Moments to Treasure

Reflection is always better... don't you think? You always hear people say "Someday, we're going to look back on this moment and laugh." And at the time, you think inside your head "Yeah, right. I cannot imagine ever laughing about this moment." Of course, it always seems so much worse when you're actually going through the event. But it works in reverse as well.

When you are experiencing pure joy and excitement, those memories are just as wonderful to reflect on. It's all about memories....memories that keep us going. The past helps us live for the future. Bad things happen to make us stronger. If we did not know hurt, we wouldn't know pleasure. All of these stinkin' cliches are really so true.

The funny looking-back memories.

The pharmacy. Needed to make a "quick stop" for a couple of essential purchases on the way home from picking up my boys from school. I should have said that sentence a few more times in my head before I went into the store. I would have laughed BEFORE the event even happened and I would have made my way home skipping the store all together at that moment. Two boys lacking naps, tired out from playing hard all morning practically literally pulled me in the store. As each boy tried to grab something off of the shelves, I knew my time was limited. I quickly picked out my items and made my way to the register to check out. Suddenly, for no apparent reason whatsoever, Charlie fell to the ground refusing to get up. Kyle wanted every piece of candy that was displayed in front of us. For some reason at that moment, it was like they heard the chime of a boxing bell. Kyle jumped on Charlie and they began to wrestle. It took everything I had to get them up off of the floor and to check myself out. Finally, with the clerk feeling bad for me, I was out pretty quick. But by this time, I was sweating and it seemed as if an HOUR had gone by! I practically dragged Kyle out with his sneakers skipping the floor while I carried a rapidly growing Charlie in my arms. I was mortified and swore I would never go back. Funny, right? ha.

The Drive to School. I was excited to drive the boys to school in the morning. I do not normally get to drive them. And of course, I was running late and it was tough getting them out the door. They wanted particular things with them that morning. I did not let them bring what seemed like every toy we had in the toy closet and stayed firm. So of course, they started off a little cranky. Not to mention, they love that their Daddy drives them to school regularly. So there we are driving happily...(finally)...down the highway and they realize that they have french toast in their bags for breakfast. (I have to admit, I snuck it in and knew I was taking a risk.) They do not normally have french toast for breakfast. And they sure let me know it on that drive. I drove to school that morning with both kids crying like I gave them a raccoon's tail for breakfast. Hysterical. A mess. It was a wild ride to school through rush hour traffic and attempts at calming them down without being able to reach back and snatch those breakfasts right out of their hands. It finally took a song about school pets saving a baby penguin to calm them down and put them in a better mood.

The Baked Potato Line. Everything was going well at the Big E with just me and my two boys. They went on rides, had lunch, saw some farm animals...and then I was ready for the State Buildings. I was starving for the Maine baked potato. The line was shorter than it has been in the past. But I knew it was still long for the boys to tolerate for too long. Kyle even commented on how long the line looked. Well, from there it not only went down hill, but we were flying down a black diamond at mock speed. Charlie was getting to his over tired breaking point and could not keep his hands off of Kyle. Fingers in his eye, grabbing his hat off his head and putting him in some sort of choke hold. Kyle quickly reciprocated that love and gave it right back to him. I tried to discipline. I tried to ignore it all together. I tried to just let them "play" it out. And I even physically took things away from them and stopped them from hitting each other. As you can imagine, nothing quite worked. And it seemed as though every person in that line was looking and getting annoyed. I really just wanted to crawl under a potato instead of eat one.

The actual funny, awesome moments.

The sky was pink and Kyle pointed out to me that the sunset was so pretty! And saw the moon and got so excited and wanted to show me.

Charlie shouted out "Are you kidding?" when Kyle got out of his bed and came into Charlie's room. (I had done that just the night before when Kyle did this)

In the potato line, I told Charlie to stop poking Kyle in the eye. Kyle was being very silly and shouted out sooooooooooo loud: "EYE? EYESSSS.... Charlie has beautiful eyes!"

Listening to them talk on a play phone: "Hi Madison. Can you come over and watch Madagascar with me and Charlie? I have to pick up a few things at the store. I have to go to Target."

Kyle is not happy that Charlie has one of his toys. He tells him "That's mine, Charlie." Charlie responds with "How do YOU know it is?" Kyle comes right back with "Because it is!" And Charlie says again "But HOW do you know?" Kyle says "Because you, Mommy and Daddy gave it to me for my birthday." Charlie simply comes back with "Oh. I know that."

I was telling Kyle not to play with a huge piece of paper as binoculars. I told him it might give him a nice big paper cut and it would really hurt. He said "Nice? It will be nice? Well, that doesn't sound bad. So I can still play with it?"

Moments in the early morning hours when Charlie or Kyle come in our room and tell either me or B that they love us. Or when they come in and just give us a hug and then run off to play. It's just a wonderful way to start the day!

Charlie leaned over to Kyle and gave him a kiss on his cheek. He put his arm around him and looked straight into his eyes and said "You are my brother, Kyle. You are my big brother."

It seemed as if every person walked by me and my boys at the Big E made a comment about how cute they were. They either said it directly to me or said it to each other as they walked by. Many people asked if they were twins and some even stopped to talk to them.