It's My Gift!!

Reagan is a funny girl. Yesterday I took a step back and realized that she has a wonderful sense of humor. More often than not I am all caught up in making sure that she is using manners and being respectful. I am not saying that's bad, but too often I worry about what other people are thinking about her behavior and I miss those moments that make up my daughters personality. She is a beautiful and fun girl. I have never seen anyone be able to make EVERYTHING a game. Sometimes she takes it too far and I get frustrated and question, "Why can't you calm down?" and her response is, "I thought everyone was having so much fun, I didn't want to ruin that." It's amazing what we learn when we actually listen for a different perspective on the same situation. We had company Saturday night and while I was thinking that this man must think our children are hyper-spazes who don't listen, He ended the night by saying, "I am not sure the last time I have seen my son have so much fun!" Wow, what a compliment and all that praise goes right to Reagan, the creator of all things fun. I need to loosen up. Yesterday while Nana and PopPop were over we were all at the table and Reagan had something that made us all laugh. Nana told her she was so funny and Reagan, without missing a beat says, "well what can I say, It's my gift!!" We all laughed some more. She does have a gift. She brings joy and love to the lives of everyone she knows. I still have people, from a group we were involved with last year, still come up to me and tell me how much they miss Reagan's hugs. She has a sense about her and she knows when someone just needs unconditional love. She does have a gift and I am blessed to witness this gift bloom. I see a good many years when I will hold my breath hoping she doesn't cross a line, and being grateful when words escape her, but for the most part I will begin to just enjoy the gift that has been given to me...Reagan

First Snow!!

I am so excited, it snowed last night!! It's enough to cover the grass and trees and it's still coming down. It looks so beautiful out there. It is taking every ounce of self control that I have not to go wake up the kids so they can see too!! I guess the parent of reason is invading my brain telling me the snow won't melt before they get up. Guess I know what I am going to do today...Buy Boots and gloves and maybe an extra sled. Ryan is totally going to have a blast this year!!! I am SO glad we got all of those leaves picked up on Wednesday. That would have been a mess. Well I just had to share. If I can get a good picture of it later, I will post then.

God's Favorite Prayer?

Tonight before bed I was praying with Rebecca. I took a turn, she took a turn. Somewhere in between hoping that God and Jesus had a great day she says this, "God, do you know what I learned today? I learned a song about letters and it went like this..." and she sang the song and told Him how she hadn't heard it before. It wasn't some save the world prayer, but a prayer that I believe embodies what Jesus meant when He said we were to have child like faith. In that moment she spoke to God as if she were talking to someone familiar. Like you would if a grandparent called and asked, "what did you do today?" My heart is just overwhelmed because my daughter is learning that God does in fact "want to know what she learned today." He is a God of relationship not just religious actions. Tonight I got to see first hand a miracle of faith as I peeked at my daughter while she spoke to her Heavenly Father. I know God tells us to come to Him with our petitions, but I bet He especially loves when we come and say, "Guess what I learned today..."

Playing Pretend

Yesterday, Rebecca and I were pretending that she was the teacher and I was the student. It's only her and I in the room. What is funny is that when she wants me to pretend something else, like I am a student of a different name, she whispers so quietly her instructions of what we are doing, that I can barely hear her. She says it as if talking in a normal voice will somehow disrupt this pretend world and someone will discover we are not actually teacher and student! It was quite funny. NOW CLASS PLEASE GET OUT YOUR PAPERS...mommy, pretend you are ava...AND DRAW SOMETHING THAT STARTS WITH "J." LOL She's a crack up too!!

Bing!!

My funny little boy is at it again. I was asking him some questions the other day like, what is this?...Apple, What is that?...tree, What is this?...he pauses...then says, "BING!" So I tell him the answer and he repeats it. Now I am working a theory and sure enough, if he doesn't know the answer he says, "Bing." LOL next question please...I'll take animals for 200. LOL I have no idea where he got that from. Cracks me up to no end though.

Got Leaves??

This is a portion of our back yard. If you look to the right you'll see that one of the three giant trees still has quite a few leaves on it. Well we waited and this past weekend we raked and blew leaves. That took several hours. I have the sore back to prove it!! Once we finally finished we had a pile that is bigger than me!! 15 bags of mulched leaves later we still have a good size pile back there. However, in the mean time, Reagan and the kids and I have had a great time jumping in the pile. I even did a few flips and taught Reagan how. I am so grateful I didn't find a stick to impale me!! LOL As Ron and I were sucking and mulching the leaves, i decided there must be a better way. You'd think my poor husband would know by now that when I try to re-invent a "way" that it's probably not going to work. He was a good sport and tried with me anyway. The leaf blower blows and then there is a different attachment that sucks up the leaves and then blows them into a bag all mulched up. However the bag fills up really fast. So I look at that and think...hmmm....what if we just put a garbage bag on the end then we can just fill it up and not have to stop so often. GREAT IDEA!!! Here is what we failed to consider: The leaf bag is made of heavy material, it actually attaches to the machine and it has a zipper. In hindsight we see how all of these parts are critical. So we take off the bag, Ron holds the garbage bag and I turn on the leaf blower. In less than one second, critical pieces of the leaf bag flash before us as Hurricane force winds whip through the garbage bag creating a tunnel of wind and mulched leaves. After shock wears off, we start to laugh and begin to fumble to turn the darn thing off. Not only is there wind, but flying around us and at us are mulched leaves and sticks. I am sure if a neighbor is looking out their window, they are thinking..."look at those two retards!" We finally get the leaf blower or "leaf condense-a-nator" as we named it, turned off and there we stand; Covered from head to toe in mulched leaves, doubled over in laughter! Without a word, Ron turns and goes to get the proper bag and attaches it. I point out the obvious of how, "I guess that's why you can't do that," and we continue the long process of sucking up the leaves. We are the reason there are warning labels. Someone in the warning label lab must have relatives like us and so they pick their brains and write it down...WARNING DO NOT TRY TO USE A TRASH BAG TO VACUUM/MULCH LEAVES!!!

Feeling Creative

So I've come to terms with the fact that I am not a "creator" but a "copier." Although on first glimpse I decide that I should feel bad about that, I decided it's a waste of time. I am so amazed at what some people can create from a blank piece of paper!! Give me a blank piece of paper and I will stare at it until it turns brown from age. Show me someone Else's idea and I will take that same piece of paper and replicate what I see with a few touches of my own. I'm OK with that. Maybe someday when I am not saying..."Just a minute..." every two seconds I will create something from scratch, but for now I am content gleaning knowledge from true Creators. I made this today.
I wish I had written down the name of the woman who created it (next time I will)but here is my version of this gift bag. I just love this!! I am busy thinking of all of the things you could put in here like candles, coffee, candy, lotion...you get the idea. I am going to make one out of my Christmas paper and see how it comes out. The cool part is there is a small box in the bottom so it doesn't tip over and it gives support to whatever you put in there. Very cool. So thank you to the creator of this project for the chance to make it, your time was well spent!!!

Living in the Present

I read a book recently and the question was posed, "Where do you live? Do you live in the past unable to let go of hurt and pain, or reliving when times were "good?" or do you live in the future worrying about what is to come and what will be? Or do you live in the present enjoying each moment as it comes?" As I thought about this question I realized that I was living in the future but that future was fear based and defined by my past. Let me explain. Based on certain relationships in my life, I was living my present trying to make sure I didn't mess up my future. My relationships with my children have always been a big one. I am always hoping that I don't mess up so much that in the future, to them, I will become an obligation instead of a desire to be with. The hard part of living like that is that we focus so much on what we don't want, that that's exactly what we tend to become. What our eyes focus on begins to consume us. With much prayer and a complete breakthrough, I believe that I have begun to live in the present. I still plan for the future but I don't stress over it. I still look to the past, but as a visit and to see lessons learned, not to live. The joy I have discovered is being able to step back in a present moment and soak it all in. To really experience each emotion and capture the memory in my mind is beyond words. Sunday morning was one of those times. We had just woken up and the kids were piled in our room, laughing and talking. It was calm and not rushed. Then we went downstairs and had a nice breakfast. We topped off the morning by going to church together. That is what a Sunday, in my mind, is supposed to look like. To others it was a nothing special kind of day, but to me it was a glimpse of exactly what I have always wanted for my family. To just enjoy each other and build a lifetime of great moments. The future is built on what I do now, not on imagined fears but present reality. I'm just thankful that I figured it out now, when I hopefully have lots of time, to really live in the present and take in a great life comprised of everyday moments.

Fall Pictures

Well this is for everyone who has been sending hints my way that they would like new pictures of my children. So today as the kids played outside I tried to get a good shot. Here are the ones I got of Rebecca. You will have to tell me which one you like best.
Next are the pictures of Reagan. Trying to get her NOT to pose is a feat in itself. She has a "new look" every year. This year is better than last, but still I tried to catch her natural look because it is by far the best.





Then there is Ryan who appearently has no idea what to do when I say, "look at mommy and smile!" He looks at the ground, the sky, his sisters, basically everywhere but at me. Needless to say I could NOT get a picture of the three of them together, but I think I caught some cool ones of Ry when he didn't know I was watching!

More Candy!!!

Halloween this year was so much fun. We had our friends from last years preschool come over and go with us. We also walked with the neighbors as well. It was a blast getting 5 children ready to go and by the time it was Ryan's turn to get his costume on he was all excited.
Well excited until I had to get something out of the car and he discovered that we were going to walk our street first before we headed over to the "good neighborhood!" He really didn't know what we were doing so we basically drag him to the first door because, darn it, we are GOING to have fun. He wasn't overly impressed and then we had to walk passed the car again so he threw another fit. Ugh.
At the second house he started to notice that when we go to the door something amazing happens...perfect strangers (who we aren't supposed to talk to) give us candy (that we aren't supposed to take from strangers) and mom and dad are happy about this. After the third house he went running to the next yelling, "more can-ne, more can-ne!!" Now you have to picture him in this mouse outfit just bouncing along yelling with tremendous excitement about getting more candy...it was so much fun to watch. I really do hope I remember it always. Rebecca was a cat or leopard or tiger...you get the idea. A cat in very loose terms. Now all that came with this $20 costume was this skimpy, thin leotard. So underneath I made her wear long johns and we found a black boa to put around her neck so she wouldn't freeze to death.
Apparently the costume companies haven't figured out yet that the end of October in most places is rather chilly and that they should make costumes a little warmer so we don't have to bury them beneath coats! Anyway, once we got her make up on and her ears on her head, she was the cutest "cat" I've ever seen. She busied herself trying to eat Ryan since he was a mouse and all. I guess all those episodes of "Tom and Jerry" finally paid off! She had a blast trick or treating until we came to one house.
As she came away from the stairs she calls my name and says, with big tears in her eyes, "Mommy, I just saw the scariest thing and I just don't think I can go on, maybe we should go home!" Did I mention that the girls in my house are a bit dramatic?? So I followed that up with the most unusual example. I replied with, "Rebecca you know how the neighbors have bloody limbs in the front yard?" she says, "yes" I remind her that they are only made of plastic. Now she's feeling a little better...who knew bloody limbs could come in handy? Anyway, I walked a few more houses with her up to the door and then she was fine again. Thank you dear neighbors for the bloody limbs thrown about your yard!! Anyway, she also had a great time.
Reagan was a spider witch.
Now we normally don't do witches or scary things, but this year she had a party to attend. Being all of eight and wanting to not "look like a dork" we splurged a little on her costume. Now I hate spiders, but this was actually pretty...in a spider web sort of way. Anyway, I was so proud of Reagan because she made sure to watch out for all of the little kids. Especially Ryan. She even fell back from the crowd of kids to wait for him and make sure he got his candy. She was kind and thoughtful and for a split second I thought that perhaps I am not COMPLETELY failing as a parent. Thank goodness for those moments because sometimes I wonder what the heck is going on!!!
The next night, Halloween, oh, that's right, yes here we don't trick or treat on Halloween, we do it on an obscure night like...Thursday. Yes we like to do that here so that we can all keep our children up late, feed them candy and then try to wake them up in the morning so their groggy minds can try to learn something. I digress. The party was a hit. Reagan met some new girls and simply had the best time ever.
Now I hope she never goes for the Gothic look, but I couldn't help but think that she was beautiful with the makeup on and I felt like a got a glimpse of the future.
Very weird. All in all we had a wonderful time and I just hope my tired brain will help me remember this year forever. All I have to say is that if you can, walk with a two year old on Halloween night, it will make you smile for days!!