Up, up, and away

On Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we ventured over to Point Mallard for the Alabama Hot Air Balloon Jubilee.  The weather was beautiful - although five degrees less would have been my ideal, the snow cones were refreshing, and the balloons were pretty awesome. 

What was not awesome were people spooning on a nearby towel, laid out on the grass.  And it wasn't teenagers either.  I'm talking, grown adults, amidst what was clearly a multi-generational family reunion of sorts.  Mom and Dad just a kissin' and snuggling away while Gramps drank his ice tea in a lounge chair a mere five inches away. 

But back to pleasant images :)

The face painting line was slightly torturous, but Jack loved his snake.

Random snapshots from hanging out together:

Can you tell he's pouting big time here?  :)

Family shot...Ugh, I hate having to have other people take a picture.

At the 5:30 launch, some balloons set off on their own journey while most of the balloons set up for tethered rides.  (Which of course the kids said they wanted to do, but with lines a mile deep, and at least ten minutes for each up and down, we didn't have like 100 minutes to kill waiting around :)

So, the kids found other ways to pass the time:

Lucy pushed Connor around and around in circles (and into an elderly lady who nearly fell out of her chair as a result - MORTIFIED)...

Jack found some dog friends to play with,

and Connor played Superman in the stroller.

There was a band that Connor took a liking to, so we showed the crowd our moves :)

Definitely worth doing, but next year we'll rope some other families into going with us so the kids have some friends to run around with and we'll time it so that we can stay for the evening part when the balloons all light up.  That was going to be around 9pm, and after arriving at 2:30, the kids were over the event by 7pm. 

Dog Park

Last week, FOR (Friends of Rescue) - the agency we adopted Bear through, hosted a gathering at the dog park downtown.  It was a lovely evening and a great opportunity to do something out of the ordinary (and something that would no doubt wear the kids out right before bed :)  Foster parents brought their current animals to play together and dogs that are currently up for adoption were on display.

Bear was the largest dog there, our kids were the youngest, and Jack was the sweetest, loving on all the other dogs. 

It's a very good thing the entire perimeter was fenced in, for Connor was a running machine!

Rising 1st grader

She did it!  Finished kindergarten, despite her twelve unexcused absences and many more than twelve behavior "X"s.  I joke, but Lucy made great progress in the latter half of the year, and she finished strong in all areas on her report card.  Two areas in particular she earned a "4"/exceeds expectation.  No surprise they had to do with speaking.  One category was speaking well in front of a group and the other was expressing ideas.  Yeah, Lucy doesn't struggle with expressing herself :)

So a quick look back to when we were picking out school supplies...

  and setting up desk space

and the first day of school!

to the last day of school!

Trucks Show!

All my boys headed out to Sci-Quest's Truck Show last weekend.  As expected, the boys loved it.  Connor especially loved the street sweeper, and as you can see in this first picture, Jack really loved playing with the controls.  Oddly enough, they both really took a liking to the weather trucks also.  (Reminds me of the kid I babysat who used to watch the Weather Channel nonstop :)

Anyhow, back to cute - no, make that rough and masculine - truck pictures :)

Love this next one for so many reasons, but mostly because Jack is wearing his snow boots :)

Sweet story behind the ice cream...Jack got the last cone, but he asked the man if he would go get more ice cream for his little brother to have some.  And the man did.  And that reminds me of recently when we were all out to lunch, Lucy was being obnoxious jumping around while holding her ice cream.  Despite our warning, she continued to act up, and of course, ended up dropping her ice cream cone - splat! on the floor.  She burst into tears and it was Jack to the rescue; he gave her the rest of his ice cream cone.  I've said it many times before, Jack is the heart and soul of our family. 

Thanks, Jason, for taking the boys out for such a fun day!

 

 

Teachers!

Another's bloggers commentary on why men should date teachers.  Of course, I love this:

sentimentsfromtheheart.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/date-a-girl-who-teaches/

Love my husband who loves his flow charts

Jason handmade my Mother's Day Card this year, and glued inside the construction paper card (he knows the way to my heart :) were these utterly fantastic flow charts (Click on the pic to enlarge and read more easily):

 

Forgive the language, sometimes there's just not a better way to express it :)

What's behind the scenes...

Don't be deceived by the pretty picture...it hasn't been all smiles and giggles this week, although I'm grateful for the grace that brings it back to this...

Have you ever heard someone remark about how interesting it would be if adults allowed ourselves to be controlled by our emotions like toddlers are?  (I know I've remarked to friends during one of Connor's temper tantrums how funny it'd be if adults threw temper tantrums just because we aren't getting what we want.)  Well, as I think back on this past week, basically, I've been throwing a temper tantrum, like all week.  I mean, you wouldn't have found me lying on the floor, arms and legs flailing about uncontrollably, but I wasn't far from it.  My frustration just manifested itself in different ways, with slightly more control than my two-year-old shows, slightly...

My tantrum looked more like this: lots of fussing at the kids, the patience of a gnat, probably lots of eye-rolling and scowling, harsh words for Jason being sure to let him know - numerous times - how frustrated I was that he couldn't complete the simplest of tasks (the problem was not that they weren't being done, they just weren't being done fast enough), and even Bear got put outside more often than usual because he was just one more thing I didn't want to deal with.  That's basically it, in a nutshell, I just didn't want to be dealing with the things I usually deal with.  And it's not lost on me that these are all things I signed up for; trust me, I realize the stupidity of that.  I can't remember a time that I didn't want to be a wife and a mom.

But anyhow, my heart had begun to soften last night, when I finally got over my pride and apologized to Jason for being so difficult and no fun to be around the last few days.  (I realized it's a loosing battle trying to be right {"See how hard I have it, see, see, see!!!!"}  So let me understand myself, I'm trying to be right about how hard and crappy being a mom can be????; and furthermore, if one can even be "right" in that argument, where in the world does it get me?  Is it fun sulking and sludging around in a depressing cloud?  Um...no, nor is it what God designed us for and intended for us.  Jesus said that He wanted His joy to be ours, that His peace be in our heart.)  But, back to when I was finally fed up with behaving like, well, a brat. 

And God's timing was impeccable.  Impeccable, for today's message at church struck through to the core of my newly-softened heart.  It was all about the "fruit of the spirit," and specifically, how to allow the Spirit to inhabit us, which will accomplish a growing within our heart that will naturally produce all these wonderful "fruits."  Which would be (as Galatians 5: 22-23 explain):  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." 

Ouch, the first and last one especially.  I've failed at showing much love to anyone in my family this week - I was far too busy putting my best effort into pouting and getting sympathy.  And self-control... well, remember my tantrum metaphor?  Yeah, no A+ for me in that category.

My spirit was all rotten fruit this week.  Bitterness, lackluster, a hurry-up tempo, self-righteous, short-sighted, forceful, and self-serving.  Basically, the Enemy's "fruit of the spirit" list.  Every last behavior and attitude I exhibited.  Ouch.

But, ever thankful and humbled by God's grace, right now, I'm only 5% guilt-ridden but 95% grateful that I serve a Lord who has already paid for my disgraceful ways, and who loves me anyways.  So, I'll be tapping into that Spirit I have within me, not allowing the Enemy to control me one more day.

You know, spiritual warfare isn't always found in grandoise examples.  Sometimes, we loose battles just going about our mundane, daily business.  And I'm thankful that's just where God wants to walk with me.  Because clearly, I need Him.  Clearly, and this is not a new realization for me, just a reminder I need, I can not do it on my own. 

Maybe a better title to this post would be, "How we get here."  Whichever, on this Mother's Day, I'm just so glad to be right here...

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them (evil spirits), because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."  - 1 Peter 4:4

"How priceless is your unfailing love!  Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings."  Psalm 36: 7

And finally, love this one.  I don't think a one of us has our eyes open :)