Winter Day with Children

Yesterday turned out to be a day of moments. Most of my plans changed, but what remained was a collection of lovely convergences, any of which could have been captured in a single image with a title like the one I chose for this post. Two nieces, a nephew and a darling young friend ended up spending the day with me.

My friend is already an accomplished knitter, and seeing her progress, my nieces got started yesterday and did beautifully.
Before the rain started, we went out long enough for everyone to get roses in their cheeks and just chilly enough for hot cocoa to sound good.


I ran out of both creative and actual steam in the afternoon, so there was a bit of guitar hero, but it was all in good balance. Besides, that game is very fun -the ultimate air guitar!
The spinning wheel standing in my corner has cast its spell and one little girl is now making her own yarn. She's a natural!
Throughout the day, Sara was my faithful helper, peacemaker and giver of hugs to younger children. Sam had wrestling practice, then read and rested the rest of the day. In between the knitting and game-playing, we did a craft (Thanks to Lucia for the idea!), made some cookies to decorate (we didn't get around to the decorating part, because the cookies all got eaten) and had a picnic on the family room floor for lunch because the table was full of craft supplies.

My temple trip was canceled due to the weather, and the scarf project became a wonderful, quiet evening spent with one intrepid friend, Jen, who braved the weather to come over and has already completed three scarves! It was such a pleasure to talk for a long time and get to know her better.

If I had to choose a day to become a portrait of my life, this one would be in the running. I got to be the kind of mom I always picture myself being, but who sometimes gets caught in the thick of thin things and misses out on the moments. Yesterday, I think I got them all.