more of the same

".... and thank you for a Great supper and a GREAT day!  Amen!"

As Mikey finished praying over our supper, I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.  Just that day, the boys and I had spent five hours in the car, helping out the husband with some of his work and doing some of my Sugarfield work.  Sure, I had bribed heavily with treats and drinks and movies on my laptop, but the endless hours in the car weighed on me.  All the times I had turned around to gripe at them for spilling and being messy rattled around in my head.

We stopped at home just long enough for me to yell at them for some mess or other, picked up girls from their tutoring, and rushed to the last Religious Ed. class of the year, where they boys were able to play on the school playground for an hour.  We headed home to a forgettable meal, after which I snapped at the kids until they went to bed.

This is just how things are right now.  Busy enough to make my head swim.  Short tempered enough to make me go to bed regretting the whole day.

But there are small pockets of happiness and joy.  Sure we spent the day in the car, but we were able to help out the Papi, so he had a little extra time for us on the weekend.  The meal was forgettable, but the sweet prayer and the enthusiasm of the child make it special.

Right now I'm holding on to the small pockets of happiness in each day.  Because of the two birthdays we've had in March and April, we've arrived home many days to packages for one or the other or all kids.  Those are great days.

One day our praying mantis egg hatched.  A fellow co-op mother gave us this egg, and it sat in our little butterfly habitat for...  long enough.  Just when I thought it wouldn't do anything, maybe we had shaken it too many times, manhandled it too much, it burst open with life.

Dozens of these teeny, tiny mantis emerged.  It seemed as if one second I checked on the egg and the next second there was a confetti of babies all over the mesh walls and ceiling of the habitat. 

We released them into the garden, hoping that a few would survive into the summer.  One of the little guys above attempted to crawl up Deli's sleeve, causing a little dancing on the boy's part.  A few precious minutes in the back yard spent with my family and some mantis babies was enough to make that day into a great day. 

And in other news, we found a package on our porch from the Allem cousins.

That was a great day, indeed.