You make beautiful things out of dust.
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   ~The Next Morning~

Mandy yawned as she opened her eyes. She smiled when she saw her daughter still laying beside her, her little arms wrapped around Mandy's waist.

   "Good morning sweetheart." Mandy whispered to her.

   Amilee didn't respond, so Mandy gently pulled her arms off her waist and set the little girl back on the bed. She gave her a kiss on the forehead before tucking her in.

   "Mama." Ethan said sleepily from his crib.

   Mandy grinned as she walked over to the toddler. "Hey sleepy boy. Do you want to wake up Daddy?"

   Without waiting for a reply, she picked him up and walked over to the mattress Caleb was sleeping on; then set the boy down beside Caleb.

   Ethan giggled. "Daddy sleepy." He said, then stood up in the mattress.

   Mandy watched as her son climbed on top of Caleb, basically treating him as a personal jungle gym.

   She grabbed her outfit from her drawer, then rushed into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. "Yes! I finally get to take a shower without having to rush through it and take care of the kids."

   She looked in the bathroom mirror, then sighed at what she saw. "Gosh, I really need to do my hair. Maybe I'll have time when Caleb and I celebrate our birthday." She said aloud as she grabbed a can of hair product and carefully sprayed it along her roots.

"I wish my hair were thinner." Mandy thought. Her thick hair was something she didn't really like, she preferred her hair just to lay flat with no volume.

She laughed at that thought. "Why do I wish my hair had no volume when so many people spend money to give their hair more volume?"

An hour later, Mandy walked down to the kitchen, Ethan on her hip. Amilee was still sleeping, so Mandy left her in the room. Caleb could wake her up when he finished getting ready.

"Morning Ann." Jason greeted her.

"Morning. Did you get the muffins out yet?" She asked as she bucked Ethan into his highchair.

"They are thawing on the table. I'm making granola, and I've got the peaches peeled and ready to be sliced up." He filled her in.

"Awesome." Mandy replied, then opened one of the bags of half frozen pumpkin muffins, handed one to her son, and walked over to where the peaches were sitting.

She grabbed a knife and serving bowl, then started to slice the peaches. "Caleb should be down in a little while, and Amilee is still sleeping."

"Was she crying last night? I thought I heard a girl crying, but I'm not sure if it was real, or I was so tired I imagined the sound."

Mandy smiled. "Yeah, that was her. She had a nightmare."

"Aww, that stinks. I always feel bad when kids get nightmares."

Mandy was used to Amilee getting them, so it really didn't bother her, but she didn't share that. "Yeah." She agreed instead.