Simple Pleasures

In direct contrast to the way last night ended {think terrible kid behavior plus worst version reactive parenting}, today was a delight!  I stuck to my guns and banned screens all morning for Alex, which led to a lovely hour or so of him working on puzzles.  The morning continued on in peaceful happiness with a trip to the library, where both boys enjoyed playing in the children's area, and then -- to really seal the deal as best day this week -- once Alex was off to school, Isaac napped from 12:30-3:30.  What what say what???!!!???   Hahahahaha.  As a result, I was able to clean up the house, read my scriptures, AND catch up on a TV show all before any of the kids got home from school.  And since this put me in such a generous and merciful mood, I allowed the kids to earn back screen time this evening by getting their chores done and eating dinner.  And to top our night off?  Jane finished reading Harry Potter this week, so we're watching the first movie for our family movie night.  Fingers crossed that the late night for the little ones doesn't make tomorrow a nightmare for us all...  :)

 Alex is my puzzle boy.  More than any other kid, he could sit and do puzzles for hours.

 Also -- sidenote -- we have discovered that "Quality Time" is Alex's love language.  That and presents.  Hahaha.

 He REALLY wanted to give this 200 piece puzzle a go.

He needed quite a bit of guidance, but he still did a pretty impressive job on the parts he figured out on his own.

 Non-sponsored plug -- I really love these "Crocodile Creek" brand puzzles.  {These and "Mudpuppy" are my favorites for good quality, durable (and fun) kid puzzles.}

Ta-da!