Needs no introduction...

Learn a few things.

So, it's picture day!  I didn't remember that until we had already gotten out the first outfit for the day, but we finally got it all together.  The pretty robin egg blue double-skirted dress with white pull over sweater was on the child --and it was clean.  Well, all except for the stain in the top middle of the dress but, the sweater covered it up well!  We put on Mommy's pearls and put a fresh coat of pastel pink polish on her nails.  She put the leggings on upside down (heels up!)--(which they stayed that way!)  We put double bows in her braids.   It's currently her favorite way to wear her hair.

 She was darling.  She was dressed.  She was mostly clean. 

And after all that, I forgot to pack her a lunch.

A few things you can learn from Cupcake:

• I can put on my own tights.... well, we all know how that turns out (see above)
• I can share...I put MY boogers in MY brother's hair last night.  He was thrilled.
• I can put away my lunch leftovers....by hiding a left over peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the van door track so now it won't close all the way.
• I don't need to hang my coat up on the hook, I'll just wear it instead.
• I will eat with a serving spoon instead because I don't need baby silverware anymore.
• I know what colors match, that's why I put the BLUE playdoh in my hair.  It matched my dress!
• Flip flops like the snow.  I know this.
• I will add things to my bedtime routine just so I can stay up a little longer.  You will not figure this out.
• My brother loves when I touch his toothbrush, especially when I use my tongue.
• I choose the mood I am in.  There is really nothing you can do about it.

We love her just the way she is!!

More than a Matter of Words.

 I've always had a habit of making sure the last words I speak to someone I love are "I love you!"  (Even at bedtime--except my husband has a hard time doing that because his last word is usually "Shhhh!')

Our family uses the international sign language for "I love you" with each other.  In fact, every morning when he drops Gus off at school, Super Daddy yells down the sidewalk to him; having him stop so they can exchange one more I love you before going their separate ways.

It's important to hear you are loved.  It's even more important to know that love.  It won't matter if your last words to someone are "I love you" if you have spent a lifetime not affirming it.  

~Cupcake loves to sing the song "Jesus loves me".  She sings it over and over.  She knows He loves her.  She doesn't get confused by circumstances involving love.  The Bible says it's true, so she's not arguing it.  Nor should we.  But sometimes, do we?  Do we wonder how a God so perfect could love us, the perpetual sinner? What if he changes his mind?  Why would He want to love me?

Rom. 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 

Eph. 5:2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 

2Th. 2:16   May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 

1John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

1John 4:19   We love because he first loved us. 

He's not going to change his mind.  He loves us.  Enjoy using the days we have left letting Him know how much we love Him back!  Thank Him for loving us despite ourselves.  Praise Him for wonders we can't begin to understand!

I want my last words to be I love you....And I don't want there to be any guessing if I meant it.

As Cupcake was "listening" to my heart, I asked her if she could hear it.
"Yes!"
"What's it saying?"
  "well, i think it's burping, actually!"  

Joy Comes in the Morning

It was an innocent conversation.  Honest.

But, by the end of it, I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my cheeks.  It was the kind of laughter that shakes your whole body and staggers your breathing.  The laughter reached deep into the pits of my personality where sadness tends to lurk and chased it out the door.  

It made me giggle so badly I was hoping a new pair of pants weren't in order!

Even though I can not begin to remember enough about the conversation to make a ten point outline, it stuck with me.  I woke this morning with joy on my lips!  

A smile, almost a smirk, was stuck on my face.  

We often forget that we need laughter.  We need some lighter moments to give us that encouraging push in the right direction.  Sometimes we need to know that silver linings aren't invisible.  

And we need to reminded that friendships are a gift to be treasured.  

• A good friend is cheaper than therapy.  ~Author Unknown  
• A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.- Bernard Meltzer
• I love people who make me laugh.  I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh.  I cures a multitude of ills.  It's probably the most important thing in a person-Audrey Hepburn

Thank you dear friends for reminding me the importance of laughter!

Job 8:21
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.

Carbon Copy

 The frigid cold snow is biting at the windows today.  It's time for round two of the shoveling for the day and as I glance out the breakfast nook window I watch Super Daddy making his way across the shoveled path. He stops to kick a stray pile out of the way.  Moments later I see Gus trailing behind dragging his bright orange shovel, showing off the same posture and stance as the man walking in front of him.  He stops and kicks the remainder of the pile to the side with his ice covered boot.  Like father, like son in so many ways.

We love moments when our children choose to do something we've encouraged, but there is no feeling like the moments you are in when you realize they are a reflection of you!  Something in their behavior or reaction looks so familiar and you realize it's something you do yourself.

When I am exhausted I often rub my toes on the sheets and I quickly find myself off to sleep.  An old habit that brings comfort.  One night when we were "camping out" in the living room- all snuggled up as a family- I was taking in the moment and settling my head on my pillow.  Gus was curled up beside me with his eyes already too heavy to stay open and then it happened.  This little motion under the covers got my attention.  He was rubbing his toes on the blankets to help himself fall asleep!  Priceless!  I giggled to myself that he did get something from me after all, besides that stubborn streak that he got hit with from both parental units.  I was overjoyed that we had that special connection.  He just yawned and went to sleep.  I was elated.

Copy-Cat-Cupcake and Gotta-try-that-Gus are learning things everyday. It got me thinking: Are we setting examples of things we want to be repeated?  And who are we looking to to learn from ourselves?

Jesus gave us the perfect example to follow and we are expected to follow it!  Philippians 2:5 says that our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.   That's some pretty high standards, but standards worth aiming at.   And most of all, it's something I want to pass on to my children.  I want them not having to guess where I stand when it comes to my relationship with Jesus.  I want them to know when mistakes are made; Jesus doesn't bail!  I want to try to wrap their minds around unconditional love and an amazing thing called mercy.  I want them to be reassured by the power of forgiveness.

I love when my kids do something that connects them personally to me, but words can't express when I see a bit of Jesus growing in their lives!  Praise God for the example set for us.

Three Clicks

There really is no place like home. 

It's a place where: 

• everything is where you think it should be, or at least was there originally.  
• the pillows smell like sleep and the dinner table looks lonely without everyone gathered around it. 
•  at night you pray over your sleeping children and are easily awaked if they need you in the darkness.  
• you can put your feet up on the couch, dress comfortably, and eat ice cream from the carton.  Not that anyone does that last part?  
• when it's quiet, the ticking of the clocks are familiar.  
• our children learn to be who they will become.  
• learning hard lessons still come lined with love, encouragement, and direction.
• you get do overs -- over and over again.  
• forgiveness, mercy, and love triumph 
• you have to eat the skin (crust) of the bread, too.   
• It's a place you'll long to return to when you think too much time has passed.

Home is where your story begins....be sure the foundation is strong!


Joshua 24:15  But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. 

..even the green beans.

"And thank you, Jesus, for the tomatoes we'll have, and the corn, and the beans....well help them grow too, I guess...and the flowers!"  Before the little "amen" was whispered, I found myself inspired.  It's February.  Gardening season isn't anywhere in sight except for daydreaming and here is a child that is thanking the Lord for a harvest we haven't even begun planting!  

In scripture, it mentions childlike faith.  I've read that before, but God understands I'm an "aha!" learner sometimes.  He tosses out situations that I trip over and finally see what I should have seen all along!  This was one of the gifts.  This little child that only thinks of gardening as dirt under the fingernails, weeds, and occasional worm, was thinking ahead!  Not just thinking, she was THANKING! She had no doubt that God would bless a harvest!  She knew, without a doubt, that He would kickstart the growing process of our tomatoes and cucumbers....even the green beans!

Matthew 6:31-34

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:26-27

 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[a]?

through the eyes of a child.

It's winter- well supposedly.  We haven't had a hard winter, with only a few occasions of snow accumulation.  Every time it did cover the ground, though, we were out and about sledding and crunching our boots across the white terrain.  No one is complaining that we haven't had a winter that leaves us frost bitten and numb to idea of sunshine, but when the flurrying flakes of wonder topple we do enjoy that too.   

Having children seems to take the bitter edge off certain things like frozen toes and blue lips when it involves sledding down a hill at top speed holding on for dear life to a piece of breaking plastic only to hope you can live long enough to climb the steep hill to do it all over again!   

This morning, it was white and warm.  An unlikely combination!  Cupcake wanted to explore the new layer of fluff and check out the pineapple trees.  Now, we don't have pineapple trees of course, but we do have PINE trees!  Close enough.  She wanted to touch the branches of the covered plants and was really surprised at the green hidden beneath.  

 But not nearly as surprised as she was when she discovered she could see her breath!  Never noticing this before, she was excited!  Taking deep breaths and trying to focus on the "smoke" coming from her mouth was priceless as she went cross-eyed trying to get a better view.  Her views of life keep things in a better perspective to everyone she's around.

Amazed at herself!

A very snowy Valentine's Day!

Snow Ball Fight?  No!  Never!  Yet bet! 

Bigger than he is!  Oh my!

Little Angel!

and then there were seven....

Making sure Nee Nee's apron was on straight!

explaining that this little one is Baby Jesus.

~an army to guard the house!

Valentine's Day family collage.  We cut out words that reminded us of the love our family shares.

Gus made one just for Super Daddy!  Note the:  "How to pee in the woods"!  

Gus gave me this cute puppy he bought with his own money.  Words can't say how touched I am...

Cupcake felt she needed to give me something too.  Oh my!  She'll want this noise maker  back in no time, I'm sure!

One Proud Mama!

Teamwork!  

This newly formed 4th grade tournament team has really worked together to bring home their elementary school's very FIRST trophy!  Guess the school will have to build a case for it!! 

Way to go team! 

 Taking the tournament completely undefeated!  

4th Grade Tournament Champions!

Prettiest Little Cheerleaders Around!

What a Gang!!

Checking out the brackets!!

Showing off the Trophy!