Plastic bag painting

     I kept seeing this whole hair gel in plastic bag "painting" activity. It looked like fun. I figured my guys would love it. Not so much. I would have better off using the hair gunk on my head. These pictures are of the 2 minutes that it interested them.

Now, maybe it's just my boys and just this activity, but I have a feeling that lots of these 'amazing mom' blogs have lots of these failed experiments posted as great successes. Mom's just can't take themselves too seriously. This whole child-rearing thing, while having some constants, is really just a learning curve for everyone involved - parents most of all. And, as parents of multiple children will tell you, the rules change from season to season and child to child. Just when you think you have this whole parenting thing down pat, BAM! One of your kids are sure to drop a bomb on you. I like the way Rachael Jankovic puts into perspective motherhood in Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches (a read I HIGHLY recommend),

"God...threw me into the rock tumbler. Here it is not easy to feel godly, because we spend our days crashing into each other and actually getting our problems addressed. Here there is very little time for quiet reflection. I do a lot of on-the-job failure and correction. Repenting and forgiving. Laughing. Lots and lots of laughing. Because if there is anything that life in the rock tumbler will teach you, it is that there is no room to take yourself seriously. Like trying to strike "cool" poses on a rug that someone is continually pulling out from under you, self-seriousness in mothering is totally pointless and probably painful!"

   
 So, fail, laugh, get up, try again, laugh some more. It's a wild ride - blessed, tiring, hilarious, frustrating, and, ultimately, life-giving to your children, those around them, and you. Remember that, if you are a believer, the death to yourself is not the end. Look to the cross. Through death, comes life.