Ah Spring!

I was reading in the Ensign today about "The Joy of Nurturing Children." I really enjoyed the article. One part stood out to me:

"Seeing the value of memories has changed my perspective on being a parent. We no longer make messes; we make memories. One crisp autumn day I took my children and two of their friends to the park. As they ran from swing to slide and then rolled in the damp sand, I was filled with gratitude for this time they had to be kids. "Oh, remember this day," I told them in my mind. "Remember the joy of autumn, of family, of friends, of God's wonderful earth." On the way home my son discovered enough sand in the car to make a handful and affectionatly tossed it at me. We laughed together. We'd made a memory-we could clean the car any day."

I have often struggled with choosing to clean vs. playing with my kids. It seems I could always be busy cleaning or cooking or laundry or whatever. This morning I played toys with Wesley, I took him to Let's Jump for a fun playdate and then we had lunch out. When we got home from picking up the big kids from school we played outside for the rest of the evening. We rode bikes, we washed the van together, we had a snack together. It was so fun and such a beautiful day. I didn't get a whole lot of schoolwork done, but I never get as much done as I should. I'm currently sitting in a clean house and I'm finished with the immediate schoolwork that is due tomorrow (well most of it). I'm surprised at how much I accomplished and how meeting my children's needs allowed me to also meet my own. I miss them so much when I'm gone all day. I need to be around them! Tomorrow I will be at a writing conference until late in the evening. I'm so glad I took the time to spend with them. They are only small once. They are only innocent for such a short time. I want to soak it up, immerse myself in their childhood because when it is over, it is over.
So, to finish up this post I want to share a poem from a newly discovered favorite. I have read e.e. cummings work before but for some reason it just grabbed me last night. Jared saw a quote from one of his poems on his school newsletter and asked me about it. I pulled out one of my anthologies and read several poems to him. He thought that it was cool that the man didn't do anything normal. He said "Mom, he breaks the rules on purpose, doesn't he?" My kid likes e.e. cummings. Talk about excitement. So, to usher in the glorious new season:


Chansons Innocentes: I

by E. E. Cummings
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

From http://www.poets.org/