I will take Real-Life pictures anyday...

I know that posed photos at the park are so popular right now.  I love looking at the pictures people post on facebook of their newborn smushed up in a basket.  Or their family frolicking at the park blowing bubbles.  They are adorable.  All of their outfits match and are coordinated.  It's a beautiful sunshiny day.  Great pictures.

I tried it once.  I have done it twice - once with just the kids and once with all of us.  They were okay.  I am completely uncapable of coordinating outfits.  We just all had regular clothes on.  They were nice pictures.  

 

Here is my attempt at "pictures in the park". 
Their outfits are almost coordinated.  There is a background.
We're at a park on traintracks.  :)

But the pictures I really love of my family are real life pictures.  The selfies we take while sitting on the couch.  The ones were we ask a stranger to hold our camera.  We are in real clothes doing real things.  I love the candid shots of us.  When I think back to my favorite memories, it's not posed at the park.  It's real life.  We're sweaty.  We're dirty.  We're tired.  We're silly.  We're family.  I just looked through my old pictures and those are my memories.  I will take these pictures of my family over the professional ones anyday.  They are not for me.  But I will oohing and ahhing and loving everyone elses.

 

My current favorite picture of us. 
We're at the track.  We don't match each other or ourselves.
We have hats and are dirty.  We're smiling.
We're busy living!

Another oldie but goody - busy living and reading. :)

 

A new Sunday...

A few months ago, I mentioned the girl who sits in front of us at church.  Yesterday she came with a boyfriend.  It made me smile.  Again, i don't know her or her story - have they been dating awhile this is the first time she was able to bring him to church?  Did they just start dating?  I don't know.  But I knew that it would be fun to watch her life progress through all the stages and maybe she is in the next one.  :)

Calvin's Growing Up!

 need to get blogging again.  i've started several posts but haven't finished any.  So i will start with an easy one.  

Calvin is growing up!!!  He has been potty trained for 3 months!  He was 3 1/2 before he was potty trained which I think is on the old side, even for boys.  But it went just I thought - when they are ready, it's easy.  The whole process was harder on me than it was on Calvin.  I was very patient with potty trained until January when he hit 3 1/2.  Then I started to lose my patient.  Let me advise you, throwing a pull up at your son and telling him to change himself is not a successful potty training method.  But then one day in early February, he wore underwear and we haven't looked back!  He had a few accidents in the beginning and still have a few number 2 accidents (I don't know why).  He wears pull ups to bed but really doesn't need to.  Whenever he has an accident, we pull the changing stuff out of the closet and then he puts it back in the closet (wipes and changing mat) and says he doesn't need it ever again.  

But now that he is potty trained, he is officially in the preschool class at daycare.  He started March 3.  I am so impressed with his preschool and how much he has changed and grown up in the past two months.  He questions a lot.  He clearly listens to all his lessons and tells me about what he learns every day.  He is so proud of the pictures he colors and shows me very day.  When we listen to the radio in the car, he asks questions about what he hears and he asks so many questions about what he sees and always wants to learn more.  He has become so caring of Dog.  He brings Dog to school with him everyday because Dog would be lonely if he was left at home.  He places Dog in the cubby so he can watch class.  Yesterday, Dog had a graham cracker in his cubby.  He takes very good care of Dog. 

On the flip side, that boy is going to give me a heart attack!  He is constantly on the go.  We have had a few close calls running across the street or in parking lots.  Waiting for ballet class is a challenge. Although he always wants to join in and dance with them.  If he doesn't get his way, he throws himself on the floor and screams.  He is the cliche that it isn't the terrible twos, it is the terrible threes!  He has a very bad and mischievous side to him.  he was the quietest and most well behaved baby ever but once he hit three, he got loud and bossy! 

It has been so fun over the last few months to watch the grown up changes in my sweet little boy and watch his personality develop even more.  He has always been fascinated with music as most children are but he seems to have a real creative side to him.  He loves coloring and drawings.  I can't wait to see how his creative side develops and if it grows into more.  

The Longest Ride

I finished the Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks this weekend.  I have to confess that I was supposed to have finished it by Friday for my book club discussion.  I was only about 3/4 of the way finished so I asked them to tell me the ending.  I won't give that away here.  I had read that the book was predictable but I never caught on and since I knew the ending, I am not sure I would have predicted it anyway.

But what our discussion on Friday centered around was Ira and Ruth's marriage and love story.  I have to admit, I enjoyed that part more than Luke and Sophia's.  I liked the story of Luke and Sophia as a novel but I couldn't relate to it much.  

But Ira and Ruth's story stuck with me a lot.  I loved that we saw their whole marriage and their whole life.  Not just the initial love affair that most books end with.  They had good times.  They had bad times.  But they made it through the bad times and things got better - better than they were before.  Isn't that what life is about?  The great love affair is not perfect. But that is what makes it great.  The tough times are what makes it perfect.  It reminded me a lot of the movie Up.  I love that movie.  I love that love story.  The Longest Ride talked about the sacrifices that Ira and Ruth made to be with each other. They gave up a lot.  Sometimes they regretted the sacrifices they made but they never regretted being with each other.  

One thing we discussed was that we all have good times and we all have bad times in our marriage.  Times of transition are typically the hardest.  But we always make it though.  I feel like I am in the middle of a difficult transition and things aren't perfect right now.  Some days they aren't even good.  But I am okay with that because I know and I believe in the greatness of my marriage.  I know that this is just a time of our life and not our entire life.  I love that when things are tough, there are glimmers of good.  There are glimmers of great.  There are glimmers of the love in my family and we are a great family.  These are the moments that make it worth while.  Sometimes I feel like society makes it too easy to quit.  Sometimes society paints the perfect love story and doesn't talk about the other stuff.  The love story is only the beginning.  It's what is built upon it that makes it great.  That's what makes it last.  I think what I loved about the Ira and Ruth story is that we say the entire story, not just the beginning.  Right now, that was exactly what I needed.  That's what I want for my marriage - the whole 70 years. 

A look into other people's lives...

I had another moment recently when I was reminded that things aren't always as they seem and we really don't know what is going on with other people's lives.  I was talking to a friend about stuff.  I am not going to get into the specifics about what we were talking about because it doesn't matter. But based on the few things she said (or didn't say) my opinion of one of her decisions changed.  I don't know what goes on in her life but I had trouble understanding what she was doing.  After talking to her and hearing how she was saying it, I understood that we all react to situations differently and we all have different stuff going on.  Her decision wouldn't work for me but is necessary for her.  Not to sound cliche, until we have walked in their shoes, we just don't know...  Sometimes I just need the reminder.

Taking Care of Each Other...

I feel like I used to be a fairly competent adult.  I bought my own house when I was 22 years old.  I took care of my car, my house, my lawn, etc.  I was financially independent and was good at it.  Then I got married.  Charlie took over the finances, the yard and the car.  I liked it that way.  I didn't realize how much I depend on him and his flexible job until now.  

Right now he is student teaching and this is the first time in our married life that he has a "job" that he needs to be at every day.  Suddenly, I am the one with the more flexible job.  He has to be at school at 7 am so drop off is now on me.  My "flexible" work hours are 7 - 4 but I shifted them to 7:30 - 4:30 for now.  A few weeks ago, I "crashed" my car.  It was pretty minor and "crashed" isn't the right word for it.  I ran into the snow pile in front of my house.  How horribly embarrassing.  But there is a big hole in my bumper now and I need to get it repaired.  Suddenly it all feel to me.  I got the car to the shop to get the estimate.  I reserved the rental car.  I dropped the car off this morning and got that the rental car.  It felt weird.  It occurred to me that it has been awhile since I have taken care of this type of task.  I felt all grown-up, like an adult.  It went fine and I knew how to do it.  I took care of things.  But it did point out to me how we depend on each other to take care of each other.

We don't know everyone's story...

Sometimes I need a reminder that we don't know everyone's story.  Today I was eating at Subway and a lady and three school aged girls came in.  I didn't really get a good look at the girls good as my back was to them.  The lady was on her phone and they were waiting for someone.  I smiled in my head as I heard the girls bicker because it sounded like every meal I have ever eaten out with my kids.  I understood (I thought) what the lady was going through.  As I left, she apologized for the girls and I told her I completely understood as I got through the same with my kids.  She quickly explained that she they are foster kids.  Suddenly what I overheard made more sense.  Earlier she explained to one girls that "they don't hit each other in this family" and as I was leaving, she was holding one and she was screaming "I want MY MOM!!!" and the other girls were saying "she is your mom today."  I got in my car and realized that I didn't understand at all what they were going through.  I don't know these girls story or anything about them or why they are not with their moms.  I cried all the way back to my office.  I cried for these girls that do not have their mom and I cried for this lady as she was trying to help them.  I wished I could do more but said a little prayer for them all.