Beauty in the Mess ~ Edition 06.04.14

Can I just take a moment and rave about how great the past few weeks have been?

I’m not really sure what has made the difference. Maybe it has something to do with warmer weather, or maybe the new supplement my husband is taking, or maybe the fact that we got to take a vacation and have a few date nights…but it’s been good. Perfect? No. But good.

So I’m just going to jump right in and get to sharing some of the beauty!

There is beauty in finding hiding places at Lowes (aka “the Special Store”) to hide out in while hubby spends a solid hour talking over lawnmowers with the associate. We loved hanging out in the shelves where no one could find us!

There is beauty in that one time Russ saw a rose on a wild bush by the parking lot at school at stopped and picked it for me:

There is beauty in one of those last few days of Ezra being in school where I could make a fancy breakfast of eggs with fresh tomato and oregano – and pink lemonade in a fancy glass – and enjoy it all. by. my. self.

There is beauty in shopping at a grocery store that offers discounts on gas for shopping with them and extra gas incentives for buying certain products. I’ll take it!

There is beauty in grilling out frequently – and for roasting marshmallows for the first time this summer!

There is beauty in new clothes (from Goodwill) and new glasses that transition to sunglasses when I go outside! My bank account isn’t too happy but my body is!

There is beauty in this little guy who picks flowers out of the flower beds even though I’ve told him not to.

There is beauty in a local church offering 3 hours of Friday evening childcare, once a month, for $5 so parents can take date nights…and so much beauty in Mom’s Night Out, which was FABULOUS! I loved seeing a movie about another mommy blogger!

There is beauty in the random moments when he asks you, “Can you take a picture of me, Mom?” and then even poses for you.

There is beauty in these boys – and Daddy finally finding Farmer Pants so that they can match!

There is beauty in trips to the park that end in sleeping boys and dirty feet.

There is beauty in roasting marshmallows WITH my boy, one of my favorite parks of summer.

There is beauty in hanging out at the children’s museum and Ezra being occupied for a good hour with some serious physical, sensory play – climbing and pushing heavy balls!

There is beauty in our boy finishing up his first “year” of school. Even though he only attended the last few months and got in trouble a ton, it was still one of the best decisions we ever made.

And there is also beauty in “continuing education” at home!

There is beauty in a Memorial Day spent hiking as a family (plus Cow).

There is so much beauty in re-connecting with this girlfriend, who happens to be a blogger, published author, military spouse, adoptive mom, and a friend I was stationed with at Fort Knox. The Army took her to Washington and then brought her to North Carolina…where we can meetup halfway at the NC Zoo, where we both have a pass!

And there is beauty in our sons acting like monkeys while we were there:

There is beauty in resurrecting our stroller in hopes of being able to get more exercise through walking – and having it go amazingly well. Ezra’s response to getting in the stroller was “Oh, this is SO COOL Mom!” and he sat there contentedly for the better part of five miles. And, even better, we got to stop halfway through for a break and some serious puddle jumping. On the way back, he came this close to falling asleep!

And there is beauty in a brand new memorial for Veterans in North Carolina – and being able to attend with my veteran and to be interviewed by a local reporter. It was a very emotional night, not the easiest, but still worth it.