leaves and thieves

I can't believe it is almost halfway through November.  These 70° days make it easy to forget that we are closer to winter that summer now. All of our trees are half bare, including our gigantic magnolia.  Luckily we have a lot of help getting the leaves raked up and to the curb.  

Watching these three is one of my favorite things.  They do so much together now.  Eva and Theo are  constantly hatching plans and working together.  They still have their dust-ups, but more often they work together pretty well - especially since they have learned that tag-teaming the parents is effective and beneficial to both of them.  

And then there's Helena.  Watching them continually and joining the mix when ever she can.  She loves get in the middle of what they are doing, and sometimes that actually means she walks up and stands right between them, in their way, until they have to notice her.  She copies whatever they are doing and follows them wherever they go.

Thick as thieves these three and we parents are outnumbered. 

on three

Shhhh... I won't admit it out loud, but you guys are the boss.  We might make the rules but you're are the ones that call the shots.  The three of you teach me something new everyday - the infant, the brand new preschooler and the almost kindergartener.

I swore I wouldn't let motherhood define me.  Before you guys were here, I decided that being a mom would just be a small piece of a whole bunch of other parts that made me up.  I had no idea how huge this mom thing was, but in this picture are the three things that make me who I am.  24/7/365 I am your mom.  You are my jobs, my hobbies, and my free time.  I even write these posts, one-handed, on my phone while I nurse you Lena - hoping to copy and paste them later.  I know it won't always be this way, but for right now you three run the show.

On Valentine's Day, your daddy and I had a date night.  Thai take-out after the big kids were asleep.  We sat and had mostly uninterrupted conversation with a baby on our laps. We finished our sentences and had complete conversations.  It was amazing.  We somehow managed to get little Lena in bed and started a movie.  I made it halfway through before I fell asleep on the couch.  I am pretty sure I fell asleep smiling.