Signs of a Good Day

For at least a few years, I've tried to scale back on my own bday celebration expectations. Birthdays were always a big deal in my family, and I've tried to pass that along and keep the tradition alive... but you know how sometime, when you're the one that usually does something, the favor is never quite returned the way you expect?

The key word in that is: expect. It's our expectations that set us up for so much disappointment. We think we should do this, or be that... or worse, we think THEY should... I've been disappointed with the random minuteness of my everyday life a bit too much. Maybe it's the vestiges of that fall funk. Whatever the case, my bday loomed on the horizon and I gave strong, ah, suggestions to my family: no big deals. No party, no candles, no whatever.

Lately, we've been doing a little "strength-finding" thing at work and it turns out that 3 of my top 5 talents deal with thinking or learning... both requiring time along and focus on something (as opposed to someONE). It was a great reminder of how I can often focus on the idea or goal and not even consider the person involved... or his/her feelings. Hence the bday expectation-disappointment cycle.

Now, I need to tell you that my family is pretty darn cool. Their love for me spills out in all sorts of ways, even after I sometimes take that for granted (so sorry 'bout that). They TRY to meet my expectations, even when they are unreasonable, unfair or full of perfectionism.

But this year, the reason behind the no-big-deal edict was so simple: I'm tired. My job requires a bit of friendliness and open-ness almost all the time, and I don't know if you've noticed, but we've a toddler in the house who has been going through an "all-mama-all-the-time" phase. I think those personality/strength/talent discussions helped me realize this before I got too cranky. So really, I just wanted a break from having to go places and do things and be hospitality and make the plans.

That was exactly what I got. And you know what? It was a pretty awesome day. Multiple phone calls from far-away friends AND family, good coffee, a decent book, thoughtful gifties, flowers, gift cards for later, a very nice homemade meal, some decorations, some time outside in gorgeous weather...

does it get any better than this?

So, for all of you who took time out to make this day awesome...

Thank you.

what's wrong with the church today...

when it becomes a club for a prince and his friends, it's all downhill from there!!

Recipe Alert- Pumpkin Latte

Wow! I found a recipe for homemade Pumpkin Latte... and it is AWESOME!
Check this out:

Take some milk (1-2 cups) and heat it up with some pumpkin (1-2 tbsp, I used canned), some sugar (1-2 tbsp), a little vanilla (1 tsp) and pumpkin pie spices.

Oh, I made the spice mix too. It's a lot of cinnamon (3 tsp), a tiny bit of cardamon (1/4 tsp or more), equal amounts of ground cloves and ginger and nutmeg (1 tsp). Oh, and the nutmeg was freshly ground-- my sil Donna brought us some back from a mission trip to Grenada last year. Yum.

Anyway, back to the latte. You heat all that stuff up (oh, and I added a teeny bit of coconut milk, just because I had some around, and on our cruise we had some awesome Carribean Latte, which was mostly coconut flavoring...) and then add it to espresso or very strong coffee.



YUM. Try it! It took me longer to take pics and write out this post than it did to whip it up :)

Mini Kaden Stories

Kaden was trying to climb onto the chair I was occupying. "Move over" he says, "You're in the way." ME? I asked, "You're the one being incorrigible." He reached the top, stood up straight and yelled "INNNCORRRRIBBBLLLEEE"

***
Since he misbehaved at dinner, he didn't get a third helping of peaches. I wasn't worried, since it was his THIRD helping. A little over an hour later, I hear the kitchen gate close and little feet walking across the tile. Then the pantry door open, a little rustling. Then nothing. I peek over the counter to see our boy sitting in the middle of the floor, eating cereal out of the box. Happily... and quietly. Guess he needed the third serving after all.

***
Whilst I was busy in the bathroom, Kaden (fully dressed) walked into the shower, closed the door and starting singing at the top of his lungs "I NEED A HERO..." Hey, I asked, is that Dad in the shower? Kaden opened the door and laughed "No, Mama, it's me" I faked a suprised look and said "Oh, it's Kaden acting like Daddy in the shower." He laughed again, closed the door, and resumed singing at the top of his lungs "It's KAAADENNNN, acting like DAAAADDY, singing about a HEEEEERO in the SHOOOOOWWWER"

***
When asked, he loves to water plants. Only he gets about a third of it on the plant, a third of it on the cement, and a third of it on himself. All on purpose.

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He also loves to cook. Mostly this involves filling pots with water and mixing ingredients, with more care than the plants get. There's lots of smiling and "YUM, this looks GOOD" type of comments.

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Kaden was telling me something that happened at school, and absentmindedly I said "Really?" to which he replied, "Really, REALLY"

Other current favorite phrases:
What happened?
Oh, that's my ____ (whatever he's looking at)
Hello!
I love YOU more.
That's funny.

***
With the exception of the phrases, which have been around a bit, everything else in this post happened within the last 48 hours. I left out the numerous time outs because, really really, they aren't that fun. But otherwise, the weather is beautiful and life is good! We love YOU more!