Possible calling for Mister B?

First, let me say, I hope you enjoy the new layout. I know that I have had the UGLIEST blog ever since I started it, but I just didn't choose to spend the time to go seek out new, free designs. Finally though, as other friends blogs have gotten prettier and prettier, I just decided that I should at least see if Blogger had anything else to offer that would take no more than 1 min of my time to apply. Well, here it is! Enjoy:)

As for this post, B might just have found another passion. That brings the count to 3...trains, cooking, and now: photography!

This kid LOVES to take pictures. Sometimes the pictures are awesome, and sometimes they are exactly what you might expect a 5-yr-old to take.

When he really tries, they can be quite good. *See the star ornament pic below.

But he also gets a lot of joy from just snapping random digital shots at random angles, and then laughing at the unexpected and strange results when we go back through the pics. *See the final pic attached:)

The part I enjoy the most is seeing the world from his perspective. He's just a few feet tall, and his perspective and my perspective are very different. I love seeing pics he takes of M. To me, she is so tiny, but she's only a bit smaller than him, so it's fun to see pictures taken at her height. She also thinks it is really funny when he snaps shots of her, so she is often laughing or smiling really genuinely, and those pictures are always priceless. *See the spoon/smile masterpiece below.

Good "Old" Mom

Ben and Molly and I were watching a home video of when I was a child today, and B especially was LOVING it. He was reveling in seeing so many of his family members looking so young, especially Granny and Grandpa.

Out of the blue he says, "I can't believe how long ago this was, Mom! Did you guys ride in a horse and carriage back then?"

SO hysterial!

What really struck me was this: when I was a kid, I remember asking my mom the very same question...however, I was probably looking at a black-and-white picture of her as a child. Something that clearly represented a by-gone era.

My son was watching a full color video of me and my family, jumping on a trampoline...not exactly the "old" days, by the sight of it.

I wonder if all kids who are learning about the past, and about how diifferent things are now from how they once were, imagine that their parents must have lived through all the "past" that they are learning about. Now that I think of it, I can remember B asking me once if I met Jesus before he died. SO amazing to me that, even with all he knows, and with how relatively young I feel, my son can't place me in time yet...all he knows is that he is young and I am old. Interesting stuff...but I've got to run now...there is a chicken to be plucked for dinner, the cow needs milking, and I haven't churned the butter yet! Have you seen my bonnet, btw?

Mom Victory

So, I think that, both in the blog world and in the real world, we mom's are really good at airing our self-disappointment. We don't throw ourselves under the train all day every day, but pretty much every mom I know is openly critical of herself from time to time. Myself DEFINITELY included.

So I thought I would take a moment to share 2 of my "Mom-Victories"..."momories"...whatever.

Let me preface my self-praise with some self-criticism:), I am the type of woman who thinks that one of the hardest parts of parenting is accepting the fact that you can't have control...over MOST things. I control some things, but FAR fewer than I thought I would be able to. And this is often excruciating!

BUT, I get a lot of mom-joy from trying to realistically choose goals that I CAN control, and then trying to actually meet my goals. And in the early days of parenting, when the realities of my own lack of skills/intuition were crashing down around me, I set a couple of clear, direct goals for myself. They were benchmarks I would either meet or not meet, but were not related to how much my kids cried/slept/ate/or otherwise performed.

I can now officially announce that I have met 2 of my most significant goals for Ben!! Woohoo!! Roll out the party! Give me a trophy!! Seriously, people(I know there are at least 3 of you who will read this), praise me! :)

On Ben's 5th b-day, I passed second of 2 markers that I set for myself:

1. That my children would not watch t.v. while they were under the age of 2.

and

2. That my children would not get sunburned while they were under the age of 5.

Now that I have met my goals, I can stop pretending to parent altogether. Seriously, it's t.v. pretty much 24/7 around here, and I threw out all the sunscreen in Nov.

I know I still have to get Molly to her 5th birthday sans sunburn...but she'll be 3 soon, so I've got the end in my sights:)

Phew...glad that's over! Pass the bonbons, turn on Oprah, and fetch me a glass of chardonnay, please??!