“regular”

I feel like I might have forgotten how to write about regular life.

I certainly have forgotten how to live regular life.

But the funny thing about life is … normal wants to take over.

You know what I mean?

And while there is no normal that I prefer right now, I know my children deeply need a type of normal and I guess maybe I do too.

So we’ve done some of our normal activities.  Because we have to.

And tonight I am going to try to write about that.

Because I need to.

We visit the library frequently.  I mean – I have to in order to try to keep up with the insatiable reading habits of my sixth grader.

At the library the kids are allowed to pick out five books each.  (I have no idea how I landed on the number of five.)

When we get home from the library the routine is almost always the same, even though I have never organized an official After Library Home Time.

The kids all generally head right into the living room with their stacks and they read and compare and share books and spout off random facts about fish or the human ear or whatever else caught their eyes that week.

Our last library trip was more of the same.

We got home.

The living room exploded in books and blankets and coziness of the sweetest variety.

I wandered around completing tasks – dinner, laundry, you name it.

Before dinner was even prepped and before I even had a chance to see which books the kids were discussing London came loping into the kitchen with a new stuffed animal in her hands.

That guy.

A penguin.

And he looked better than just homemade.

This penguin looked practically Indie Craft Parade homemade.

Home crafted.

It was so cute.

He even had a pinecone friend.

Then Otto brought me one of his library books and asked me to read it to him.

Of course, it was about a penguin and a pinecone.

What?

Before I even had a chance to read this book London had come home and created a tangible work of art with her own two sweet capable hands.

And I loved it.

Before another day had passed Bergen had a matching one – only his was wearing red boots over his yellow skinny legs.

I am so grateful that my girl still loves to create and loves to read and sees simple beauty and joy in little things like children’s books and scraps of felt and fabric and pipe cleaners.

And I am so grateful that I get to record these glimpses of grace.