The 1st time...

I like it when things turn out right.

The first time.

As a mom, I'd be delighted if I served a plate of food to my kids and they ate it all up with smiles and gratitude... the first time.

Or if they came when I called... the first time.

As a wife, I'd be over the moon if my husband would jump out of bed to retrieve

the crying baby... the first time.

Or if the key lime bars (insert here any other baked goods from apple pie to homemade brownies) that I whipped up to impress my man would actually turn out perfectly... the first time.

Or if the check book would balance... the first time.

Or the Advil would kick in... the first time.

As a teacher, if my "students" would listen attentively... the first time.

And as a budget conscience, thrifty consumer, if I could find my car in the WalMart parking lot (without wandering around aimlessly lost)... the first time.

But, alas, first time success is not always meant to be.

Often, there are unexpected challenges along the way.

Sometimes we get knocked around a little bit...

At times we run into outside interference... 

 

But if we focus on the trials and frustrations, we miss out on the lessons learned along the way.

Because although its usually not as frustrating when things turn out right the first time,

nor is it nearly as much fun...

Sometimes the joy and the laughter found along the way is worth the price of the small disappointments that at times we must endure.

Because, at the end of the day- if things have turned out right... just plain right... whether it was on the 1st, 3rd, or 115th try...

that means we've got something to appreciate and smile about.

Life is good!

Count your blessings.

Nature

I get by with a little help from my friends...

I always find it amusing when people remark about how busy it must be having "so many" kids. I don't think "5" is really that many, but of course it's more than the typical 2.5 (anyone else get a kick out of the .5?)

One thing that people are forgetting is that the more kids you have, the more help you have.

Which makes it much easier to get by, with a little help from my friends ;)

It's time we admit how cool we are...

A little ditty...

I'm working on a blog post, but in the meantime- check out this awesome video- it's 90 seconds. Loved it so much I watched it twice!

Crash

Yeah, well, I didn't much care for this lamp anyway...



And, by the look of his face- apparantely neither, much, did he...



And now that he's doing a whole lot of this...



(that would be pulling himself to standing)

He was able to do something about it.

Que the slow motion here. Mom across the room- watching baby climb, stand up, holding tightly to the tall wooden floor lamp.

And slowly, slowly now in

3,

2,

1....



Though I typically like to think of myself as "Superwoman" there are just some super hero powers that are outside of my realm- jumping up and over the kitchen counter in a single bound in the time it takes to save the lamp from crashing to the floor- being one of them.

If I were the swearing type, I might have even muttered a profanity under my breath. Or, even though I'm not the "swearing type"- I still might have muttered a profanity under my breath. Something along the lines of "darn it!" - but I can't be sure.

Nevertheless, let's just chalk it up to the least favorite moment of my day. Though, I can't really call it a "moment" since the clean up lasted more like an hour. (Have you ever tried to clean up 350,000 microscopic shards of glass? Trust me, the photo does not do justice!)

But there was light at the end of the tunnel- and something good did come out of it, because at the end of it all I ended up with spankin' clean sparklin' wooden floor.

And, eventually, a new lamp.

Which is a good thing- considering that,

I didn't much care for this lamp anyway.

No explanation necessary...

YUM!!