We woke up to some beautiful weather over here & it gave us a little glimpse of Spring. We planned to lounge around the house today since the girls are out of school on “winter break” but instead we decided to go grab lunch & play at the park. Somehow that turned into taking our lunch to the park, I don’t know if was the toddlers begging from the back seat or the packed parking lot and long drive through that made me do it, but I said yes. We grabbed some blankets out of the car, and took all of our food out to the grass by the playground to have a picnic. And you know what happened? It was a disaster. Everyone was crying about the sun being too bright, and the wind being too windy, there were not enough packets of ranch, and I forgot to bring the straws out of the van, there was grass on our blanket, our napkins were blowing away, yaddah yaddah yaddah. After three bites, everyone was done and wanted to go on the playground. But then we had meltdowns because the playground was packed (winter break) so I wouldn’t let them go on the big kid playground, because keeping track of three kids on a playground is like some awful where’s waldo panic attack simulation nightmare. Needless to say, we were at the park for a whopping thirty minutes, and then we made our way back home, all the while I am driving thinking why in the world did we even attempt that?
Once we got home, I put the little ones down for naps, and Harper tells me that was such a fun picnic and she can’t wait to do it again sometime. Huh? Were we at the same picnic?
And I realize, kids are resilient. They are eternal optimists! They don’t see half of what is going wrong, they are just thinking out loud, stuffing their face with chicken nuggets and looking at the giant wooden castle with all the heart eyes. And at the end of the day, what they will remember was the eleven minutes of me chasing them down the slide or how they got the giggles because Claire kept yelling “yogurt!” when she was swinging.
So if at the end of this long week, you are ready to throw in the towel & feel like all of your adventures were failures, just remember it is all about perspective. You’re doing an amazing job.
Have the best weekend, friends! XO
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Love this.
Thank for sooooo much for this post on this rainy Friday in California. After having “craft time” with my 2.5 yr for all of 7 minutes, I looked at her sitting in her undies with paint all over her body wondering if that was worth the mess. She loved it and saw past all the disasters I seem to notice. Way to go momma and thanks for the encouragement!
I love this. I don’t have kids so I know there’s another level of this I don’t even understand but this, I needed today. Thank you.
Love your posts – so real-life and honest. Thank you!
This is so true. When my son was little I was always so thankful that he was so optimistic and had what seemed to be such a short memory. We’d have the most awful day and I’d completely lose my sh1t with him and an hour later he’d be all smiles and thanking me for something, completely forgetting/forgiving me for what had transpired earlier, He’s 15 now and his memory is a lot longer so I miss those days of wide-eyed innocence and trust.
So needed this today. Thank you
This is THE sweetest and the absolute truth. From one Mama of three to another, you rock. ✊
Thank you Jessica! This is exactly what I needed to hear after a week of countless meltdowns with my 2 1/2 year old twin girls. Have a great weekend with your beautiful family! xo
What a great reminder, thank you!
GIRL I needed this today. Totally decided to be brave & take my kids hiking today. Long story short turns out they hate hiking. Hoping my Ella remembered at the very least a few fun moments or the lollipop that she got when I decided I was in over my head.
I just LOVE reading your blog! I am a new comer to reading this, and I am a new mom of three girls ( almost 5, almost 3, and 2 months) What I love most is how you keep things real and don’t try to be perfect. I love reading your sweet stories and I relate to so many of them! Thank you so much for keeping it real 🙂
I’ve had similar discoveries during moments of chaos, great post.
Thank you so much! I totally needed to hear just that. ❤
I love this story. Makes me wish I had the mind of a kid sometimes!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Know what you mean about messy yogurt. When my kids were little, I used to give them dinner and then plop them into the tub. I’d grab a container or two of yogurt and feed it to them while they splashed around. They liked to pretend they were my “little birdies,” tilting their heads back and chirping for another spoonful. Fun, easy, healthy, and no mess!! Plus, full tummies before bedtime. Enjoy your darling daughters, and thanks for your wonderful blog!
Great post!
I love this! I need to remind myself of this perspective. Thank you 🙂
This is perfect! Perspective is everything. 🙂 all the heart eyes!
I needed that!! Beautifully said and so true!!!
So true! Thanks for the reminder ?
So true. This is the sweetest little reminder ♡
love this <3
Thank you. This is a great reminder. 🙂
so funny! my kids seriously remember the “lemonade stand” (which was in our living room….with water…and I was their only customer) as the best thing ever! As well as the excitement of every holiday, party, and adventure we did…..without remembering me freaking out, stressing out, or wondering what on earth I was doing! kids are awesome like that!!!!!!
Your parenting posts are always my favorite! ❤
This exact thing happened to us last week, both my boys had been sick so we decided to take a picnic to the park…long story short, we were there for literally 5 minutes, 3 of which minutes included my oldest throwing up in the parking lot! LOL! So off we went home, and yet, both boys still “had fun at the park” when talking to Daddy that night! Kids are amazing.
You are so right about this, I witness all of the disasters through out the day and my kids are still happy go lucky about whatever highlights there were. Such a beautiful reminder!
Love this post, it’s oh so familiar! Thank you so much for the laugh and the wonderful encouragement!