Oldest son being able to consistently get up early in the morning without my-um-annoying reminders. Watching him grow into a man. A good one at that.

How great second son looks in oldest son's tux. (Even with his uber long and uber surfer-boy hair.) Also how great it is I didn't have to buy two tuxes.

The way my daughter calls me "Mommy" when she needs something. Or when she wakes up scared in the middle of the night. There is still just a titch of the little girl who used to climb up on my lap and cuddle me left in the way she says it.

How my youngest, who needed a ride home after school to help him haul his big boxes of fundraiser wrapping paper, let it roll off his back when his lame mom stayed too long at the office today. It melted my heart when I drove up only to see him half-way down the street, pushing our beat-up red dolly piled high with boxes. I was greeted with a big smile and not a trace of disappointment. Thank heavens for mercy and for the resilience of a youngest child.