When everything has fallen apart, have a "Yes" day.

Over the past few weeks, life in this household has been anything but easy.

A terrible terrible flu bug has swept through each and every person in our family and taken down every little person one by one, until it then hit Terry too.

So for 2 weeks straight I held buckets, held back hair, rubbed backs, handed out popsicles, checked temperatures, changed clothes, washed hair in the middle of the night, did millions of loads of laundry, disinfected every inch of the house, stripped bed linens at 3am, comforted whiny, worn out, horribly ill kids, and a horribly ill husband...and tried to keep this family and life together, when everything felt like it was starting to fall apart.



Because when the flu hits a household of kids, everyone goes down fast.

So late night bathroom chats, over the dim light of nightlights, were had by a mom and a poor little girl who was up sick literally all night long.

"It's going to be over soon, the morning is almost here, we're going to get through this together"...anything, anything at all that I could say to ease my poor girls aching body. Because when your kids are sick, a mom's heart breaks just a little every step of the way.

And just when Mya started feeling better, just when the last of the bed sheets were washed and the house was disinfected and we thought we were in the clear, it hit Carter, and then Sophia...and then, just when I thought it was over,  I heard the front door unexpectedly open at 2pm one afternoon, and my poor husband walked in from work looking white as a ghost, and we started up all over again.

So, with Terry's birthday falling in the midst of all of this chaos, and just days before he got sick himself, he came home to a wiped out wife, exhausted, hanging by a thread, sick little girl hanging off of her, cranky baby starting to get sick herself and a big rib dinner that I literally have no memory of putting together--but the cake? Well, easy was the key word here---so a donut cake he got. Thank you bakery. And thank you Terry for never expecting a thing, but being thrilled with some balloons, hand made Happy Birthday signs stuck to the walls, made with whatever white paper I could find and some Crayola scribbles, and cheap party tablecloths and some yummy food.  

So after he got hit days later with this bug, and went down hard, he finally peeled himself from his bed and got himself up and out and feeling better again. So I cleaned the entire house from top to bottom, declaring that the illness was officially done, and woke up the next morning and announced to the kids that it was a special day.

"Today is YES day!" I said to them, all excitedly..like it was pretty much Christmas morning.
And they looked at me like I had maybe lost my mind, but they smiled knowing it must be something good.

"Whatever you ask me today, the answer will be YES", I told them.

Their eyes lit up.

"So throughout the whole day, whatever you ask me, I'll have to say YES, so think carefully about what you ask for".

I saw them trying to figure this out in their heads.
Then Mya piped up and said "Can we have a cookie mom?".

I looked at her, and ignored that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my mommy stomache that screamed "It's 7am! We haven't even eaten breakfast yet. Children can't have cookies at 7am!" and smiled at her and shouted "YES! Let's go pick one!".

And oh my goodness, the joy that this brought.

Beaming children, wide eyed, giggling to eachother as they ran to the kitchen to find their cookie. Because sometimes when it feels like everything has fallen apart, a day of simple joys like cookies at 7am, and kids feeling like this day is as exciting as some special holiday, is worth it.
 
  
And just after those big cookies were gone, and breakfast was served, Carter piped up and said "Can we go play outside in our pajamas?"

"YES!" I said. And off we went into the backyard.

Then just as we came in and got ourselves dressed for the day, we heard our front door open and there stood their cousin Oliver, beaming too--"I heard it's YES day here!".

And the kids then proceeded to explain exactly how exciting this was, and exactly how well it works "Ask her anything Oliver--she'll say YES!" Mya told him. "It's so fun--try it!".

And he looked at me all wide eyed--"Can we have a popsicle?!".

"YES! Go ahead!" I said, as I watched all three of them tear over to the freezer.

And the questions then continued...

"Can we play with the hose?" ...

"SURE!"



And just as I was about to make lunch..."Can you do all my Barbie's hair with me mom?"

...{insert tired, just about to start something, mom here} "Of course I can Mya!".

"Can we play in the sandbox and pour lots and lots of water into the sand and make mud castles {and get ourselves completely and utterly covered in mud}?"

"Go for it!"

"Can we blow up balloons and draw on them?"

--"Sure thing".

"Can we go swimming 10minutes before dinner is ready?"....

"No problem! Dinner can wait".

"Can we have a dance party?"

"Sure thing--let's crank up that music".

Then Sophia joined in..."Can I have a nap?"

"You got it kiddo".

Anyone else want a nap??? My answer will be YES!

So here is the thing--a YES day can't happen every day. Of course it can't. The word "No" is just as important as the word "Yes".  But in a world where we can find ourselves saying "No" so often to our kids, it's fun to throw all caution to the wind for just one day and let them feel what it feels like to hear YES. And thankfully they're young enough that their requests remained pretty innocent--an extra popsicle and some playground dirt on their pajamas is just plain old fun.

And ultimately, what it did for us that very day was it brought us out of the funk of long days, cranky kids, tired mom, sick dad...and brought some joy to a bunch of little people who also needed a pick-me-up.

A little YES Day can go a long way.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. And happy (early) Father's Day dad and Terry! Love you both.

Erica xo

A homecoming to remember

We snuck into their house when they were in Romania for two weeks, and filled their counters with their favourite treats, wine and handmade cards from the kids. We strung balloons at the doorways, decorations from the ceilings and "Welcome Home!" signs from the door frames. Because when Nana and Papa leave this country, they have a lot of people who miss them.

And if there is one thing that my parents have taught us over and over again it's that love is showing up. So show up we do.

So we changed our schedules, skipped swimming lessons, switched our plans around, packed up the kids, and all met at mom and dad's house--and stared longingly at the windows until we spotted that silver car pulling up into the driveway.

And before Nana and Papa could even get out of the garage and into the house, they had a herd of excited kids jumping into their arms.









Welcome home mom and dad! And Mike and Ana (my cousin and his beautiful bride who got married in Romania), thank you for getting married in the most amazing place and encouraging my parents to spoil themselves with the trip of a lifetime and a chance to spend more time with you. From the pictures we've seen, what a wedding that was!!

We're all so incredibly happy though that they are home again.
 


But when they were gone? Well, we kept ourselves busy.

Because great neighbours invited us to have our first swim of the season in their pool. And the kids just couldn't get enough of it.

And when the weekend rolled around, little helpers planted our vegetable garden...



carefully and meticulously placing each little seed just so.



And we pretended that we actually knew what we're doing, but really we were just planting, watering and praying that something would grow so that these two eager little gardeners could feel the excitement of growing their own food.

And just as we started to see some life from those little seeds--just as some beautiful green plants started peeking up from the earth and a strawberry was found, those kids ran out to see their hard work come to life, and ironically we found this lounging rabbit...staring longingly at a potential feast that he will thankfully never get his paws on. 

 And then while mom and dad walked the streets of Vienna, I was knee deep in melted chocolate, prepping for family birthday celebrations at our place, dipping waffle cones for the kids...

creating chocolate cupcake toppers, and drizzling those cupcakes in melted chocolate with crumpled Reese cups on top--just for a little decadent birthday treat.

And while dipping strawberries the morning of....

I recruited my little baker-in-training to help me bake up a storm.

Then just as the kids started to really  really miss my parents--just as the countdown to their homecoming got closer, we distracted them with a huge long-weekend brunch full of all of their favourites...

and our little boy was kept busy for hours on end with his new-to-him tool set (thanks Fred!).

And then when the day was finally here, when their flight was coming in, this sweet little girl took one last nap before we sped over to greet them...and we all tried to contain our excitement.

 Welcome home mom and dad! We missed you. We love you. We're so glad that you're home!!

And thanks for always teaching us that love is showing up--because in the end, showing up for you that day meant that our kids got to experience the joy that being there can bring to others. Which is really the best lesson of all.

Erica xox