Thursday, November 21, 2013

Worms, Bats, Tractors and Lamborghini's

I take a lot of pictures with my phone. A. Lot. And I take a lot of screen shots because my memory is terrible and a picture is less frustrating to send to someone than trying to get my fat fingers to text the words I want... Since I had 180 pictures today, I thought I'd dump my pictures into my computer and see what my life has looked like since the last dump.

 Katelynn had a performance for music. She was a bat. It was a painful beautiful exhibition of one hundred 7-8 year olds moving their mouths/singing to songs about worms and snakes and bats.
 And, being the over-prepared, on-top-of-it mom that I am, I brought my camera and dead battery. So I took pictures with my phone from 50 feet away and zoomed in on what I think was her.
 She was thrilled with the performance. And her costume (even though it made her HOT and SWEATY which she did not whine about it at all. ;)


Tractor Bucket sitting. At the end of a dirty day.

 With a handsome daddy to drive us around.....


Below. Halloween. Sword welding princess. (With capri's on underneath like a proper princess)
I don't even know......


LAMBORGHINI....
 This may have been the highlight of his afternoon. (Although we did also eat cupcakes...so it's a tough call)

Christmas card contender....
 Nothing says "Merry Christmas! Look how we've grown this year" like a posed picture by someone else's fancy car.


If Michael had glasses that were too big for his face and the wrong prescription.... this is what he would look like. This is something everyone should be aware of - How you might look with glasses...


Sister working in class. (It's like catching a glimpse of big foot...)


So, mom found this notebook while she was looking for something completely unrelated and it was a list of my babies' days when they were super little. Yes, I'm that organized and it's because I would ABSOLUTELY forget to feed them if it wasn't written for me. Please note, she would totally keep and thrive on this schedule if naps and feeding were a part of 2nd grade.


This had to have been before Michael was 3 because that 2 hour nap has not been a part of this boy's life for a long time. Also, bathing isn't happening daily and we don't calm down before bed.
9 is a lot different from 2.

These children are so fun on Friday afternoons. (I kid.) There are moments daily that I love them to pieces and other moments when I feel like I'm falling to pieces. (Too many examples to cite just one!!)

I like my iPhone dumps because they help me remind myself of how fast our lives are going. And I snap those memories without thinking (I just want to look cool and attentive by taking those pictures in public), without even considering how they will look printed or on the blog. Or how in the world I will explain pictures like this....

(Child labor anyone?)

I want to encourage you as you face the day with a brave (fake) smile on your face to snap those mindless pictures. Screen shot things that are important at the moment. 
It was determined that turtle necks at the beach must have been all the rage in 1996!

And look back and laugh at how blessed you are for friends and family and random road shots that probably had a point that was lost because it wasn't written down. 

Joyfully full of it,

Tiff




Sunday, November 17, 2013

Almost lost

The Lewis family is losing it today. I'm blaming the humidity and 85 degree November day for this one. It doesn't explain the epic tantrums that have become our daily norm, BUT today...it's totally the weather.

And I feel lost and deflated when we lose it as a family. Whether at each other or with each other or alone, I just don't know what to do.

The boy just melted today. And I had no power to change the furrowed brow or the crocodile tears or the mixture of snot that they created. I tried grabbing and holding on for dear life....and that didn't work. It just made him angrier. I tried joking....and that didn't work.

As i walked to my room to pick up the laundry basket, I prayed that I wouldn't lose him. It's too soon to have these struggles. So, I made him help me with laundry. I threw towels at him. Then socks. Then the same socks. Then the same socks. Then the same socks. And FINaLLy he cracked. And smiled. And we played catch with socks for a few minutes. And he hugged me and was passed whatever the heck it was that shut him down for an hour this afternoon.

And my new mantra, "Do you need help or do you need a spanking?" Directed at my mini-me...doesn't work. And I don't mean to brag, but as I was typing this she ripped the shower curtain and bent the curtain rod because she's mad that I had the audacity to make her shower..

Take heart beautiful mothers and sisters and friends... There will be joy again...

Joyfully full of it...seriously, full of it today!

Tiff


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad