Slow down and enjoy the ride

Yesterday was one of those wonderful days where I felt like a successful parent, our family enjoyed each others company, had lots of fun, and we got a lot done- all in the same day. I got up early to get J out the door to her softball clinic, and then crawled back into bed with the Mister. He didn't have to be to work until 11ish, so we spent the morning together. I do have a love/hate relationship with his schedule. Yesterday it was all love.

We got up late and ate breakfast with the kids who were playing peacefully in various rooms. The rest of the day was mostly getting crazy with color on the kids hair. Now that I think about it, Dave is the one who starts all these insane ideas like putting temporary color in the kids hair, and then he leaves (for work) the actual doing part to me. We read, played games, and watched movies most the afternoon while I did this:I relented and did the Kool Aid color on Toby's hair. He thinks it's awesome!Mr. Cooper thinks it's cool that we can play checkers on his head. He could never sit still long enough though.

Jessie has purple highlights in her hair that she likes a lot, but she thinks they should be brighter. She didn't understand at first that to get her hair as bright as the purple-haired lady on the box we would have to bleach her hair first. That is one step further than I'm willing to go and told J she would have to wait until at least high school for that one.

I don't know why this happens, but every time I try to get out the door or have someplace to be there is something at home that draws my attention which I would rather stay home to do. It's time to go to J's softball game, but I really need to deep clean my room right now. Our friends are waiting at the park to play, but I have to get all this laundry done first. That sort of thing. It's like a cruel joke I play on myself that I'm motivated to do things when I should be leaving the house.

Last night was the same feeling of being pulled to stay home when there was somewhere to be, but the kids and I were having such a great time together. We had planned to go to an Elders Quorum BBQ at the park close by. It would be a fun outing where I could visit and kids could play, plus it would kill lots of time since Dave was working a soccer game on family movie night. Since the BBQ wasn't until 6:30 PM I planned on fixing an early dinner then going to hang out. The kids can't last until 7ish to eat, so we had a quick meal of Ling-Ling pot stickers from Costco (love those!!!) and fried rice at 5. When it was time to pack up and leave, the chillies and I were playing games without any fighting and I didn't want to ruin the fun. This was a refreshing change to the constant fighting we had all week. I can't really explain it, there was just a sweet, wonderful spirit with us as we played games, had tickle wars, wrestled on the lawn, snuggled and flew the kids on my feet (one of their favorites). There was no way I was going to break up our delightful evening. I took a U-turn with our plans and the kids didn't even notice. We jammied up and watched Bedtime Stories while I ran into the kitchen every 10 minutes to put in a fresh batch of Snickerdoodles. I enjoyed every moment.

Right before bedtime, I sat on the kitchen floor blowing bubbles for the littles and thought about what made this day so much better than others. I came to the conclusion that it was MY attitude that was different. Then the saying, 'when Mom is happy, the family is happy,' popped into my head. I completely agree. Sure, there are some days where no matter what I do there is contention or problems in our home. For the most part though, I know that I can turn around a cruddy day with my actions and attitude. I let the little annoyances go, got down on my kids level and simply enjoyed their company. It may sound lame and sappy, but it made for an awesome day.

Summer is HERE!!

Thank the stars above, we are done with another year of school. My hopes of sleeping in came true this morning after I rolled out of bed at 8:22 AM. Beautiful. Jessie even snuck in and took Syd out of her crib when she woke up so she wouldn't get loud. Fabulous start to the summer.

Yesterday was our family's third annual Crazy Hair Day. The last day of school we bust out the clippers, hair elastics, and, if Dave had his way, Kool Aid hair dye to have some fun with the kids hair.I tried to do some corn row style braids in J's hair but they just weren't working so this was our plan B- the lattice. It looks pretty sweet for being really easy to do. We watched The Deadliest Catch (we were drooling over all that crab) after J's softball game on Tuesday night and did her hair. She loved staying up late- she always does. Toby was ready to sport a red, KoolAid-dyed mohawk, but a). we ran out of time to color it and b). I chickened out. I really didn't want red stains all over clothes, pillow cases and towels. I told him I'd get out the colored spray paint from the Halloween box instead. He was still happy to go to school with it spiked up and it stayed all day. As I dropped Tob off at school the first lady that saw him said, "Whoa! Cool mohawk dude!" Toby said, "Thanks! It's crazy hair day today." Apparently, one of the boys in his class told Toby he looked like a duck which bummed him out a little. After we talked about how it didn't really matter what that boy thought, he was cool and still happy to strut his mohawk around town.

Logan was overtired and fell asleep in the early afternoon on Tuesday, so we didn't get a chance to cut his mohawk. I think it will be a Dad/Mr. Cooper activity on Friday because Mr. Coop says he wants a checkboard design on his head and I have no idea how to do that one. Good luck babe. Mr. Cooper, however, is still just as crazy with his normal haircut.And not to be out done, Syd was a clueless participant in the near butchering of her own hair thanks to her big brother who thought he could give her a crazy hair cut this morning with the craft scissors. Maybe I shouldn't sleep in anymore....... :-( Thankfully, it's not too noticeable. She's just a little thin on her front right side.

This is the look I get lately when I catch Syd up on the table or flinging a roll of toilet paper to the ground, two things she loves to do all the time. Here she is reading a Human Anatomy book on the table after breakfast with that look like, "I'm busy! Don't you think about taking me off this table." That's what I felt like she was saying anyway.

Boys are weird

I'm glad I'm not a boy. This is what I heard today that further confirmed that fact.

"DAD! I did it! (Tob was a little stopped up and finally relieved his bowels)

Dad walks into the bathroom, "Whoa! Dude, you gotta give that one a name! That thing is huge! That's a gut buster, etc"

Dad walks out to me and says, "There's your picture of the day in there."

Ew, gross. I think I'll pass.

In less graphic news, J and Tob finished baseball season last Saturday.

Jessie got the game ball for her solo out at 2nd in her closing day game. It's a good thing she had a great game because she was the only team member who hadn't been given a game ball yet. She keeps track of those sort of things and felt completely gypped in previous games because she was always one of a few people that had great games and didn't get the game ball. I prayed a few times that morning that she would have fun and get an out or two in the process, so she would have a shot at the game ball. Is that a silly thing to pray for? Nevermind. I don't think so because J's future in baseball/softball might very well be in jeopardy if she felt at all slighted her first year playing and she really enjoys it. She holds on to things as long as an elephant and they never forget, right? J is an awesome batter. I think she may have struck out less than 5 times the whole season. She liked playing short stop and looks forward to next year. Toby had a great year in T-ball and improved a lot. He likes playing catcher the most because he gets the ball every play. Tob was the master of monster hits and would often hit them way out on the grass while most other hits stayed infield. He went from a newbie dancing around on the field and playing in the dirt to actually watching the game and cheering on his team. Tob had a great last game too that ended with a solo out at 3rd the last inning.

I asked the kids to give me their best 'tough guy' face and J about knocked me over with hers. She shoots me that look when she wants to talk back and it kills me every time.

After the games the kids enjoyed the bounce house, massive amounts of sugar and watching J's coach get dunked in the booth as part of the closing day carnival. I wish they would have had that bounce house at every game. Mr. Cooper spent over an hour jumping in there while I watched games, and went to bed with no complaints that night. J's team had a last huddle around donuts, milk and juice so coach could give out trophies and a new Cubs hat. The trophy was a neat surprise for J and I wish I would have brought the camera. I left it home because it was raining when we left for the games and I didn't want to bother keeping it dry. I should have known it would clear up and be beautiful 3 hours later.