Happy Birthday Gabe & Gabriela!!
Today was such a great day. We started the day with Birthday wishes and Ice Cream cake, and the we headed out to the park for some much needed family time. It's been an important goal for me to get my family and myself (it starts with the head right?) back on a good track. As crazy as my year was, theirs was crazy too. After we moved away from Chicago, I came here to get settled and they went to the South for the remainder of the school year and then moved to LA last August. That's a lotta movin' in a really short period of time. Plus, with everything that was going on with me during the last year I've surely been no candidate for Mom of the year. But I'm very glad to say that I've been actively turning that around...and today really showed me how much better we're doing and how much more connected we are...and I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am for that.
I told the children that we'd spend today as a family and next weekend they could have a formal birthday party with their friends. But by then end of the day my girl said..."we don't really need to have a party." I was like...what?! She said, "Yeah, we had a really good birthday." Hmmmm...sometimes I think I may actually be doing something right...lol. The park was beautiful (the pictures do not even do it justice!). We hiked around the mountains, ate at the pond with the waterfall, chased butterflies and played frisbee in the grass. It reminded me of our family outings in Chicago which of course made me think of E.
As much fun as the kids and I have on our own, he would always take it up a notch. Once he showed up with this HUGE shark kite with like 1000ft of string. It was actually the first time any of us had flown a kite...and the legendary Chicago winds (which are even stronger at the beach) made it very easy. The shark flew higher and higher into the beautiful blue summer sky...it was awesome. That is until we had to reel it in which took FOREVER...lol. It was so tiring that we all had to take turns. Halfway through I was like let's just cut the line and let him be the one that got away...but he was determined...lol. Eventually we did it...who knew how much effort flying a kite would be!?
Anyway, he was much better at the whole "planning" thing than I'll ever be...and he would have loved being with us today. Actually, I take that back...I think he was with us today. I know it sounds crazy but I could feel his presence so strongly that I actually talked to the children about it. It was such a strong presence it was almost hard to believe that they couldn't feel it too. But, my children are kinda batty like their mom so the conversation went a little awry...lol. It went something like this:
Me: Guys, it's weird but I really feel like Efren is with us right now. Do you guys feel that?
Kids: With us like how?
Me: I don't know, I just feel like he's very here with us...like if I turned and looked he'd be sitting right beside me. I've felt it all morning.
LONG Pause ... LOL
Son: Ohhhhh, I get it. Like this morning with the bed.
Me: What's that??
Son: Yeah, you asked us if we made up your bed and we told you that neither one of us did.
OK, my turn for the LONG Pause
Me: Are you saying that you think Efren made up my bed?!
With that the kids erupted in laughter and we all kinda laughed at the ridiculousness of it. Only my boy could make such a connection (you have to know him to really understand how true that is...he is really funny)...lol. When the laughter subsided my son added, it is weird though, cause we really didn't make up your bed.
Now, I'm not buying the bed thing, but I can believe that he was with us today. I even brought along something of his with us to the park...not sure why, it just felt right. Funny, cause that's how the whole day was. Everything just felt right...
Birthday outing at K. Hahn State Park
I told the children that we'd spend today as a family and next weekend they could have a formal birthday party with their friends. But by then end of the day my girl said..."we don't really need to have a party." I was like...what?! She said, "Yeah, we had a really good birthday." Hmmmm...sometimes I think I may actually be doing something right...lol. The park was beautiful (the pictures do not even do it justice!). We hiked around the mountains, ate at the pond with the waterfall, chased butterflies and played frisbee in the grass. It reminded me of our family outings in Chicago which of course made me think of E.
As much fun as the kids and I have on our own, he would always take it up a notch. Once he showed up with this HUGE shark kite with like 1000ft of string. It was actually the first time any of us had flown a kite...and the legendary Chicago winds (which are even stronger at the beach) made it very easy. The shark flew higher and higher into the beautiful blue summer sky...it was awesome. That is until we had to reel it in which took FOREVER...lol. It was so tiring that we all had to take turns. Halfway through I was like let's just cut the line and let him be the one that got away...but he was determined...lol. Eventually we did it...who knew how much effort flying a kite would be!?
Anyway, he was much better at the whole "planning" thing than I'll ever be...and he would have loved being with us today. Actually, I take that back...I think he was with us today. I know it sounds crazy but I could feel his presence so strongly that I actually talked to the children about it. It was such a strong presence it was almost hard to believe that they couldn't feel it too. But, my children are kinda batty like their mom so the conversation went a little awry...lol. It went something like this:
Me: Guys, it's weird but I really feel like Efren is with us right now. Do you guys feel that?
Kids: With us like how?
Me: I don't know, I just feel like he's very here with us...like if I turned and looked he'd be sitting right beside me. I've felt it all morning.
LONG Pause ... LOL
Son: Ohhhhh, I get it. Like this morning with the bed.
Me: What's that??
Son: Yeah, you asked us if we made up your bed and we told you that neither one of us did.
OK, my turn for the LONG Pause
Me: Are you saying that you think Efren made up my bed?!
With that the kids erupted in laughter and we all kinda laughed at the ridiculousness of it. Only my boy could make such a connection (you have to know him to really understand how true that is...he is really funny)...lol. When the laughter subsided my son added, it is weird though, cause we really didn't make up your bed.
Now, I'm not buying the bed thing, but I can believe that he was with us today. I even brought along something of his with us to the park...not sure why, it just felt right. Funny, cause that's how the whole day was. Everything just felt right...
Birthday outing at K. Hahn State Park
posted by Jillian at 3:36 PM
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