Happy Mother's Day to my Mommy

Mom, I know that you are semi-irritated at me before even reading this. I know you don't like getting your picture taken, let alone having it posted for all of blogland. However, I hope that by the end of this post you'll forgive me.

Thank you for being such an amazing, "Nonni" to my babies. You show love, patience and joy towards them every time you see them. You know when to laugh at them, and when to tell them to reign it in and behave.

Thank you for all the times you've reminded me that love is a decision. That no matter what the situation, you choose how you are going to feel about it and how you are going to respond towards it. You've shown me that you can love and like someone, and even when you don't like them, you still can love them.

Thank you for the way you showed me many times that in life, you just need to roll with it. When you have a house full of sick kids, and a newborn baby too...instant slumber party in the living room. Getting mad and irritated and overwhelmed, while all valid in and of themselves makes for a disaster when combined and will lead you nowhere.

Thank you for all the stories you told me, and still do, about you and Daddy and your courtship. How you thought on more than one occasion that you were going to meet your maker due to his crazyness. How you two made plans, and you loved, and you looked forward to the future.

Thank you for showing me what a true blessing we as mothers have in that we get to grow our babies. How pregnancy was hard, but it wasn't something to be scared of. Labor was worth it, our bodies could do it, and you showed me and I watched in awe. Then you held my hand when I was in the midst of the worst and looked me in the eyes and told me, "It's ok, look at me, you can do it, breathe".

Thank you for telling me, and modeling to me, that our past doesn't predict our future.

Thank you for showing us that you loved your dying mother enough to drag all four of your kids up and down the state to fulfill her wish of an "ultimate vacation" with us. Thank you for loving us enough to give us that last big vacation with her while she was able and for all the memories.

Thank you for the camping trips and beach drives and McDonald's runs and park days and ice cream trucks. Thank you for the way you loved us without spoiling us.

Thank you for not accepting what you knew many would just accept. You showed me that we are not victims in our life, but we are survivors. Thank you for fighting for each of us in different ways, but in ways that each of us needed you to.

Thank you for protecting us. Thank you for caring for your babies and all of their needs. From collic to croop to bacterial menengitis to sleep apnea to broken bones to autism. For enduring the tests and the scares and the beeping alarms. Thank you for the prayers to God begging Him to let you keep your babies just a little bit longer. They worked.

Thank you for showing us how important God was. For scrubbing toilets when you were 8 months pregnant so we could attend our perochial school. For volunteering for church plays and VBS. For regular early Sunday morning rituals and ironing clothes and crying kids and brushing hair and getting out the door for church. For making sure we prayed before eating and before sleeping. For getting us bibles and CD's and movies that promoted Christian values. For making sure that we wern't fed spiritual junk.

Thank you for wearing the same three outfits over and over so we could look our best. For wearing the same glasses for 15 years so we could have that money for other things, for us. For sacrificing creature comforts because you'd rather spend the money other things, for us. For driving, "Mechanic's Special's" for cars and not caring about labels. For having perspective and remembering the big picture, and in the end if we didn't have Guess jeans we wouldn't die.

Thank you for all you've done, and for all the ways you've loved, and for all the ways you've served. Thank you for your prayers, and your advice, and your encouragement and for the swift kicks as needed. Thank you for your sacrifices and your tears and your realizations and your commitment. Thank you for your friendship. I love you, Happy Mother's Day.

"It is not that you have chosen me; but it is I who have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and bear fruit that will be lasting."~ John 15:16 ~

A Card From One of my Cuties

My one and only sweet girl made me a Valentine's day card and I have it hanging on the computer desk. I cut out the heart, but she did the rest herself. I *love* the ribbon trim!

Sharing what is making my life more lovely here:

Funny Faces

When you are having a no good, horrible, very bad day...

and the bickering, fighting, whining and complaining is just too much...

and you think that you seriously are going to have a stroke....

and you can't run into your room and lock the door...

and you can't take the kids outside and let them run it off, because it's been raining for four days straight...

and the art projects, coloring, play-doh, snacks and tv shows they've watched before 10 am just aren't resetting the mood...

when all else fails...

get the camera, go in the bathroom, and take silly face pictures. It'll work, even if for only five minutes.

Being silly, it's good for them, and for you too!!

Sharing today with Blessed Little Nest:

And sharing at the "Embrace the Camera" linky party here:

Mommy, Guess What?

There will come a day when they no longer come looking for me to tell me what is on their minds.

Trying to keep this in perspective.

Sharing today at:

Christmas Memories 2010

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and made many new memories amid flying wrapping paper and stuffed bellies. We had a great day, it really was one of the least stressful Christmases we've had since the kids came.

Here is Hubby and I looking waaaaaaaaaaaaaay tired, because we were. Oldest was up at 4, yes 4 am. It was so much fun trying to keep him in bed until we opened gifts at 6:30. I heard him up and stirring, worried he might be trying to sneak into gifts I got up and found him in the hallway rubbing his hands together going, "Hee hee hee". It was cute, even at four in the morning.

The kids really enjoyed opening their gifts. We buy three gifts for each of our kids, just as baby Jesus received three gifts from the wise men. We've also decided this year will mark the first year of no more "wish lists" for presents. Each child will receive whatever is bought for them, and honestly it helped to cut down on the gimme gimme's.

I explained to them that since Christmas isn't just about gifts, we need to be thankful for whatever we receive just as we are thankful for the gift of salvation that we've received. I know it's a hard sell to tell kids it's not just about the presents, and by not letting them make a list I think it's a way to downplay the whole present aspect of things.

On Christmas eve we went on a long neighborhood walk and saw a huge flock of wild turkeys walking around. I've never seen such a large group before, usually just one or two at a time. The kids were excited, and starting running down the street trying to chase them. The turkeys weren't impressed and took off.

We tuckered them out and on the way home they all found a bench and proceeded to park it and whine, "We're tired!" Mission accomplished for Mommy! I really wanted to wear them out somewhat since they all were bouncing off the walls with it being Christmas eve. I really enjoyed our walk, that might become a new Christmas eve tradition for us.

Hoping your enjoying these last few days of 2010. Can you believe 2011 is around the corner? Amazing.

Sharing our Christmas memories today at:

Hot Chocolate and Gingerbread Smiles

So, we're getting close to the birthday celebration...are you ready? Today, in a little over three hours I hit eight, yes, eight stores! I am realllly hoping that I didn't forget anything and I can officially say I will not be leaving the house until after Christmas.

We've been enjoying LoTs of hot chocolate and tea.

We've made gingerbread cookies (both regular and GFCF), and they were gone in two days. Oh the work of baking just to have it all gobbled up. Well, at least it tastes good enough to eat I guess.

I love to stay close to home as Christmas nears. It's easier for me to keep calm and more focused. I have a ton of work to do here, but staying away from the hustle and bustle is so nice.

Take the time to enjoy small moments as you're getting ready, don't forget the blessings that are right in front of you.

Sharing my thoughts today at:

Girls Rule, Boys ...

Daughter and I having cuddle time in Daddy's chair this morning.

Going through pictures lately, I've discovered that I don't have as many pictures of just her and I together as I do with the boys. Not sure why, but I'm on the mission to remedy that.

However, someone just couldn't handle not being in the picture....

So he made sure that it happened. Maybe this has something to do with my lack of Mommy/Daughter shots?

On another note, have you read about my Christmas project of writing letters to our kids? If not, click here for more info.

Sharing my morning with:

Letters From My Heart

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Last night I was thinking about things I needed to get done. Mostly Christmas related, gifts I needed to still make, plotting and planning type stuff.

I started thinking about gifts for the kids, making mental notes of what I needed to still do for them. I then had an idea I had never honestly thought of before, writing them each a letter.

It could be a letter about what the past year had been like. Or it could be about our relationship as mother and son/daughter. Or it could be advice that I want to give them now but they are too young to hear. Or it could simply be a letter to let them know they are loved.

A letter they can read when they are older, something put away for a time when they can understand what I'm trying to convey. Something tangible, that they can hold in their hands and see with their eyes.

So much of our days consist of the mundane, the regular, the rituals. It's hard to take the time needed to really look at the bigger picture of parenting when you are knee deep in the middle of laundry, spilled food, fighting and dishes.

My hope is that by taking the time to write these letters to my children, I will be allowed the opportunity to relay things to them in a way that will make a lasting impression. Not that my spoken words and actions aren't important, but honestly we as parents and they as children forget sometimes.

This will be a way to write about the blessings and the lessons that God has taught me as a mother. A way to tell them about how I see God working and growing them. A way to reflect on these things as I write them, and a way for them to see things through my eyes when they read them. A way to leave a part of myself now in the present that they can read in the future.

I would love those of you that are mothers to consider doing this. No matter what age they may be, whether they are unborn or 35 years old. Children are such a blessing to us, they are our legacy. What a way to honor their importance, to let them know of their worth to both us and their heavenly Father.

If you feel that you'd like to participate in "Letters From My Heart" this Christmastime, please post a comment indicating you'll be doing so. Or, if you already do this please post a comment to renew your commitment to continue.

To those of you'd who would like to spread the word to others, please feel free to mention this on your blogs as long as you link back to this original post. It would be wonderful to get as many mothers as possible to commit to doing this for their children. What an opportunity to give an amazing gift to our children that won't cost anything but time.

I'm spreading the word at:

On Being A Mommy...

Since I've been doing this "Mothering" thing for seven years now, here are a few things I've figured out so far:

• one can go days without a shower, if necessary
• one CAN go outside of the house without makeup on, I can't believe at one time I actually thought you could not.
• pb & j for lunch 5 times a week isn't excessive, if that is what the kids want to eat
• random "I love you Mommy" moments are becoming less and less frequent as kids age
• you make mistakes, you tRy and learn from them and MoVe On
• counting 'till three before speaking when you're mad is really hard...especially when massive messes are involved
• you can make or break the day, simply by your attitude towards it
• you can't do it alone, and you're not supposed to, that is why you need God
• one can become indifferent towards constast clutter if they are exposed to it long enough
• accidents will happen, daily
• children are NoT born sweet and innocent
• once cleaned, your bathroom will not stay that way for more than one hour
• I realize that I still have a LoT to learn

Just a few random thoughts, oh, and that is another thing I've learned since becoming a Mommy. Random, fleeting thoughts are common....wait, what was I doing again?

Linking up my thoughts here: