Marshmallows, Graham Crackers and a View

You know that saying, "When it rains, it pours"?  Well today I thought there was going to be a flood!  After accidentally having supplies mailed to our address in Oregon instead of here, in California, where I needed them to be, for an event I am hosting on Friday...TWICE (!!!), I spent the morning running around town trying to find items (such as 150 bouncy balls at a reasonable price) before Nick headed to school.  In case you were holding your breath, do not worry I found them.  Now my only problem is trying to figure out what the heck I am going to do with 150 bouncy balls that got shipped to my in-laws home. Happy Father's Day perhaps?  

Moving on.  Have I mentioned that my three-year-old is no longer napping?  Who knows, this may be totally normal, however my plan was to make him nap until he moved out.  But today, when I went to lay Elena down, I came back to this...

(This NEVER happens by the way)

Looks sweet right?  Well, even though my sleeping toddler makes me count my every blessing, it also means his father is currently still trying to get him to sleep (it's almost 10pm by the way).  Seeing this sweet child slumber, you would never guess that minutes later I would be sitting in this very chair rocking him and his sister who both decided to throw an hour-long cry fest.  Why you ask?  I am still not completely sure.  Oh, and did I mention I had a migraine?  Well, I did not have the energy to fight the fit, nor the creativity or patience to re-direct it.  So what did we do?  I grabbed a box of graham crackers, and a bag of marshmallows and we ran for the hills.  Literally, well almost literally.  We didn’t run, we drove, but we did head for the hills.  We drove and drove and drove, eating marshmallows and graham crackers, with the sub roof open and sang along to the Glee soundtrack at the top of our lungs. 

Eventually we found a beautiful spot to pull over, and my children were the people I knew and loved once again.  Every once in a while you are in a moment, and you realize, I am smack in the middle of a memory I will love and cherish for the rest of my life. Today was one of those days.  My children and I took in a breathless view of the bay,  found sticks, smelled some flowers, and even sat in silence.  Franklin told me he wanted to just sit and think for a while.  When I asked him what he was thinking about, he said "About the books I need to read" Man oh man my cup runneth over!  

So I may not win the mother-of-the-year award as far as nutritious snacks for the day were concerned (I think I may have forgot to mention we later went to an ice cream party, whoops!),  but I am pretty proud of myself for choosing to turn a bad situation into one of my favorite days of all time.   As parents we are often so hard on ourselves.  We dwell on all the things we screw up, instead of acknowledging all the things we do right. However, I like to think Franklin will recall our day of marshmallows, graham crackers and a beautiful view more often than when I yelled at him for picking up his baby sister by the neck.  So let us take the time to pat ourselves on the back once in a while, and acknowledge our endless efforts to try to be better parents, better people.