my monday morning prayer...

this past weekend was such a gift...
a gift that i so desperately needed.

thanks to a sweet friend keeping my two littles {to play with her little girl}, 
i was able to take my two oldest to a "new-to-us" library all alone...

the library had a selfie booth, complete with props and small costume items, upstairs in the YA department.  we had such a hilarious time and were giggling and laughing so hard that the librarian was eyeballing us rather sternly.  {for the record, we were the only ones up there☺} 
that laughter...that laughter with my kiddos was so good for my soul.

we strolled through the garden center and i splurged on a $10 mum for my back deck.

it's already been worth every cent for all the enjoyment i've had, seeing it every time i look out my kitchen window.

we stopped at a garage sale where austyn and colton raided the freebie bin--coming away with a pair of red ray-ban knock-off sunglasses and a superhero magazine...both of them asking me, "when you were a kid, did you always dig through the free bin?"

love that they're always curious about the most random details about "when i was a kid."

i found three incredible old vintage window frames on the side of the road...two of which were green {be still my beating heart}...FOR FREE! {i always say, "free is my favorite price!"}

on saturday, i took my girls to a dress-up birthday party...

{again, be still my beating heart...}

and we had company...

sixteen people, to be exact...

not including the six in our family!

and we "planned" the whole get-together approximately 20 hours beforehand.

it was a blast!

there were twelve little ones here total...

and my sunroom looked like this...

and i didn't even care.

in fact, i relished it.

how many times have you seen {and laughed at} the "morning prayer?"

dear Lord,

so far i've done all right.

i haven't gossiped, 

haven't lost my temper,

haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent.

i'm really glad about that.

but in a few minutes, God,

i'm going to get out of bed.

and from then on,

i'm going to need a lot more help.

i always get a little smile every time i read that.

but after the soul-restful weekend i had...

and after the less-than-stellar week i had last week...

i feel like my prayer today needs to be something like this...

dear Lord,

i had a really great weekend.

i didn't lose my temper...

i wasn't short with my kids or snappy with my husband.

i rested and relaxed and breathed deep and did crafts with my littles and made memories that will last.

i had peace in my heart and fulfilled the command of "be still."

but God...

now it's monday.

'nuff said.

please.help.