Amusement parks are not so amusing

Saturday, I turned 33 and spent the day at 6 Flags with 4 of our kids. The husband's company picnic was held there and we thought "wow, how cool is THAT? OMG, the kids will have so much fun!" 

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. 

That foolish optimism makes you think I had never taken multiple children anywhere before, right?

Hey, give me a break here. I try to just go with things. Life is supposed to be an adventure, right? Well, 6 Flags with a 4, 7, 9, and 15 yr old was certainly interesting. Let's just say, the husband & I are really happy we decided not to take the family to Disneyland this year like we had planned. 

6 Flags was a smashing success, in that we learned that this family is not amusement park ready. 

Well, that and also because this happened:

BOOM.

Family matters

My mom titles all her emails to us "Family matters". I know that she is referring to matters, as in "issues", but I like to think that it's more like "Family MATTERS". It means something.

My family is huge, and with huge families comes a lot of crazy. There's always a few people who are not speaking, who have waged some kind of war on each other over some words that were said and probably not meant. But words are just words and my family is big on forgiveness and even bigger on love.

_________________________________

I think all parents & kids have issues that strain their relationship, especially when the kids are in their teens & 20's. Somehow all problems seem larger than they really are when you're still young and have yet to really experience the way that life can cut you in two.
When you get a few more years under your belt, you start to realize that life is bigger than you. Other people have feelings and the things you say & do have a real, lasting effect on the ones you love.
You also find yourself making some of the same choices as your parents and finally get a glimpse of understanding just what the hell the people who raised you were thinking.

And, when you are a parent and you hit a rough patch with your own children, it is really, quite humbling.
You will want to call your mom (and your dad & grandpa & grandma & aunts & uncles & even maybe some of your old teachers) and apologize for having been a complete and total mess of a human being in your younger years.

But when you do call your parents and ask them how they got through those days with you and they answer that they had no idea what they were doing, either, it's like the biggest weight being lifted off your shoulders.
There's nothing more encouraging than knowing that the people you respect and look to for guidance & support are just fumbling through life doing the best they can, too.

They never had the answers, either, and somehow you all made it out alive.

Waking up

I quit my job today. The job I desperately needed a few months ago.
The job that brought us up from the fiery depths of financial ruin and back into the black.
I'm not sorry. I won't regret it.
I learned quite a few things about myself while I was employed:

I learned that no amount of money can replace happiness.
I learned that family is everything, and that is more than just a saying that sells greeting cards.
I learned that there are still a lot of really wonderful people in the world and all I have to do is open myself up to them and let them into my very guarded circle.
I learned that there are also some terrible people who are happy to smile in your face while trying to break your spirit.
I learned that thankfully, the former far exceeds the latter.
I learned that I let people run all over me, but I'm quickly learning to stand up for myself.
I learned that I'm nice. Sometimes too much so.
I learned that I'm slightly more nerdy than the average girl.
I learned that I am an enigma, and I like that.

I say that anytime you have the opportunity to receive a lesson, you do so and say "thank you".
That's a situation you'll never have to muddle through again.
Wake up, life is telling you to go a different direction. Just listen.
That's what I'm trying to do.........

Enough of that.......
And now back to my regularly scheduled program of libraries, photo blogging, baking, kid-wrangling, and random musings.

$10 and a tank of gas....

We are always just moving about our days, blindly fumbling through all of the necessary activities without any time to sit and think, or to enjoy what is around us. It doesn't seem like there is ever enough time or money.

But we have discovered the excitement of a surprise picnic in the rain, and all of the happiness that something as unassuming as $10 and a tank of gas can bring you..........

picnic tacos on the beach

tiny girl under a big tree

Heaven on Earth

Never let a lack of money rob you of joy, and never, ever, allow yourself to say "there just isn't enough time" for the making of memories. Or, you might find that time has gotten away from you and you have nothing but "stuff" to show for it.

This Christmas

If you've been reading for awhile, then you know this is going to be our first Christmas in the new house.

This is the first year that we've had room for our tree and haven't had to stash furniture away in storage while it's up. It's also the first year that we have a porch on which we could hang lights. 

And, this is the first Christmas that we've ever had a mantle to hang our stockings on. 

It seems like such a small thing, but the kids have never experienced a decorated home.

We've always made do with what we had, and in some years past that meant 6 people in a tiny 2 bedroom house with no heat and a roof literally caving in on us. 

Those years, it was all we could do to put up a tiny tin foil tree and hope it was enough to quell the overwhelming feeling that they were lacking something.
Luckily, the kids just didn't seem to know any better back then.
But now they see the things that they missed out on in Christmas' past, and they look at every detail with honest amazement. 

Each small thing is a surprise, from the twinkling lights to the fact that we actually have stockings for everyone this year.

They don't even remember the year we had no heat, or the year the roof gave way around our picture window and the rain fell in sheets on our dining room table.

The year Daddy sold some of his instruments to preserve what little we could of Christmas is non-existent in their minds, and I'm glad for that.

I would never purposely put my kids through hardship, but the lessons we all take with us from having done so are priceless, because the one thing we have all learned from this is to not take things for granted, and to appreciate the things we have and cherish even more the things that are given to us.

Not only do we all have our health and our loved ones near, but this year we will also have joy, and because of that, this Christmas is going to be epic.