A Lesson In Acceptance

My lesson. For me. I'm the one who needs it. Apparently my almost 6 year-old does not. I should have known. After all, I never give the boy enough credit.

Last week Grayson's 3 best buddies and their families (plus 2 other families that we are friends with) traveled to Disneyland. Together. Without us. It was a hard decision for us to make (not to go), but we had our reasons back in January when the trips were booked. Good, responsible reasons. Unfortunately for Grayson though, he got to play no part in the decision-making process. Just us, the parental unit. In fact, Grayson didn't even know about the trip until just days before his friends left. And telling him was, I think, one of the hardest things I've had to do as a parent thus far. (But trust me, I'm not naive. The boy is 5. I know that there is a whole lifetime of hard things to come!) But truly, it hurt. Him and me both. Not only was he so sad, but he was MAD. Mad at me. Ugh. You have to understand that our boy LOVES Disneyland, but also, after getting to go with his friend Garrett last fall, he on his own came up with the idea of going again, but with Isaac, James, AND Garrett. And then to find out that your great idea is coming to fruition (sort of) but without you? Crushing. It was a hard night, to say the least.

But time often heals, and it did in this situation too. Faster than I ever thought possible. Grayson's extreme sadness began to turn into excitement for his friends, especially Isaac who had never been before. And while he still prayed at night for God to "make him not have hurt feelings anymore", he genuinely hoped that his friends would have fun. And even though looking at all of the pictures broke MY heart in a literally painful kind of way--just knowing that my 2 sweet kids will never be linked to that trip or memories of it or inked in any of the photos--Grayson loved the daily updates and getting to see his buddies enjoying the rides, etc... Huh. Why do I never give the kid enough credit?!? So the lessons in acceptance, fairness, and so on that I thought "we" were going to have to work so hard on? Um, yeah. "I" will be working on those!!! :)

Oh and rest assured that Grayson and Molly did have a fun weekend. After all, you don't tell your kids that their best friends are going to Disneyland without them and then not offer everything possible under the sun to make up for it! (At least we don't.) Ha! Ha!

So after the last soccer game of the season, we headed to the A.C. Gilbert House in Salem (a children's museum). Much time was spent in the bubble room.

Molly was a fan of the bus. I guess Daddy was not.

Then following the obligatory giant rocking chair photos that we take every time we go, we headed on over to the Salem Riverfront Carousel. Certainly NOT Disneyland but still fun!

Next stop? Chuck E. Cheese, Baby! I know. You are jealous. Grayson was kind of worried about that, too--his friends being jealous. So he decided to keep our outing 'hush, hush', so as to not hurt his friends' feelings. You know, those same friends who just got back from DISNEYLAND! Ha! Ha! I love that boy.

All Things Easter--2009

Even though it already seems like ages ago, I am determined to get this Easter post finished! My word. I have no excuses for my outdated blog. No good ones anyway. None that the rest of you don't have, too. Life is just...well...busy these days. Seems like we've had a lot to deal with and work thru lately. Some good things and some downright sucky things. But the good news is that it's almost the end of April (not that I'm wishing my days away) and that means that May is just around the corner...hopefully waiting for us with oodles of sunshine because frankly, I'm tired of being inside.

But I digress. Back to Easter. It was a busy but really fun weekend. Soccer kept us from attending our favorite community egg hunt, so we planned a couple of our own. The first one was with our neighbors. It has become a tradition. And this year there was 1 more hunter in the mix--sweet Brooklynn. She is already an egg hunting pro!

This was Nathan's year to be all about the candy on the inside. The eggs themselves? He had no time (or need) for them and discarded them along the way. Ha! So funny.

Grayson was all about swiftness. And eggs. A lot of eggs.

Now if this picture doesn't scream "sweet", then I don't know what does.

Happy girl.

Oh yeah. Wondering why you haven't seen any shots of Molly yet? This is why:

The poor girl was OUT! And there was no waking her up. We tried. Thank goodness there was a second egg hunt yet to come...

The first annual playgroup egg hunt took place next door to our house on Sarri and Joel's empty lot. Sarri was the organizer and egg hider extraordinaire. Dave had a less glamorous position--pooper scooper. (Obnoxious neighborhood dogs.)

My 3 favorite 3 year-olds.

16 hunters in all, including little Aiden--a first-timer. :)

Molly's wild about "her" Aiden.

Ready...Set...

Hunt!

Happy hunters...

...who never miss a "good-bye". :)

And then if that wasn't enough for 1 day, we followed egg hunting with egg dying. Tradition, ya know. But you can imagine that after a soccer game and 2 egg hunts, things went from good...to bad...to pretty ugly! But hey, at least in the pictures it looks like they're having fun!

Hmmm, I do believe that I get this shot of Grayson every year. Mr. Cheesey!

Precious, I know. Glitter glue and bead egg kit? Not such a great find after all. Mostly just annoying and messy.

But even though 2 kids went to bed tired and cranky, the Easter Bunny still paid a visit. Phew.

The Easter morning egg hunt...

...and the return of 2 happy kids.

Happy Easter, 2009!

Daddy and His Little Girl

Our Molly isn't one to forget much of ANYTHING. So when I told her that maybe she could get her toenails painted (for the first time) for Easter, she of course conveniently reminded me each day. For days! So when Easter weekend rolled around, I knew that I had to make good on my promise. Actually, Daddy had to. (Trust me, if you saw how unsteady my hands are, you'd know that there is no way I could paint such dainty little toes!)

And really, looking at the picture, don't you think they're both loving it?

And truth be told, Sweet Sis, your daddy was "trained" in nail painting even before your time. Kind of. When I was pregnant with you and couldn't see my toes, much less actually reach them, your daddy kept them painted and looking pretty. There's not much he won't do for his girls! :)

Sugar Eggs

I am crafty in the sense that I can look at an example and copy it. During my rubber stamping and card making days I made some incredible cards--but never once created my own. If I didn't see it in a catalog, then I didn't try it. Yes, sadly, that's the extent of my craftiness. When it comes to creating from scratch, then I'm not your girl.

I could say it's just not in my genes, but that would be a lie. My mother cannot be blamed. She can sew, she can knit, and she was even known to do a little baking back in the day. (The baking? Not so much anymore. Hee hee.) But when I was young, she made and frosted some incredible birthday cakes. I have all of the cake pans now. In my garage. Collecting dust.

Another thing that she/we used to make when I was growing up were Easter sugar eggs. And a couple of weeks ago when my parents were here visiting, Grandma revived the tradition and did the same activity with my kids. It was fun to watch (though I must admit that Dave and I skipped out early--a rare opportunity to go out on an actual date) and brought back some great memories. The size of a pea--that's about how much stamina the kids had, but with Grandma's help (and hard work) "they" saw the project thru to completion.

These 2 particular eggs were made when I was a kid. They're really old and practically fossilized! But still in tact.

Here's how it all began...

Molly's grassy meadow scene was...well...interesting. She went a little heavy on the white "glue" (a.k.a. frosting)...it could double for a winter snow scene!

And ta-da! The 2009 versions. Will they last 20 years, too? Well that remains to be seen, but this year anyway we sure have enjoyed them! Thanks, Mom!