The Brute Squad

Here's what I did today:



I cleaned my school room! (Notice the blank shelves awaiting our shipment of school books and the empty bulletin boards...just waiting. I can almost smell the pencil shavings and I'm excited for school to start.)

If I wanted you to be truly impressed I would have taken a "before" picture so you could see the enormous contrast. It was a big cluttered mess. That's why I took pictures. I know it won't last very long...like maybe 10 minutes. I want to remember and savor this moment.

This desktop is truly amazing:



Adam will be thrilled. No more murmuring under his breath while he's trying to maneuver around my to-do lists and papers to correct or scraps of paper where our children have scribbled Webkinz codes and Runescape and Club Penguin usernames and passwords.

It's a beautiful thing.

This morning I wanted to move our futon and vacuum behind it and dust all the futon nooks and crannies. I have been doing the very same thing for years and know how heavy and unwieldy the thing is.



I recruited Braeden and Emma to help me. I told my recruits that if we couldn't move it, we'd call the brute squad. (Adam hadn't left for work yet.) Then I realized that much like Fezzik the giant, Braeden and Emma are the brute squad. They hoisted up the 75 pound mattress and carried it out of the room. Then they helped me lift and carry the wooden frame. I was astounded.

Lately I've spent time wistfully considering how fast my children are growing and lamenting their lightening speed childhood. It certainly has its advantages though. I feel the same spring in my step as the day they could all do up their own seatbelts. Growing up children are not all bad. Especially when they are darn strong.