Remain Calm

This weekend was spent making french toast, brownies, baked spaghetti, cornbread, 
and anything else my hungry family could think of.  I cooked and cooked and cooked 
some more, stocking both our freezer and our fridge as I prepare for a very busy 
month ahead at work.  I can feel the anxiety rising as I glance over my calender for the 
next 3 weeks: the meetings and deadlines and countless projects mounting.  But I 
am working hard to make sure that everything is in place so that I don't drown 
in responsibilities.  Some days, I wake up at 4 am to finish my work so that I don't have 
to take my evening hours away from my family.  I plan out our meals so that my 
schedule doesn't affect our family dinner ritual.  And I make sure to enjoy the quiet 
times when they arrive, the calm before the storm.  This weekend was one of those 
times: two whole days of nothing on the agenda but laughter and love.  We all slept in, 
stayed in our pajamas for most of the day, watched movies, picked pecans, worked on 
our office remodel, and cooked A LOT.  Isabelle wrote me a story about a girl who finds 
a fairy under her bed and Brees became obsessed with an old wooden puzzle she found at 
the bottom of her toy box.  I had originally planned to venture out to a dinosaur exhibit 
on Saturday but Shawn said, "Let's just stay home.  Enjoy each other.  Relax.  You need 
that and the girls need you".  The smartest man I know, that husband of mine.  It was 
a beautiful weekend.  Now let's take these busy few weeks by the balls.