Saturday Musings

I was going to call myself "The Monday Blogger," because I have only been posting on Mondays lately, but this Monday I did not blog because I actually made it to the gym!  (Not to mention that today is Saturday, and Monday was five days ago.)  The downside to going to the gym was that it cut into my usual guaranteed blogging window, but it felt awfully good to work out on a Monday morning.

There's much to catch you up on, but I'm not in a catch up mood.  Chet and I have been in parenting Hades lately; Sydney is acting like Paris Hilton (spoiled -- sorry, Syd, but you are acting spoiled, and I'm not sure why), and Lorelei is exhibiting the beginning signs of 3-year old behavior (which, in my opinion and limited experience, is worse than 2-year old behavior).  Joy.  Ford, on the other hand, is a perfect angel, and will never do wrong.  (Remind me of this false statement in about a year.)

So, things are kind of hard around here, especially with Chet gone on the weekends, but, despite these growing pains, I can actually feel us growing.  I feel myself stretching (in a good way) as I learn from my mothering mistakes, and even though it's often one step forward, fifty steps back, I can at least sense progress.  When a 4- and 2-year old are talking back to me and screaming over one another and ignoring me (all at the same time), and I would like nothing more than to shout my head off and gain control and prove to those little monsters angels who is in charge and to force them to obey me...I find myself choosing not to yell and attempting to handle the situation the way a patient person might (I am not, by nature, a patient person).  Be not mistaken: I do not choose the high road every time, only sometimes, but, for us, that is progress.  I swear, when I take a moment to breathe and gather my thoughts in the heat of the moment, I can hear God whisper, "Grace, my child.  Give them the grace that I give to you."  I know in my heart of hearts that any harsh reaction to the chaos never, and I mean never, yields positive results.  I'm thankful to (finally) be learning, and it's all still so hard, but that's okay.

Okay, let's lighten things up.  The kids and I are alone this weekend, but last weekend my friend Casey and her little boy Levi flew in for a visit!  I recently realized that Casey is my oldest friend (as in, we have been friends for 20 years); we met when I was in the 4th grade and she in the 2nd grade, and I'm so thankful our friendship has survived this long.  We had a great time during their visit.  Here was our itinerary (the highlights):

Thursday
We threw caution to the wind by skipping naps and heading to Ikea with four kids in tow (it was raining, so there wasn't much else to do).  And wouldn't you know it, there wasn't a swinging soul in Ikea on a Thursday afternoon!  It was amazing, and Casey got some great ideas for her house (they're currently remodeling).

Friday
We had a 10:30 a.m. tour at the Washington Monument, so we loaded up, made the short drive into D.C., parked on Constitution Ave., and broke out two double strollers.  (I feel like you get lots of looks in the D.C. area when you have more than two children, so you can imagine how many looks we got with four kids, ages 4, 3, 2, and 9 months.)  The tour was great (you ride an elevator to the top of the monument and get to look out the windows), and we were able to see a few other monuments as well.  We headed to a hot dog/ice cream stand for a snack before heading back home.

Saturday
In the morning we introduced Casey and Levi to the Del Ray Famers' Market and a park where my kids like to play.  In the afternoon we showed them the cute little area with the library, fountains, smoothie place, and Harris Teeter (Casey's first time in a 2-story grocery store).

Casey and Levi left early Sunday to get back to real life, but it was such a breath of fresh air to have them here!  Casey was snapping tons of pictures throughout the trip, so I took that as an excuse to be lazy with the camera.  Here are all the pictures I have, and perhaps I'll post more if I get them from Casey:

Traveling Circus

Duck Pond

Ford wants to play.

The Washington Monument

View from the top (from Casey's phone)

(From Casey's phone)

(Casey's collage -- I am not this talented or creative)

(Casey's collage)

Happy Saturday, everyone!