my little adventurer.

By 10:00 this morning, everyone was off to their various summer activities (Ashlyn went in to work with Jimmy, Cam went golfing, and Ava went to a little neighborhood art class.)  This left only me and Andy at home (well, plus a house full of workers--new concrete floor was poured in the basement today.  yay!)

After a few minutes of puttering around Andy said, "mommy, will you go to the gully with me to catch some butterflies?"

Many times it's so hard for me to step away from my to-do's, but I'll tell you what, I never regret it when I do. 

So Andy called Ashlyn to ask if he could borrow her butterfly net, and after permission was granted, we set off to the gully, hand in hand.  Within a few minutes he had already caught a little white butterfly.  He's a fast little fella.  I have this image of watching him jump and run after the butterflies, waving his net this way and that, that I hope I never forget.  

It was such a delightful 30 minutes of one on one time with my Andy.  Within that time he caught a butterfly and a dragonfly, and he was quite positive they both become really good friends while in the net.

As we were walking home, he considered writing a story entitled "The Butterfly & The Dragonfly" but instead he drew some beautiful sketches of the little creatures.  After he was finished he opened the net outside the window and they flew off; up, up and away.

On Sunday in one of our meetings, someone said something regarding simplifying our lives, that I really, really want to implement in my life. . . They said: "Distill our lives down to what is most important. . . the activities where the most enduring & rewarding results will be found." 

I think these one on one impromptu moments are one of the greatest treasures of motherhood, and I want to make sure I'm having lots of them. :) 

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