Hearts

"Mom! Look at how high I can reach!" says Owen

Jordan had a whirlwind interviewing trip at the beginning of the month - to NYC for back to back interview days with two companies, then to California for more... after a long week, we were super excited to welcome him back home. While he was gone, we worked on a Valentines surprise for him - whenever someone did something really great or helpful we'd write it down on a heart and tape it up on the wall (our entire kitchen wall is still covered with these sweet reminders :)

(Really, this was much more for me than for Jordan. He was grateful to see how much the kids had worked to be good for me, but much more than that, this helped me remember to  focus on all of the great things - no matter how small - that were happening, even when things were feeling hard. )

Ellie especially worked super hard to be a cheerful helper to Mom to earn those hearts, with her magic words of the week in answer to my requests, "Of course!"