Missing My Girls

I miss these faces.

It has been ten days since I last saw them.  They are staying with my in-laws in Nebraska for part of their summer vacation. Kaitlin started the tradition when she was eight years old.  This is Natalie's second year.

I do it for their family in Nebraska.  They enjoy having them so much.  However, it is hard on my heart.

I miss my little princess, my shopping buddy, my little snuggle bug.  My days are not dramatic enough without her.  I cannot wait for her to come back.  Just three more days!

I miss this one too!  So much!

For days she has been in one of her "moods".  When I text her or "see" her on Facebook all I get are ":)" or "idk".  She likes to torture her mother [grin].  I have to keep reminding myself this is what fourteen year-olds are supposed to do!

Two more weeks! (I can see her right now rolling her eyes thinking "Psycho Mom").

“Time goes by a lot slower when you miss the one you love”

I can't wait to have them both back with me!  Yesterday I got this card from Natalie.  It totally made my evening!

Catching Up - March

Another long hiatus in my blog world.  Just too many things on my plate.

March started with preparations for my oldest daughter first school banquet.  This is the Christian School equivalent of a School Dance.  I managed to get myself involved in the decorating of the hall for the event.  It was hectic and the school didn’t even give us a budget, but with the help of another mom we were able to pull it off beautifully.

 

Mid-March found us home for most of the girls’ Spring Break, but we took a long weekend and drove to Wisconsin Dells to spend some time at the Great Wolf Lodge.  The girls always enjoy this.  The mom, not so much!  But what can you do?

 All in all a non-remarkable closing to the year's first quarter [grin].

Catching Up - February

It has been a while. It would be great if I had something wonderful or exciting to share, but I don’t. I have just been living life, going through the everyday routines. The days go by in a blur and when I think about blogging I really have nothing to say, so I don’t [grin].

With all the disasters going on in the world, it sometimes seems trivial to sit here and write about my everyday life. But hey, it’s my life, and I want to document a little of it for my girls, since I have given up on scrapbooking and don’t even print pictures anymore, this little blog might be all they get [grin]. So here is a quick recap of the february highlights.

We did not do anything at home to celebrate Valentine’s Day (hubby and I went out to eat the Saturday before) and Natalie was so disappointed we decided to have a belated party for all of her Build-A-Bear animals. She dressed them all up and we made marshmallows dipped in chocolate, cupcakes and chocolate covered strawberries to celebrate.

It was great celebrating after the actual holiday. We got everything 90% off.

We had Adventurer Club meetings. Natalie's class made sock puppets and then put on a cute puppet show about friendship for the rest of the club.

At the end of the month, Natalie’s second grade class put a little program together for their families. She was very excited to show us what they had learned. Everyone did a great job!

The teacher made these cute origami flowers for each kid to give to their family

We baked these cupcakes to take to the potluck. They were a hit with all the kids.

I even squeezed in a little bit of crafting.  Natalie and I made this clipboard for a little friend at church that likes to play doctor.

All in all it was kind of a blah February and now you got to share the "blahness" with me [grin]. 

The purpose of the task....

It seems I have been going full speed since the year started... barely time to breathe let alone blog.



It’s only February and I am already feeling burned out. I am a sucker for stretching myself thin. Most activities I get myself involved in have a good cause but as the to-do list starts growing, I start losing sight of why I am doing things and become obsessed with just getting it done.


On Monday, my oldest daughter gave me a wakeup call. She had wanted to go shopping for a dress for her upcoming class banquet, but my schedule had been so full, I kept putting it off. At the same time, I did not think we needed to spend money on a new dress when she had a perfectly good one at home she had received as a Christmas gift from her grandmother.She kept insisting and although I was a secretly irritated by it, I relented and we went out last Monday. Don’t take me wrong, I love spending time with her, but at this particular point, I kept thinking she was being selfish by wanting a new dress.

Contestant #1

We still had a "fun" time (a little tense at times) and came home with not one but two cute dresses, but as she was getting ready to go to bed I was still nagging her about the reason why she couldn’t just wear the dress she already had.

Her response not only stopped my nagging, it also made me feel about an inch tall “Mom, there is nothing wrong with the dress Grandma gave me, I really like it, but I wanted to have the experience to go shopping with you and having you help me choose the dress for my first banquet.” [Cue total silence].

Coincidentally, earlier that day I had found this phrase in one of the blogs I read… “The purpose of the task is to strengthen the relationship”. Seeing it that way does help one put things into perspective. It gives my tasks a different meaning.

Contestant #2

I am not only getting a dress for my daughter, I am teaching her to make decisions, I am building a relationship with her.


Natalie loved putting outfits together for Kaitlin to try on

I’m not only baking cupcakes for my youngest class, by having her help me make them, even if it takes me longer, I’m strengthening my relationship with her.

The concept applies not only to my tasks at home, but also at church and work. It might just become my new mantra.

P.S.  I found THIS article tonight about a mother's experience shopping with her daughter that totally made me laugh out loud.  I can so relate with her.

Family Tree

Natalie worked on this family tree during her last Adventurer Club meeting in church!   It turned out so cute!

Most of the other kids just added eyes and a mouth to the circle, but she wanted hers to look like portraits and was very meticulous about choosing the right colors for everyone.  I loved seeing how much thought she put into it.

Her dad got blue eyes and a Red Shirt because he loves the Nebraska Huskers.

I got a green shirt because that is my favorite color.

Kaitlin got side bangs and an orange shirt since that is one of her favorite colors.

Since purple is her favorite color, that's what she chose for herself.

It took her a lot longer to finish than the rest of the kids.  And when the teacher’s assistant told her to hurry up because she was going to miss the next activity, she told him:  “that is exactly what happens to me at school.  I lose play time because I take too long to finish.  But that is fine, because I want to do a good job.” [grin]

She has gotten much better and interested in drawing and seems to really enjoy it.  Of course it is easy to impress me because I can't draw or sketch anything for the life of me.

Day Three-Hundred and Fifty-Nine: Merry Christmas!

Our morning started at 8:01AM.  One little girl in a pink nightie jumped out of her sleeping bag by the tree and went to make sure all the gifts were still there.  That little girl had not fallen asleep until 3AM making her parents very, very tired.

This was the scene at 8:04AM.  Everybody had taken their places and were ready to start.  One little girl was so excited she crawled back in her sleeping bag and covered her head.

And so it began, the ripping and tearing.  By looking at these pictures you can see our girls take opening their gifts very seriously.  i couldn't get them smiling in any of the pictures.

By 8:38AM it was done and we moved on to preparing breakfast.  On the menu.... American Girl Parfaits!  Natalie helped make them while Kaitlin went up to get ready for church.

A very joyful morning it was.  By 9:30AM we were ready to go to church! My only regret was not taking a picture of the whole family before leaving for church.  But I leave you with with this one of my beautiful big girl.

Tonight we will continue the celebrations with our big Secret Santa Reveal Party.  

Merry Christmas to All!

Day Three-Hundred and Forty-One: Deck the Halls

The tree is finally done!  Putting the lights on wasn't my favorite [grin].  I had this "vision" of a silver and red tree, but at the end I decided against buying new ornaments and instead just using the eclectic ones we have accumulated through the years. 

I'm not the sentimental type but here are a few of the ornaments that have more meaning for me.

I love this Willow Tree ornament Joel got us after Natalie was born.  I like seeing a representation of our little family of four.

I also love this Fontanelli a client from work gave me many years ago. 

A couple of years ago I started the tradition to get the girls a new Christmas ornament each year.  They now look forward to it.  Here are Kaitlin's from the last two years.

Natalie loved her first Barbie one so much, I decided to keep the tradition of giving her a Barbie one each year.

This one is a simple one a little boy from my Sabbath School Class gave me several years ago.  I love it because it reminds me that I do have some influence on the little people I minister to in church.  I remember his mom telling me how he chose to give it to me rather than a family member that year. I was surprised because he was one of those "little terrors" that you thought was never paying attention, but he was.

I'm also done with the mantel.  I have gotten mixed reviews on it.  Some people love it, some people think it is too much.  What do you think?