Saturday Smiles: Nothing much to say edition

Exhausted. Stressed. Overwhelmed. I feel all of these things today.

I have other feelings, yes. These are the ones that are stealing the show today.

I took a page out of Terri Gillespie‘s book and watched a disaster movie. She once revealed at a writer’s conference that disaster movies are how she deals with stress. I have to say, it worked! Even the cheesy dialogue in Volcano didn’t numb the effect. (I couldn’t resist a Tommy Lee Jones flick. And why is it that all the disaster movies available to us on instant Netflix were made in the late 1990s?) I don’t know why this works. Maybe a disaster movie gives my stress a place to focus, even temporarily. I don’t know.

This is what I know: I have reason to smile. Even when feelings fail.

The following conversation clips are courtesy of my kids. Yeah, they are a big part of my life. I can finally say that without feeling ashamed.

Neighbor girl to Isabelle while riding in a wagon being pulled by older neighbor girl: “Izzy, why is the grass so green?”

Izzy: “Well, because God made it that way.”

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While watching me make a root beer float pie, Isabelle says, “A beer pie does sound delicious.” Note to self: google “beer pie” and see if anyone has a recipe.

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On a walk around the block, while the kids rode their bikes, I greeted a  neighbor who was working on his truck/trailer with “Howdy.” Corban stops his bike, looks over at the neighbor and says, “What’s Howdy doin’?”

And here are a couple of photos from our afternoon at the Discovery Center Museum in Rockford.

Trains were a big hit. As were tractors.

And Isabelle is never short on new friends at new places. Here, she’s talking to whoever picked up the other phone.

Even if your smiles are few today, rejoice!