Our cup...

I have been thinking about the idea of optimism a lot lately. It came up on a message board I was perusing while pumping and the comment came up about how so many of us see ourselves as having a good attitude because we are optimists, we see the cup as being half full. This, the commenter said, is usually grossly inaccurate of our reality because we should really see our cup how it is, running over. I think I do a good job of keeping track of how blessed we are. I really do see my cup as runneth over. How could I not? For all the frustrations that prompted an "argh" blog post last night, I have a wonderful life. Like I told someone in response to yesterday's post, the best thing about a "bad" night, is that you get to wake up the next day and not hold a grudge against the evening or your family. You pack up extra snacks, make a plan for a surprise visit to the Livestock show, and end up having a really great day.

The kids and I had a fairly good time at the Livestock show. I felt the morning warranted an even more extra special treat which meant donuts for the girls and a Diet Dr Pepper to add a little pep to Mommy's step. When we got down to Reliant, Mac was super excited to get to their surprise, she even said, "Look Mommy there are fountains at our surprise, Wow!" I love how making things a surprise can warrant exclamations at things I wouldn't have even noticed. I loaded the girls up in the double stroller, wrapped Johnny up in the "Faux-by" wrap and trekked the kids over to the show. Three different people looked at me and asked if I needed help and if I was sure I wanted to walk over there instead of waiting for the trolley. I smiled and told them I needed my exercise and we made it on our merry way. It was actually a gorgeous day and a nice little walk so I didn't mind the extra weight. I also feel we were rewarded for my efforts because the person at the gate didn't make me pay for my entrance (kids were free today). Once we got in the show, I was surprised how crowded it was as it usually isn't on non-spring break days, but we pushed on knowing that even just a couple hours would be fun. The girls had a blast in the petting zoo and I was shocked to see Mac being the bold one petting animals and Keegan being the one hiding behind my legs. They had goats, sheep, donkeys, chickens, llamas, and wallabies (?) for the kids to interact with. 

We made our way through a handful of exhibits and the girls were particularly fascinated with the chickens in various life stages. I think we distracted a lot of people from the actual show because I cannot count how many times people pointed, smiled, and stopped to tell me I had my hands full.

We had heard friends talk about the Farm adventure exhibit for the kids and I was excited for Mac and Keegan to get a little taste of the process of getting food to the store. The exhibit is interactive and lets the kids play as the plant seeds, harvest crops, take care of animals, take their items to market, get paid, and get to buy a real snack for all their hard work. All of the stuff is fake (except for the snack at the end) and play, but it is set up to show the actual process farmers and agriculturalists go through to make their money and provide goods for the people. As a former educator, I give this exhibit a ten plus!

We ended up finishing earlier than we thought so we were able to meet Matt for lunch which was a great treat. I also had the foresight to put a pork butt in the crock pot and had a great meal for tonight ready to go and plenty of leftovers for tomorrow. Tomorrow this meal will be made into pulled pork quesadillas! Yummy!

 So top it all off with the girls playing outside, working on a service project (details to come), having little moments of connections with family and friends, and even our theoretical bucket would runneth over. You just can't contain all of this good stuff! And I love late birthday presents for my Keegan that show what a great nurturer she is...

Especially when you hold this in your arms...