be careful, choices and my edge

this should be 3 separate posts...but i don't have time so here we go!

the other night, pat was late getting home.
i could either throw the kids in bed and be done with them {which part of me definitely wanted to do} or i could take a deep breath and embrace the fact that I am the one that gets to spend some quiet time with them at the end of the day and tuck them in bed.

i came up with this as we were brushing their teeth.
we had sung that song, "be careful little eyes what you see" in AWANA this past Sunday and it came to mind...

so i got a big roll of paper, laid bailey down to trace her, and then we talked our way through the song. they took turns adding the body parts and we all came up with ways we can use our eyes/ears/hands/feet/etc well and ways we can use them not so well.

it's been a great reminder to have hanging in our kitchen over the last few days!
i think it will be there for awhile!
{sorry...the picture is awful...i hope you can see it well enough}

my day {and your day...i'm not trying to sound like i'm special and unique here...} is full of SO MANY CHOICES. i mean, SO MANY! what to pack in lunches...what the kids will wear {these days that choice is how can i get this outfit to last all day so that there aren't 2 outfits for each kid at the end of the day since it's chilly in the morning and warm in the afternoon!}...go to the grocery store now or later?...go to lunch with that friend or do "special Bailey time" before naps?...let them have a playdate or not?...eat an entire bag of jellybeans {just seeing if you're still reading...i KNOW that's not a good choice!}

you get the point.
lots of choices.

i have a hard time making so many choices.
and feeling like i'm making the right ones all of the time.
i have set my days and weeks up to be pretty scheduled and routine.
it takes some of the "choices" out of the mix...it's just part of the schedule so it's not a choice!
but sometimes i have a hard time making a decision...i'm not sure if i'm just being a control freak...or being wise in possibly guarding our time/money/whatever it might be.
each decision involves so many people/factors that each time it might be a different "right" answer...that makes me crazy!

i don't have a solution...just sharing :-)
anyone else have a solution? i'm all ears!

we were headed to a friends after the gym this morning.
and i made a list last night of all that had to be done today.
i have set aside tomorrow {Saturday} as family day and i've had to guard our time tomorrow SO
much already! telling people we already have "commitments". technically, we don't, but i think we NEED the day to be together so it IS a commitment.
in order for that to happen, LOTS needs to get done today.
after our fun this morning, though.

{i have since added about 5 more things to this list...}

but then she called this morning and said they were sick so we couldn't come over.
at first my mind said, "great! more time to get my stuff done!"
but i made a different choice.
i already had all the kids' lunches packed for going to our friends' house so we went straight to a playground after the gym...and stayed until joshua got on the bus!
the weather couldn't have been more perfect.
and it was just good to be outside and relaxed.
even though i knew i had that list sitting back at home, i was truly relaxed.
i knew it would still be there.
i knew what needed to get done would get done.
this is what OPENING MY HANDS looks like in my day.
might sound silly to you.
but its HUGE to me.

it's hard to pick my favorite part of my day so far...there are so many!
*the warmth of Sawyer's sweet little hand in mine as we walked into the gym {he thinks he's SUCH a big boy walking on his own!}
*the look of glass of the pool right before i started to swim. no one else was in the pool and it was a cool shot!
*bailey's little legs going up and down up and down so so fast on that tractor that she rode ALL THE WAY! to the playground!
*joshua's face as he raced me up the hill
*sawyer's face as he went down that slide over and over and over

i would have never enjoyed those moments if i had just focused on my list today...

lastly...my edge.
i think i'm going to have an edge on many of the other participants in this triathlon that i'm training for.
many of them do not put in the hours i do playing outside with 4 little kids...lifting them up to do the monkey bars...swinging them...walking miles and miles pushing a double jogging stroller...kicking and hitting countless balls...and racing joshua up this hill a few times...

we'll see if it does me any good :-)

ok.
now off to tackle that list!