Sugar Daddy and Purple Popsicles

A picnic is twice the fun
when daddy comes . . .

Honeysuckle tasting:

A rare moment -- mama not behind the camera:

One of my all-time fav photos. Oh, the joy:

Everyone's "a-weep" (Lilly)

Now, a story. Several neighbor children and their mamas came to play in our backyard today. I brought out popsicles and there were four green and only one purple left. Purple popsicles are Ian's favorite, but another child wanted purple, too. I asked the two of them to pick a number b/w one and five to determine who would win the purple one. Ian won.

When the little girl became visibly upset, I could see Ian studying me, waiting to see what I'd do. But, the cool thing about Ian is, he didn't say a word. Her mama had already graciously offered to get pops from her house. So, I asked her mama if she would mind running across the street to grab a purple popsicle for her little girl, and she did, of course. By the way, this little girl is completely and totally precious/perfect and we love her!

Four hours later . . . I'm snuggling with Ian, getting him down for a nap.

Ian: Mama, know why I love you so much today?
Me: No. Why, sweets?
Ian: Because you gave me the purple popsicle.

The moral of the story is . . . sometimes your oldest, quietest, most compliant, never-complaining child needs to get the purple popsicle. Even if he is the host and a guest wants it. Sometimes, it's just Ian's turn, not Lilly's, not anyone else's. Period.

And sometimes all it takes is a purple popsicle to remind that child of your love.

So now we have a new phrase in our house. When we've had a wonderful day full of goodness, we say, "It was a Purple Popsicle Day, wasn't it?"

I hope you, too, have a Purple Popsicle Day!