The Missing Piece

Well, we came home from Little Rock emptied handed. This did not hurt my feelings at all as I encouraged Chris to look around for a good USED fishing boat. He agreed. I took the kids swimming yesterday. This was the first time they had been since school has been out. They had a ball, jumping off the diving board and going down the slide. The slide at the pool we visited is very tall and Owen insisted on going down alone. He would get on top, turn around backwards and then lie down on his belly. While he would do this, I would stand by at the side, hoping and praying he didn't fall. Once he was on his belly, he would hang onto the hand rails and stretch down until I could touch his feet. He would then let go, with me hanging onto his feet and slowly go down the slide backwards. He did this about 20 times, so you can imagine that I had a very relaxing time at the pool! Actually, once the "fun" of this trick was over, he played with some young teen girls that were also at the pool (which was quite a treat for me)! We sqeezed in our daily bike ride and my exercise class, not to mention the dreaded daily chores that the kids have to help with. But, I have to share the sweetest thing that Owen has said the last two mornings. Upon waking, he and Matthew like to come get into my bed and snuggle with me (Ben is usually still asleep). Owen puts his arms around my neck and Matthew puts his arms around us both (and I him) and we give each other a "family hug". Well, after the hug, Owen looked at me and said, "1,2,3.. Matthew, Mommy and Owen. We're missing a piece." I said, "What are we missing?" and Owen replied, "Ben and Daddy." AAAHHH, what a sweetie!