Keeping Calm

We've been listening to Jack Johnson each morning as the boys eat breakfast and I drink my tea {chai latte, please}. We all sort of sway to the music as we go about our business. Sort of a calm intro to the day. Keeping calm. Sometimes I find it so easy to stay calm & carry on. Other times, I do the exact opposite.

{Deep breathing & letting go....good stuff}

                    {Sometimes this would be the best thing to do. When I'm    frustrated, I tend to speak and then think . I need to reverse the order}

{this is good}

{It often helps to do this, too}

{I know, right}

{I just had to add this one}

Breathing & Relaxing

Greg has been cracking me up lately. The way he enters the house after work each day......."What the?" is what he says {he's not saying "what the f%&*#" just simply "what the?" . It's a total inside joke, and he has me laughing about it every day.

The thing about Greg, he's very easy going. I am not always as easy going. Yesterday, I asked him his thoughts about a certain situation I have been pondering. He gave me a very relaxed, no biggie~ kind of answer. I didn't like that answer. I wanted him to share my passion. I wanted him to give me truth, but I wanted him to agree with me, too. LOL. He wasn't disagreeing, but he also really did not care one bit. He felt I should not be giving the situation the time & energy that I was giving it.

And he was right. But, I didn't like that he was right. My emotions wanted passion. I didn't want a carefree attitude.

You see, he had been reading the news before he came home and he was feeling different emotions. He actually had tears in his eyes when he shared what he had read. And he was right, again. The situation he read about deserved tears...and was worthy of emotion. The trivial thing I was talking about did not deserve big emotions... though it was still hard for me to shake my irritation over it.

The news reminded both of us that each day is truly precious. We hugged each other intentionally last night. We hugged a bit tighter and longer. We hugged the boys every chance we got. We made sure to say "love you" before he drove off this morning. I wish we didn't need reminders from the news. In fact, I may need to take a break from reading the news for a bit.

But, as corny as it sounds....I'll welcome those extra long & tight hugs. And I'll try to be a bit more easy going, too.

Words to Think About

Books & Their Cases

{the polka dot book is my bible}

I have a little stack of books that I'd like to read this summer. Now, I just need to make myself sit still and read them. I have a couple started. Maybe I should focus on 1 at a time? Do you juggle books? I read Hold On To Your Kids years ago....love it....need to read it again. Highly recommend it.



The boys have some fun new books, too. We've been collecting some books by Simon Basher {Basher Books}

{have not thought about what to place on the wall....may just ignore it. Apartment walls=no nail holes, please}

I've also been moving some things around. This post is the before. I switched up the book cases a bit. It's now our own mini library. I love our little collection.....many were acquired through paperbackswap.com or found at random garage or book sales {I love 25cent book finds}

Now that I have slimmed down the contents of this room.....well, it's finally feeling less cluttered. Which makes me enjoy being in there again. I used to run past it.....trying not to look at the chaos it was. I still plan to slim things down again. I'm determined. Baby steps.

I think Ikea may be calling for me....."Come visit me. I have lingon berry jam and cute green organizing things....and those white book cases you really want.....and huge Swedish chocolate bars for $1"

Ikea knows my love language.

Visiting Crayola

Before the Fourth of July weekend, we went with some friends to visit the Crayola Factory in PA. Lots of colorful fun. 

 

 They especially liked the boat room {very fun & wet} and decorating with melted crayons {we all got in on that fun}.  Beautiful weather, great day all around.

Summer Lovin'

It feels like summer has been in swing for a while, but really it's only just begun. The young girls in our complex invited us down to watch their fairy tale play.  

The play was elaborate....during intermission they passed out lemonade.

We've made daily use of our complex playground. We may not have our own back yard anymore, but we have had a lot of fun on the courts and fields.

Most evenings, we try to get in some rugby drills. This has been the one sport that I have embraced. Greg and I run back and forth passing the ball....it's a fun way to exercise. I usually don't exercise unless it's disguised in fun.

Greg's been teaching the boys about scrums {pictured above}. I don't understand all the lingo yet, but it's entertaining.

Thankful for large pieces of land to run and play.....and for energy to do it all.

I've been doing some purging {it's never ending, people!}.....and I've been just plain 'ol trying to keep focused on the positive. After my last post about the lesson I recently learned.....well, I've been thinking deeper about a few things. I'm trying to be "still" more. To disregard the negative stuff and to accentuate the positive.

We all need to do it from time to time. Sort of, cleaning the soul closet.

It's so easy to get caught up in the wrong direction. Those wrong turns can be good for us.....they ultimately put us in the right direction.

My mom recently told me that I'm just like my nana {her mom }....she said that I've always had a strong reaction to injustice....just like nana. My problem is that I don't always know how to communicate or respond to the injustice. Something I'm going to ponder...while cleaning my closet.