A Carnival and a Vegetable Garden

After B's baseball game on Friday night, we hit a very impromptu carnival that had set up by the mall.  Right off, B went down the giant slide.  I tried so hard to convince him to try the Ferris Wheel and he just would not do it.  So frustrating!  I know he would love it if he would try it, but that kid is just not the peer pressuring type, and when he doesn't want to do something, he won't budge.  I call it being stubborn, he calls it perseverance.  I even tried to bribe with ice cream and candy.  Nope.

So while he and Daddy watched, Ty went on his very first Ferris Wheel ride with me!

  He wasn't sure at first and hid his little face in my chest on the way up.  Then when we got to the top, a big smile appeared on his little face and he loved it!  When we came down the other side he yelled and waved to Daddy and B.  It was so much fun!  I just love watching the wonderment in little kid's faces when they experience something new.  Just raw excitement.

The boys also went on a ride with Daddy.  It was a little too fast for Ty and he hid his face the whole time.  No crying though.  He would look up once in a while and just say,
"I don't like this, Daddy."
B killed it with the carnival games and both boys nailed the fishing game. 

Yum, funnel cake. 

Then the boys started melting down so we called it a night.  We came home with a couple of blow up swords, an orange guitar and a little yellow duck. 

The sword fight that ensued when we got home was pretty huge. 

The guitar was used inappropriately as another stabbing device and the fight made it all the way upstairs and onto my bed.  It was a rough one, but I managed to tackle the little ones and get them in the tub.

Saturday started off pretty good.  I just love Ty's "just woken up" face.

Those beautiful blue eyes.  Gonna be trouble in another decade or two.

And his little foot with its crazy toe.

A pile of frogs that came downstairs to watch cartoons with us.

And my B with his Tubby.  Not so much a morning person.  Or maybe just not wanting a camera in his face before 8am.

  We didn't have a lot planned which was really nice, so I announced that morning that it was everyone's Saturday and they could do what they wanted.  So I went outside and started on my vegetable garden and B stayed inside and played with Legos.  Ty came on out with me and played outside. 

I'm trying very hard to accept the fact that my boys have individual personalities and along with that comes individual preferences (which don't always... ok almost NEVER match mine).  So yes, it bothers me that it was 73 degrees outside, sunny and beautiful and B was sitting inside in his PJs with his Legos until noon.  But that's what he loves right now, so I have to just let it roll.  Its not going to stop me from playing in the dirt on a Saturday morning though!

We needed to run a couple of errands after lunch and the boys got very challenging.  A rough rest of the day and evening.  Lots of whining and spoiled attitudes going on.  Something about turning a nose up at a watermelon because it had seeds and standing around pouting because everyone was eating supper instead of playing or doing what one 6 year old wanted.

These times are tough on parents!  Bedtime was welcomed warmly.

Sunday the kids rallied.  We went to a family reunion where we knew only a handful of people and my boys jumped right in and played with kids they didn't know and did awesome.  They ate a ton of food and didn't complain one bit.  They were happy tired boys going to bed and I was a happy tired Mommy.  A good ending to a challenging weekend.

Back to work and school today!  A lot of worries for this Mom today, so I am taking a break from "casting all my cares" on God and just thanking him and focusing on an attitude of gratitude.  The worries will all still be there tomorrow.  I read somewhere that worries are like a rocking chair.  You can rock and rock and rock as hard and as long as you want, but you are still sitting in the exact same spot you were when you started rocking.