Making a Splash!

 

Abby's 1st grade class' end of the year pool party... Did she really just finish first grade?!?

Isabella's 6th Birthday

 

Isabella and her friends showing off their paintings! They painted owls that all matched her invitation. The girls all had lots of fun, and they all had great owl paintings to take home after the party!

Delight!

 

Absolutely delighted as everyone sings Happy Birthday to our sweet Isabella at her 6th birthday party!

I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

I think I can, I think I can....Jean Stockdale has taught us in MOMS for years that party of our job as moms is to slowly release our children into the adult world so that they're ready to be independent. I'm not good at that at all! If I could, I'd keep them all babies for a very, very long time and then ease them into toddlerhood. After that, to be quite honest, I'd fast forward from 2 until age 4....right now I have both a 2 and a 3 year old in the house as I've had for a few years now...and it's rough!

So what does this picture having to do with all of that?!? Today we threw out THE HIGHCHAIR! We purchased this when Abby was 4 months old and about to start rice cereal. I remember going with Matt to Babies R Us in Memphis and picking this one out because it was bright, had fun toys that could detach, and had 3 washable trays that snapped off. We had NO IDEA that we'd have this highchair for the next SEVEN years!!!! This high chair has sat all of our babies from their first bites of cereal to their last days when baby sister or brother needed to take over the throne. Well, Grant is 2 1/2 now, and there's no baby brother or sister waiting in line this time for the highchair. But it was time. It's been past time. He's needed to be in a big boy chair for a long, long time. But he's my last (unless God has a really great surprise in store for me one day)...and I've let him be a baby in every way much longer than I did with the girls. At his age, they were all in big kid seats, potty trained, way past the pacifier...but not Grant :) My little man isn't even thinking about a potty (except to flush Awana books and dolls in), nor is he even budging an inch on the pacifier issue. He's told me clearly before when we couldn't find a paci that I could go to Target and buy a new one. He's smart!

So today, while I didn't break down for Matt, I was silently grieving this visible reminder that our house is becoming one of big kids and not babies any longer. We once had two cribs, a pack n play, swings, bouncies, play yards, jumpers, changing tables, and even a highchair in our house. The other items have gone one by one to friends and to charity...but the highchair was one of the last remaining pieces of being a mom to a little bitty one.

So, I'm trying to tell myself that I can do this....I can start to teach them to grow up and to help them move from stage to stage....I just may have to rock babies at church more often now :)

Knocking Off A Little Dust

Tonight, for whatever reason, I sat down and read a mommy blog...and then another...and then another. Before long, I looked up and it's past 1 a.m.! My crew has been asleep for hours, and I should be resting too. We've been fighting the stomach virus again for a while, and I think I'm just so glad to not be scrubbing something or holding someone's head while they throw up. I've actually been relaxed as I sit at the computer.

All that to say...I realized just how much I missed blogging. In particular, about our family. I used my blog for a while to keep an account of the day-to-day happenings of our family. We've moved into a new stage of life where the day-to-day happenings oftentimes drain me of any energy to recount the day that just ended. But Matt made me a bound book that contained my blog entries from the past, and it's truly a treasure. The scrapbooks I make are cute (and dusty now too) but not as full of detail. When Abby and Isabella were very little, I kept individual journals and wrote them letters very, very often. Life with two girls just 18 months apart gave me lots of free time to write, journal, reflect. Add two more kids in a row...and that time is gone!

With no promises of everyday blogging or anything else pressureful, I am re-entering the blogging world. My kids have just got too many cute memories that tell our story for me not to record...

Making the Rounds

I'm about to make my way out of the "work zone" on the computer to make my final rounds around the house before bedtime. One would think that I'd be way past this by now. But I think I'll probably make "final rounds" at night even when the kids are 18. Even though I tucked them into bed 3 hours ago, I just can't help but sneak into their rooms to kiss them one more time and see their sweet faces once more. No matter what happened that day, all is forgotten as they sleep so peacefully. I love to watch a sleeping baby, a sleeping toddler, and even a sleeping 6 year old. Matt thinks I'm crazy for checking on them once more every night before I settle down for bed. I think it's being a mama. That's what we do.

So in a few minutes, I'll be off to retuck each child into bed, straighten their covers, adjust the thermostats, say little prayers, kiss them once more, and then tiptoe back downstairs to sleep...hopefully through the night. But if one of them does crawl into our bed, I think it'll be alright. These days are fleeing...and one day they'll be too big to want to crawl into our bed at night. And I'll be glad that we let them snuggle while they were little!

Loving these days

My neighbor gave me a gift today, and she didn't even know it. Her boys have been outside playing from time to time with each other...never with Mom and Dad. They're a bit older than my kids, and they play outside in nice weather without their parents. This afternoon while I was having a blast with my kids in the backyard, I noticed my neighbor all alone checking out some work she'd had done on her house. Alone. While I was surrounded by lots of fun, giggly laughter...the kind that's absolutely infectious!

I just stopped right there during our playtime and thanked God for these days. My kids will one day too be big like hers, and these types of afternoons pushing them on the swings will be a distant memory. I know there will be new things to treasure when those days come. But today I stopped to draw in the laughter, the silliness, the fun that is my kids while they're little. Thank you, Lord, for these sweet and tender days with my kids. I've been regretting that they're not tiny anymore. My baby will be 2 in May. Those baby and toddler days flew by! Just like the gray haired ladies told me they would! But I don't have to let these preschooler days fly by. I'm going to soak them in...and spend lots more time giggling in the backyard. I'm so glad I caught a glimpse of my neighbor and that God allowed me to slow down enough to notice how full and blessed my hands were at that moment.