Company and Conversations

We had a great visit last week with my Mom (Nona). She came up on Tuesday and stayed until Thursday. We went shopping, made a cake, went to the salon, and just generally enjoyed each other's company. That is happiness. I cherish every second of quality time that we get to spend with her. It's not as frequent these days, but every child should want to devour every morsel of time they can get with a parent. Even at 27 years old, I still do. Nona taught Sarah how to lay across the swing on her belly and spin herself around until she is overwhelmed with joy and dizziness. A trick that Sarah was very excited to show everyone. Nona patiently let Rylee take her time warming up, and laughed like I haven't heard in quite some time at Rylee's class clown personality. It did my heart good. By the time Nona left, Rylee was blowing her kisses and waving bye-bye. In Rylee's world, that means, "Hey, you're alright. I'm cool with you now." This kind of visit with my Mom makes me happy and sad at the same time. Happy because I love her and love when she spends time with the girls...and me. Sad, because it makes me miss the visits that much more. All in all, good memories were made with Mom and my girls, and that is the most important thing. Psalm 113:9 always makes me think about my Mom.
"He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord."
Following Mom's company, we had a weekend visit from Brian's parents (Gigi and PopPop). The girls were SO excited to see them. They immediately went into "show-off" mode, and the living room became center stage for all the singing,dancing, and goofing around that 2 little girls could manage at 9:30pm. To their delight, Gigi and PopPop were the perfect audience, laughing and applauding on cue, and encouraging encore performances. It was hilarious! Saturday was spent....can you guess? I'll give you a hint: September Saturday in the south. You got it...football. Brian and his dad worked on our back door early in the day, and all 4 of us girls watched Toy Story 2 (super cute movie). Then, I made a big pot of taco soup and 2 pans of cornbread. We all came in and after watching the Tide Roll in, we watched our beloved AU Tigers barely squeak out a 27-24 win against Clemson in OT. But, it was a win, nonetheless. So, Brian was still good company after the game was over. We won't talk about attitudes and outbursts during the game, because we all know SEC football brings out the crazy in people. We were sad to see Gigi and PopPop leave this afternoon. Their goodbye's brought on the meltdown of the century from Sarah, who was devastated that Gigi left without, of all things, giving her a mani/pedi. She cried for 30 minutes about her toenails not being pink. I tell you, that girl is ALL girl...through and through. But, no matter how I tried to soothe her, nothing worked. Finally, I took the hint that we all needed a nap. So, I put Rylee down for a nap in about 5 seconds, as usual. And, laid down in the bed with Sarah to rub her back and "talk" until she was calm enough to go to sleep. My 3 1/2 year old and I have some of our best conversations during nap time. This is the conversation that took place today:

Sarah (still snubbing and wiping tears): "I sure wish Gigi and PopPop would have stayed at my house."
Me: "I know. Me too. We love when they visit, don't we?"
Sarah: "Yeah. Why did they have to go to their house?"
Me: "Well, they have to go to work tomorrow, you know, just like Daddy."
Sarah: "Just like Daddy??"
Me: "Yep."
Sarah: "Mommy, where is your work?"
Me (thinking): "Well, my work is here. Mommy gets to stay here with you and sister."
Sarah: "Umm...Mommy?"
Me: "Yes?"
Sarah: "That is not work."
PAUSE....at this point, I am thinking and thanking. That little girl has such a simple way of making me look around and realize just how good I've got it. I was just about to respond to her with something like,"No, it's not really work. It's fun. It's the best thing in the world. I'm blessed that I don't have to 'work'. I get to play with dolls, swing on swing sets, color pictures, have tea parties, rock babies, and just be with these 2 beautiful girls all day, everyday. That's not 'work'." Thank you, Lord, for giving me the best job on the planet!
Then, Sarah brings it on home when she picks the conversation back up...
Sarah: "That is not work, Mommy...because, there is NO dirt."
Me (laughing hysterically): "You mean like Daddy?"
Sarah: "Just like Daddy."

She just doesn't know how much "dirt" there actually is. I mean, who washes Daddy's clothes, after all?!