What I love about Sundays...

Have you ever heard that country song...

What I love about Sundays?

Well, I've always liked it. 

It just made me happy...sort of reminded me of good times.

Another reason is because I've always loved Sundays.

I know it's right before the week gets started and everything starts to turn busy once again.

But there is just something sweeter about that day. 

Especially, the afternoon/evenings.

They seem magical.

Slower.

If I could capture Sunday afternoons for a time capsule so I could always come back to feel those warm, lovey feelings...these would be in there. 

 

warm light...long afternoons

 daddy rocking it out feeding baby....us all home, all day!

 time to really cook and enjoy the process.

 quiet room play

 sweet tunes softly serenading our little home

sitting down, supper together, long conversations...no where to be.

 

longer baths...i love that baby bath smell drifting through the rooms

footie pjs.

seriously, what can be better than footie pjs.

tomorrow is wednesday, but I'm going to pretend it's sunday.

thank you very much.

There were never such devoted sisters...

Name that song!

Sisters, Sisters...from White Christmas.

My sister and I always sang that song growing up.

Now I can't help but giddy thinking that my girls have each other.  

My sister is my best friend and has been there for everything.

I'm so thankful that my girls will have that too. (Now we just need to work on a brother for my Little Man).

A week or so ago, I went to wake up big sis from nap.  This is rare that I get to wake her up, she is usually already up.  I even snapped a few pictures.  There is just something soo sweet about littles while they sleep.  

 This is a slight peek into their room. 

I guess it's ok to show her name because it isn't her given name.  This is a nickname we called her and will be her legal name after adoption.  Picking this name was soo hard, but that is a story for another day. : ) 

 I wish I could show the whole picture. 

She has the most precious profile and sweet, long eyelashes. 

Note to parents: only do this type of shot if your children are hard sleepers or you don't care if they wake up.

That was the case with us this time.  We needed to go get big brother from school. 

Here is how I officially woke her up.  I laid baby sis in her bed. 

Aren't they cute together. 

They love each other soo much. 

I feel bad for them...they both have ear infections again!

Three weeks ago all 3 of my littles had ear infections. 

This time it was Evy who got one first and then Liv got one too. 

We were staying out of town at a friend's house.  

Evy woke up at 2 and really never went back to sleep. It was weird, she had no fever at that point and just kept complaining of her cheek hurting.

It was horrific and she honestly has never had a night like this before. 

I hated it for her, me and the rest of the family because we were all sharing a room.

It ended up being Evy, Liv and I all in the bed at about 5 in the morning.  I was soo out of it and was kind of in and out.  I look up at one point and see the two of them are all snuggled together.  Evy was holding Liv around her waist and Liv had her hand on Evy's cheek.  So sweet (sweeter thinking of it later, because nothing seemed sweet during that horrible night).

It made me grateful they had each other.

I can't remember how many times I slept with my sister growing up.

Maybe because I was sick, had a bad dream or usually it was just that we fell asleep talking.

Oh I can just see the memories they have yet to make.

Enjoy it girls! You'll never have another friend quite like your sister.

4.5.6....where has time gone

whoa.

So who is the most horrible mama in the world?  

That would be me since I have completely dropped the ball in sharing my babes monthly pictures.

Looking at them like this makes my belly ache just a bit.  The time is just flying by.  

Here she is in all her 4 month, 5 month and 6 month glory.

At 4 months you:

you started eating rice cereal and gagged for the first several times

you got a exersaucer and love to sit up in it

wear 3-6 months and size 2 diapers

your favorite things are daddy's songs, squeaky bunny and riding in my stroller

you also saw the ocean for the first time

 At 5 months you:

now you are eating baby food (your favs are squash, sweet potatoes and pears

you raise up on your hands like a seal

you rolled from your front to your back

wear 3-6 months and size 2 diapers

your favorite thing to do is sit in your exersaucer and play

Your favorite things are your butterfly toy, your play floor mat and watching Yo Gabba Gabba

At 6 months you:

now are eating puffs & yogurt melts along with baby food/cereal

sit up with help

you roll all over the floor

wear 6-9 months (generally) and size 3 diapers

you rock back and forth on your knees (you'll be crawling soon)

Your favorite things are singing songs, your sisters baby doll, listening to us read books and anything outside.

Sweetest baby girl, I'm so thankful you are mine!

Familia

I love family.
I love everything it stands for.
Sometimes I go on and on about my family... my personal one and my extended one.
I bet it looks ideal to some.
But under the smiles, warm stories and sweet pictures...it's still messy.
The definition for family isn't perfection.  I'm sure most of you would agree to this.
We have fights. We get tired/frustrated at each other.
There is tension and problems.

But what family means is that even though all that exsists, you don't give up on each other.
Today was one of those days I wanted to give up.
Scott was gone all day at a MentorKids event.  We had L's football game.  Moma went with us to help me with three kiddos at a forever long football event.  I'm not sure if it was the busy week catching up with us, my kids are getting sick or just the perfect storm.  Whatever it was, it was a bad day.  Like a really bad day.  Kids screaming. Puree Carrots spit everywhere. Temper tantrums.  Baby not napping.  Pee on the floor kind of bad day.

By the time Scott got home, I wanted to fly to Hawaii.  I wanted to give up.
Thankfully, bedtime does exist. After the kids were all tucked in and the house grew quiet, I started thinking. I did kind of give up because I felt defeated.

I was even more mad that I had editing to do and couldn't just go to sleep.  But that's the brilliant part of the story. It's where my perspective got totally turned around.  I've been watching old Parenthood episodes at night while I edit.  It's no secret that I'm pretty much IN LOVE with this show.

Anyways, the season finale for Season 1 is about this fight that two of the cousins get into over a boy.  One really messed up and the other really wasn't handling it good.  They both had made mistakes and they were no longer speaking.  The girl that messed up ended up running away.

When they find where she is, the aunt and angry cousin go after her. When they get to the truck stop she is at, the cousin wants to go in alone.  It's raining and the adults are standing out in it watching through the glass as their daughters are working it out.  You see them talking, even fighting a little.  Then one grabs the others hand.  And then they hug..no more of an embrace.  I'm doing a pretty lame job of describing such a beautiful scene.  But the point is...there was a real mess there... it would have been easier just to go their merry ways without one another, but they didn't.

I started crying thinking of my kids.  The way I'd been so easily angered.  How I'd acted frustrated over everyone of their mistakes.  And mostly, how I wanted to give up on them and us and how hard this whole parenting thing can be. But I won't give up.

Thankfully, God's mercies are new every morning.  And I'm not sure about you, but I can earnestly feel that.  Not that tomorrow will be easier or even end with a floor free of pee. It will be a fresh start.

Don't give up on your family. They are worth the fight.  Worth trying again and again.
I think that is why I get caught up in all these television shows centered around a tight family. Though it may not be based off anything Biblical...it's screams His truth.  We were put on this earth with others.  We weren't meant to go it all alone.  Family is our gift...whatever that looks like for you. Treasure it and fight for it.

and just because it makes me happy....

here is my crazy family from last June.
we are missing three babes, but I found it when I did my 2011 family album and forgot how fitting it was. enjoy the craziness!

What I'd tell my 26 yr. old self

My chicks are both down for a nap and of course big brother is at school... so I thought I'd sit down to clear my head.

Lately, I've been thinking how much my life has changed in the past five years.  On my 26th birthday, I remember feeling more loneliness and fear of the future than I've ever had. I was single and no future romances on the horizons.  5 months later, Scott asked me out.  5 months after that I was engaged. 5 months after that I was married. 4 years after that we have three kids: 6 year old, 3 year old and 6 month old.  WHOA!

So here is what I'd tell my 26 year old self:

*  Don't give up.  Though I know from the years of experience from wanting to find love and then wanting to have children that "hope deferred makes the heart sick," don't give up.  Keep your eyes and heart open.  Don't close off from all the people and life going on around you.

*  God has a plan for you.  It's not just a catchy, feel good phrase.  It's a Biblical truth.
 All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
(Psalm 139:16)

Now I cannot promise that it will include everything you want.  But it will be HIS best. If you are seeking Him, that is what will make you happy. 

*  Don't wait to start living your life.  This was so hard for me.  Do what you are called to do at this moment and do it well.  God gave me soo many opportunities and I hate to think I wasted any of them. I cannot go back to fix the regrets, but I can rejoice in all the moments I got out of my "I'm single" funk to find good things around me.  Their are so many amazing relationships, trips and growth that I would have missed by staying trapped in my house watching romantic comedies.  Don't get me wrong, I love me some romantic comedies...but I mean don't stop living because you are waiting for your life to begin.  

*  ENJOY this season.  You know how they say, "The grass is always greener on the other side."  That is so true with me.  Don't worry, I'm not going to complain or "wish" I was single.  I HATED when married with children women did that around me.  But I will say one day you'll be exhausted from chasing toddlers, dirty from being spit up on and burned out by children's bad attitudes.  You'll want to get away for a little bit.  You'll find yourself feeling a little jealous of your single girlfriends ability to pick up at any point to go shopping, do lunch or get a pedicure.  You wouldn't trade your life for anything, but maybe long for just one day of the carefree lifestyle of singleness. Relish in it!  Go blow $40 bucks on a new pair of shoes, wear dangly earrings that no one will be pulling on and paint your toes  in the middle of your livingroom free from any worries that someone will get it and paint the tv.  

So there you go... 26 year old self. 

Oh just a few more tidbits from a wiser you:

    Please stop wearing those hideous too short khaki shorts. 

    Stock up on your favorite expensive beauty products...you'll be switching to Suave soon. 

    Enjoy going grocery shopping and trips to WalMart by yourself, one day this will be a luxury.

    and remember, 

"Life is a journey, not a destination." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Enjoy the journey! : )

girls gone cupcake!!!!

 With big brother in school, we decided to do something special.

Cupcakes are super special, right?

 They are if you get them here...The Cup Cakery.

 Liv wanted one too, but we told her not just yet.

 She was happy just watching us enjoy them. Sweet baby. One day I'll giver her her own cupcake.

 I love our different tastes:

Nana - Italian Creme

"E"- Strawberry with Creme Cheese Icing

Me - Wedding cake

 She really just wanted the pink sprinkles!

 She was so cute trying to eat this HUGE cupcake.

But I ended getting some of it too. 

We actually all shared a little of each.

Isn't that the prettiest cupcake ever. 

It's just as yummy as it is pretty!

I'm thankful for special girly treats like this. 

It makes me miss my boy a little less. 

Is it fall break yet?