Dinner Conversations

Isabel: "I don't want to eat this. Can I just go hungry instead?"
Me: "by all means, go hungry"

Me: "Sammy did you enjoy the cookies I made and packed in your lunch?"
Sammy: "ooh yes, they were delicious as pie. I've never eaten pie but I've been told it's delicious."

ugh, the slacker tis I

Man, I've been telling myself lately, you need to blog, you need to blog, but when I have the time I have no energy and when I have the energy.....well, I never have the energy!  With the two older kids out of school I feel as if I spend all my time trying to keep them all from killing each other which only leaves me ready to strangle someone too!  Motherhood is all about endurance!  So here are some highlights, some good points that I really do want to document, if for no other reason then the fact that one day it may be important that I had this written down.
Sam made Student of the Month in May at his school.  It was kinda a big deal to  me simply b/c he hadn't gotten it any other time in three years of school and I knew he had been working so hard to do well.  His teacher wrote of how he always uses his manners and always tells everyone (and I do mean everyone) to "have a nice day!"  So we got a sitter for the little ones and Daddy and I went to school for a "Student of the Month" breakfast with Sam.  It was just fun to have some time to celebrate him.

The very next week we celebrated Isabel's graduation from kindergarten!  She was great at singing Surfin' USA and jumping on her surfboard on the stage.  My dad and I both cried when they announced her name.  I can't believe she's such a big girl now!  I'm really having a hard time watching the kids get older and letting them go be big kids!  At the talent show, someone gave me flowers for helping plan it and on the way home Isabel said that no one had ever given her flowers so we got her flowers for graduation.  She was excited.  She also would only let me take a picture of her with her teacher if Zeke was in the picture too.  It didn't take too much convincing to get Mrs. Frey to hold Zeke (she likes babies).

And lastly I'll throw in a picture of Sammy on the first day of Cub Scout Day Camp.  He was so nervous the first day b/c he didn't know what to expect but he's had three days of camp now and I think he's enjoying it.  Yesterday he brought home a target on a plate and said that each day they get a chance to shoot the BB gun at the target.  If you actually hit the target then you get to bring the plate home.  He was excited about that!  He has also asked that we practiced BB shooting and archery this summer.  He's got the fever now :)

it's all about perspective

I cut my hair about three weeks ago....I mean CUT.  I went from long hair almost to my mid-back to short, "pixie" cut.  I've always wanted to do it.  Since college!  But I've always talked myself out of it.  Worried about how it would look, how long it would take to grow out, and oh those horrible "growing my hair out-in between haircuts" (those are never pretty).  But after a rough month in April, my perspective changed.  "It's only hair."  "It will always grow out again."  I kinda realized in the grand scheme of life that it truly is only hair and it will grow out again.  But what came afterwards was a bit more than I expected.
To Isabel, my haircut makes me a boy.  "You look like a boy b/c your hair is short."  From Isabel's wise 6 year old PERSPECTIVE, my haircut is just like a boy's so it must make me a boy.  She cannot understand why a mom, her mom, would have this haircut.
To my dad who has only ever really known my cousin Joy to have a pixie cut, "You look just like Joy Loree."  My dad is used to his daughters having long hair.  He's used to me always having at least chin-length hair and to see such a pixie cut, his only PERSPECTIVE is that it reminds him of my cousin Joy.
To a man from church, he responded honestly "I really don't like women with short hair but it looks alright.  I think I'll get used to it."  For him, women with short hair don't necessarily work for him.  But he recognizes that it looks okay on me and he'll give it his best shot to approve b/c he likes me and wants me to be happy.
So what's the big deal?  It's just a haircut BUT it's kinda taught me a bit about perspective.  I don't necessarily think it is a bad thing to stick with what you know.  But sometimes stepping outside of the norm, going against your norm brings about pleasant surprises.  It also helps to look at others from THEIR perspective.  Instead of finding offense or judging instantly, try to look at the other person's perspective and you might realize that she isn't really a boy, she just rocks a cool new 'do!