Our boys have been obsessed with their sleeping bags recently. On Friday night I tucked them in their comfortable beds after following our routine, and then said good night and turned the lights off. Later on, before I went to bed, I went to check on them and I found them on the floor in their sleeping bags with flashlights on. They were sound asleep of course, and being heavy I didn't even try to get them on their beds. I just left them where they wanted to be. Today, when they were taking a long time cleaning up their room, I took their sleeping bags from them as a punishment. I had no idea how much I would hurt their feelings. Jefferson was sobbing and was begging forgiveness and asking "pretty please" to have his sleeping bag back. Truthfully, I didn't realize how much they cared about their sleeping bags. They usually aren't very attached to their toys, since they mostly read and play outside. Well, later, after I had made a fair arrangement, I asked them why they liked their sleeping bags so much. With a great amount of excitement, they both explained to me that they play all sorts of games with them. They read and tell stories to each other, they pretend they are camping sometimes on this planet and sometimes on other pretend planets, they pretend to be their favorite characters of books and movies and act their stories out. And then James nonchalantly added that they just like to talk boy stuff. O.K., people, I'm not ready for my boys to talk boy stuff. I'm sure their boy stuff at this age is talking about guns and soldiers and knights, nevertheless, just the fact they think they are discussing boy stuff, makes me realize they are growing up, and I'm not ready at all. I want them to be children not boys. I want them to remain innocent, and sweet and kiss me hundred times a day without being asked. Oh, I really love my boys. ( Did I just call them boys? I meant children.)I love week-ends for many reasons, the chief one being the fact that I get to be with my husband the whole time. It doesn't matter if we are at home or in an outing, I love the attention he gives me. Kisses and hugs are wonderful, but my favorite things are the little luxuries I don't get during the week. While we lived in Virginia, he would work from home a lot, so I didn't miss him as much, and perhaps didn't appreciate him as much either. But now that I don't have him at home during the week, the week-ends feel special. Eating breakfast and lunch together, holding hands while walking, and just being home together even if we are doing different things. I really enjoy it when he asks me if he can get me something to drink or eat, or how can he make me more comfortable, or when he asks me about the book that I'm reading. My favorite moments are when we just talk about whatever we are thinking. In one way it's hilarious, because you can see how different women and men think and express themselves, or what different subjects and interests they have! One night during this past week, I was asking his opinion on some issue I was having, and the poor guy is all set to give me his honest and well thought explanation, and rightly so, but I got so upset at him. He didn't understand me and my anger, and I just said a bit passionately that I only wanted to vent. I had already found the solution hours ago! I'm sure, he thought I was a bit strange. My sweet husband. Another time he was all worked up in explaining to me stuff about cars and trucks. He loves everything about cars and knows a lot about them, probably as much as I know about literature. I have to digress here by saying I have never given him a lecture about 18th century British literature, but for some reason he was passionately talking to me about cars, how they work, and what are some of his favorite ones. He had my attention up to when he started to explain how the motor and radiator and axes by the wheels work. A good wife can pay attention so much, and then her mind just naturally goes and wonders on things that have nothing to do with cars. However, I wouldn't trade the time we talk to each other for anything.
Another reason I like week-ends is that we can invite friends over and have a great time without worrying about picking up kids from school or running other necessary errands. This Sunday we had Stake Conference and our meeting ended about the time that we usually start our Church meeting. This was a great Sunday to have friends over since we were plenty rested and I had enough time to cook without getting stressed. We truly enjoyed out time, and I think this shows from this picture of our kids (or was it the ice-cream that made them so happy?):
Tonight for Family Home Evening, we did something quite different from what we had planned. It was very spontaneous, but it worked very well. After dinner, Elijah showed the boys the new CD player we had gotten for them so they could listen to music, books on tape, and scriptures in their own room. Gillian has one, but she doesn't part from it very easily. Gillian is very passionate about her books on tape. Anyways, as the children were trying to look at their CD player, Elijah put one of their scripture CDs on and the children just laid down on the table and started to listen to it. After a while they got tired of the table and moved on the carpet. They listened for quite some time, and learned a lot about many Old Testament prophets. It was fortunate that I had just read the same stories to James this past week, so he remembered them well, and made me very happy by recalling the events. We had a song and a prayer, and then the children wanted to watch a Star Trek episode for activity, since they hadn't watch one last week. For treats, they enjoyed a bowl of ice cream. I'm so grateful that my children love to listen and read the scriptures. If they will remember anything at all from all my teachings, I hope they'll remember my testimony of the scriptures and their love for those divine lessons. As Plato once said "Education is teaching our children to desire the right things."
