May 5 = Good Morning Day

Liam was in a great mood this morning- check him out!  Today was wear your favorite hat to school day.

November 7 = Back Home Day

So while packing for NC/FL, I forgot one of the most important things: Gigi.  This is the face of a happy boy who has been reunited with the love of his life.

Also, this:

October 14 = New Book Day

I started a new book today- Carry on Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton.  I took pictures of these pages because I wanted to quote them in the blog.  So instead of sharing the pictures with the words way too small to read- I'll type up this chapter because it's that good.

The chapter is titled: Smelly Coughy Guy

"Here's why I really love and need yoga: because of Smelly Coughy Guy.

I am easily overwhelmed.  There are lots of things I have to do each day to remind myself that everyone is okay, including me.  Yoga is one of these things I do to stay calm and remember.  Yoga is like a sabbath; it's how I prove to myself that I am not in charge, that if I drop off the face of the earth for an hour with no other goal than to breathe, the world will keep spinning without me.  Because, as it turns out, I am not the one causing it to spin.  I'm just along for the ride.  I practice yoga to find quiet and peace and stillness: to prove to myself that those things exist.  I also practice yoga to learn how not to be bothered by things that are out of my control.  That's how I want to be.  ANd people have to practice if they ever hope to be how they want to be.

I practice yoga at my local gym.  When I am not writing or frantically searching for sippy cups, I am at the gym.  Not because I am really all that interested in fitness but because my gym has a wonderful nursery full of people who will take my kids, so I "work out" a lot.  If my post office had a wonderful nursery full of people who would take my kids, I would mail a lot.  Sometimes Adrianne and I meet at the gym and just sit on the stationary bikes and talk.  We don't even move our legs."

Besides the writing and the Adrienne part, I could have written that myself.

Here's another part I like:

"I pray and pray for God to help me feel some peace and stillness in the midst of my mommy life instead of feeling constantly like a dormant volcano likely to erupt at any given moment and burn my entire family alive.  And God says: Well G, here's the thing.  Peace isn't the absence of distraction or annoyance or pain.  It's finding Me, finding peace and calm, in the midst of those distractions and annoyances and pains."

Here's a picture of the kids leaving the gym after I had done basically what my new favorite author spoke about... "working out" but really taking advantage of that nursery full of wonderful people.

The weather's been really nice lately so we've been taking more walks- here's a picture of the kids in the double stroller- we haven't used this in a long time.

October 19 = Loving Cleaning Day

For breakfast this morning, Liam wanted an orange.  As I was peeling it, I would put a piece of the peel next to me and he would pick it up and take it to the trash can.  He did this for every piece!

 Malia is not happy that she's wearing Liam's hand-me-down jacket... but look at those boots- she's still stylish.