I have continually made a mental note to do Friday Felicities for the last few weeks, and guess what, I keep missing it. But that certainly shouldn't put the kibosh on my counting my blessings blog-style. I'll just give it a go in this stolen moment....

• Grace is standing behind me, totally engrossed in playing with about 10 cars on the windowsill of the playroom. I wish my camera batteries weren't dead, this would make a great picture...the sun streaming through her wispy blonde hair while she cocks her head and does falsetto voices for the different cars crashing into each other and having an indepth conversation while they are doing it. She has on a pinky pink pink dress on and no shoes. When she smiles, her black lashes almost make her sparkly blue eyes disappear. All you see is the dimple on her right cheek and that expanse of adorable still baby teeth. Precious.
• Claire is also behind me, still in her little blue frilly nightgown, crawling around amongst the blocks and cars left out by the older kids this morning. Yesterday, she stood up......yes, she stood up, holding onto something, but just barely holding on. The placid expression on her face just totally mocking all the baby books that say you should probably be eating solid food before you embark on a track career, and also flying in the face of the personal history of my other children, none of whom walked before a year. Not that she's close to walking, but you can just see the little subtle glint in her eye, whispering "Hi, world, it's me, Claire. I'm not very loud, but when you're not looking, I'm totally going to make my mark, and it will be all my own."
• There are days when Ian just makes me cry. Sometimes for joy at his simple, beautiful affectionate nature. Sometimes for frustration because I just don't feel I am getting through to him and I feel he needs so much more than I am capable of giving. In Publix the other day, I couldn't keep the tears from my eyes, watching him get upset over, well, I never did figure out what, but he just lost it, tears and desperate heart-hurting cries of frustration that ended with him repeatedly slapping himself. Sometimes I just can't get through. BUT, sometimes it is beautiful. He was putting the cushions back on the couch the other day, (after a great fort experience) and then stood up on top of them and declared to the world "I'm decently cool!!!" I said "What, Ian??" He looked at me like, "Uh, Mama, what are you, slow or something?" and repeated himself, "Mama, I'm DECENTLY COOL!" Yes, he is.
• The kids and I hit Burger King's dollar menu for supper last night, since we had to do a Target diaper run and the timing was as it was. As we were leaving, and George was being a little less than as grateful as he should have been, (this is the third time we've eaten out in 2 weeks, for crying out loud) I said "You know, when I was little like you, we hardly ever went to restaurants." To which George wisely replied "Mama, it's because there were no restaurants back then."
• My husband is a rare man. He will tell me when something doesn't look good on me, if something wasn't a good enough deal to make it worth my deal finding time, and also just give me his opinion when I ask for it without trying to stilt his answer to defer to my feminine sensitivities. His honesty was a lot to get used to in those way too sensitive first years of marriage when, let's face it, all you want to hear is "Of course you're beautiful and skinny and brilliant, nothing could be otherwise." It took me a few years to realize that this "brutal honesty" was a huge blessing. I know he will tell me the truth, and you know, it just makes it mean so much more when he leers at me and says "You are mighty fine, woman." If he will tell me when I'm not, I know he means it when he says I am. I love that.