Wash
Peel
Cut
Chomp, chomp, chomp
"Mom, let me see your apples." (Mom opens mouth.)
"Wanna see my apples?" (Son opens mouth.)
~~Sweet moments only a mother can appreciate.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Biggest Loser makes me weepy
Although, I think I was weepy before I started watching the Biggest Loser. Unusual, since I'm never weepy unless I'm pregnant. And no, I'm not pregnant. I'm like 99% sure.
I struggle. Just wanted to put that out there. Sometimes you can look at other blogs & think "man, they seem to have it all together--why can't I be more like her?" I've decided a little reality check is in order. It's natural to want to put your best face forward. But sometimes, it's good to let your guard down. To let people know that it's not always perfect. My laundry is usually never caught up, I leave the dishes in the sink til morning (gasp), and yes, I am that woman who cleans her bathrooms a few minutes before guests arrive. I hope I haven't disappointed you.
But the truth is, what I want my children to remember about me is not that the house was always clean or that they never had to search for clean socks, but that I was always available to play with them, read stories, go outside. I'm not the best at this...dirty dishes often win over a cuddle on the couch, and sometimes I do mumble "yeah, that was so cool!" without looking when my son says "Mom, watch this!" for the hundredth time that day. But I'm trying, and learning, and growing every day to be a better mom.
**beep, beep beep**We interrupt this broadcast to let you know that the author of this blog is now feeling 105% better. We now return to your regular programming.**beep, beep beep**
I just had the most wonderful video conversation (if you can call laughing your heads off a conversation) with my sisters via Tokbox. Nothing like a few smiles across the smiles to make all the weepiness disappear forever. And a surprise chainsaw...
My deepest apologies to all you women out there with no sisters. There's just nothing like it in the whole, wide world.
I struggle. Just wanted to put that out there. Sometimes you can look at other blogs & think "man, they seem to have it all together--why can't I be more like her?" I've decided a little reality check is in order. It's natural to want to put your best face forward. But sometimes, it's good to let your guard down. To let people know that it's not always perfect. My laundry is usually never caught up, I leave the dishes in the sink til morning (gasp), and yes, I am that woman who cleans her bathrooms a few minutes before guests arrive. I hope I haven't disappointed you.
But the truth is, what I want my children to remember about me is not that the house was always clean or that they never had to search for clean socks, but that I was always available to play with them, read stories, go outside. I'm not the best at this...dirty dishes often win over a cuddle on the couch, and sometimes I do mumble "yeah, that was so cool!" without looking when my son says "Mom, watch this!" for the hundredth time that day. But I'm trying, and learning, and growing every day to be a better mom.
**beep, beep beep**We interrupt this broadcast to let you know that the author of this blog is now feeling 105% better. We now return to your regular programming.**beep, beep beep**
I just had the most wonderful video conversation (if you can call laughing your heads off a conversation) with my sisters via Tokbox. Nothing like a few smiles across the smiles to make all the weepiness disappear forever. And a surprise chainsaw...
My deepest apologies to all you women out there with no sisters. There's just nothing like it in the whole, wide world.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Yesterday
A few pictures to round out our week. Well, it just rounds out yesterday. :) Our week was a little crazy with a virus that went around, but thankfully we're all feeling better. Kenna is cutting her first tooth, though. Poor baby!
Z playing around with our suitcase. I really need to put it back in the closet since we haven't gone anywhere after our Christmas trip. But, hey, at least it's unpacked, right?
Doesn't he look SO huge & grown up here? I'm wishing I could freeze time...
Kenna Boo having tummy time. She is getting so strong! She hasn't been smiling too much since she started teething, so this is the best we get. So stonefaced...
Z got these stickers from a birthday party he attended last week. I left the room for a minute & came back to find him doing this:
She's just looking at me as if to say, "Make him stop, Mom!"
Z playing around with our suitcase. I really need to put it back in the closet since we haven't gone anywhere after our Christmas trip. But, hey, at least it's unpacked, right?
Doesn't he look SO huge & grown up here? I'm wishing I could freeze time...
Kenna Boo having tummy time. She is getting so strong! She hasn't been smiling too much since she started teething, so this is the best we get. So stonefaced...
Z got these stickers from a birthday party he attended last week. I left the room for a minute & came back to find him doing this:
She's just looking at me as if to say, "Make him stop, Mom!"
Saturday, January 3, 2009
K girls come to visit
I got to spend a day with my mom & sisters...it was awesome!
Here's one of Kenna finally sitting in her Bumbo. I think it's cute how she's got her arm resting on the side like it's an armchair!
Kenna chatting it up with Grandma Memere...love all those smiles!
Kenna enjoys her first time coloring with Grandma. She really held the crayon by herself. Gotta love that grasping reflex that babies have! I think this picture is one worth framing.
Zach got bored while we were coloring, so he hid in the mountain of dirty laundry and said he was "taking a nap." Funny how he doesn't want to take a nap when it's really time...
My friend sent the kids these "Cozy Cookies" for Christmas. My kids just love them! Here, we caught Kenna on camera getting some use out of Zachary's! Z named his "Fred" and my mom called Kenna's "Ginger."
Here is the fruit of our coloring labor....I wish you could see these in person, they're too cool!
My sister Katie with Kenna--a great picture!
And Katie with both kids--another framer.
Here's one of Kenna finally sitting in her Bumbo. I think it's cute how she's got her arm resting on the side like it's an armchair!
Kenna chatting it up with Grandma Memere...love all those smiles!
Kenna enjoys her first time coloring with Grandma. She really held the crayon by herself. Gotta love that grasping reflex that babies have! I think this picture is one worth framing.
Zach got bored while we were coloring, so he hid in the mountain of dirty laundry and said he was "taking a nap." Funny how he doesn't want to take a nap when it's really time...
My friend sent the kids these "Cozy Cookies" for Christmas. My kids just love them! Here, we caught Kenna on camera getting some use out of Zachary's! Z named his "Fred" and my mom called Kenna's "Ginger."
Here is the fruit of our coloring labor....I wish you could see these in person, they're too cool!
My sister Katie with Kenna--a great picture!
And Katie with both kids--another framer.
On the eve
I think we're on our way to having more established New Years' traditions than Christmas traditions! :) I've decided that it's just okay.
Here's a cute picture of Kenna talking/laughing to Marc...I love how big her smiles are now! Marc said he's going to start calling her "Patches" since her baby hair is falling out in chunks. She sure looks funny & probably will until the new blond hair grows in!
Baby feet. They're just too cute!
On New Year's Eve, we always have appetizers for dinner and chocolate fondue. Yummy! This year, we added a new tradition that I saw on Life as Mom: A cake to celebrate the birth-day of the New Year. FishMama also has lots of great ideas on this post to help us celebrate New Year's with kids. I can't wait to try the Garlic-Brie Bread next year... 
Here's a cute picture of Kenna talking/laughing to Marc...I love how big her smiles are now! Marc said he's going to start calling her "Patches" since her baby hair is falling out in chunks. She sure looks funny & probably will until the new blond hair grows in!
Baby feet. They're just too cute!
On New Year's Eve, we always have appetizers for dinner and chocolate fondue. Yummy! This year, we added a new tradition that I saw on Life as Mom: A cake to celebrate the birth-day of the New Year. FishMama also has lots of great ideas on this post to help us celebrate New Year's with kids. I can't wait to try the Garlic-Brie Bread next year...
Zachary was SUPER excited to make this cake, even more excited about the numbers on it, and unbelievably more excited about blowing out the candles all by himself. I think we may have some trouble when Kenna is able to understand...hopefully he'll be better at sharing then!
White Christmas
So Christmas Eve night, we decided to be crazy & drive to see some of our old friends, Dave & June & kids, in Naperville/south Chicago...we left at 9:30 Christmas Eve night after attending our first Christmas Eve service ever and enjoying a wonderful meal with some friends. We drove all through the night, the kids did awesome, and we made it there in 8 hours! With the time change, we ended up waking our friends at 4:30 am...poor Dave & June! Their kids slept til 8 but we woke them so early.
**Side note: Marc & I have been, um, "discussing" the commencement of yearly Christmas traditions for our family. Since we've been married, we've never done the same thing every year, and I wanted to start establishing some small traditions now that we have kids. He graciously agreed to them...but since we decided to drive to IL at the last minute, the only one we squeaked in was attending the Christmas Eve service. Guess the joke's on me. Maybe our holiday tradition is to not have any traditions & to be spontaneous?
I was a horrible mom & didn't take the usual "opening the presents" pictures. But at least I got a few of our friends & the kids later that day.
This is our new "Grandpa" holding Kenna. (Grandpa is June's Dad....he was a breath of fresh air. We SO enjoyed getting to meet him and he felt like family to us!)
Marc pulling Zachary on the sled. He kept asking to go outside every half hour. He loves the snow! It rained the day after Christmas & didn't stop...we followed the rain all the way home to TN a few days later. We were glad that we didn't miss the snow & that Z got to have another White Christmas!
Dave/June's daughter, Lydia, holding Kenna. She was such a sweet babysitter (so was her brother Micah), and she made that hat she's wearing with a cool knitting kit she got for Christmas. She graciously allowed me to make one, too--it was so fun! I think I'd like to make knitting my new hobby. After I finish all the other half-completed hobbies over the last 4 years...
We are so thankful for our friends & for the great, relaxing Christmas we had with them!
**Side note: Marc & I have been, um, "discussing" the commencement of yearly Christmas traditions for our family. Since we've been married, we've never done the same thing every year, and I wanted to start establishing some small traditions now that we have kids. He graciously agreed to them...but since we decided to drive to IL at the last minute, the only one we squeaked in was attending the Christmas Eve service. Guess the joke's on me. Maybe our holiday tradition is to not have any traditions & to be spontaneous?
I was a horrible mom & didn't take the usual "opening the presents" pictures. But at least I got a few of our friends & the kids later that day.
This is our new "Grandpa" holding Kenna. (Grandpa is June's Dad....he was a breath of fresh air. We SO enjoyed getting to meet him and he felt like family to us!)
Marc pulling Zachary on the sled. He kept asking to go outside every half hour. He loves the snow! It rained the day after Christmas & didn't stop...we followed the rain all the way home to TN a few days later. We were glad that we didn't miss the snow & that Z got to have another White Christmas!
Dave/June's daughter, Lydia, holding Kenna. She was such a sweet babysitter (so was her brother Micah), and she made that hat she's wearing with a cool knitting kit she got for Christmas. She graciously allowed me to make one, too--it was so fun! I think I'd like to make knitting my new hobby. After I finish all the other half-completed hobbies over the last 4 years...
We are so thankful for our friends & for the great, relaxing Christmas we had with them!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Whole Thing
Well, Happy New Year! I guess that has to be said since this is the first day of the year, and that's the kind of thing that just can't be skipped over. I certainly am glad it's a New year. I always like a chance to start over, make things better, see some change in my life.
I'm not one to make "resolutions" per se, but at every New Year I do like to look at where I am and where I'm going, and where I should be going if I'm not headed the right direction. You can't really figure out what needs to change until you take a good, hard look at where you really are.
And, frankly, I don't like what I see. I mean, yes, there are some good things I've done, and hard places I've walked through, and I've "kept the faith," and all that. But I think that 2009 for me is going to be a year of personal change. A year where I really let the Lord do in me what He's been dying (and died) to do years ago.
Hard things like Forgiveness, True Love, "It's not about me," and more along that line. I'm extremely tired of looking at myself in the mirror and seeing me with glimpses of Christ. I want to see Christ and only Him. I want Him to have my heart, all of it. To be truly yielded...
I took a marriage "class" in my weekly mom's group this fall. Thinking, I'm sure somewhere deep down (if I'm really honest with myself), that I've really got it all together and all the things I don't like about my marriage have nothing to do with me & everything to do with my spouse needing to change. Talk about needing to look in the mirror...! :)
But I'm convinced what really happened is what needed to happen all along, and thankfully, what the Lord knew....that I need to change. I need to be broken, I need to love unconditionally, I need to change, I need to pray more, I need to love bigger, I should give a little more and take a little less.
I realized that I don't know if I've truly loved anyone unselfishly in my entire life. Everything I've ever done, even in the name of Love, has been for Me. Deep down, I can admit that. And now that I know where I'm starting (at the bottom!), I know where I can begin again. Loving with no thought to how much love I'll get in return. Giving with no thought of what I will get back.
I'll leave you with the words to a song that hit me over the head like a 2x4 this morning:
"Only one makes you free..."
I'm not one to make "resolutions" per se, but at every New Year I do like to look at where I am and where I'm going, and where I should be going if I'm not headed the right direction. You can't really figure out what needs to change until you take a good, hard look at where you really are.
And, frankly, I don't like what I see. I mean, yes, there are some good things I've done, and hard places I've walked through, and I've "kept the faith," and all that. But I think that 2009 for me is going to be a year of personal change. A year where I really let the Lord do in me what He's been dying (and died) to do years ago.
Hard things like Forgiveness, True Love, "It's not about me," and more along that line. I'm extremely tired of looking at myself in the mirror and seeing me with glimpses of Christ. I want to see Christ and only Him. I want Him to have my heart, all of it. To be truly yielded...
I took a marriage "class" in my weekly mom's group this fall. Thinking, I'm sure somewhere deep down (if I'm really honest with myself), that I've really got it all together and all the things I don't like about my marriage have nothing to do with me & everything to do with my spouse needing to change. Talk about needing to look in the mirror...! :)
But I'm convinced what really happened is what needed to happen all along, and thankfully, what the Lord knew....that I need to change. I need to be broken, I need to love unconditionally, I need to change, I need to pray more, I need to love bigger, I should give a little more and take a little less.
I realized that I don't know if I've truly loved anyone unselfishly in my entire life. Everything I've ever done, even in the name of Love, has been for Me. Deep down, I can admit that. And now that I know where I'm starting (at the bottom!), I know where I can begin again. Loving with no thought to how much love I'll get in return. Giving with no thought of what I will get back.
I'll leave you with the words to a song that hit me over the head like a 2x4 this morning:
Loving A Person
by Sara Groves and Gordon Kennedy
Loving a person just the way they are, it's no small thing
It takes some time to see things through
Sometimes things change, sometimes we're waiting
We need grace either way
Hold on to me
I'll hold on to you
Let's find out the beauty of seeing things through
There's a lot of pain in reaching out and trying
It's a vulnerable place to be
Love and pride can't occupy the same spaces baby
Only one makes you free
Hold on to me
I'll hold on to you
Let's find out the beauty of seeing things through
If we go looking for offense
We're going to find it
If we go looking for real love
We're going to find it
Loving the person just the way they are, it's no small thing
It's the whole thing
"Only one makes you free..."
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