Restaurant Regrets

I'm sure by the title you are thinking I'm going to tell you about some awful restaurant service we recently encountered. On the contrary, the service was great...Keegan not so much. :) Last night we decided on a spur of the moment to take the kids out to a local BBQ place near our home. We had been out geocaching in Snohomish, WA (a little town ten minutes away) and we were nearing the dinner hour. We rarely go out to eat and it had been awhile, so we didn't think it was a bad decision to include the kid's. Our kid's behavior at restaurants had been pretty fair to great in the past, but we had no idea what we were getting into last night. The food, service, and speed of service were flawless, but it was the behavior of the kids...no just really Mr. Keegan that sent our heads spinning.

Mr. Keegan has entered the independent, vocal stage of his life and he let us know actually what he thought last night. It was actually quite humorous if it wasn't happening to you...but it was happening to us. Thankfully, Drew and I can laugh when things are not the best situations and by the time we pulled ourselves out of the restaurant and wrestled everyone back into their car seats we couldn't help but catch a glance at each other and laugh. Drew then said, "What was that?"

Let's see...a very strong-willed nearly seventeen month old who decided he didn't want to eat, but throw mashed potatoes everywhere including his mother's hair, crumble corn bread into pieces smaller than dust that he threw on our booth and the booth full of customers behind us, spill milk everywhere cause he insisted holding his own cup while screaming "No, NO, NO, NO" every second with louder excitement because his voice echoed in the small diner. Haleigh! Wow, what fun. Ten minutes into this fun scene I scooped Keegan up and took him outside the rest of the time. It was just too much to expect him to calm down without frustrating everyone in the restaurant and mainly to cool my own jets. Drew then finished his meal and met me outside so I could finish my meal, help Fiona go to the restroom, redirect Fiona to stop asking the waitress if she likes the corn muffins too, clean up the milk she spilled because she insisted on helping the new customers behind her find their "books" (menus). Ten minutes later Drew stepped inside and I directed him to pay the bill so we could leave (RUN...RUN...RUN) and instructed him to leave a BIG tip. Yep, a peaceful dinner.

Personally, I think it maybe awhile before we take the kids out to a restaurant again. So, if you're looking to babysit a few kids so we can enjoy a "peaceful" dinner let me know. We'd be happy not to have restaurant regrets.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Miss Fiona

Yes, she is amazing...funny, beautiful, smart. There is no words to describe her properly. She is just my Miss Fiona. I know I'm biased, but she makes my world so fulfilled.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Disappointment

While stepping outside our back porch yesterday to dump some vegetable waste into our compost, I couldn't help but glance at our garden and feel disappointment. Last year at this time, our garden was alive with tender green shoots ready to develop into last year's bountiful harvest. This year was a completely different story. After another freak snow storm, our garden now lay barren. The few plants I did put out a couple weeks ago were showing major signs of distress and most of my romaine lettuce had been nibbled around the tender leaves. (The snails and slugs are so vicious out in the Pacific Northwest!)

Gardening is where I find peace and comfort in kneeling in the soil to nurture our family's food. When I can't take another minute of "mommy" requests, overstressed by stretching our family's income or need two minutes of "me" time, my garden is where I escape. To me, there is no better spot...digging into the dirt, pulling weeds, and watering the plants. It is pure therapy for me.

I feel closest to God when I garden and feel his presence in the warming sun. I am able to talk to him and pray for things that are on my heart. So when I saw how the garden looked, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Not because my plants weren't thriving, because I wasn't my best. I felt ashamed that I hadn't been faithful in my time with God. I couldn't just plant my seeds and expect God to do the rest! My sad garden was a reminder that I needed to take care of myself in my own spiritual growth. For the past several weeks, I've been busy watering "others" and forgetting my own spiritual garden. It happens to all of us sometimes, but I was glad God sent me a simple reminder that it was time to tend to "my spiritual garden". How is your garden growing?

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Life in the Busy Lane

Oh…the state our office at times is well…a bit to be desired. Too often I find myself clearing a spot to write a check or hold a crying child while tripping on a random item as I finish an important phone call.. Ironically our small bungalow is nearly picked-up with the occasional misplaced toy, but our office…well it is a hit or miss. In a sense, it is lungs of our home…filtering out the daily activities of our family. Occasionally I find a broken crayon, a reminder for a birthday party, pamphlet on a local hiking trail, pictures carefully drawn by our daughter in Sunday school, and a misplaced sock all mixed in with our office equipment. I often think, “How did this get here?” But I know each item represents life of our busy family as we navigate the world of raising a three and one year old child.

At times I can’t stand the mess and at other times I accept it as a part of having our beautiful family. I do work hard at keeping our office organized with file folders for statements/bills, a 3-ring binder to hold coupons and special deals, pencil holder, etc. However, there are still times when all the organization tools put into practice still result in “chaos”. At first I felt like I had “failed” as a stay-at-home mom. (I’m home all day so I should have the perfect house…right…WRONG.) My job is my kids. Early on in my stay-at-home career, I made a rule that if my kids ask me to play or read a book that I’ll stop my own activity to spend this special time with them instead. As moms we need to enjoy this season. In ten years we’ll all be begging for an ounce of details…what really went on at the school dance and trying to figure out what “fine” means. So, in the meantime, I may have a day or two when my office isn’t “Martha” perfect, but that is ok with me. I’m investing in my children’s lives and that is right where I need to be. I am the Mom…defender of the pretend alligator that live in the kitchen, butt wiper, bubble blower, boo boo kisser, hug machine…and I am happy right where I am.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Choosing to be a Messy Mom?

Being a mom, you're bound to have a mess or two in your career. Ok...make that too many messes to count. I can't say I've always been the best at "enjoying" the cuteness of the moment or "letting kids be kids", but I'm getting better at "allowing" a mess or two. I once read a parenting article about how as mothers we can choose to be a messy mom. For a neat freak as myself using the word messy to decribe my position as mom, literally put me on edge! What does that mean...really? Do I let Fiona go wild with a box of markers on the wall...NO...let Keegan spill a gallon of milk on the floor...NO?

It means we allow our kids to take liberty and make a mess or two because it shows our kids that we can have FUN. Gasp. Exibit A, Mr. Keegan eating pudding. From a cleaning stand point, it would have made sense for me to feed him the pudding. But I choose to let him "go at it". He sang to the pudding, make beautiful arches on his high chair, and made a good old fashioned "clean" mess. It was cute to watch his reactions and capture some of his adorable moments on camera. I choose to be the messy mom.

I hope you can find the fun in your day too. Whether it be buying the guy behind you in line a coffee after a rough day or just getting on the floor to play with the kids even though your "to-do" list is long. Finding the goodness in the day makes the world's messes seem like nothing...just messes.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Little Blue Bungalow

My Inspiration: Little Blue Bungalow

Join me as I celebrate life with my family (Drew, myself, Fiona and Keegan) in the adventures of motherhood.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

What! I'm blogging?

Yes, I've entered the world of technology thanks to my technically advanced husband, Drew. Now you the reader can take a look into my daily life as almost if you were opening my diary. Are you excited or what? Honestly, I haven't had a diary since my "Hello Kitty" diary when I was in 1st grade so this is a big step for me to "open" the doors to our little blue bungalow, our house.

I don't think there was anything of great importance in that "Hello Kitty" diary. However, to a young girl I was upset my diary didn't have a lock. I didn't want EVERYONE to know I "heart horses". Goodness. Today, we live thousands of miles from family and friends and I want to share our daily life by "unlocking" our diary in creating this new form of communication...blogging.

My blogging title comes literally from our house, a little blue bungalow in a small, but growing town of Monroe, WA. My goal is to record some of the daily ins and outs of our family, our adventures, trails and joys of raising our two children (Fiona and Keegan), my personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the humorous moments of being a stay at home mommy. I hope you enjoy the journey with me.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean