When life hands you lemons...

This is the sight sitting on my counter right now. I have always wondered why people in movies have lemons sitting on their counters. I mean who goes and buys lemons and doesn't plan an immediate use for them? Well I got my answer this week...people who shop at Costco. I recently purchased a big 'ol bag of lemons at the wholesale supergiant and after making fresh lemonade, I still had a bunch left...hence the picture-perfect countertop.

Well all week long I would pass these lemons. At first I just thought "Wow. This kitchen is so preppy." After that thought got old, I was reminded of the "If life hands you lemons, make lemonade" quote. I've always thought that was a cute saying, but as I repeated it in my head about 7,000 times this week, I grew a little tired of it. Of course, as I'm least expecting it, God begins working on me...through lemons of all things! I would repeat that quote in my head and then hear this "and what are you doing about it?" question in my head.

I'm a notorious pessimist. My church is focusing on being apathetic right now...a message series once again focused on me. (As a side note, I'm sorry to those who attend my church. It must be annoying to keep showing up just to find out that they're aiming the lesson to me one more time.) I know I easily fall into apathy. I lead this small life where repetition is key. Wake up. Take care of things. Go to bed. Start over. It's easy to miss the joy in it all. Don't get me wrong. I KNOW how lucky I am. A wonderful husband. Perfect (okay, near perfect) children. Cozy home. Rewarding job. But, it's easy to get caught up in the idea of "if I have to change one more diaper...is that really another spot on the carpet...seriously this bill is due again". Now sprinkle in the devil's handiwork of making me think I'm not good enough and you're left with apathy.

I type all this to say, I'm rejecting apathy. If you give me lemons, I'm giving you lemonade...and it's gonna be tasty. And you know why? Because that's what God wants me to do. I am really striving to be intentional with finding the joy in the mundane...the happiness in the repetition...the love in the details. So, I'm reminded of another quote. I'm always quoting movies and this one has been in my head this week from "You've Got Mail"..."I lead a small life. Well, valuable but small." I made lead this little life tucked away from glitz and glamour...my Saturday evenings may involve vaccuuming the carpets, but I'm so grateful for it. I hope I'm continously reminded of this.

Now I'm off to chop vegetables for dinner. A long and tedious task, but I am actally excited to make dinner tonight. I'm so blessed to have a family to serve...now if I can only get Mr. Graham to eat it, all will be right with the world. At least over here in this house.

Earning my mom badge

Soooo, I may have been given a test of my dedication to being a mother in the last 24 hours. I'm confident in saying I'm "all in" this motherhood thing.

The day started with Graham waking early--super excited that I was going to the mommy party at his school. I had arranged everything (or so I thought) so that I could make the Muffins with Mom celebration. I have been so ready for this for a long time. I treasure every Mommy-moment I get and this was going to be the big one...until I arrived at the preschool to be greeted by Graham wanting to just go home. But, what about my muffins? And tea? And those paper flowers that the kids are passing out to their moms? And the kiss that we practiced that you were going to give me in public? I tried everything I could, but no luck. I had to leave...crying of course because that's what Mommy's do when they think miss the Mommy-moment.


After we got home this afternoon, I could tell Graham needed a little one-on-one time when he suggested just me and him go away together in Daddy's old Trans Am (what can I say, he's a car guy). My supportive husband thought we might all benefit from a night out for dinner. We really did have a great evening until Graham got sick all over me---at the restaurant. A load of laundry, a teeth-scrubbing, and major bathtime later, Graham informed me that he didn't have a good day because he "no wanted to leave the house this morning". Just as I was thinking, "me too, kiddo", he put his arms around me and told me "Mommy i wuv ew" and asked me to play cars with him. As I raced the Hot Wheels around the living room with Graham and Oliver laughing hysterically at my vroom-vrooms, I realized I didn't miss the Mommy-moment after all. This one just didn't come with muffins. :)

A picture of my flower and tile made by Graham. There are two new charms from Ollie on my bracelet, a onesie with his name and birthdate and an owl.

I want to go on the date

Well tonight it was just "me and Mrs. Jones" as Robert and I headed out for date night. Mimi and Grandpa were gracious enough to watch the boys. We were all set to go when Graham had a mini-meltdown, insisting "I want to go on the date." He had all sorts of questions like "Where is the date?" "When we go on the date?" as well as the repetitive comment "Only I go on the date." On the ride to the grandparents house, Robert tried to persuade him that he really didn't want to go on the date because it was like Dancing With the Stars (a reference to something Graham finds annoying). This sent him further off the edge when he insisted that "HE NO DANCE WITH THOSE STARS." Needless to say, we were getting farther in the hole. We ended up smoothing things over by convincing him he was indeed going on a date...with Oliver, Mimi, and Grandpa (which ended up actually being a date to McDonald's to make Graham happy, but that's another story involving how spoiled he is by his grandparents...)

Anyhoo, we did go on THE DATE and we had a great time. We went to Studio Movie Grill to see The Five Year Engagement. My favorite part was when one of the parents talked about marriage and how most couples aren't even 60% "right" for each other, but they still choose to fall in love with each other over and over again and make it work. So happy with my hubby (and boys that did not attend this date), and although he could probably find someone much more "right" for him, I'm glad it was me he took on the date.

A Beary Nice Family Night (Get it?!)

So, every Sunday evening we have "family night", where we do a special activity with the boys (not that we don't do fun things the other 6 nights of the week, but you know what I mean...). Well, Oliver just got his first teddy bear after church today. Now Graham's bear is Buddy Bearington (he's the one wearing underwear in the picture) and we named Ollie's Hooty Bearington. I picture Buddy as the literary type and Hooty is more of the rebel. But, I digress...tonight we picked out bear-themed books and read with the boys and the bears. Graham's book of choice was "The Very Cranky Bear" and Oliver devoured (in more than one sense of the word) the board book "Baby Bear, Baby Bear".  The guys also colored me a bear Mother's Day picture. So blessed!

Keeping Up With the Joneses-May 5th

Well, I've started a blog for the family. Robert is working, so it's just me and the boys. Graham has been playing with toys and Oliver is trying so hard to crawl.

So, what will I be blogging? Well, Robert told me I should share the personal elements about everything we are making or made..from a new recipe down to our kiddos. Sounds silly, but basically I'm just going to share tidbits about what we're doing...playing, working, praising God, cooking, cleaning...in general, OUR LIFE! We're a lucky bunch.