We recently watched the movie Meet the Robinsons (brilliant movie btw) and I loved this one part where Lewis makes this mistake and causes a huge mess and one character then says how not much is learned from success and how a lot can be learned from failure.

I share these things, primarily to point out that we in our house are not perfect. We strive to live like Christ and to raise our kids to love and fear Him, but again, life is not perfect and insanity happens and sometimes I think, it is good to share with others views into that insanity, the good, the bad and the ugly because then they are comforted in some strange way? (Or maybe it is me appreciating that others have hard days like me too and sometimes their lives aren't as peachy as we think they are?)

The Good...
I took all 3 cuties to the post office on the final day of taxes and sent off a handful of filings certified mail. I knew the line would be long and it would take a long time. I prepped the kids as much as I could and we went in. They all 3 sat on a bench while I waited in line. Half hour into it, I was finally at the front and the kids weren't getting goofy yet, but I could sense they were close.

I said, "Cramers, come please." And all 3 immediately got up and filed in under the counter I was standing at, put their backs against the counter and stood there quietly while I finished my business. The looks on the faces of the other adults in line made me do a double take. I actually saw mouths drop in all the adults in the room when the kids obeyed so quickly, quietly, completely and cheerfully.

The Bad...
While writing out the story of how great the boys do on bike rides, I was reminded of how it took a long, long time to get that way. In those days of early training wheels, the child has to stay right at my side while on their bike so they could learn the rules. (And I walk quickly, so on training wheels, it really isn't that bad.)

One day, coming home from the library, a child on training wheels came out from under my side and, disobeying, on purpose took off on their little bike. (A little kid on a little bike does not look up when riding, but looks down to see just how fast their little feet are moving.) That child plowed head strong into a pedestrain. After making sure the pedestrain was ok, we moved to a place to sit to get things situated and the child went into a full blown temper-tantrum. Still being over a mile from home, I ended up having to call Josh from work to pick us up because there was no other option to get us home. That was a rough one day and there were many others like it but we continued to work hard at it until now, it is a non issue for the boys. (Now, we'll see how Miriam fairs.)

The Ugly...
While celebrating Miriam's 3rd Birthday, I got sidelined. Remember how we took the bus to the mall that day? And remember how it was a day of celebration! Celebrating a little girl's 3 years of life. Oh joy! What fun! Let's do what you want to do! Let's go play and eat! Let's celebrate... the child!

What I failed to realize until it was too late, was that deep in our kids' minds they started losing focus and slowly, their focus was off of everything else and soley aimed at "them." Their universes experienced a Big Bang theory and in the middle of that day of fun I was standing in a store and had 3, yes all 3, kids screaming and crying and having major meltdowns and no car to leave in.

I assume the standard initial response could have been, "What? You have done all kinds of exciting things today, things you wanted to do, and here you are all having temper tantrums? That doesn't seem fair to me."

But that was not my initial thought. I knew better and outside of the obvious praying for patience and longing for a car, I thought, "I was blindsided. I should