Perspective

In a family, day by day, there are two perspectives. That of the parents, and then the way the children are viewing the world, the moments. I always loved what Dumbledore said, "Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young". As parents, it is very important to remember what it was to be young. As a parent, our perspective is so completely different, it can be easy to forget. I am certainly guilty of this.

As I contemplate what a parent perspective is, I find it can be all too easy to slip into a selfish mind frame without meaning to. We see something our child has done and think about all the extra cleaning and work we will have to do now.

One day, my husband taught me a very good lesson on perspective. I walked into the kitchen to find eggs cracked all over the kitchen floor. Yolk and egg gunk were everywhere. I completely lost it with my kids, I was so mad. Eggs gone. Kitchen mess! This was horrible!

Well, Jeremiah gently took me aside. "You know," he said, "they didn't do this to make you upset or to make a huge mess. Smashing eggs is fun, didn't you know?"

"No," I said grumpily. I was not to be pacified.

"It is," he said, "Come on, try it." He flashed me his goofy grin and pulled me toward the kitchen. He could tell I was trying not to smile as I kept a scowl on my face.

"No, you are silly, it will just make a huge mess to clean up." I said as he dragged me to the fridge.

"I'll clean up the mess," he said as he pulled a carton of eggs out.

"You will?" I said.

"Yes, now throw it." He said, handing me an egg.

"I can't" I said.

"Do it, come on! It is fun!" he said as he threw one on the floor with a laugh.

So there we sat for the next few minutes breaking eggs on our kitchen floor and giggling like little kids. I'm sure we were quite the sight. But, his lesson has stuck with me. It was true, my kids had not done this mischief to be mean to me or make my life harder. Simply, they saw fun. They were learning about the world...and enjoying it! They don't see the weight on our minds- the bills to pay, the chores to do, the endless errands to run.  They can't know. So, from that day on I have vowed to take a moment to remember what it was like to be young. To stop and change my perspective before I react, lest I become the guilty one.

The Castle Park

I found this park in Astoria and I love it. I nicknamed it "The Castle Park" because of all the lovely castle-like structures it has. The kids had fun playing, though we only stayed for a little bit because it was cold.

Elijah has way too much fun posing for camera pictures. :) I love watching his joy.

In this picture I told them to make a silly face.

Bria had fun exploring and walking around the park structures.

I love this little sand digger toy. fun fun!

Bria had fun on this rope bridge until her foot got stuck. :)

Lots of fun slides.

Here are a few pictures I tried to get of the whole park. It is hard to really capture how big this park is.

I love the beautiful tiles on these structures here.

We had a great day at the park!

Sunsets and Wildlife

These are pictures taken from inside my house as I look out the window. I absolutely LOVE where we live right now, from the beautiful ocean bay view to the fun wildlife all around us. I constantly look out the window and smile.

Sunset is my favorite time of day to look out the window. The beauty always causes me to pause and enjoy the moment.

I love this tree, it makes such a beautiful landscape against the bay, especially with the colors of the setting sun.

Time To Blog

Wow, it has been a while! Since I last blogged a lot has happened, including the addition of 2 members to our family. Instead of spending hours catching up, I'm just going to start from here. It is Christmas Time in 2011 and our family is excited for the holiday. We love spending time together and had a great time this last weekend decorating the Christmas tree. I love this picture of Bria with her tree bead necklace and her daddy. She is such a daddy's little girl. I love it. :)

I love that she put the tree decoration around her neck like a necklace. I used to do that as a little girl too.

It was especially fun decorating the tree this year. It seems like our kids were just finally old enough to really get into helping.

Me with my little pumpkins except Baby Hyrum was sleeping. I love my children so much. They are my joy. It should be a very full and Merry Christmas at our house.