Celebrating Successes!

I've always admired children because it's the little things in life that make them happy. Well, today, it has been the little things that have given ME joy. Let me start at the beginning... Getting around Dallas is not as easy as Nicholasville or even the thriving metropolis of Lexington especially when the roads have names like ours...North O'Connor Road because then you have to decide whether to go north or south on them!!! Anyway, with 10 lanes of traffic, yes, I did take a moment while in rush hour tonight to count, driving around here and getting from one place to the next can be a bit hairy...

However, I woke up this morning with a renewed sense of adventure, or at least a need to get to Target (a girl has to go to Target!!!) so with my brave and positive kids in tow, off we went. I am proud to say...we found Target, the grocery, and the gas station WITHOUT getting lost or having to do any unnecessary U-turns! When we made it back to our apartment complex, I cheered and Olivia said, "Mom, why do you always say that when we get back home?" I told her it was because there was always a chance that we may not make it back here! :)

The entrance to our apartment...

After celebrating with some delicious g-free mac-n-cheese, we excitedly got ready for some pool time! Donny gets out early on Fridays so he was able to swim with us for the afternoon! I am not sure why, and perhaps when we end the summer covered in warts or some sort of odd rash we will understand, but NO ONE uses the pool! It is like we have our own private pool. We had fun playing Marco Polo, jumping from the water falls, and helping the kids practice their swimming. This is what memories are made of!

After our afternoon in the sun, protected with 50 SPF, of course, we pre-made dinner and a cake and headed to Ennis to celebrate an early Father's Day with Grandpa. Rush hour traffic made the drive a bit longer and, as you can see (if you turn your computer or head sideways!!!), the kids were tuckered out! =)

Dinner with Grandpa went well and, for the most part, the only living creatures we saw IN the house, were humans. =) I got to have a long overdue chat with Mel as I cleaned up the kitchen until the kids decided they had just had enough and it was time to go.

SO, to wind things up, it was the little things today that made it such a success - not getting lost, having family time in the pool, watching the kids' heads bob up and down as they slept in the car, playing 20 questions on the drive home, and eating cake with my grandpa...

That's not to say that I am not missing home though, our K-Y home, as Liv calls it. I think it hit harder today because twice Liv mentioned wanting to go back - once because she missed her friends and once because she left toys there she wanted to play with. Again, it's the little things like a Glo Doodle that sometimes make all the difference between feeling at home and feeling just a bit out of place...