A Good Life.

What I am doing now:
- Sitting on the couch
- Browsing Pinterest (well, and writing)
- Eating chocolate almonds

What my children are doing now:
- Running around in the backyard in swimsuits
- Spraying way too much water from the garden hose
- Getting everything wet
- Screaming with glee

What I did all morning to get to this Moment of Bliss:
- Rearrange the junk in the garage (again), this time finally freeing up space for our second vehicle for the first time since we "moved out" in mid-March
- Take empty boxes up to the attic
- Clean and rearrange toys and storage on the back porch
- Set Andrew up with a "car wash station" to help me with the toys
- Tell Luke to stop playing with the hose
- Sweep the trampoline
- Kill a mother wasp building her nest (no mercy)
- Sweep the back porch
- Tell Luke to stop playing with the hose
- Pull out the kids' picnic table
- Make two PB&Js, cut into hearts and dinosaurs, served with apple slices on newly reintroduced picnic table
- Tell Luke to stop playing with the hose
- Reheat and eat leftovers
- Take out trash
- Sweep and rearrange upstairs porch
- Put last bit of large garbage in truck for a trip to the dump
- Give in to kids' request to put on bathing suits (since Luke is still playing with the hose)
- Set up new rug in upstairs porch
- Stand and admire upstairs porch
- Put away brooms and empty trash
- Help toddler out of soaking clothes and Pull-Up and into a bathing suit
- Find chocolate almonds
- Pour iced tea
- Put all the cushions back on the couch
- Ignore fireplace needing to be cleaned
- Find laptop
- Sit
- Smile

These past several weeks have been - oh, I don't know even know what words to use! Exhausting. Exciting. Stressful. Satisfying. Crazy. Fun. Surprising. Expensive... And after vacating our home for its interior facelift, I think I can almost say we are finally Back In. There are still empty shelves and several boxes of decorative items to unpack, and nothing at all hanging on the walls (they are so pretty! I can't bring myself to make holes!), but the end is in sight, and we've certainly reached a place where we can at least take a break from always unpacking, always arranging, always wondering where in the world that one thing might be in our house... it is a lot of work, and I won't lie: I'm tired. But it's been so good, too, this being busy, being productive. So much of my life right now is the long game, and I rarely get to sit back and admire the things I put the most effort into. So the joy of each emptied box, each filled drawer or shelf, each piece of furniture fit into place, is much greater than I'd expected.

And the iced tea and chocolate almonds taste even more delicious on this cushy comfy couch, where I just might stay until someone forces me to move. And since I have littles, that will probably be sooner rather than later... but in this moment, as they continue to happily water every inch of the backyard and themselves, I will thank the Lord we can afford a higher water bill, and let myself relax.