A sweet sorry note

We had just put the kids to bed (and yes, it was another hard day). Dave and I were cleaning up the kitchen and I thought I heard someone coming out of bed, but crossed my fingers that I was just hearing things. A few minutes later when I walked out of the kitchen, I found a piece of paper on the floor...secretly placed there by a tip-toe-ing girl.
Dear Mom and Dad,
I am sorry I wasn't behaving well. I hope we'll have a better day tomorrow. I want to be better for you guys. I wish today was a better day. I love you so much, and want to show it better. But at times we all can get crabby (Mom's note: Their piano teacher uses that word. Funny that now she's using it, cuz we never use that to describe our mood). I'll try hard to show respect to you. Sometimes a little after one of you are serious (which I used to call mean), it seems I'm happy after it. I love you. Love, Ashlyn

Sometimes when I'm in the middle of a hard day, I try to think of what my favorite part of the day will be. I knew it right when I saw it yesterday. I was popping some popcorn for a snack for the girls. Nate has never seen this before. He sat on the counter, watching, mesmerized, as the little kernels started bouncing. His eyes turned from being mesmerized to total shock and wonder when the whole neck of the popper filled to overflowing with big, white popcorn. Yep - that was my favorite part.

My second favorite part was when Dave and I were watching the debate last night. There was a funny part (probably only funny to us) where McCain attacked Obama, and the look on Obama's face was as if his secret was out and he was surprised that someone else knew about his secret. I can't explain it well, but we were laughing so hard. I love to laugh.