My Perfectly Imperfect Mother's Day

"because what messes our life up most - is the expectation of what our life is supposed to look like" - Ann Voskamp

I woke up to breakfast burritos made selflessly by my husband who had a million things to do at church but chose to be home serving me. As soon as he rushed off there were little voices screaming at each other and slammed doors and proclamations that it was the worst day ever.  And my grandfather is in the hospital so far away and my own mother with him.  The floor needed to be swept and the dishwasher needed to be unloaded so the dishes piled in the sink, but we all needed to be at church on time, and preferably sane.

But then there were praises and roses and children singing and giving offerings and misbehaving on stage and the love of this larger family I've somehow become a part of.

There was a little girl setting the table, and a little boy trying to sweep the floor and calling me, "Princess Alyson".  My busy preacher man, who carries everyone's burdens on his shoulders and who undoubtedly wonders why Mother's Day is on the busiest day of his week, spent hours on an amazing meal just for me.

There was a gift and homemade cards and one of the best meals I've ever eaten declared "gross" by the little ones, followed by a doze on the swing while everyone else cleaned up.

The dogs curled up together and the kids laughed in the treehouse and my baby boy said he was sorry my day wasn't perfect after he fought once again with his sister.  What he doesn't know is that this is about as perfect as it gets here and his little heart already longs for something more. 

And I'm looking forward to putting the kids to bed early tonight after all their late nights and early mornings this weekend. I'll curl up on the couch and watch Call the Midwife by myself because Taylor can't stomach all those women birthing babies. But then he'll join me for Revenge because he likes unrealistic TV, and I suspect he doesn't mind Emily Thorn either.

Happy Mother's Day!

My Weekend with Sophie



On Saturday morning Sophie and I got in the car and headed for Burnet.  The flowers were gorgeous!

We found our weekend home on Lake Buchanan and waited for the girls

 

 When everyone got there we had lunch at Storm's.

After lunch we drove down to Austin.  We had reservations to ride the Duck tour bus/boat.  We had worked so hard to find something my grandmother, pregnant sister, and 8 year old could all participate in and it sounded fun.  However, when we got downtown 6th street was closed down for a festival and we couldn't get there or find parking.  Alas, we missed the boat!  We were so bummed!

We decided to go over a  few blocks to the Capitol to kill some time.

Sophie ended up loving it!

Grammy feeling free on the way to the food trucks!

After seeing some of Austin we drove back to Burnet for some yummy Mexican food.  Then we drove out to an observatory on the lake where the Austin Astronomy Society was set up with their telescopes.  The stars were so beautiful and we got to see Saturn.

The whole group this morning - 4 generations

Sophie and I took our time getting home, stopping to take pictures



Love this girl so much!  She was such a big girl hanging out with all of the girls.  She is growing up so fast and I love my time with her now.

 

 

 

My Weekend with John Curtis

John Curtis and I drove to Weatherford on Friday afternoon while Sophie and Taylor stayed home for some Daddy/Daughter time.

 On Saturday morning he got to go out with Bumpaw, Uncle Brian, and Dado to Dado's farm.

 They fed the cows,

 and went fishing,

and took a nap.

 

 

That afternoon we went to my Uncle Roger's house for a yummy family meal.

Then we walked down the street for some fun at Prairie Fest.

It is always an interesting time!

John Curtis and I went on a nature hike

Loved my weekend with my little monkey!

School Happenings

In my January post, back when I was enjoying some down time,  I accurately predicted that the pace of life would pick up considerably each month until school let out.  Well, here we are in the middle of April and we are in the thick of it all.  We are having fun with t-ball, ballet, church, spending time with friends, and lots of school activities.  It has been busy, but so good too.  I'm not expecting it to slow down at all until school lets out.  Then we have those lazy days by the pool to look forward to!

The kids have been learning and growing so much at school lately. 

 Back in March the school's artwork was displayed in the local gallery as part of downtown's Art Walk

 

 The week before Easter Sophie's class put on an Economics Fair.  Her group made and sold smoothies.

 She was exhausted and learned that she never wants to work in food service!  The people just kept coming, wanting to be served!

 

 This week Sophie's class did a living museum and each chose a biography to report on.

Sophie chose the famous dancer, Isadora Duncan.  After more research I discovered she was quite a scandalous person.  The children's biographies left out all the juicy details though. 

 

 

 

 

 Finally, we are getting to plant our community garden at the school again.  We didn't get to plant in the fall due to our water restrictions so it was a lot of work t get it cleaned up and ready again.



We have lots of things sprouting up and Sophie has had fun tending to it during recess.  We hope to have lots of veggies soon!