Not your typical Tuesday

Yesterday was not your typical Tuesday. 
Yesterday, I was able to spend one on one time with both of my handsome boys. 

In the morning, after dropping off Alex for his second and final day of testing, Tim and I came home and found a birthday present online for Alex that Tim's been wanting to order for him for some time now.  Alex's birthday is in October.  All the way home from the church, Tim and I were discussing places to hide his present until then.  It was so cute...and Tim was so excited.  Tim hasn't decided exactly where he wants to keep it, but I think under my bathroom sink is high on his list of choices.  He's also worried about where it's going to be delivered, so that Alex doesn't see the box.  Tim wants the best for his brother...it's so sweet.
After ordering the gift, Tim went to play for awhile...off in Timmy Land.  His imagination and passion are two of his greatest qualities.  Nothing is unreachable...unthinkable.  He loves life and is out to live it with such gusto.  While he was playing, I spent about an hour going through the house looking for the lost misplaced hopefully only temporarily displaced Lego Ninjas.  One day they were here.  The next...poof! they were gone.  Not a sign of them anywhere.  We were getting ready for his baby cousin to come over and so he carried them to his room on a cookie sheet (they build their Legos on cookie sheets to keep the parts together until they are complete) and after that they seem to have vanished.  I'm not for sure which cookie sheet he was using when he carried them in there; they are all accounted for but the ninjas are not.  I did not find them.  I feel horrible, but am totally clueless as to where they could possibly be.  I keep praying they will appear again. 
After the disappointing hunt, Tim and I decide we'll play a game together.  His choice.  First choice was Toy Story Operation.  His confidence in this game waivers some, so it was nice to play with just the two of us.  He's getting more coordinated...he even beat me fair and square.  Next, we played one of our favorites...Leaping Lizards.  The boys received this game for Christmas many moons ago.  We love it!  Again, Tim comes from behind to win in the last roll of the dice.  Happiness.
After the games, Tim and I take a few moments to watch tv together while waiting on Daddy to come home from work and pick up Tim for lunch.  Our favorite Looney Tunes were on..."my" version, as Tim calls them.  We chuckled at the antics of Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny, snuggled on the couch side by side.  The world was going on around us, but for a moment, neither of us had a care on our minds.
When Daddy and Tim were set to leave for the afternoon, I was off to go and pick up Alex.  He again was feeling good about his testing and was telling me all about the boys at his table that he had gotten to know and play with over the last two days.  He's made such progress in the shyness area...he's not so hesitant to take steps toward meeting new people anymore.  I love seeing him be more confident and open with others. 
When we arrived home, we celebrated Alex's successful testing days with milkshakes and Monopoly.  We had Alex's favorite ice cream in the freezer, Cookies 'n Cream, which made for really good milkshakes!  And, we've been talking about starting a game for about a week, so we took advantage of our time together and did just that.  The time just flew by as we were rolling the dice and buying up properties as fast as we could.  A little over an hour into the game we decided to take a break and would pick up where we left off another night.  It's not unusual for us to have one end of our dining room table covered with the Monopoly game for a few days once a game has begun.
Alex finished off our time together by practicing his piano...especially his recital pieces.  One week from the recital!  He's been doing so well with his lessons, I am excited to see how the recital goes.  Just this week, Alex has taken on the task of teaching me some basics about where to place my fingers on the keys...I can read music thanks to my years playing the flute, but needed some help with finger placement.  He likes the role reversal of him being the teacher.
Today things get back to normal as we work toward the last day of school (and our upcoming vacation!!!).  Somehow, today seems better because of yesterday. 
I like it when life works that way.