I Will Be Positive

*Sigh*

Finally, all is well.

At least for the next twenty seconds, anyway.

My dear daughter has finally simmered down from the devastating rejection she recently received. At 9:30 this morning, she was denied her request for a plate of chicken nuggets. Her morning sure took a turn for the worse at the point. She had a hearty breakfast of waffles and saltine crackers, but apparently, the need for a snack can't be ignored and my suggestions for a different choice did not satisfy her want.

She has deemed our front room as the "time out room." Forget that it's the room where we have family night and preschool, because clearly, the emotions tied with being on time out exceed the other two highly look-forward too events. In all honesty, she doesn't spend much time in there as she is generally an amiable sister and child. But when her emotions are getting the best of her, she willingly exiles herself to the white couch for a private therapy session. I use the word "private" loosely as I'm sure there are times the entire neighborhood can hear her. Bless her heart.

I've learned with Eliza, that its best to let her have a moment when my alternative suggestions have failed. To remind myself that I do in fact have my "good Mom" moments, I pulled out my camera to review our weekend outing and put a little something together for their Grandparent's viewing pleasure.

Each year, our library hosts a fabulous event called, Jamboread. It's a day of free, family oriented activities. This year, the guests of honor included the celebrated Lois Lowry, Paul Zelinsky and Jane Yolen. And although I didn't stand in a line to have them sign a book (future regret, I'm sure) we did have a great time as a family.

Number one on Eliza's list was to have her face painted. Andrew and I traded off waiting in the hour long line, while the other parents shuttled the kids around to a 'meet and greet' with storybook characters and a kaleidoscope making craft. Finally, we arrived at the front of the slowest moving line on the planet.
Next up, we made our way to the animal exhibit/show. It wasn't the coolest, I'll be honest. We weren't close enough for the children to fall in love with what was going on. But Andrew was definitely into it. It wasn't until all three of us were asking to leave the tent that he finally obliged.

Lunch and free ice cream came next. Clearly, this was my favorite part of the day.

Our day out concluded with a puppet show for Andrew and the kids as I attended Lois Lowry's address/presentation. What a talented lady. One tidbit of information that stuck with me is that she used her own photographs for the covers of two of her iconic books, The Giver and Number the Stars. Sadly, I'm sure that information is found on the inside cover of both books, but the stories behind each picture was sure neat.

The best part of the weekend was having help from and access to my spouse. Not to say that he didn't wake up early Saturday to go and shingle the roof of a pavilion that is being built on our Church property or head to the Church building later that same night to fulfill our cleaning assignment - because he did do those things; as well as attend a youth fireside Sunday night.

(The Queen of Tacky strikes again!
That's not a white undershirt, y'all)

But what's awesome is that he does his best to compensate for his time away by working in the garden with Eliza, coloring on the sidewalk and swinging with the kids in our newly set up hammock. I know I bring this attribute up a lot, but I do it because I want him to know how much I appreciate it.

And while our weekend was a happy one, I've sure felt homesick lately. Blame it on hormones, an extremely blunt sibling (Hi Officer Mays!) or Andrew's occasional absence, but personally I think it's just been a long time. I cherish the happenings and relationships of our life here, but the roots of our former life are thick. I'm quite certain I'm not making any sense, that I use too many words and am boring the socks off of you. But this weekend was tough. Just ask my Mom. I called her in tears yesterday.

We did have a lovely video chat with Andrew's parents and Grandma Popcorn (Flegal). The kids sang her favorite song, You Are My Sunshine. It was a great moment.

Alas, my "twenty seconds" of peace are up. Henry just found an opened bag of walnuts and showered the floor with them. Such a shame, baking nuts are expensive!

Here's to a great week...we're looking forward to celebrating a special two year old's birthday!!