Why my blog is titled Realistic Idealist

My blog (and life) are both a place where idealism and reality collide-- sometimes it's not a pretty picture.

But it's OUR picture. 

Speaking of our "picture," here are a couple of our crazy "real" moments, regardless of what ideal I had in mind:

(And btw, a perfect of example of having a good ideal but being realistic is that I can't get these pictures to show up bigger, without them cutting off parts of the pics.  So you'll have to click on them to see them bigger.  Plus, whole patches of text are randomly showing up with white backgrounds.  Whatever.  And then there are blogger's spacing issues.  Don't even get me started on those....  And another perfect example is this blog post; I started it at the end of May, but it took me nearly a month to finish and post it)

Bryce fell asleep on our bed (we often separate the boys until they're asleep because the older 3 sleep in the same room with Bryce & Nathan sharing a bed, and they just don't fall asleep well if left together, and instead talk or fight. But that's not the funny story behind this picture.)

So I tried to get Bryce up and send him down the hall to go to his bed, and instead of making it even partway down the hall, he laid down right on top of laundry and fell asleep there (I hope it was the clean laundry pile, not the dirty one!).

Carter loves to mimic, and spent a lot of energy squeezing himself in between his brothers and under their blanket.  What's funny about this picture is that the intention was to READ the scriptures, not WEAR them.  I grabbed the camera and snapped the photo when I saw the boys putting their scriptures on their heads.  I sure do love those kiddos with all my heart.

Bryce and Nathan did a cute little magic show in a school talent show consisting of 3 tricks, one of them done with string.  Since the leaders asked the boys to have string that could be easily seen from the audience, I tried to dye it blue.  As you can see, it was quite effective.  In fact, the dye didn't come off my hands for a good 3-5 days.  But oh how cute their silly little tricks were.  They were so ill-prepared when they auditioned, and one of their tricks was to "levitate" a brother.  It was roll-your-eyes obvious how they did it, yet that's what made it so cute, and I think it actually duped a few first graders.  ; )

So, our "picture" is not a magazine picture, the type that even strategically and artistically place color-coordinated out-of-place items when trying to present something delightfully "messy." 

But it's still OUR picture.

THEIRS (magazine pics/commercials):

OURS:

(I mean, seriously.  Look at the clash, from the pink floral couch and cushions, to the 70s peach floral comforter, to the black, white, and brightly-covered crocheted blanket, to Nathan's rocket-ship feetsies and Bryce's blue "star" blanket)

But also look at their ingenuity in setting up a little fort that gave them each an individual room.  It's the messy (really messy, not made-to-look-messy-but-picture-perfect  messy) that I love, because it came from my boys.
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Why do we pretend we have these clean houses (and you OCD people out there who really do, that's just not fair; there's no way I can compete with you OR the magazines), apologizing when people come to the door and see how our house actually looks most of the time? (not including when we crash crisis-clean before family comes to visit, or before a baby/bridal shower or book club night).

Maybe that's why I like this saying so much.  It's a good excuse for a messy house, right?  RIGHT??

 I also like this saying, because I rarely get Plan A to work.  Like, almost never.  I constantly "tetris" in my mind ways to adapt to a plan e, f, p, t, and even u.

Which is probably why my life is a lot like this messy knot.  But hey; it's MY knot.

And these are the munchkins that are my mess of slow success, my realistic ideal.

And since my success revolves around those busy munchkins, I'm happy to see them growing and learning, even amidst all their bellyaching, whining, and general resistance to chores:

Those last two pics pretty much wrap up my post.  The Easter snapshot after church, and then walking in the door and asking boys to help set the table for an Easter lunch.  But at least, as a realist, I didn't put high expectations on that Easter meal.  We had nachos with black beans, corn, and salsa.  : )

And that's OK.