The Perfect Mother continued

Happy Halloween! My kids did their very own pumpkins this year. With my inability to help they went to it with a little help from the Man.

I love parties. I love to plan them and throw them. I love to think of cute food items and clever crafts/games. My mom always had cute themes and I know I learned this love from her. With Halloween coming and being on a Sunday I had decided it would be the best time to have fun planning a family party. I got tons of ideas and I was all set to go. I delegated out food assignments, I had my stations all planned out, and I was feeling so excited to see it all come together.

Well...here comes the part where I learn the lesson again to let go of perfection. (Perfection in my mind is having a well laid plan and executing it perfectly. I recognize this has never happened and I see my need of letting this false ideal go.) I am not recovering from my appendectomy like I would hope. I feel worn out and I feel nausea. It has been a little over a week since I came home and I am ready to feel tip top. But I don't. I recognized last week that I would not be able to do what I wanted in regards to my little party and I conceded. I asked for help and my family has all stepped up to help me. They are great like that.

I left myself the job of making dessert and decorating the juice bottles to look like mummies. I tried last night to do the mummy juices. They turned out so cute, all 4 of the 19 I made. I just could not sit the way I needed to to get it done. Oh well. I actually let it go and didn't get discouraged. This is big for me.

Then this morning I set about to tell my children how to make the vision I had for the desserts. But we are out of eggs. My husband ate them for breakfast. At first I started to fell my old perfectionist self come out. The one that gets a little tense and frustrated that things are not going according to plan. My husband nicely reminded me it didn't really matter. I always know he is right but it often takes me time to admit it. I called a friend to borrow eggs. She has half what I need which is great. I use powdered eggs for the other part.

The cake doesn't cook right and I don't care. It doesn't look how I envisioned and I still love it. The kids did most of the work while I supervised and I know they are proud of their work. And I am proud of me. I stayed calm and enjoyed the imperfect process. Maybe I can get used to imperfection after all. It is much more fun.

My house is not as clean as I would like it but all I can do is sit here and stare at it. Will anyone have a less enjoyable time because I have dust bunnies, clutter, partial mummy juices, or my cake isn't perfect? Of course not. Just typing that is freeing!

*********UPDATE**************
After I wrote that all out I looked over at my 4 mummies and realized that I also will have 4 Activity stations. I then hopped over (wish I could really hope right now) to onecharmingparty
and print out her little Halloween cats and used them as station markers. and they look super cute.
In case you are wondering my four stations are:
1.Pumpkins made out of toliet paper rolls, and tissue paper.

2.Owl cupcakes

3.Leis for the soldiers. I just love this idea. My SIL Amy asked if she could have the kids do this. They take all of their unwanted candy and donate it to the pile. We then make candy leis with plastic wrap and curling ribbon. We will then as a family go to meet the soldiers who have no one to meet them when they come home from active duty and give them the leis. The kids will then get to feel more gratitude for these men who give so much for our freedom.

4. Gratitude Chain. The kids will each write or draw a picture of something they are grateful for then we will tape it all together place the chain in my kids craft room/homework room and we will add to it through out the whole month. That way will focus more on what we have instead all we want with xmas coming around.

A craft, a service project, a dessert, and an uplifting thought. That is what every party needs right?

Halloween

The kids had a good time tonight at the church trunk-or-treat. Since Halloween is going to fall on a Sunday we decided to only do this instead. I sat in the car passing out candy and it was cute seeing all the little and not so little kids. We brought Betty and she seemed to have a good time as well. It was nice to be apart of things even when I am still not fully recovered.

The Perfect Mother

I read this blog post http://71toes.blogspot.com/2010/10/myth-of-perfect-mother.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+71toesrss+%2871+toes+RSS%29
today while laying in bed feeling tired and frustrated that I am yet to recover from surgery. I have missed being the everyday mother. I feel as though I am learning how not to expect perfection from myself. I have felt greater peace as I have learned on a deeper level that no, I can't make everyone happy all of the time, including myself.
I have come up with a quick little mantra to help when I notice I have become frustrated with my lack of perfection. It is amazing how understanding my purpose can give me such peace of mind.

I am not perfect. That is not my purpose here.
I will trip and fall then learn and rely.
My savior is the only way
No matter what else I might try.

Winding down the summer with one last adventure.

After getting our dog Betty it became a challenge to know how to take the kids on vacation. Then with sicknesses, a broken leg, and more sickness our summer was a little less then what we were expecting. Life has been a little stressful the last couple of weeks and I just really needed my family.

So I have this great idea to take the family to go visit my sister and my parents in Vegas. Saturday, after swimming in the pool with cousins, we get in my car and it is dead. We jump it and yay, it works. By the time we get to my parents house Ryan has me leave it on while he takes a look at it and it dies on him. Hmmm

Our plan was to come home first thing Monday morning to avoid labor day traffic. But that is kinda hard with a dead car. All the shops are closed till Tuesday because of the holiday. Everyone needs a little vacation, right?

I love my excursion. We named it hippo when we first got it because it is so huge and it weighs the same as a hippo. It is comfortable and we have a good relationship. So good it has 158,000 miles on it. I have always believed you drive cars till they are either un-drivable or more expensive to fix then they are worth.

And I am sad to say we are now ready to part ways. I will miss my huge boat. I will miss all of it's extra space. I will even miss the dings I have given it. The ones I was upset about at the time but I know laugh at and have great memories about.

But with this departure will come a new adventure. A much smaller cuter one. Used but not to used. Loved but not to much. It is a Honda, it is black, and I can already tell we will get along just splendidly. (don't you just love that word?)

I'm sitting in the dealership waiting for it to be spruced up as I type away on my phone (by the way, how cool is technology that I can now blog from my phone)

I'll post a picture when we get back.

2nd Day of School

> Today after dropping the kids off at school Joshua was rather upset. He was sad to see them go and sad they would not be playing with him. I asked him if he wanted to go to the movies with me and he said no. All he wanted to do was go shopping to a new store. He told me this with a sad depressed sounding voice. Then he decided all he really wanted to do was go get ice cream. Silly kid.

This was a very indulgent Vacation

Why do I say that? Because I hardly did anything productive the whole 5 days we were there. I slept, read, swam, ate, shopped, read, swam, ate..... It was great. I never do anything like that and I completely enjoyed myself. By the end I was very ready to come home and I very much missed my children.

Ryan had to work most the time we were in Vegas but at night and a few odd times here and there we got to spend some much needed time together. I love this man and getting to have so much undisturbed by little people time was wonderful.

Here is my view from the pool. The weather was really nice for laying out by the pool but maybe a little to hot otherwise.
One Thursday night they had a business dinner for their VIP clients. Here are the winners of the raffle. The best prize was an ipad. Ryan had me pull the tickets and you could feel the disappointment from those who won things like a snuggie. It made me kind of smile since they did win something.
Here we are for the few minutes we actually got to be together. All the members wanted to talk to him. He kind of seemed like a celebrity.Ryan gettin his groove thing on as we head out to dinner and a late night movie. We decided to go see inception. Which I j=had not heard anything about. It was so good I kinda want to see it again.

The hotel bad was actually really comfortable. I thought I would sleep in but I was to excited each day that I ended up getting up fairly early. I didn't want to waste my free time sleeping.

Wednesday a group of there clients went to go see the mentalist. He was pretty good and intriguing. I would love to now he did his tricks.
Tuesday night Ryan took me to go see The Phantom of the Opera. The opera house was really cool with the manicans in the side seats and the chandelier was interesting. I really do love seeing a good show. We enjoyed ourselves and afterward we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Paris Hotel (that is where we were staying)
And this picture is just because my husband is so darn good looking. I love this man more then I could express. And I so love this look of his. It says, "I am happy and content with life."

This picture makes me laugh. I did not realize there was a huge stripper bar behind us. One that even had a giant statue. Ryan took a self portrait of us and I asked him to make sure he got the background. When I looked at the picture I realized what the background was. This is us trying to take a do over without laughing.
I also got to spend Thursday with my sister. She is writing a book and we went over it together. What she has to offer will be so valuable for women out there. I am excited for her to get it on the shelves.

12 year old Jared gets a trip to San Francisco

We have decided that when our children turn 12 we will take them on their own special vacation with just Ryan and I. It has always been important to us that we give our children special one on one time so that they can always feel of the tremendous amount of love we have for them.

It was a beautiful thing to watch Jared get to be an only child and to allow him to have no responsibilities. Being the oldest I think a lot falls on him and he usually handles it so well that I think this break from school and siblings was a welcome one. Plus we got to enjoy him with no distractions.

We packed so much fun into 3 days that when we got home known of us wanted to wake up the next day.

Follows are a bunch of pictures in no real order.

Sausilito
While walking along the shores Jared noticed a tremendous amount of crabs in the rocks. He wanted so bad to catch one but they were to fast (And I wouldn't let him climb to far down the rocks.)

Then we came across this man stacking rocks? Who knew. He concentrated so hard I was tempted to cough loud or laugh obnoxiously.
For lunch we stumbled across this Norwegian diner. People were lined up outside to wait for seating. Ryan order the special and it was very good. I asked to owner what he liked best and was surprised with a smoked salmon and creamed spinach and Jared enjoyed a second breakfast. I tasted all of it and can I just say YUMMMY! So good for very different reasons.




At the civil war reenactment at a fort under the Golden Gate bridge they had a "Dr" To tell us all about how things were back then. Jared got Really creeped out when he explained that it was a common practice to be bleed. If you had an ailment they would drain your blood to try to get out the infection. So strange. Ryan and I wondered what practices they do today that we will one day look at as strange.

On top of the fort freezing immensely.
My moys under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Practicing an army drill.
Under the Bridge. For some reason I was just so fascinated the whole trip with the different architecture.

Us at the top of Lombard street then below the famous winding street.
Ryan patiently awaiting his dinner at The House of Nanking. I asked a local where they thought the best place to eat in China town was and we were directed to head hear. The line will go out the building and around the block. The place is truly a grand whole in the wall and the service was horrible but the melt in your mouth calamari was to die for and I am craving it not just thinking about it! So yummy!




By this point we had worn Ryan out and his back and feet were tired so we agrred to meet up after Jared and I enjoyed walking around China town. He was the perfect shopping buddy and we had a great time enjoying the shops, culture, and people. We also found something to bring home to each of the kids.



When I asked Jared what his favorite part about day 2 he said "The apple store and the Ferrari store" Cars and technology. I guess that means my son is truly turning into a teenager. He drove this mini car around the store for a long time. He was impressed with the handing and turning ability.




We enjoyed walking around Union Square but there sure were a lot of people. Some kind of scary and I was surprised to find that Jared would let me hold his. It was nice!Jared thought this Smart car was just his size and enjoyed getting a feel of what it will be like to be behind the wheel.
This is the roof in the mall. SO beautiful.
The lighting in our little French restaurant.
The yummy french food that was almost as good as the real thing.
Interesting buildings every where we went. I wish I had taken more pictures of them.
The beautiful flower garden in Golden Gate Park.
We enjoyed a nice walk around the park and here are some of our adventures.
This squirrel came right up to my feet. No fear what so ever.





We must have been in a really silly mood. I guess that is what relaxation does to a person.
Boys never do grow up fully.

This albino Alligator was fascinating to look at. This was in the Natural History Museum. I loved this place tons and enjoyed learning along side my smart men.
This is the ceiling in the Museum.



We walked a mile or so up and down some steep hills to dinner our first night. Jared was so tired (we did wake up around 4) That Ryan offered to carry him for a long portion of the walk home.Over looking Alcatraz. Jared and I were most excited about his. I did not realize tickets sold out days in advance and we were both super bummed. Luckily there were so many other amazing things to do we got over it super fast.
Pier 39. While here we bought a ridiculous amount of salt water taffy, watched the sea lions lounge, enjoyed the aquarium, learned how to float/levitate objects, shopped, and ate some yummy brunch.

When Ryan saw this sign he said, "That is strange, they don't want us to pick up our trash?"

Jared skipping rocks when we first got into San Fran.Just outside the stadium where the football team that is based out of San Francisco. (I really don't follow football, is it obvious?)

This is outside City hall. I liked the look of the building.I am so thrilled we were able to do this. The time we spent was so valuable and even though I tremendously missed the other kids I will always hold this trip in a special place in my heart. I sure loves this young man and I am so darn proud of him!