proof is in the mess.

My patience was growing short yesterday morning. I was getting snappy with Audrey for reasons that I shouldn't have been, I mean, she's two, I can't expect her to be older. So I stopped myself and quickly thought of a place we could go to get out of the house.

The beach.

Yeah, it's cold. But the water and sand is such a refreshing place for me. And I knew Audrey would love it and Naomi would enjoy being right next to me in the sling. And bonus, hardly any one was there except for a sweet old couple taking a walk and a fisherman out in the water.

I grabbed my camera and put in the diaper bag. But when we got there, I didn't want to bother with trying to capture the moment, so the camera stayed nestled between the tiny diapers. We found shells, wet leaves, acorns, and hopped on the squishy sand. At first I told Audrey not to go near the water because her shoes would get dirty. Paaallleeeassse. That's silly. We were at the beach, touching the water was a must. So our dirty shoes went right up to the water and the water tickled our fingers.

On the way home Audrey fell asleep and as I picked her up out of the van I looked down at the mess. And almost began to get frusterated. How does our van get so messy so quickly? But it didn't matter. Because that mess, it was proof of our life well-lived. The popcorn kernals from the Farmer's Market all over the floor. The clean, empty dish that I need to return to a friend because she made us a lovely dinner. The empty juice container and raisins scattered, point to our abundance in food. The sandy shoes from our beach trip. The candy trash from a recent birthday party we attended. Now, I did end up cleaning up in the van. But, it was a happy clean up (if that makes sense).

I'm so thankful I have these girls to make messes and make my life so much more beautiful.

By the way, Naomi is already three weeks old today.