Shining Moments

I wanted to post a few pictures from moments I have loved being a mom this week:

Watching a movie and having popcorn in the middle of the day, "just because." It's amazing how much this meant to my kids. We weren't doing an amazing activity - my kids just enjoyed having me close to them.

On Wednesday Ellie went to a friend's house for a water party, and the boys wanted to head to the splash park so they could have a water party of their own. While we were there Nathan and Jonah would play for awhile, then run back to me and tell me whatever their little hearts desired, then run back to play. On one of these little runs back to me Jonah started growling at me like a bear, then when he would get close to my face he would pucker up and give me a kiss on the lips. He did that several times, then just ran back to play. The next time they came back Jonah started tickling me, and pretty soon all three of us were in a big tickle fight on the bench at the splash park.

This morning Jonah was following me around the house talking to me, so I decided to just sit down with him and talk. It was one of the highlights of me week to hear his sweet little voice chattering away.

I was reminded of this quote:

"...Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction." - L. Tom Perry

That is what these moments were to me - shining moments of joy and satisfaction. And this will hopefully serve as a reminder for me to purposely create moments like this with my kids, rather than getting so caught up in housework or whatever else I may be doing at the moment.