The End of the Day

Have you ever had a miserable, long, frustrating day? Where everything goes wrong and you are counting down the minutes for it to be over?
That is how my day felt yesterday.
I'm a stay at home Mom and I realize how lucky I am to be able to stay at home with my kids. I also realize that people have much worse day than I can imagine, but for me, yesterday was bad.
It really shouldn't have been that bad. It started out great. I woke up before the kids did and exercised. We had a good morning and we even made it to the library before lunch and read some books, played games and did puzzles. The book, The Polar Express, had just been checked in so I was able to check it out! I found a couple of good Christmas books for me to read too.
But in between all of that and the rest of the day my little girl wouldn't stop whining. And I couldn't figure out what she wanted. I would hold her, but then she wanted to get down. And every "toy" that made her happy, remote controls and cell phone, I wasn't going to let her play with. Whenever Kade would take a toy away from her, she would be inconsolably upset, when normally it doesn't take much to redirect her attention to something else.
She was just being hard. And the whining was giving me a headache.
Bedtime couldn't come soon enough so I put the kids to bed an hour earlier than I normally do. And then at last, silence!
After a few minutes, though, I started missing my cute kids. I realized how great they are even on their whiny days. They are so precious and I love them so much. So I went back in their rooms and tucked them in again while they peacefully and sweetly slept.
I'm so grateful for the quiet parts of my day where I'm able to reflect on and appreciate all the great things that I have. I'm also grateful for the not so quiet parts of my day that make me really appreciate those quiet times even more. I'm grateful for my cute kids who remind me what's really important in my life. And I'm especially grateful for a great husband who keeps me laughing through it all.