a day of treasuring "the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less"

"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. Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said 'the biggest mistake I made as a parent is the one that most of us make...I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of my three children sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4, and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.'"

-M. Russell Ballard, "Daughters of God," Ensign, May 2008

6/7/11

bought Madden new shoes for the summer...

he persistently asked to get out of the cart at Target, so we finally let him. Which ended in mom and dad chasing him down the clothing aisles as he laughed hysterically and tried to hide from us. We bribed him back into the cart by getting him some Lightening McQueen band-aids for his always-scraped-up knees...

made yummy cookies with Madden to deliver to a friend...

Madden yelled out "Addie's house!" as soon as we pulled into their driveway. And then he cried big tears in the car when I wouldn't let him get out to play with her. Sweet that he loves his friend Addie so much...

skyped with Madden's Uncle Robbie who just returned home from serving a 2 year mission in southern California...

Madden was more shy than I have ever seen him while skyping before, bashfully covering his eyes and smiling whenever Robbie said hi to him. No matter how many times we asked him to tell Robbie Hi, he just giggled and hid his face. Crazy to think that the last time Robbie saw Madden, Madden was just a teeny tiny 4-week old babe...

played at Madden's favorite park after dinner at Chipotle...

as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Madden yelled "THE PARK!" He threw pennies into the water fountain and went down the big slide all by himself. He tried to play with the big kids, going up to them and saying "Hi kids" and he pointed out all the "cute doggies" that he saw at the park. His favorites are the swing, the motorcycle and the bridge...

ended the day watching a movie with Madden and his turtles :)

he lined them up like that and insisted that they watch the movie with us. we watched Megamind and ate cookies for dessert. We read "All Aboard the Dino Train" before bedtime and Madden slept with his bunny, his froggy and his Buzz Lightyear in his big boy bed.