The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

Life is crazy isn't it? During the week I dream of sleeping all day or having a few hours to myself in our house to catch up. Catch up with cleaning the boys' room, their closets, my closet, our room, our bathroom, my car, the yard, and the list goes on and on. Because it is just impossible to get it all clean all at the same time. My house is clean in sections only. But having it all cleaned is not really necessary-nice, impossible, but not necessary. I stopped trying to maintain control of this. In fact, that is a big "area of improvement" in my life. Letting go of control. Trying to control the boys from getting sick. Trying to control germs. Trying to control keeping them safe (you know what I mean...out of the humanly possible ways of keeping them safe), trying to control things that I can't control. It has caused me lots of stress and I am still working on it. I first noticed this need when Geoff and I were first married and I was always SO worried about him being safe. If I knew he was flying that day, I would be a wreck until I knew he was done and OK. I convinced myself that it was a protective mechanism so I would be prepared if something happened. It is all about trusting God though isn't it? He is in control, not me. I can't control the uncontrollable and THAT is still hard for me. It is better because I pray and am learning to lift those concerns to Him to handle...but I still am a work in progress. My life is far from perfect. I have a short fuse...I feel like I yell too much at the boys...I am impatient...I worry far too much about what other people think...I am overly cautious...ok, so why am I posting about this? Because I don't want anyone who looks at our blog to think that we are a perfectly happy smiley family that has it good all the time. Far from it. My husband is gone a lot and it makes me have pity parties for myself. In fact, he is going to be gone soon for a very long stretch of time and it is going to be difficult. I am trying not to be selfish about it ..because if I step back and look at the situation from his point of view, he has it worse. He will be far away, he won't see the boys for six months + (we all know how much a toddler can change in that amount of time), he will miss the boys' birthday (he missed their 2nd birthday too), he will be away for his birthday, he will miss Halloween and the whole summer. On the bright side, he might miss potty training =) so it is not all bad. I always try to remind myself that there are a lot of people who have it a lot worse than we do. So there is the good, the bad, and the ugly....but there sure is a whole lotta good....

Playgrounds:

Picnics:

Story time:

Snuggling and playing:

Ice-cream (the only time J has ever said "Mommy, goood!":

A crunchy apple:

Smiles:

A good post-dinner dive:

Our girls (unconditional love in its finest form):

Naps (I will take them however I can get them):

Baking homemade bread:

Playdoh on a stormy morning:

I just read this quote in a Real Simple magazine:

"I love living. I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they've come up with so far."

-Neil Simon

Construction Junction Take 2

I know I have been blogging for awhile when I blog about an event we attended (and blogged about) last year! Here are some pics of the boys enjoying the BIG trucks, sand pits, mini tractors, and the highlight: tootsie roll pops.

I had to get a picture of W doing his arm sling. He likes to sling his arm around your neck...here he is "slinging" Geoff:

J displaying the field goal Geoff made (what are we going to do with that?!)

Notice the lollipop never leaving his mouth:

W and J next to a bull dozer:

J on the way to the fairgrounds...CHEESE!

W on mini tractor:

Next to the BIG wheel:

Our little builder:

Tea & Testimony

My MOPS group had "Tea & Testimony" on Tuesday. It is just as it sounds. We had the traditional tea party foods, tea, and enjoyed listening to two amazing women tell their testimony of how their relationship with God either came about or flourished. One lost her third baby at 20 weeks gestation and one survived a plane crash when she was a flight instructor. Talk about survivors...and they both came through honoring God.

Each table decorated with a theme and I have to say that we should have won. Our theme was "Little Girl Tea Party" and everyone contributed items such as tea sets, homemade lollipops, homemade cupcakes, sugar-rimmed glasses, tableware, placecards, etc. And of course we wore dresses, pearls, and tiaras.

Here are a couple of the other tables (I admit, they are beautiful too!)

A birthday party theme (see the cute cupcakes under the glasses and photos of everyone's kids on their birthday):

Me and Julee in her tiara (mine wouldn't stay on):

I trimmed off some flowers to add to the table place cards. I was running late so I did the trimming after I arrived at the church. The boys helped me by carrying the flowers in and..........

.....they certainly enjoyed the post-tea party balloons on the way out!



That afternoon, the boys helped me plant and water the flowers.

Hey K girls.....

I was so happy to have our friends in town at the beginning of the week...I was facing a blank calendar (no MOPS, no MDO-we stopped going, and Geoff out of town all week) so it was perfect timing for visitors. We had fun just hanging out, going to the beach, and to the park. Their girls are so sweet and patient...hard to do when my boys are saying "mine!" and clutching their toys to their chest.

But when they relax and realize their toys aren't going to be stolen, they have fun. They had a great time playing with K and A and baby J held her own against W a few times.

Here are the boys blocking K:

Not for long...ta da!

Cute K Family pic:

Attempting a group shot of the kids...W just wasn't feeling it...even with Flood's assistance:

Thank you for visiting with us....we will see you soon!

To the park!

The boys have been pretty jolly lately. And very awake. Since the time change they have been going to bed later, getting up even earlier, and not napping. This is the first time they have not taken a nap 3 days in a row! So today I was on a mission...to the bubble park. They haven't been there in months so I packed a lunch, packed our gear and we went for a good hour and a half. It made me tired. I was confident they would take a good L.O.N.G nap to catch up from all the missed sleep.

But we got home and when I put them in their rooms for a nap...J started jumping on his bed. Sigh. Not today.

They have been playing together so well lately. They are interacting...or maybe J is directing..."W, over here.." or "Nooo W, you take this car..." and my favorite "Where is W....?" "W wake up!!!"

Some pics...I love how the boys just made themselves at home at the sand pit in the park:

Notice how W has the toys in a nice tight pile to keep it close:

W loving the big tunnel slide:

Then J...he is very happy here although it doesn't look like it:

I really like these next two pics: