lesson {re}learned

i thought i had blogged about it before but i checked. i haven't.
so we took family pictures for our christmas card back in october.
for the most part, they were a massive fail.
i mean, in the end i did put together a decent christmas card {reveal to come soon!} but i did have to use multiple pictures due to...well...this:

or this:

or this:

and get a look at this fantastic shot:

i believe this picture really does say a thousand words. this one's going down in the family yearbook for sure.

the aftermath/bribing with the promise of lollipops if we got smiles:

oh family pictures. the lesson {re}learned? lower your expectations.

jude's face says what mine wanted to at the end of this photo sesh.

thoughts

I haven't blogged a lot lately.

I'm not sure why.

I've been thinking about a lot of things. They just haven't transfered to this blog.

Parenting, Jesus, exercise, eating, family, friends, traveling...

I've been thinking about a lot of things.

On Tuesday we fly out to BC for 10 days with both boys for a work conference. I'm excited. My mind is constantly thinking, thinking, planning, prepping. It'll be the first time we've flown with both boys. And the first time Noah will have his own seat.

When we get home (Friday) the next day Jude turns ONE. But it's too soon for me to throw a party the next day so we'll do it on Monday since my cousin is having a (bridal) shower on the Sunday. In Michigan. 4 hours away.

And of course I got all ambitious this year and decided to do a "themed" birthday party for Jude. Which means a themed cake. Which I had hoped to bake ahead of time and freeze. And I still might do it. But I don't even know how to make this cake (I'm not telling you what it's going to be, but it's going to be CUTE!) so I'm giving myself permission to bail whenever it gets too stressful (ie. not fun).

And on that note, I AM having more fun these days. I am happier. More content. Trying harder to be the "Keeper of My Home". Domestically speaking, that is.

Some days I do AWE.SOME. Some days are a major FAIL.

Every day I try to be PRESENT for my boys and be all there and NOT sucked into this tricky thing called THE INTERNET. Some days I do AWE.SOME. Others...you guessed it. FAIL.

But I'm receiving Grace. And finally starting to desire HIM and His Word. It's been awhile since I've felt that.

Being a woman/wife/mother/daughter/sister/friend is complicated and multi-faceted. But I like that. It's hard, don't get me wrong, but when I think about how I have the rest of my life to keep growing and learning...it's a good feeling.

I think I'd get bored if I could be AWE.SOME at everything.

Off I go to keep thinking and do a bit of packing before bed...

Restaurant FAIL

On Tuesday our family plus our staff team (1 other couple and another male and female staff) went out to dinner at Jose's Noodle Factory (sort of a Tex Mex style restaurant).

Noah had been having an off day - not really eating much, starting to get sick, not listening but we went anyway because generally Noah is really good in restaurants.

It's obvious from the title of this entry where this story is going, but I'll just write it out anyway.

So we get to the restaurant and Noah sits in his highchair for all of 5.7 seconds and then he's done. At first he just walks around and visits the other staff at our table, but then he's crawling into other booths (no one is in them of course), crawling under tables, and then he starts doing his loud call - HELP MAMA! HELP DADDY! when he finds himself standing up on the booth "unable" to get back down (or probably unwilling).

At this point we have all ordered and have received our food and have just started to eat. Noah starts screaming and making a scene and I know it will continue for the rest of the meal (luckily Jude is doing amazing despite this being his cranky time of the day). At this point I've already taken him to the women's washroom and told him that the next time he screams we are going home.

So true to my word (I don't like to threaten unless I am willing to follow through) I have to ask the server to pack up my food and so Noah and I drive home.

I am frustrated.

Angry.

Embarrassed.

We get home and I just let Noah play with his toys while I try to explain to him what happened.

"Noah. We are at home because you were not behaving properly for the restaurant."

"Yeeeaaaaah."

"You screamed and ran around in the restaurant."

"Yeeeeaaaah."

"You didn't listen to Mommy & Daddy."

"Yeeeaaaaah."

*sigh*

I know that at this point that spanking is NOT the way to go, so I let it drop and when he brings up "Baby Jude" and Daddy being at the restaurant I just continue to say that we left because he wasn't obeying Mommy & Daddy and so we left because it's not okay to behave like that.

He gets an early (and much needed) bedtime and is asleep by the time Jamie, Jude and the rest of our staff team arrives to hang out for the rest of the evening.

I'm not sure what the lesson is, but I think I would do the same thing all over again if I could. I would have given him the opportunity to eat dinner with us, but he probably would still be unable to handle it and so I would have left with him again. But...it's always worth a try I think.