Today

 Today, I woke up earlier than I'd hoped to small girl sounds at my door and good morning conversations with my little girl.

Today, from the very outset, I was exhausted.  I took my time this morning and hoped for the best.  I felt older and with less energy, but no real reason why.

Today, my kids watched WonderPets after breakfast, but also spent an hour playing with me and each other-- skip bo, books, dolls, and many a story from Ms. M (also tired).

Today, was pizza day.  I remembered the tuition money, but forgot my cash in the car.  Much later, I discovered that all of that flurry of drop-off happened with my cardigan inside out. (Sigh).

Today, focus was hard, but I tried.  I waded through a, albeit not "the", constitution.

Today, I missed my sister, mom, dad, and lil' Z.  The house feels more lonely after a weekend full of people.

Today, I made myself a healthy lunch and made my family's dinner early around the same time.  Somewhere in here, I managed to forget to push "mute" on my phone during a conference call so my colleagues got to listen to me dropping silverware....

Today, I made plans with friends and worked on being connected in the future to compensate for the hours alone.

Today, I wanted nothing more than to curl up and take a nap after work, but I didn't/couldn't.  I picked up the kids (properly clad), went to the store (ran into my son's foot with the cart---ooops), bought essentials, and focused on finding something to make the afternoon cool for my kids.

Today, we played outside for a hour.  It was 75 degrees.  The kids rode trikes, ran in the grass, explored, and had yogurt snacks. M created her own random flying carpet and I weeded some flower beds.  B hid and enjoyed greater freedom.  I watched and smiled and was glad.

Today, she started waiting for her Daddy around 3:45pm... luckily she moved on before  long.

Today, I did 4.5 loads of laundry.  Nearly all of them were even folded and put away before Brent came home.  I did not, however, make much progress on cleaning anything else, although there was plenty more to do.

Today, my son got a bit of Kirby time and was glad.  Lady M cleaned up a bit of the messes she and her buddy Z had created this week, but also spent some time in time out for not listening.  She was a completely adorable bundle of wiggly words, phrases and wildness too.

Today, everyone ate and enjoyed their dinner.  We told stories about our day.  M's story was that her nose keeps being blue (true, if random!). B helped with chores and it felt like progress was made on the chaos.  

Today, her Daddy came home to snuggle with after all the waiting.

Today, I rested and wandered the internet a bit while they played and she wiggled, we talked to Granddaddy, and then we all launched into bedtime rituals. 

Today, she brought her baby brother toy after toy to play with. So adorable, but hard when it was "technically" book time, not entertain your baby brother in Mommy's tummy time (if such a thing exists).  He put on his PJs in slo mo (or so it seemed). 

Today, we tucked them in, sang, kissed their heads, did just a bit more cleaning, sighed, and retired to rest together, and hope they sleep.  

Today, I was and am exhausted, but I will go to sleep soon knowing that I did my best that I gave what I had, that today was a good day for my family even with its challenges.

What is your story of Today?