UEA Weekend

It is UEA weekend, which means some glorious days off of school and a good chance to catch our breath. That's all vacations are, right? Days for us to sleep in and do nothing? Abi, bless her heart, believes vacations are opportunities to carpe diem, and thus kept asking me what we were going to do. "Everyone else is doing something..." so what are we going to do? Abi, my dear, I can't do anything. I've got a baby that needs to suck on me most of the day, and I can't do that on the road and I don't want to do that at the park and I can't even guarantee that I can get away from junior long enough to help all you critters find your socks and shoes and jackets... Leaving the house is just such an overwhelming request. I work myself up all week just to be able to go to church on Sunday. Not being able to do these simple things makes me feel a bit like a failure. So having to tell her "we're not doing anything" several times yesterday caused me to develop a poor disposition, which carried over a bit to today. After some prayer and a phone vent and a shout out from a friend I was feeling better. I tried to put things in perspective. Maybe I don't do UEA weekend and haven't been able to go on hikes or camping with the kids this year, (or last year...) but that's how it is now, not how it will always be. This is just a season we are in yet again (perpetually?) and I can enjoy it. Plus I've done stuff before... there was that whole Brazil thing last year, that is worth some points, right? We've gone on adventures and done stuff! Heck, we did it even when "no one else was doing it". (I really don't like the "everyone else" card that is played sometimes, but I get it and know we all have a tendency to compare ourselves...) But I just gotta focus on us and what I know I can or can't do. And it's just a season, it won't always be like this. Soon Daniel will be 16 and getting his drivers permit and I'll be missing these days. Enjoy it while it lasts.

And, thankfully, Friday afternoon one of Abi's friends called and invited her to join her family at Red Butte Garden for some Halloween fun, hooray!

This was a tender mercy to me and my little socialite Abi, thank you!

 Abi didn't like the work the face painter did...

She was a good sport and laughed about it :) And they stopped at McDonald's on the way home, sounds like a great night for this young lady.