Spring + Beautiful Girls

Okay, so technically Spring has been around since February, and we are pretty much already on our way to summer, but I look at these photos, and they just seem so Spring-ish, and sunny, and beautiful, so since the sun is not quite my mortal enemy yet, I will try to embrace its splendor for the time-being.

Our wonderful HOA puts together an awesome neighborhood event in April that includes free food, petting zoo, pony rides, face painting, and rock climbing. I missed the event last year to be home with a newborn baby, and since it was happening right in the middle of Spencer's nap-time this year, Craig kindly let me be the "fun parent" and take the girls on my own.

News flash: Being the fun parent isn't so fun. The girls certainly did have a blast, but man, this fun-parent business is a lot of work. Like pushing Lex almost the whole way to the park on her bike (since she pedals about like she's cycling through molasses), waiting almost an hour in line for face painting and making another little girl cry because she was trying to cut in front of other kids that had been waiting equally as long, trying to dish up everyone's food by myself, then hurrying home with my hands so full of plates of hot dogs and chips and capri suns that I couldn't push Alexa back and had to keep yelling behind me "come on honey, speed it up a little," and then having to give my own hot dog away because someone else dropped hers in the dirt.

Man alive. Henceforth and forevermore, Craig has my blessing to be the fun parent, and I will gladly volunteer to stay behind with the napping child and watch Netflix by myself for two hours. Now I see that he has actually been doing me a favor for all these years and not the other way around. Thanks, babe. Be as fun as you want and I'll be here when you get back.

Some highlights:

I love these sister shots

No words to describe how much I love love love these girls

J went right for the baby chicks...

...while Lex wanted nothing to do with touching them.

Natural Caregiver, this one

Oh, also I learned that Craig is an awesome picture-take and I am a lame-o. (Okay, so I already knew that.) This was all I got because the rest of my time was spent in line for something or other. Fun Shmun.

A Style All Her Own

My little Lex has quite the eye for style, something that I love madly about her, in addition to her helping spirit, her impromptu concerts and performances, and the way that she talks with her hands almost incessantly (even in her sleep--no joke). She basically refuses to wear anything but leggings and skirts, and coordinates them by aligning like-colors even when the patterns don't really go together. ("What? Pink, pink, and pink. It matches!") She is never without accessories--candy necklaces, lip gloss rings, witch hats, headbands, and high heels, just to name a few--and, where possible, carries a cell phone with her in case she gets any important calls...which of course, happens quite often.

A more princessy princess you will likely never meet. Man alive, I love this girl!

On to April

I almost can't believe that it's April already. Being that it's my birthday month (what, don't you celebrate your birthday for a whole month?) I am usually ready to jump ahead and fill out my lovely wipe-off calendar the minute it's legitimately April. That's right, folks. I watch the clock intently on the last day of March, dry erase marker in hand, and I'm all over that bad boy the second the oven clock changes from 11:59 pm on March 31st to 12:00 am on April 1st. 

Okay, so not really, but I'd be a whole lot cooler if I did. The truth, though, is that I normally have no issue whatsoever of erasing March's events and immediately filling in the promise of April, starting, of course, with the Very Important Date of my birthday. And yet this month, I will admit to dragging my feet until almost the second week of the new month, not because of a silly issue with aging or anything vain like that, but because I don't want to erase and thus obliterate the requisite validation I've gotten used to from seeing "5k!!" staring at me from March 8th's snug little box. It's been good for me, I tell you, to be reminded me that yes, I actually do do some things that don't involve making unpopular dinners or cracking down on teeth brushing or picking up other people's messes.

I guess I'll have to start wearing my medal around my neck. And maybe stick my college diploma on the front of the fridge. And while I'm at it, I should probably pin my Writing Celebration Certificate of Merit from the 3rd grade to the front of my shirt, too, just for good measure.

Just don't be surprised at my bulky new accessories the next time you see me.

A Day Like Today

On a day like today, when my stores of patience are at a monthly low, when I am feeling slightly defeated about the child who conned me into staying home from school because she had a stomachache (and then later threw such a hairy fit about going in late that I eventually gave in and just let her stay), when I am questioning my motherly kindness after a different child's hour-long crying session about having to pare down her stuffed animal collection to a paltry 30 items, when it took me almost all day to get to the remainder of dirty dishes leftover from a large family party, when my hair is in the same sloppy ponytail I threw it into the first thing this morning, when I am coming to understand why on earth I grind my teeth so badly in my sleep that I get to wear an incredibly attractive night guard to bed, when I fed the kids instant oatmeal for dinner because I didn't have it in me to make anything else, I need to remember messages like this:

"Let the sunshine into your [life]. Don't be hard on yourself, and don't let other people be hard on you, either. Give yoursel[f] credit for the good things you do. If you make a mistake, give yourself credit for trying. Laugh a lot. Catch yourself singing...If you only do half of what you wanted to do, or only do it half as well as you'd like, pat yourself on half your back. But lighten up!"
                                                                                               
                                                                                                       ~Cheiko N. Okazaki

Somehow it's so much easier for me to focus on my failures rather than my successes, so it's time to reprogram my brain, and focus on the fact that I did not lose my temper once during the multiple-child fit-having today. That I washed and dried five loads of laundry today. That I averaged just under ten minutes a mile on my 3.1 mile run today. That I uploaded new pictures onto the computer, blogged, swept, showered, vacuumed, took the trash out, did two puzzles with Alexa, and loved on Spencer, and brushed my teeth after every meal. That I can recognize all of the wonderful things in my life.

Here's to small victories. Consider half my back patted.

Joy Amidst the Grumbling

Given our incredibly early spring this year, I am finding myself already grumbling about the warmer weather and the impending summer in which I will be relegated to elevated electric bills, sweat-stained shirts, and 6 long months spent trying to avoid stepping foot outside. (Yes, Friends Who Used to Live in Phoenix, insert chuckle here as your nice weather is about to start just as ours is ending.) 

But, in the meantime, I promise to get all of the joy that I possibly can from our deliciously cool mornings, our beautiful, breezy evenings, and the gorgeous sunsets to be seen and savored on our family walks. 

It's not all bad, right?