A Capricious Perspective: 2 Weeks of Insta-Fridays

Young Life area leader retreat day.

Refreshing. Good reminder that having a relationship with Jesus takes discipline and commitment. These things are not easy. I have to make time for this relationship. I can't tell myself that I don't have time. Because I make time to watch Downton Abbey...or put on Jamberries. I need to make time for Jesus. I am not a very self-disciplined individual. This is an area I need to work on. True story.

Speaking of Jamberries...like I was going to miss a holiday themed nail wrap. Ha! You know me, I love a good theme. And holidays. I have valentine socks and pj pants...valentine nail wraps were inevitable. I tried to resist. But you can see how well that went.

Bad pic. The sun was in her eyes. But Girlfriend picked out a new bike for her bday. Naturally, she chose the one where her Barbie can ride with her and has sparkly tassels. Totally awesome choice.

I love our mornings together just Brody Bear and I. One morning he made us a snack picnic for our viewing of the Thomas sing-a-long. Cheetos and Capri Suns on the carpet. I have the best job ever.

Abby is doing an animal report on wolves in Kindergarten. A trip to the library was in order. Can I just say taking these two to the library is like trying to herd cats...that are on crack. It's fantastic.

I love leggings. I love polka dots. But I was way out of my comfort zone wearing polka dot leggings.

They were only $4.50 at Old Navy. I had to give them a try.

So remember that awesome time I fell out of bed and got stitches? Well it got even more awesome when my neighbor walked in the urgent care room to remove them.

A stitches removal selfie was in order for such an occasion.

And yes I saw every.single.person I know in those 5 days of having stitches on my face. Good times.

And next time I'm not going to urgent care. I'm just walking to my neighbors house.

Lots of prop making for Destination Imagination happening in our house. Minimal yellow paint ended up on the carpet.

True story: One night we were eating cheesecake and drinking wine with a neighbor at like midnight & all of a sudden Andy was on the floor in a puddle of splintered wood pieces. It was awesome. I mean like silent laugh till your stomach hurts and you can't breathe and tears run down your face awesome.

So we had to get new kitchen chairs.

And we needed to eat dinner the night we got chairs.

So an Ikea trip happened.

Now if you know me, you know this is not my favorite place to eat. Or take kids to. I mean on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being my level of dislike...it's a 12...maybe even a 15.

The kids were super naughty. Like I wanted to give them away naughty. Then Abby lost her jacket in that gigantic freakin store. Not just any jacket you can leave behind. So more hell ensued as we retraced our steps through that gigantic freakin store with the super naughty kids.

Anyway. Everyone ate. We got new chairs. We found the stupid jacket. And I didn't give any kids away.

I'd call it a success in the end.

Volunteering from home means you get to cut out a lot of stuff.

I can trace and cut like a boss.

Another true story: I sew on patches for friends in exchange for payment in junk food. It's a good trade.

Loot from our school's Labels For Education points.

Cutting, counting, and bundling Labels for Education and Box Tops makes me want to poke my eyes out after about an hour. But seeing the fruits of our labor make it kinda worth it.

Oh Rainbow Loom. I really thought that ship had sailed and my kids hadn't noticed. Nope. I pick up at least 100 tiny rubber bands a day now. Which totally stabilizes my mood and never ever makes me go bat shit crazy. Ever.

Teaching second graders how to sew for Destination Imagination is a trip. It's only mildly stressful when they nearly sew their fingers to their shirt. Nothing like a trip to Ikea with Abby & Brody.

It's awesome to see how much these guys step up and rise to occassion...whether it's building simple machines...or researching animal habitats...or sewing their own costumes...they never seize to amaze me.