being a part of my children's lives

Conley and I sat in the thick shade of a tree outside Hanscom Pool today, waiting for the pool to open. Eloise was asleep in her stroller. He had a swim shirt and trunks on, and a Spiderman Puddle Jumper vest and a blue water hat. He had his swim shoes on. And he was just looking around. He didn't care what he looked like, or that I had to put sunblock on him. He didn't care that other people were coming to the pool too. He just looked around and talked to me and asked questions. He pointed to the letters on the "DRUG FREE ZONE" sign hanging on the fence outside the pool. He wanted to sit on our towel so that bugs from the grass wouldn't get on him. He asked a couple times when "they were done inside" so we could go in and play. But he didn't push it and he didn't complain. His face was one of discovery and contentment. And I just fell in love with him. I love that boy so much. He is so seet and funny and imaginative. He sings a lot. And he listens really well when I ask him to quiet down. He loves playing with Eloise. He was still timid at the pool slide (Eloise wasn't at all). He loves talked to Jay. He loves playing hide-and-seek or building a tree house in Eloise's crib (which means he just throws in all the pillows from my bed). Sometimes he calls it a tiger cage.

We saw four different groups of people yesterday, with babysitting, play dates, and mutual. It was way too much. So today I just wanted to take the kids and spend time with just them. And it was so wonderful. I want to schedule no more than like two social activities during the day each week. My kids and time with them are just way too precious.

Tonight Joseph wanted to take Eloise on a bike ride, and I need to pick up some picture frames and stop by the store. So I told Conley that he got to come with me and spend time together. He was so excited. He jumped out of his chair. And ran around talking about it. We went to Walgreens first, and I got him a sucker. He chose red, because that is his favorite color lately. It was so fun and sweet. How excited he was. He loved that sucker. It took him an hour to get through it, but he didn't get bored. After our errands, we were up near the temple, so I asked if he wanted to go. He said, "Yeah!" So I drove him there and he said he really wanted to go inside. I told him we would just walk around it instead for now. He saw Moroni right away, and I asked him who Moroni was. He said, "Jesus." And when I said, no, he said, "Heavenly Father." It was so cute. So I told him who Moroni was. We walked around the south and east sides and looked at the pictures in the windows. And went up to the cemetery, and I taught him what that was. And we read the sign by the statue in the cemetery. It felt very sacred. I tried to teach him what sacred meant, but I think we might have to go over it tomorrow. It was so sweet and special. His sticky sucker stuck to my dress at one point:). I love him so much. Being three has been a dream so far (compared to two!). I felt like I was in a dream, cloud 9, or something, all night. I told him I loved spending time with him. He said he had fun too.