I'm not making breakfast...

As I sit here getting ready to start my Monday, my 5 wonderful children are in the kitchen making breakfast with the door closed. They asked me not to come in which is why I'm checking out your blogs first thing, and I also decided to post quickly. 

They are  blessing me with a surprise breakfast. Not sure what it is except that it involves the oven, because they asked me how to operate it, and marshmallows. They are so precious. I thought they might be up to something, when I came down the stairs in my sweats and hair up in a ponytail, because they were whispering. As I approached, they said, "Don't come in here, Mom." I quickly made a bee-line to my computer. 

Homeschooling gives them the flexibility to work together like this and start school perhaps a little later. I love the relationship they share together. 

Last night was a toughy! We had our twins take a nap during the day (yes, at the age of 7). It's not common to have them do that except they both looked really tired at lunch after church. Combined with that, we watched a slightly "scary" Little House On the Prairie episode that I think might have freaked them out. You know the one where Mary's baby and Alice Garvey die in a fire. How sad is that?! Those two things combined made for a long night. They were both up until almost 11 and then once I thought they would finally fall asleep, Grant came down and said his belly hurt. He ended up in bed with me, Shawn was in the guest bedroom and I was up pretty much the entire night on and off. 

All that to say, I think they are blessing me especially this morning, to ease into our day. I love them with all of my heart. And the Lord and I agreed I would be joyful, patient, and at peace today despite very little rest. A nap is definitely in my plans though. :-) 

Blessings to you all today!

P.S. I posted the first part of this post before I had breakfast. After they presented everything, I grabbed the camera to take the above pictures. They ended up making a yummy fruit dip over apples and bananas with a marshmallow on top and a ginger snap, too. The other part of breakfast was homemade French toast sticks. The whole motivation, by the way, was that they were looking at "Quick Cooking" magazines and got inspired to cook. The older kids had no idea what a long night I had had. Oh well, still a blessing either way.