Party On...

I celebrated a birthday with my cute boys.

I don't hate being the only girl in the house.  Especially when it comes to days like my birthday and the gifts come raining down.  :)  I got lots of darling, heart-felt, hand made cards with awesome treasures and yummy treats.  And RyGar.... well, he's getting pretty good at pulling off a thoughtful surprise -- I am so lucky.

And what I'm really blessed to be is aware.

I do believe 38 years and my own personal paths of victory and hardship have given me a super power.  It's called perspective.  

I am able to nearly fully appreciate the chaos and happy madness that is mothering wild ones in the most stress filled moments my darling offspring have to offer.  

No joke, even as someone is puking on me and another is asking how babies are made, I am able to recognize the blessing that is my current state of being. 

Because after nearly ten years of hoping for these blessings, in which RyGar and I lived our best lives and dreamed up a deliciously good "hoped for life".  I had a lot of time to prepare myself for these moments.  And we did the work to make it happen... everything in our power to achieve our dreams.

  That decade of putting our heads down and persevering set the tone for our family life now.  We knew it would be hard and beautiful and the days would be long but the years so painfully short, and we were all in "come hell or high water".

All that to say... I know how my smile lines have been made.  I'm thankful for the great love of my life and his little proteges on the cloudy filled days - and the sun filled ones.  I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who sees me and hears my prayers and sent me all the greatest gifts a birthday girl could ever wish for in a million life times.

38... You're lookin' great.

XO

We "Led the Pigeons" to the Flag....

My sweet boys had a pretty cool experience a couple of weeks ago.  They got to go to the Capital Building and lead the House of Representatives in the Pledge of Allegiance.

They also got to meet the Speaker of the House and the Cat in the Hat.  I'll let you guess which one held more clout for my little gents.  :)

I was so proud of the way they polished up, but even more proud of the way they approached a room full of politicians and boldly and bravely called the room to order as we pledged allegiance to this great nation under their direction.  Oh the places they'll go!

I gave the prayer, and after an early morning full of ties and belts and buttons, I think it may have been the most brief prayer ever offered in that room.  Ahhh well, short and sweet on a Friday morning may have been refreshing?  So I tell myself.

After their time in the Capital shaking hands and smiling at all the people and generally being genteel, we rewarded them with a pool day at the hotel.  We didn't even put a limit on length of time stayed or cannon balls performed.  

It was a fun way to celebrate a weekend together.  I am so proud of these little humans and I'm grateful for cool opportunities for them to spread their wings.