Sharing my life as the mommy of the prettiest things you'll ever see! This time in our lives is too special not to share!
Sisters
Thursday, March 1, 2012
What I learn from my girls...
Isn't it crazy how God can take what a 1 year old does and teach us something really insightful...or slap us in the face! I find this to be true all too often. My daughters are very impatient. Of course most children are! "I watch Strawberry shortcake...Mama, I watch Strawberry Shortcake...MAMA I WATCH STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE!!!" It goes on all day with various demands. As if that is not enough, I have Ember with her famous "GGGRRRR!! Gaga Mama Dadadadada GGGGRRRRR!!!" In the end I explain, "Mackenzie what do you say?....Mackenzie....say please??" "Yeah, Please!" It is pretty comical, but some days I feel like the demands are so great and I would like to just say no to all of them just because and can! Yesterday afternoon was no exception. Both girls wanted juice, which happens very often in a typical day. I heard the adorable little voice "mama, Juice?" So I finish what I am doing and in the time it took me to finish I heard it probably 3 more times. Walking to the kitchen, Ember decides she wants in on it so I continue while an animal is hanging from my pant leg, growling with anticipation. What made me laugh was the fact that Mac was getting more and more heated; very concerned that although I had promised her I was getting her juice and I had never just completely ignored her in the past, I was not going to give her this request that she was asking. That somehow I had forgotten even though I was in the kitchen, with the cup in my hand and juice out of the fridge! I laughed but also was so frustrated at the impatience! Ember still hanging and whaling with huge tears falling like someone had cut a limb from her body and left her to die, Mackenzie saying "Mamma JUICE" Over and over and over never relenting and in a panic I felt a small voice in me say "they sound like you in your relationship with Me!" What?? No way, they are acting foolish! I am in the middle of taking care of their need and they are still complaining and yelling at me....OH, never mind! Pretty embarrassing but so true. Wow, so often in my life and in my prayers I need something so bad. Its not always material things and most the time it is something I know God wants for me but I don't see it happening and I start to panic. Maybe he is not hearing me. Maybe I did not ask enough. Maybe He did not understand what I was asking. "God, please get us back on track with our finances. God, please give my husband a job he can be proud of and that will fulfill his dreams. Father, please answer this...answer that." While I'm Saying "please, please please" He is in the middle of making it happen but I am so caught up in what I want and what I need that I can't even see what He is working on! Oh it is obvious sometimes. Just like the cup in my hand and the juice on the counter, He is laying out all of the steps but I am so blinded by my worry, panic and fears. "Be still and know..." He tells me. What a calming Father He is! Thank you for another lesson from my sweet gifts of joy!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Too tired to be inspired...
She shopped till she dropped. In Forever 21 she made a huge scene as she found hats, purses, sparkly necklaces and bracelets and covered her body with them! Everyone looked at her and smiled with kind comments! At first I thought I should stop her, thinking of all the work it would take to put it back up but then the thought came....why? Why make her put it up. She was embracing life, making beauty out of her Saturday evening and enjoying her reflection in every shiny mirror. Let her live and live through her passion!
Later she got cotton candy and was so kind to share with all of us in the car. It was such a joy to watch her embracing her life full of laughter and smiles. Where is my smile, my embrace and joy? I have let myself become full of stress and when I actually get a free moment with just me and my girls I have to spend it trying to make my home livable again from the chaos! I am so grateful for every oportunity but next week I choose life again! I am a stay at home mom because I want to cherish these moments with my girls and not hand them over to someone else to live these moments with them. Of course Life goes on and I must continue to help provide but when I am home with my girls I will cherish the time we get alone. I will find more time to give to my girls and remember my number one passion in my life.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Celebration of Ember Noel
Astonishing her teachers already before she was even a year old, walking at 11 months! This girl's is going places and just like the day she was born no one is stopping her! Ember is full of life, full of fire! Everyone who knows her has already been touched by her smile and joy in some way. I am so blessed to be given this miracle to hold and love and train. Some days I feel so inadequate, so lost, so unfit for this job. It is in those times she welcomes me each morning with a HUGE smile and a strong gripping hug. Her happiness is contagious and her energy fills our home with giggles and ear reaching smiles. I am blessed to be given such an important job. Mom is the greatest name I will ever know!
Today we celebrated Ember and Norah's (Ember's cousin) birthday! It was so much fun and she enjoyed every bit of it, especially showing off her new walking skills!
She was given so many great gifts and even though she had other places to go and things to see, which is so typical for Ember, she stuck around to see what she got!
Cake time was fun, as at any 1st birthday party, but I truly enjoyed seeing the strategy she chose in consuming such a sugary substance!
She began with her hands in the full cake but as she realized there were fruit loops around it I saw her clever wheels turning and she chose to eat each one individually!
Cousin Norah also was interested in her fruit loops ...
And once again, something that so much love, time and manual labor went into to make a beautiful creation ....was destroyed in minutes...
And so worth it!! I could not have asked for a better first birthday party for my angel. She is tremendously loved and today I enjoyed watching that love all around her.
I knew the party was a success by her reaction on our way home!
To our growling, fiery animal, Ember Noel, thank you for the best year of your mommy's life. Being home with you and your sister this year has been a dream come true. Watching you learn so many things has been a treat! Holding you while you sleep (cause you can't sit still any other time!) and watching every feature of your sweet face makes me cry each time and thank God for making you and choosing me to give you a special life here on earth. Your eyes will always fill my heart with wonder and your smile will always fill my days with sunshine. You are a firework....Don't ever stop filling peoples life with your joy and light! I love you!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Love for two...
Their words were so helpful but this was something I was still going to have to trust God with.
Mackenzie feels loved! Mackenzie is loved now by not only 2 people but 3! Mackenzie feels important. She is a big sister and the older Ember gets the more I see my Big sister see her importance in the life of her little sister! Most of all Mackenzie did not get the raw end of the deal! She has a friend that will walk with her through hard times. A companion that will laugh with her through late hours of the night. A girlfriend she can share stories with about boys and school and girls that make her furious. She has a SISTER and in less than two days I will celebrate the day that God let me watch this adventure begin!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sister, sister
For 25 years now I have had a best friend. In our lifetimes we are not always lucky enough to have a good friend let alone a best friend. My little sister has been just that. I could write all evening about all of the love I have for her and how full my heart is with respect, thankfulness, excitement and pride toward the amazing woman she has become, but that is not where I feel led tonight to go with this blog. Tonight I just want to talk about how much fun I had with her today. The most fun I have had all year!!She took me shopping for my birthday, took me to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (or "CPK" as she calls it) and made me laugh the whole time. No one can make me laugh more than that girl. Her humor is so contagious and the fact that all we have to do is give each other that "look" and we both can not contain the laughter ! The food was amazing and full of garlic deliciousness (that is still going! lol). I got the cutest clothes...well anything is cute considering I have not shopped for at least a year! We were able to get the party plates and some details taken care of at Target for Norah and Ember's 1st birthday party. Basically all around an amazing day. In the end I told her I just wished she could spend the night! Boy do I miss going home with her and continuing the laughter! I am so thankful for this woman in my life and for the memories we have made together...God only knows what's in our future!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Do over...
Have you ever got to about 10 AM and thought " I want a do over"?! I don't even know why I am asking this. Of course you have! I'm sure most of the people who read my blog are mothers or wives and let's face it, we feel this way often. This week I have had that feeling and said those words more often than I would hope to. I mean I know that I'm not going to get it right every day. Mama said "they'll be days like this", right?!? But why do they leave me feeling so helpless inside. On these days I feel the silly little child in me come out with her arms crossed, head hanging and eyes puffy with tears. Part of me is mad. "Come on God, just when things were going according to MY plans and then you through me a curve ball??" There is another part of me that is frustrated. "Really Mackenzie?? How many times are you going to ask 'What's that Momma?' You know it is Tinkerbell!!" I just want to grab my blanket and my pillow and lock the door and pretend there is no one on the other side of the door banging and saying " more juice momma, go potty momma, what's that momma!" Of course there is the main emotion I think us as women know all too well on days like these. That would be that begrudge feeling of guilt. As I am yelling at both of my precious, innocent girls (yes yelling!) one more time it hits me. What am I doing? I only have 2 more hours of my day with them and what have I spent it doing? It began with the growl at Mackenzie when she came in too early asking to go potty, the total grief I gave my hard working husband when he came in with news that didn't quite fit the plan I had in mind, the constant disgust I built up against my dirty hardwood floors that yelled "clean me" every step I took (I may have imagined that one up on my own). Oh and lets not forget the time spent feeling sorry for myself because I had to scarf down my leftover pizza and the many other things I let the devil plant in my mind about my life and circumstances. On days like these I spend too much time on my phone playing on p interest, checking Facebook or trying to feel important on Instagram. It was at 6:30 tonight that I realized " I will never get this day back with my girls, with my husband, with myself....with God"! As I finished dinner we ate and then I joined my hyperactive girls on the living room floor; one with a split lip because she decided to jump out of her crib cause shes just that crazy, and the other with her Snow white song twirling off of her tongue and heart, and we just played. Yes, the kitchen was a MESS, all the food was still out. They were not dressed for bed yet and Mac really needed a bath but we still just played. I let them climb all over me, I giggled at pointless things, I was their human amusement park. They loved that last hour! I loved that last hour! I will still never get the first 3/4 of my day back, I can't get back the times today I raised my voice in instances that were not stress worthy. Of course my floors are still dirty and even though we discussed it and I apologized my husband can not wipe from his mind my unsupportive attitude towards him that I had this morning, but somehow after letting go for the last hour of the girls evening and choosing to embrace their little giggles and wiggling toes that all too soon will be spent with someone other than me on a Thursday night, I feel so much more complete. I am not a perfect mother, I can never begin to be a wife suitable to give advice on how this thing called love and marriage works, and please, know that my relationship with God is an ever growing process, but I'm working on it and to my family, my God and myself I think that's what makes all the difference. So, the answer to my do-over can not come true but I go to bed with a happy heart and a family full of love!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Just my little secret...
Tonight was spaghetti night and I thought I might share my little ingredient that makes my recipe fabulous...or at least to my family! ZESTY ITALIAN DRESSING. I bought this dressing for another recipe and it was so good I thought I would try a little in my spaghetti sauce. Man, it gave it just the right taste! Go ahead, try it...
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Time to get outside and stretch!
Wow, what a beautiful Day! I took the girls out for some fun in our backyard. I really should do this more often. Mac loves to sit in the greenest part of the yard and just roll in the...well weeds I guess is what our yard would be called!! It's soft none the less! Ember on the other hand enjoyed a handful of mud, leaves and spent her time getting as dirty as possible! We all had a great time and I got some really great photos.
Breakfast of champions...
So we ( mainly I) are tired of the same boring breakfast. Peanut butter toast, pop tarts or Dora cereal. I told Mac Thursday night that mommy would make a special breakfast and I lived up to my word! I started with adding blueberries to my normal pancake batter. They were on sale last week and I wish I would have bought more! As I was flipping my first pancake ( or pup cake as Mac calls them...I think she's confused them with strawberry shortcakes dog) I remembered a recipe for vanilla syrup that I found on pinterest. I quickly pulled it up on my phone and I had all the ingredients!! So I whisked it all together and came up with a beautiful, tasty and quite heavenly breakfast I believe could be served to royalty!! In the end, ember devoured her pancake but was finished and crying to get out of her chair by the time I was ready to sit down, Mac ate a couple bites and decided tinkerbell needed her attention more than mommy needed her approval on her pancakes , and derricks mouth hurt so he wasn't able to eat. Basically I sat down to a cold pancake and ate alone but I'm still very proud of my creation and the glorious dream of a family breakfast it could have brought me!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Snack time!
Im always needing more containers. With two little piggies I'm required to carry snacks at all times! I saw a little tip online and thought I would try it. All you do is take the Refrigerated creamer bottles, tear the label off, soak and clean the bottle and voila...a free snack container! The spout is big enough for pouring. The example I saw used the larger bottles but the small worked well too. I might even try letting Mackenzie decorate with paint or markers and personalize it...haven't gotten that far yet!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Birthday spa time
Today is my birthday so I decided a little gift to myself would be this hot oil hair treatment I read about on pinterest. Man I love pinterest!! When you don't have any money to spare you can find something you already have and make something glorious out of it!! So back to my hair...First you start with 1/4 cup of olive oil ( the recipe called for almond oil but I used olive oil and it still did the trick) then 1Tbls of honey. Warm this in the microwave for 20-30 seconds and then mix together. Now pour it all over your head and massage into you scalp!! Make sure your hair is dry when you do this. Wrap a towel or a shower cap over your head and let it set for 30 min. Now just relax!!! After 30 minutes is up rinse and shampoo your hair ...rinse well, it's oily and sticky!!! Now dry and style! My hair is naturally very oily so I expected this to not work well for me but I was impressed. My hair is soft, not greasy. It's very shiny and was easy to comb through! Try it...if anything you'll feel pampered like I did!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Ready ,set, blog...
I really want to blog and to blog well! It's this thing in me that just wants to make a difference, let people know about my life, meet new friends and show women , moms, wives, daughters , sisters, other Christians they're not alone in the emotions we face day to day. I don't know what I'm doing but who really does when they start something new! Life isn't easy but it's even worse when we don't look at what good is going on around us and what blessings we've been given! Today we all were ready for church...we walk out to our only working car right now. It's barely working due to a transmission that spits out fluid and empties itself every other week and our greatest issue was a tire that blew causing us to need a rim , tire and strut all of which our bank account in the red can not help right now. Long story short ( or short for me at least! Lol) we've been driving on a donut for two weeks now and as we start to put the girls in the car for church ( the only place I will actually bring the kids with the donut due to how unsafe it is) we notice it's completely flat and has a big gash in it! So, pretty much we felt hopeless. Thanks to our neighbors heading out we flagged them down and asked to borrow their car. Feeling very helpless and broken I walk into church wanting to tell the whole auditorium about our misfortune and bad luck. I sit down only to hear the band playing a song about all the blessings we've been given and how we take it all for granted. This is what got me ; "A better believer would look to the skies
And shout "hallelujah" with tears in his eyes
Open his heart and start givin it all away
When I take a hard look at myself
And count my blessings I can't but help
But wonder if there's been some kind of mistake
This life of mine should belong to a better believer" wow! I've got 2 outstanding beautiful , healthy and fabulous daughters. A husband who's trying to do what he can to give us a better life while I stay at home with our girls. A home that's more than I ever thought we'd be able to have. Family that are all serving the Lord in some way and who love me. Amazing nephew, adorable niece, a church family that are there in all aspects of our lives...I could go on and on! Yes, looking at our circumstances right now is overwhelming and disheartening at times but oh may I never take for granted all I have been given! I am so blessed and instead of wanting to share all my troubles and fears and needs with everyone why am I not wanting to shout from the mountaintop what God has done in my marriage, my life, my heart, my church and my world? I'm one blessed girl and Gods not done yet!!
And shout "hallelujah" with tears in his eyes
Open his heart and start givin it all away
When I take a hard look at myself
And count my blessings I can't but help
But wonder if there's been some kind of mistake
This life of mine should belong to a better believer" wow! I've got 2 outstanding beautiful , healthy and fabulous daughters. A husband who's trying to do what he can to give us a better life while I stay at home with our girls. A home that's more than I ever thought we'd be able to have. Family that are all serving the Lord in some way and who love me. Amazing nephew, adorable niece, a church family that are there in all aspects of our lives...I could go on and on! Yes, looking at our circumstances right now is overwhelming and disheartening at times but oh may I never take for granted all I have been given! I am so blessed and instead of wanting to share all my troubles and fears and needs with everyone why am I not wanting to shout from the mountaintop what God has done in my marriage, my life, my heart, my church and my world? I'm one blessed girl and Gods not done yet!!
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