Gratitude- Day 11. SHOES!

I've found the mother lode of awesome velcro-sneakers for my big kid!!! Zappos came through for us- now all i have to do is decide which cool kicks to get him!  The easiest way I've found to truly judge his foot size is by trying on a pair of sandals- do they fit? too big, too small?  close?  So- we ordered these from Land's End and will double check his tootsies before we choose! 

Pretty cool, eh?? 

We had a good day.  Busy, busy at work, home, then off to grocery shop and dinner out (the kids, anyway) at Dairy Queen! They LOVED it! We don't do fast food much at all, and we rarely eat inside a restaurant, finding take out much more convenient - so this was a double bonus

 with ice cream on top!! 

I'm working really, really hard on being less 'in charge' of outings like this- it's hard for me to relax and not try and keep all of our hands to ourselves, bodies from leaning and touching, voices at a reasonable level etc. etc. and not become completely STRESSED OUT by the time we leave.  Tonight I told myself to caaaaaaaaaallllllmmmmm down.... be easy.  smile and find the good <--- and it was awesomely easy to do!  In line, Abe immediately went up to an older woman who was there with her two middle-school aged grandchildren- he leaned on her, smiled, rolled down her sleeves (pushed up sleeves, along with unzipped coats, are a HUGE 'fix it quick' situation for my kiddo right now), and smelled her neck- she was rather short :-) So the second time he did this (after I'd corralled him back the first time and thwarted  a middle attempt) I said something along the lines of 'oh goodness! Abe, do you think we know this kind lady?  You must think she smells really good!! Here, son, come back here by me!' She said 'Hi Abe, my name is Doris!  It's nice to meet you! You smell really good too!! These are my grandchildren Taylor and Michael- what's your brother and sister's names?'  :-) :-) :-)  So we chatted- and they came by our table to say goodbye-  heart happy!  

something else that makes my heart happy- look at this sweet baby when he was just 2 years old!  Bo is so grown up... hard to believe he'll be 6 in just about a month!  

During the meal we put the food out in front of them and didn't say another word regarding eating, not eating, mess, etc... We want ALL of our children to have good manners.  We want ALL of our children to be comfortable no matter the situation, and that, often, involves knowing how to act appropriately whether you're eating at a picnic or at a Thai restaurant.  BUT... but, but but- we want all of our children to be independent, free thinkers, who enjoy life more than they care about 'fitting in' or following a certain norm.  I never want to correct my children with the tag line of 'what if so and so saw you, what would they think!!' or 'I'm so embarrassed by x, y, or z'.   Being so noticeably different in so many ways has helped me move past much of the importance I placed on other's opinion.  <---- does that make sense?  in other words, it doesn't matter to me that Abe spit out just as much chicken as he consumed because he was TRYING something new!  I don't care if Bohdan eats in small, quick little bites because he wants to eat like an Aardvark and his IMAGINATION is outstanding!  Aurelia's repetitive exclamation of 'oh wow! it's good!!' is FANTASTIC because that's 2 2-word phrases together!!! 

blurry photo in the back of my car- half faces and all- notice the ice cream... uh huh.... just a smidge messy by the time we got home... just a smidge!

big kid and his bag-o-beans decided to sit and enjoy the cereal aisle today- Elmo and SuperWhy!  two of his favorites :-) He probably would have stayed here all night!  

Stats- Another successful morning workout is in the books!  

1. Sweat time- 40 minutes, run, stairclimber, and Fitness Blender 's  Lean Arm Workout... killer.

2. Calories Burned- 434! Whoot!  

I hope that you (and when I say you, I mean us <---- :-)) find the good in the whacky, the happy instead of the stressful, and the friendly faces in random places that make life beautiful.

xo