Swinging on Birches

My goal for each week is to make a menu and do my grocery shopping based on that menu. I sit down with some past menu successes and a couple of favorite cookbooks and my computer and go at it.  I do a check on our schedule for the week, and also do a quick run by the Meat Man in case there's anything in particular he's wanting. I have some sites that I will typically search when I'm looking for a recipe of a familiar food ( Pioneer Woman or Annie's Eats ), and other times I use general search sites ( AllRecipes ) or even a search engine.  I've gotten pretty good over the years at gauging whether or not something will be successful in our home just by looking at the ingredients, but every once in awhile I'm surprised by the result. I don't have a lot of patience for recipes that don't come together smoothly (who has time for that!?) and you can read more about how I choose recipes and plan our menu here . I am probably successful at menu planning...

Apparently, I needed a reminder today. Because I obviously  must've forgotten how big life can be in the moments of raising our littles. (Sarcasm font, anyone?) But, I guess that in the day-to-day, I do  forget at times. And some days, the moments are clicking snapshots in my mind. A huge squeeze from small, pajama-clad arms thrown around my neck. Click. Nursery rhymes sung loudly and off-key, complete with hand motions. Click. Gentle discussions on how to handle real life situations. Click. Raucous giggles from conspiratorial boys. Click. Kisses and hugs and reading and laughing and crying and yelling and whispering. Click. Click. Click. And I look back on the day and sigh a great, exhausted sigh of contentment, and I think to myself, these are humans  we're raising. These little people are learning in every look, every gesture, every reaction. And we, hopelessly flawed people that we are, are teaching them ...