It’s a double post today. This is the one I had planned before the after school incident took place.
I was thinking today how awesomely lucky we are with our daily commute to school. This is the traffic jam I was in on my way to pick up the kids: 
And this is the view on the way home:
It was so awesome that Jenna had to get out and do her holding the world in her hands picture
Happiness drive. Happiness moment
When my kids are arguing and fighting with each other I have a standard speech that I give. You guys will be each other’s best friends in life. No matter where you go or what you do you need to know that you have each other’s backs. So, even though you disagree no one will ever know you or love you like each other.
They have moved so much that there have been many times where they have only known each other and have had to rely on each other. They can still fight like you wouldn’t believe, but they are good friends and look out for each other.
Today I was late picking them up after school. Not late just a few minutes late. I have no idea where the day went. I picked them up and Jacob told me about their after school incident.
They were sitting on the ground beside the school, hooked onto the wifi playing a game. A kid came up to them and said ahhhh haaaa you guys are watching porn? Then he came right over beside Jacob and looked down and said oh no I was wrong they’re just having sex. At this point Jacob stood up and towered over the boy (Jacob laughed telling me and said obviously the kid didn’t know how much taller Jacob was).
Once Jacob stood up the kid took off. Then Jacob said you know what it’s like when auntie Cherie takes off on her horse after a cow? That’s what I was like after that kid. He caught up to the boy and stood over him and said you need to go back there and apologize to her. No one talks like that to her. Then he herded the boy back to where Jenna was sitting. The boy said I’m so sorry, sometimes things just come out of my mouth and I don’t know why. I’m so sorry. Then he took off.
Proof that they love each other and in fact DO have each other’s backs A happiness moment in a tough after school incident
Today I drove my mom’s van into town to pick up the kids from school. After much arguing over who got shotgun, Jacob had it the first part and then switched at the recycling drop off with Jenna.
So we are driving along, Jenna and I talking while Jacob is stuck way in the far back (the middle seats are out of the van).
Suddenly we see a stick waving around between the front seats. I look and it’s Jacob waving an ice scraper in our direction and trying to poke it at Jenna.
I look at him in the rear mirror and he says what? It’s my FOMO stick. Don’t forget about me back here.
FOMO or the fear of missing out. It’s a real thing.
Happiness moment. That kid makes me laugh
Jacob came home and said if we still lived in Roanoke I would be in school until 3:30. Instead now I finish at 2:30 and I get two recesses every day!!
And I think that he’s right on by being excited. He used to get dropped off and go into school and not come outside again until the day was over. Now they have a morning recess and then one again at lunch time. You’re never too old for recess.
I get stories every day now about what he’s doing at school and most of those stories happen at recess. It makes him bright and alive (full of ojas) when he’s talking about being outside with his friends.
PLUS he gets to go to school camp this year!
Happiness moment is the joy of hearing about the fun the kids have at recess. We should all take a recess every day and go outside and play for a half hour.
I spend my recess on my walk or standing at the corral talking to the horses
This afternoon my cousin helped me out and brought my kids home from school. I’m lucky because this cousin – M – her kids go to the same school as mine. Which made being the new kids (and the new mom) so much less scary because there were familiar faces this time.
I returned home from my meeting to see her kids and my kids and her sister’s kids all playing outside. What a wonderful sight!
M and I are only 4 months apart and spent most of our childhood running that same yard – having adventures, getting into trouble, climbing trees… You name it.
When I moved away my kids were 4 years and 5 months old. Her kids weren’t born yet. So they haven’t grown up knowing us adults or each other. I feel so blessed that I am now getting the opportunity to get to know her family better and on an everyday basis (instead of as a visitor).
Happiness moment for the day was watching those kids run up and down the field laughing and screaming while we stood out there and visited.
Family ties.
When I was a kid I remember being packed in the Suburban with cousins flying up and down back roads at breakneck speeds. Once in a while we would find that magic road that had the right bumps in it that made me feel like I was losing my stomach when we would drive over it. Of course once we found that magic road we had to drive back up and down it a few times squealing with delight the entire way.
Today I had my kids and my cousin’s kids (the same cousin who used to do the driving on those magic roads) in my car and we were driving to drop off some recycling. As we drove past another relative’s driveway I told the kids of the magic road and how their mom/aunt had driven us up and down that road one afternoon while we giggled.
But I didn’t turn on that road, I kept driving. I got to where the gravel road meets the highway and drove under the overpass. As I did all four kids squealed and Jacob yelled I think my bladder just fell out a couple of seconds later it happened again. A magic road. We dropped off the recycling and flew over the bumps on the way back. When I got to the turn into the back road all four kids started yelling for me to do it again. So around we turned and flew back up and down the magic road.
Magic times. My happiness moment for the day.
Apparently this is a real thing. The kids and I saw it for the first time Tuesday. They laughed hysterically and called it old people ping pong. Today we went back and they were playing it again. We joined in. Not only is it awesomely fun, but we were much badder at it than we would have thought possible.
Fun fun though. Happiness moment of the day: 
Happiness moment of the day today was playing an impromptu game of songify on the road this afternoon with the kids. There’s nothing like singing loudly and badly in a car to make me happy. Especially with them.
Funny moment today happened on the drive to school when I convinced the kids, albeit briefly, that there was a herd of bears up on the hill.
They aren’t the exact same bears, but I saw some more in a herd while I was out waking today. Magnificent views I have.
Today Jenna joined me on her bike while I took Dottie for a walk. Even though I know better I got fooled by the calmness of the protected yard and we were almost blown away waking down the road.
When we were coming back we saw a big bird flying over the slough. We stopped to figure out if it was a hawk or an eagle. As we were standing there staring at it and having a great discussion about what it was a mallard duck flew right up in front of us. It then got down on our level and very loudly quacked itself in about a 10 foot circle around us. Quack quack. Look at me. Quack quack. Then he flew off leaving us looking at what was very obviously a hawk.
We giggled at the attention issues the duck had. I’ve never seen a bird so badly need to be noticed.
As we were getting closer to home Jenna started riding her bike around me yelling quack quack. Look at me mommy. Quack quack.
The happness moment for the day.
Later while driving a bald eagle did fly by us and do a nice lazy circle before flying off.
Today ends our Glamping (glam camping) trip. For the past few weeks we’ve had a whole house set up with borrowed furniture (some of it lawn) from family. Which has been so kind and actually sort of fun. But today our stuff cleared customs and tomorrow it gets filled (somehow) into the house. We are so excited.
But today we made use of the empty space. Ella started climbing up the dog kennel and scratching at her kennel this morning. This was odd behavior because it was just bought for her flight here and isn’t a safe place for her to go. I went over to see what she was doing and found a mouse that my husband had snuck inside for her to play with. Almost 3 weeks go by and she decides to find the mouse.
So we played fetch across the red carpet
See the Glamping style chairs? They’re actually very comfortable.
I am so jealous because while I was out at customs the kids built a huge fort city in the open rooms and are going to have the sleepover to end all sleepovers with their cousins tonight.
A happiness moment.
However, my happiness moment today was out on my morning walk when the swans flew honking along with me. I love them.
