Strawberry Festival Forever

This weekend our town is hosting the 100th Strawberry Festival. Yesterday my kids and I went to the Strawberry Junior Parade. We were in it with my MOPS group. It was a fun parade - not too long for the little ones (and the Momma pulling the wagon!).

Here are my two youngest before the parade started.


Here is a picture of me with my kids before the parade.

Did you notice my oldest son? He didn't want to go to the "Kid Parade." He was trying to pout. He ended up have a great time (and I even got him to admit it later). He just screams cowboy attitude in the picture, doesn't he?

I posted more pictures here: Strawberry Festival: Junior Parade
My oldest son is going to be in the Grand Parade today with his Cub Scout group. He has been looking forward to that parade all week.

Thursday Thanks Tank #90

It's still Thursday. I'm writing this about 11 p.m. on Thursday night. I thought about saying "I am thankful the day is done" and leaving it at that but I can't. Here's a short and sweet Thankful list.

I am thankful for:

1. Friends that bring me lattes
2. Not getting stressed taking care of 5 boys and 1 girl (3 of the boys weren't mine)
3. The last day of swim lessons
4. My phone playing "Sweet Home Alabama" every time someone calls (love that)
5. Crockpot dinner
6. My husband insisting that I get out of the house
7. A really quiet used book store
8. Singing LOUDLY along with the music in my car and loving being alone (oh, no, it was not something you would have enjoyed hearing)
9. Sweet hugs from my children
10. Plans for a fun (but busy) weekend

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Summer Soap

Today's Works-For-Me Wednesday over at We are THAT Family is the "Mom I'm Bored" Summer Edition. You really should head over there and check out all of the fantastic ideas to keep your kids from getting bored this summer.

When my kids are bored, I tell them to get creative. I also I tend to send them outside to play. Creativity and outside play often leads to 1 thing - getting hurt. I recently discovered the perfect solution for cleaning cuts and scrapes.

Memorial Day weekend my son landed in a blackberry bush (at least that's what my husband said it was). He had a pretty nice cut on his hand. We were out with friends, it was dusk, and we were getting ready to roast marshmallows over a bonfire. We threw some ointment on the cut and slapped a band-aid on it. My son was almost inconsolable. He hardly ate his s'more (only because I threatened to eat it!). He only stopped fretting about it when he fell asleep exhausted from the fun day.

The next morning I had to clean that cut. He wanted nothing to do with it. He tried to hide. He fussed and whined. He did not want me to even touch his hand, much less remove the band-aid.

Then, I remembered the foam soap I had bought to let the kids play with in the bath.

I brought my son to the bathroom for a "surprise" and then I showed him the foam soap. It took a few minutes for him to warm up to the idea and let go off his fear of anything touching his cut. But, after that, he had a blast playing with the soap. His cut was clean and I was the coolest mom ever.

When I originally bought the Foam soap (at Wal-mart) months and months ago, I let the kids use it in the bath. It was pretty frivolous and they went through it really quick. I didn't envision buying more. That one bottle I had left was worth every penny. I will buy more for this summer - for the season of cuts and scrapes.

Here's my little trooper enjoying the suds.

Catch and Release

Whether it is complaints from our kids, criticism from someone we love, or our own self-defeating thoughts, we are bombarded with negativity everyday.

Whoa, I know what you are thinking, I don't know if I want to read this post. Read on. I have been giving this considerable thought and I hope my thoughts make you think.

A few weeks ago, I spent some time talking to some friends about burdens. We all felt weighed down by stress or worry. For each of us, there was some kind of conflict in our lives -either with someone else or internally. We were all struggling. Someone said something to this affect: "I just don't know how to let go."

We cannot control all of the factors that push negativity our way. Negativity can arrive in the form of complaints, criticism, worry, or self-abasement. We can control what we do with our thoughts.

I don't think controlling our thought process is easy. I do think being proactive in this area will relieve a lot of stress. How often when you think of stress in your life, do you relate it to your own attitude and thinking? We underestimate the harm we do to ourselves with our own thinking.

After all, when I am most content - when I have the most peace of mind- it isn't because of my external situations. My thoughts and attitude are the most important factors to determine my level of contentment.

I believe that I should recognize a negative thought (the catch) and then let it go (the release).

That sounds great - but how do I do that?

I am being challenged by this. I am training my mind. I want to take every thought captive. I am consciously cultivating an awareness of my thoughts. I am convinced that holding on to a negative thought cannot help me in any way.

I don't pretend that I am not thinking negatively. I simply recognize it and determine to let go of it.

Sometimes, I recognize a negative thought and I simply stop myself from thinking that way. Other times, I recognize negativity and I pray over those thoughts. I pray for my concern, the situation, or the person involved. Prayer is an effective way for me to release my negative thoughts.

There are times when I struggle. I know I mentioned that I was "struggling" after David's allergic reaction. I recognized that holding on to negativity (or my anger) could not help me at all but I kept struggling. So, I asked a few friends to pray for me. I struggled and then found a release in relying on friendship and prayer.

There are few things in my life that I can control. With practice, I am gaining control over my thoughts. I am becoming more aware of my thoughts and, as I result, I am more in tune with my emotions. In becoming more aware of negativity, I am turning more over in prayer. The things I cannot control, I leave in God's hands.