Life is Beautiful

I suppose sometimes it takes a little convincing for me to see the beauty of life. I have a wonderful husband and children so I kick myself when I feel down and overwhelmed with the tedious task of housekeeper and overwhelming nature of parenting. When I can dedicate my efforts to just one of these elements I walk away feeling moderately successful. However it's the combination that baffles me and I feel time, life slipping away. I personally find housecleaning easier than parenting, because I can see the end result unlike parenting when the end result might not come for many years. As a result I find I focus on the clean house way too much and my kids of course are getting older and I'm missing their growth because my focus is on the dirty floor or misplaced toys.

I came to this discover again recently and I finally decided to do something concrete about it. I choose to start parent dates and weekly family activities independent of FHE. I've talked about it for years but never implemented it. February was my first go at it and I had a wonderful time. Aspen and I attended a gymnastics meet at the UofU. Miri went with Joe and I to McDonald's while the kids were at a primary activity and our car was getting fixed. Then Jeffery and I went to see the "The Tale of Desperado" at the Dollar Theater. Last but not least Gabe and I went to a safety convention at the South Town expo center today. I am loving getting to know my kids away from my other job of housecleaning and on a one on one level. It felt so good and I could just listen and watch them alone and eat up the wonderfulness of their individual person.
The kids seem to be liking it too. Today Jeff was talking to Grandma Coralie in the car about it and said such an eight year old thing. He explained that we were doing dates with mom and then went on to say something like this, "Not the huggy kissy kind of dates but the ones where you go and have fun and do something like a movie" I was laughing so hard inside. Wow they truly do grow up fast.
Life is beautiful.
Julia