"Clean" Garages, Snakes at church, and Fireworks

Lon and I decided today that we should clean out our garage and sort through the myriad of boxes we have moved from place to place. We decided that today would be the day we sorted through things that have been in boxes since we moved here 2 1/2 years ago (or longer in some cases) and get rid of a lot of stuff. Well, 5 1/2 hours later, it doesn't look much better, but we did get rid of some stuff. It's amazing how emotionally attached we can become to our stuff. Wedding presents that we got and have NEVER used because we've simply had nowhere to put them or because they just weren't practical for us to use, toys the girls haven't played with in forever, all sorts of stuff. Why do we have it all? Better yet, why do I have a hard time getting rid of it? We did manage to rid ourselves of some or at least plan on ridding ourselves of it as soon as the thrift store is open for donations next week. The girls "helped" with some of this. We had two piles going, a throw away and a keep pile. Lainey started her own pile and said, "This is stuff I'm keeping." I had to break it to her that she didn't really get her own pile.

The girls and I went to the church today to clean up and while there, I asked Lainey to bring me a package of wipes upstairs. I knew she knew where they were so this shouldn't have been a problem. Well, she looked and said she couldn't find them so I went downstairs to get them and they were right beside her foot. I said, "Laine, if it had been a snake it would have bitten you." A few minutes later she came to me and said, "Mama, where's the snake?" And then later said, "Why is there a snake at church?" Hopefully folks out in public won't hear her ask that and think we attend some sort of snake-handling congregation.

While we were outside cleaning up, Lainey and Sarah Grace decided they would play hide and seek. Sarah Grace was the seeker and Laine was the hider first. Sarah Grace walked over to the porch, put her hands over her eyes and counted to 5 and then said, "Ready or not, here I come." Now, while she was doing this, Lainey got in a box and hid. Sarah Grace ran right to the box and said, "I found you!" It was really cute, cuter than I can capture by just telling you. They played again later and Sarah Grace hid. Her version of hiding was just to lie down on top of some boxes and grin great big at Lainey. Lon asked her if she was trying to blend in with the ground. The folks across the street came home while we were out and had their radio on pretty loud with lots of bass and Sarah Grace said, "It's getting pretty bumpy out here." We heard some sirens in town that went on for quite some time and Sarah Grace kept saying, "There's fireworks." Even when we told her it was a siren, she insisted they were fireworks and would not be corrected.

In our search through boxes, we found some pictures of Lainey from age 16 months to around 20 months. They warmed my heart, but made me sad as well. Why does time have to go by so fast? It's hard to remember that she ever looked that way or was that small. Just makes me want to hold them a little tighter for just a little longer and to make as many memories as possible with them. What sweet little blessings we've been given!