So Much Good

At any given moment, at least a million things are out there that are scary or depressing or plain awful, and sometimes it overshadows the stuff that's good. Which is a shame because there is SO much good. I think I've reached the point where all the doomsday news has just inundated every media outlet, and I'm feeling overloaded. It's starting to make me numb to it. Nukes and climate change and robots taking over the world and natural disasters...it just goes on and on. I don't want to live in my happy little bubble and pretend that people aren't out there suffering, but I also don't want to let life pass me by. And this past week, well...it was especially sweet. Literally, I ate SO much sugar. But I also turned a blind eye to the news so I could just soak in all the good around me.

Monday was my birthday, and it was one of the simplest and one of the best that I can remember. Gavin wanted to help me make a cake...the "tallest cake in the whole world." So, on Sunday we got to work. You know you're a grown-up when you're making your own birthday cake...and you don't even care about having a cake, you're just doing it because it's fun for your kids. Well, we made a very lopsided three-tiered funfetti cake, and I think he was pretty happy with it. Or maybe he was just happy about licking the frosting. Either way, it was a worthwhile project.

On Monday morning, I wrapped up my work by 10am. Once Graham woke up from a nap, we all went out to lunch at El Encanto. The boys loved watching the turtles and ducks in the pond, and it was one of the most civilized lunches I can remember with the boys. When we got home, Gavin worked hard to decorate birthday hats in time for my birthday party, which consisted of the four of us and my parents. We ate Papa Murphy's and sang happy birthday and dug into the cake. It was awesome.

All ready for the party

Our cake masterpiece

Coloring birthday hats for everybody at the party

Lunch at El Encanto

Lego Batman made a surprise guest appearance for the party.

This little stinker is into everything.

On Tuesday after work, I went to happy hour with my mom, aunts and cousins for a joint birthday celebration. Thank goodness for birthdays to keep these ladies connected!

This week at swim, they did a costume parade and haunted house. We forgot our costume and borrowed this dinosaur hat. Gavin was the only one who participated in the 10:45 parade and the only kid who did the haunted house, but he actually had a lot of fun!

Friday, as always, proved to be the best day of the week. Dylan met me after our respective morning workouts to take the boys home, which freed me up for lunch with Kris and her tiny baby, London, at Spiga. What a great restaurant! And the company was top notch. London was adorable and such a delight! I hadn't held a tiny baby in such a long time. Catching up with Kris was long overdue, and I'm thankful that she was such a trooper to meet me out for lunch with a 4-week-old baby. We wrapped up our meal with a chocolate lava cake and ice cream. I think we can all agree that a carbohydrate-fest with a good friend is the best medicine for the soul. Thanks, Kris!

By the time the evening rolled around, we were back on the road and headed to the Balloon Spooktacular at Salt River Fields. Gavin is obsessed with his Lego Batman costume, and we have been getting a ton of mileage out of it. He tried out just about every bounce house and slide. We watched the balloons, trick-or-treated at a few stops, and wrapped up the night by 6:30. Graham wasn't such a fan...he fell asleep in the car on the way there and then spent most of the night on my hip. But it was all worth it to see Gavin branching out and really becoming brave about trying new things on his own.

Elmo and cookie monster

Batman and Robin

He loves this high jump thing.

The Halloween fun did not end on Friday. On Saturday, we spent the entire day at home, which was fantastic. Usually, I have to get out and do something in the morning, but I was kind of out of steam by Saturday. Staying at home felt so, so good. Graham took the longest nap of his life, so that alone made it a winning day. Once the late afternoon rolled around, we took the boys to the Highlands Fall Festival. This isn't your normal church Fall Festival. We rode monster trucks, visited a variety of bounce houses for kids big and small, played games, ran around in the foam pit, and checked out the petting zoo. Every volunteer was dressed in a costume, and it was over-the-top but so much fun.

Monster truck ride!

At one point, Gavin had been bouncing for such a long time, that I ventured across the sidewalk to check out the games with Dylan and Graham. Once Gavin finally emerged from the bounce house, he couldn't find me anywhere, and I discovered him wandering around and crying. Major mom fail, but that kind of thing happens to the best of us, right?

Graham loved these mini horses but he was too afraid to touch them.

Shawn went to buy a few pieces of pizza, and they gave him a whole box. So we said, "Sure, we'll help you out with that."

I feel like we saw a new side of Gavin emerge this weekend. He usually plays it pretty safe and sticks close to us. He's never been one of those high-energy kids that you see running around like a maniac. He's so shy and sensitive. I just want him to be who he is because I know all too well what it's like to be overwhelmed around a lot of noise and people and chaos. But I was also so excited to see him come out of his shell a little bit and eagerly visit every bounce house among the chaos of a hundred other kids. He bailed down the slide so fast that he fell off at the end and then laughed about it. He didn't need us in his sight every second. (And then he couldn't find me after the bounce house, so I probably blew it...but hopefully not.) I guess he's growing up!

We were back to church Sunday morning, and they did an incredible job of cleaning up from the previous night. Much to the boys' delight, the monster truck was still there...but they were no longer offering rides on it. After our usual donut, the boys hit the playground to burn off some energy.

This happy little guy held up the slide line by swinging around like a monkey.

A real-life family photo.

Oh, one last time on the slide before we go

Dylan took this picture after I left for work one morning. Graham is giving us some serious trouble with turning over the dogs' food and water bowls and getting his hand stuck in the dog door. He's hilarious.

Our little Lego Batman

Now here we are, on the eve of a long trip for Dylan. I will definitely have to bring in my back-ups for this one. The boys are at my parents' house for the night since we both work in the morning. On Tuesday, I'll go to work for an hour and then go back to north Scottsdale to see Gavin at his Halloween parade at school before going back in to work for the rest of the day. Since Dylan will be out of town, I thought that it was important that at least one of us was there to see Gavin's parade. I don't often leave work for kid stuff, but the situation called for it this time. Then, my mom will pick up both boys and get them Halloween-ready in the afternoon so that I can finish up my work day. I should be able to meet up just in time for trick-or-treating. By the time I get their over-tired, sugar-loaded bodies in bed that night, I think I'll be very glad that Halloween is behind us. I'll probably unload the boys on my parents one more time before D gets home, too. I guess that's what they mean when they say it takes a village.

The six-day trip that is upon us is much longer than normal and will cut significantly into our weekend. At first thought, this makes me upset. But, then I remember that once-upon-a-time six-day trips with no advance notice was our normal. Dylan was gone most weekends. Gavin was little, and the two of us were on our own...and there was lots of crying from both of us (but mostly G). I'm a little traumatized from that year, in case you haven't noticed. When I think back on that time, I realize that we have come such an incredibly long way since then. The job that Dylan does now allows us to actually make plans to do things and to be together on most weekends, and that is the most valuable gift we've ever been given. His current job came out of nowhere at the same time that Graham was born, and it saved our lives. I really think that it did. At least it saved our lives as we know them. It was a miracle, and I have a sneaky feeling that people who love us had been praying for such a miracle. #Godisgood

If this sign from Magnolia Market wasn't such a budget-buster, I would totally hang it in my house. 

So, I think we can handle this six-day trip, no problem. The weather will actually start to feel like an Arizona autumn, so we'll get outside and have some fun. It'll be exhausting, no doubt, and I'll sure have some lonely moments, but it will really give us a reason to appreciate everything that we have. Life is about taking the good with the bad and the bad with the good. There will be hard times and good times and, of course, there will be miracles. I think we all have every reason to believe that!