Good Outweighs the Bad

Man. Yesterday.

If I were to make a list of things that did not go well, and a list of things that did go well; the list of "not so well" would far outweigh the positive moments in number. What is interesting to note, however; is the significantly larger impact of the good moments. This is despite being the overwhelmed underdog in frequency. Yesterday felt like walking through a swamp. Covered in pokey blackberry bushes. In 100 degrees. With incessant whining the entire journey. Between power struggles, to forgetting car pool, to kids not following very important directions, to making a u-turn on the way to a playdate because some attitudes needed to be addressed, to being an hour late to preschool, to having to clean the house over and over and over again and it still looking messy, to not having healthy food and everyone snacking on processed junk and complaining to be hungry all day, to...well you get the idea. It was a day that I was emotionally quite spent and crawling through.

The miracle happens here in the word "despite." Despite that long list of grievances (and my accompanying attitude), I found myself deeply grateful for very treasured moments sprinkled through out the day. The evolution of memories is an interesting thing, and already in natural selection, though my yesterday was conflicted; I feel my life is more clearly defined by the good, and that is what I am carrying with me.

So, without further adieu, yesterday's highlights: 

John woke the boys up to go pheasant hunting. They experienced quite an adventure, and I love getting pictures like this, seeing all my boys together. Isn't it gorgeous?

Meanwhile, Cate and I finished the last Harry Potter movie! We made some Hot Cocoa, and escaped to the Wizarding World for the morning....some things are worth a tardy at a zoom meeting, and watching the defeat of Voldemort is one of those things.

Cate and Johnny got to play basketball with neighbor kids.

I got a my last two Halloween books in the mail yesterday. I snuggled on William's bed after his nap, and got to read the books with him and Matthew. (William is in the BEST mood after he naps.)

I colored with Johnny and Matthew this afternoon at the table.

Cate and I practiced using Royal Icing. I'm lousy at it, but Cate got the hang of it pretty quickly!

Though dinner was about two hours late, I got it done and we were able to sit down as a family and eat at 7:30 PM.  While I cooked, Johnny read me Tale of Desperaux, William colored and Matthew played with Rosco outside my kitchen window. (Cate was hiking with the church youth group.)

Another angle as we waited for dinner to finish cooking.

Spiderman and Black Panther seriously made me laugh so hard today.

Also: William labeled his Pokemon Collection and his little writing makes me so, so happy.

Family dinner went well as everyone talked about their day. Caity's best moment was Harry Potter, Johnny's was hunting and reading outloud to me, William's was reading in bed with me and hunting with dad, Matthew's was also hunting and then coloring with Mom.

So, I suppose I wasn't failing so much as it felt like I was as it played out in real time.