Good day to be alive

If I had all day to sit and write at this keyboard, I could tell some pretty funny stories from today! Here is just a small glimpse of our day minus the funny little exchanges we have and minus many questions the boys ask.

I had to get my teeth cleaned today. I hadn't been to the dentist in several years. So it took awhile to get them cleaned. Both boys went with me to the appointment. Where else would they be? I didn't bother to warn them (dentist office staff) either. Holden watched her clean my teeth or stood by my side watching the mini TV in the room. He looked at everything in the room and insisted on being with me and not in the toy room. Camden insisted on being in the toy room, and then he went to look for me in the car! When Holden went to check on him for the third time he was no where to be found. I just knew he was outside and I almost died with worry until I got to him. We live in a small town and the dentist office is right across from the police and fire station. But still! After that he sat right on my lap and we cuddled the rest of the appointment. No one gave it a second thought.

Afterward we went to check out a geocache location at a local park. We didn't have any luck finding the hidden object, but it was still fun. On Tuesday, I splurged and purchased a handheld GPS finder for my early Christmas or birthday gift. I have been wanting to do geocaching for over a year now. Holden and Camden like looking for the hidden cache with me. It was nice to be outside in the fall wind with the leaves whirling all around the ground and air. When we got home trash cans were crashing all over the place. It was a sunny day and not that cold with coats on. I was disappointed we didn't find it. It was our second strike out. I even went back to cache location number one (from yesterday) and looked all over.

Camden fell asleep on the way home from our fun morning. Once I got home I started to get ready for Holden's art mentor to come over for her second visit. We painted the masks we plastered last month when she was here. It was our first time to use acrylic paints. It was really easy and fun! We hung the masks up tonight and they are really special to the boys. I wrote their names and date on the back. From a sack of paint colors both boys picked out the 4 colors they would use. I thought they made such neat choices. Camden painted 3/4 of his mask and I painted the rest because he got tired. It was Camden's idea to use the plastic googly eyes from our art supplies. Holden thought that was a neat idea and used smaller ones for his sun.

As if the day couldn't get any more fun, we had the brilliant idea to make a fire since it is so windy and chilly tonight! While we getting our fire ready the boys had friends drop over. We all roasted marsh mellows to the howl of the wind. When they left we stayed in the basement to enjoy the fire, read some of our library books and listen to the wind outside. We also did a dissecting experiment on an earthworm. It didn't turn out so well. I think we will have to plan to try it again some other time. Camden had fun jumping on the jumping mattress in the basement and on the couch down there by the mattress. He made up a game with a long material tube that goes to an indoor kid tent. He pretended the tube was a slide. Holden joined in the fun. It was so cool to see them laughing and playing for at least half an hour. I can see such a difference in how well they play together when their cups are overflowing with love from me. As hard as I try to give them both lots of attention and time, some days are easier than others.

The only thing missing is having Cliff here to share all these fun memories. He called me on Veterans Day after receiving a package I mailed him last week. I'm still feeling butterflies from all the sweet things he said to me. He misses us a lot, but seems to be doing well.

It was a good day to be alive, even with winter coming, and the earth here looking mostly brown everyday!!