A wink and a smile

This last weekend we were definitely blessed with some beautiful Iowa weather. A few sunny 72 degree days with absolutely no humidity. Definitely out of the ordinary but a completely happy surprise.

Mom made some chili Saturday, and at first I thought, who in the world would want chili in July? But it was just perfect--kind of like the first days of fall (our favorite season here in the Mangan household) with Cyclone football, tailgating with friends and family, and of course--chili and wings.

John and I took the kids to daycare Thursday as we were needing to do a lot of yard work. In the course of the four day weekend, we managed to pull out ALL of our many bushes and plants, plant nearly 40 different flowers, bushes, etc. and dig and dig and plant. It was totally exhausting. In the midst of our day Friday, Avery and the girls were outside with us. We have this totally cool old tree swing that our neighbor, Charlie Brown (sound familiar?) repaired for us and Avery loves to swing on it. I was holding Sophie so she could watch her sister swing while John pushed Avery higher and higher. All of a sudden, Sophie began cracking up. I mean, just cracking up. Whenever Avery would swing towards us, Sophie would just laugh so hard that she could barely stand it. I couldn't see her face because she was facing outwards, so at first, I thought: great, she's gonna have a major blow out. I better get ready to run. But after the initial sounds, when she began heeling over from laughing so hard, I was just so excited. To hear a baby laugh, especially when it's your own baby, is like a little piece of heaven. It lasted for a couple of minutes. Then she got bored and we moved on. From that moment to the present, her sister is the ONLY one that has gotten her to laugh like that. Grandma Nancy did a couple of times, but she thinks Avery is the funniest thing in the world and Avery just loves to make her sister smile.

Sometimes, having children, especially in those early months when you're just on automatic, you think--man, is this going to get easier, better, more fun for everyone? In that single moment when you hear your child laugh for the first time like Sophie did Friday, you sorta forget those times and realize every tough moment, every tear you've shed from pure exhaustion or pain is all totally worth it.

We definitely all felt like God gave us a wink and a smile this weekend by giving us such great weather for the tough job we had landscaping, giving Sophie the gift of laughter and letting us witness it for the first time, and blessing us with the gift of seeing our two beautiful, healthy girls enjoy each other like only sisters can.

I can't wait until I have some time to figure out how to add pictures to this! I tried last week, but when I posted them, it cut everyone's face in half! Not good. I'll try again soon. Love you all and sure hoping you were able to enjoy last weekend's beautiful weather, too.