BEANS, DINOSAURS, AND BEARS, OH MY

A couple of pretty big things went wrong on this day, but you know what, it was still a lot of fun.  I think having kids has helped to teach me that...let things go and enjoy the moment.  Kids are such a roller coaster everyday; they can go from tantrum throwing screaming demons to little kissy cuddly angels all in the matter of an hour.  You can't hold a tantrum against a toddler, so you just learn to let those feelings of frustration and/or anger go so you can kiss on them and love them ridiculously whenever they decide to let you.  I'm not perfect at this, but better.

Now, what went wrong you ask?  Oh, James got a speeding ticket.  Also, we were informed by his college of a crucial time change of one of his classes (luckily this semester, his work approved a bit of a time change on last minute notice).  Also he was informed that he was not able to take an important sequential class as expected this semester.  What does that mean?  It means, we  were left with so little time, there was not even another class available for him to sign up for that he needed and/or worked with his schedule....so we get less financial aid money, and he will very likely be graduating a semester later than we had planned because of one class.  So sad.  James was really positive about it all though; that helps so much, and I'm grateful that he seems to be getting more and more like that.  I tell ya, men age well.  The calm, loving maturity that has come over him the last few months....yeah, I hope that sticks around and isn't just because his stress level lowered for a bit.  Amazing.

Like I said, there were some great things too this day.  We set up a twin bed for the girls to share in their room (Brooke was still in a toddler bed and Kaydence in a crib).  Their room has so much more space now and is filled with more toys and things to keep them up there out of Mommy's hair for a significant portion of the day (VERY exciting because then our time together is much more likely to be positive, fun and/or productive).  Brooklyn was sooo excited to go to the Jelly Belly Factory.  I personally think it's kind of lame, but the girls thought it was awesome and thought getting their own jelly bean bag at the end was even better.  Then we went to a dinosaur museum and a public museum.  It was a great family day filled with lots of giggles.  That always makes the other stuff not matter.