argue. Amen.'"

Hmmmmm. I didn't know if I should be a little miffed or if it was just plain funny. I waited about a minute, and then looked at him and said, "Should I ask God to help Zach not argue?" He smiled at me. Then we started the amen song and we both sort of started to lose it with the giggles. That kid.

One other thing- this morning at the grocery store, Drew and Zach were being so sweet with each other. They were sitting side-by-side in the rocket ship cart, and Drew kept leaning his head on Zach to cuddle him. It was absolutely precious. Once I said something like, "Oh, Zach, Drew is snuggling you." So then Zach would put his arm around Drew and snuggle him back. This happened at least 3 or 4 times. The last time we were in the produce section and there was another mom with her little boy, who looked a little younger than Zach, and he said, "Mom, I want a baby just like that," gesturing towards Drew.

After our grocery store trip, we came home and played in the sprinkler, the water table, and on the swingset out back. It was such a gorgeous day outside. We ate lunch outside and the boys took naps long enough for me to get dinner made, get the kitchen cleaned up, and get a little reading done in Harry Potter (I'm rereading the 6th book so that it's all fresh in my mind when we see the movie).

Life is good. We are so blessed.