Head Colds,sharing, and Carnival

Jessica had a head cold this week and she ended up staying home two days from school, Shane was being a loving and sweet brother -- First she helped him practice for his upcoming play-- and then he read her some 5 minute bedtime stories-- Such a lovely sight I am SO GLAD I have this picture.  Jessica ended up missing the field trip to the Enchanted Forrest-- she had a slight fever and so I kept her home. Jessica was nice enough to share her cold with me -- so I took a nap! Part way thru the day Jessica ended up feeling much better-- and she convinced her Daddy to take her fishing-- so that I could get some rest- ?  It worked out fine they went fishing and I took a nap--   Then we borrowed our neighbors' teen aged daughter and went to the Carnival! 

This year at the Carnival we had a slide and a bounce house-- Shane spent a good portion of his time,energy and tickets at both... He even got complemented by the Teacher who is a Special Needs teacher, for doing such a GREAT job of waiting in line EACH time...  I am SO PROUD of my son! 

Shane even tried cotton candy for the very first time-- he was with Jerry so I missed the picture but Shane... like a true child that loves sweet things-- Liked the cotton candy! Jerry explained that it was just spun sugar and so Shane was happy enough to tell me

 "Mom, I ate the cotton candy and it just disolved on my tongue...-- cool huh?"

I just smiled and said yup--!

 Kudos go out to Jerry who did NOT let Shane eat the WHOLE bag of cotton candy-- he instead handed the last quater bit of it to the neighbors daughter who was helping us. :)

One of Jessica's favorite things is to get her face painted-- last night at the Carnival, she got a Monarch Butterfly on her face! It's still on her face this morning!  If you look in the back ground of this picture you can see Shane in a blue camo jacket... playing putt putt golf!

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This is one of the fun things that we had at the carnival last night... putt putt golf-- Shane had a lot of fun-- thank you to the lady who was nice enough to fetch the golf ball when it got hit to hard.





It did rain at the Carnival and a lot of people got wet... but I had brought along our POP-up and so we stayed mostly dry... although the wind did make me cold a couple of times!
In years past Carnival has been a huge stressful event-- this year I volunteered only to do certain things, of course I ended up doing more-- but I didn't feel so used and abused -- as I had in previous years!
It was a great evening... and now today is grocery day and both the kids are home with me...
I asked Shane last night if he would help me remember the grocery list-- he kept saying, mom we have to have ice cream!  I am buying that child of mine some ice cream ! I bet he will do fine today!

Thankful

May this post honor all the Veteran's that helped my family enjoy life as we do!
I am so Thankful !

How Smart is My Mommy ?

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.
Anna Quindlen American Author and Journalist
A good friend of mine, Patty... sent me this quote ~
and I thought that it was a great starting point for this rambling post...!
During the day, I only have a short time that I am alone, but when I am I find myself stunned by the silence, and I wonder if the world has stopped just ... for me?!
For me being a mom is the best job I could ever have,
it fills me up and then overflows my heart!{not to mention the laundry basket and the counters with the dirty dishes!}
I just hope and pray that my kids see my constant attempts
to improve my parenting skills as a positive and GREAT work
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Some of today's parenting skills went out the window,
I found myself telling Shane that he was
"Listening with his elbows" and he replied
He wasn't listening with his ears,because I was yelling at him.
Not to be .."outdone" by my 5 year old
I replied that I was only yelling because I was frustrated at him,
to which he ... quickly replied , Well, I'm angry and frustrated at you also!
Finally, I just said quietly
"Mommy is angry that you aren't listening and following directions, Mommy thinks that your elbows need to listen better."
Shane just looked at me and smiled and then laughed,
"Mommy what a funny mommy you are !"
--so did I win?
Nah... -- I just regrouped for the next round of How smart is my mommy?
The other day Shane and Jessica were asking questions about the remote controls and which ones were for what, I asked if they knew where their remote controls were ... and Shane looked so sincere when he said, that his remote control button had peanut butter on it.. I asked where the button was, and he just laughed, I said it must be on his belly button! more laughter followed!
So, anyway I just wanted to share a small slice of our life with all of you!
I may not be the VERY best parent, but I feel like I am the best for these kids right now!