Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Please Pray

 

Horrifying photos of the tornado devastation in Joplin, Missouri, just a few hours from here.

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Families searching for missing loved ones.
Babies ripped from their mothers’ arms.
Hundreds of people killed.

Please click HERE if you would like more information on where you can send donations to help these families left with nothing. 

 

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(The sky at my house today.)

And please pray as we are literally headed down to the basement again right now for another round of tornadoes effecting  Missouri all evening. 

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Bye Bye Preschool

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Sophie poses with her big sis on her last day of Preschool…. ever.

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It was beach day so she rocked her SURF tee and side pony, of course.

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Mrs. Wheeler, who was also Mia’s preschool teacher for two years, is by far the most kind, loving and wonderful teacher in the entire world.  I am so grateful for all she’s done for my girls and excited that our little Gracie will be in her class next year!

 

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Mommy was strong and did not cry until she got back in her car after dropping her off.

 

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After school we may or may not have gotten a special treat.

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And Daddy had flowers sent to her to celebrate!
This girl loves flowers more than anyone I’ve ever met.

I took a few minutes to look back at Mia’s preschool graduation pictures and two years ago our life looked like this…

Mia proudly posing with Aunt Adie, her new baby cousin Meade and her pretty flowers from Adie on her preschool graduation day.

We had a baby…

and Sophie was practically a baby herself at three year old.

 

This year looked so different, yet similar as Sophie had to wear the same dress that Mia did when she graduated preschool…

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Sisters rule.

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Nana and Papa rule.

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And Mimo rules. 

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I realized, after tonight, that I only have two more years with children at home.
Then it’s gone all day for the rest of their lives.  :(

What will I do with myself?!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

I Feel Pretty…Unpretty

 

The girls and I love Glee. 
Well, what I should say is that the girls and I love music
Therefore,  we love watching Glee.
We love hearing all the fun ways our favorite songs are interpreted and transformed. 
We grab the nearest microphones (hairbrushes, pens, etc.) and belt out along with the television.   
The “mash up” below was on a couple weeks ago and I loved the message it conveyed. 

Being from a very un-plastic surgerized family, it seems so foreign and creepy.  But at the same time, I know that the majority of other people I meet have most likely had something “changed.” 
Don’t get me wrong, I am totally a supporter of making the most of the medically advanced world we live in today, and there are so many people who need and deserve to alter their appearance.  I just had my vein lasered remember?  That was awesome. 
And who wouldn’t love to change their “flap jacks” for boobs after breast feeding three girls in less that four years?  (The inflation and deflation that occurred so rapidly in such a short amount of time is mind boggling!)

But, I truly feel so sad that the world we live in today forces so many people to feel that they must change things about themselves on the outside to conform to what society thinks is beautiful, instead of embracing what God gave you.  Valuing what you inherited from your parents, rather than looking for ways to change it.  

It took me awhile to accept that I would always, for the rest of my life,  when entering a room,  be one of the tallest people in there.  The stares, comments and glances at my shoes to see how high the heels were, have always made me feel a bit embarrassed.  But I know that I can never change it and that it’s just the way I’m supposed to be.  I embrace it and stick to wearing flats.  :) 

Now having three daughters of my own,  I struggle trying to balance what I teach them about the importance of beauty.  I want to tell them how beautiful they are so that they know they are perfect just the way they are.  Encouraging the growth of their self esteem so that they never feel insecure being who God made them.  Hoping to enhance their confidence.  But I also don’t want to put so much value in the outside appearance.  I want them to always know that the most important thing in life is to treat people kindly and with respect.  Being a good friend is so much more important than being a pretty friend.  


Do you tell them how beautiful they are, or does that only stress that beauty is important?
If you don’t tell them they are pretty and perfect, does that inhibit the growth of their self esteem and confidence? 
What a balancing act.

“My outsides are cool.  My insides are blue…..

You can buy your hair if it won’t grown. 
You can fix your nose if he says so. 
You can buy all the makeup that man can make, but if you can’t look inside you, find out who am I to be in the position to make me feel so damn unpretty.”

All I can hope for are three confident daughters who know who they are.
Three daughters who don’t feel they need to be someone else to fit in.
Three daughters with high self-esteem and positive feelings about themselves, because in the end, each one of us will be old and wrinkly one day (no matter how much Botox you inject)  and will most likely think back to our youth and wish we would have loved ourselves, imperfections and all, a little bit more.  
After all, when you compare what you have at age 90 to what you once had, you will realize just how beautiful and perfect we really were!  

So how about not waiting until your 90 years old to realize just how lucky you are to be you and be grateful for what God has given you.  Don’t waste any precious time unhappy with the things you can’t change, because in the end your nose and chin mean nothing at all.  

I feel that if everyone stopped focusing on the negative things you wish you could change, and simply focused on being the best/happy/healthiest YOU you can be, our world would be a much happier place.

 

Monday, May 9, 2011

Random Recap Randomness

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Steve and I had a fun night out at my Brother in Law’s bar, Pinch Penny Pub, last weekend in Carbondale, where we both went to college.  It was Steve’s baseball alumni weekend, however, since I was friends with all his baseball teammates during college as well, it was double the fun catching up with all of our old friends.

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This was my view in the bathroom stall.
See how fun it is to be six foot tall?  Wow.

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On our way home I couldn’t believe how badly everything was flooding.
I snapped a picture of a field next to the highway.  It looked like a lake. 

 

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I have been busy with some “super” big party favors orders the past few weeks.   It’s nice to be able to make extra grocery/medical bill money from the cozy comfort of my own couch, and I just love creating these fun favors unique to each birthday girl or boy!
So holla at me if you are in the market for some personalized party favor buckets for your next party!
I can create almost any image and design you have in mind. 

Randomly last Friday night, after pulling up to a Whole Foods market to buy Mia some probiotics (for her belly pain due to enduring a 65 day, and counting, stretch of antibiotics to keep her infection free)  she spots a Great Clips.
She says to me, “Mom! A Great Clips!!! Can I please get my hair cut and surprise Daddy!”
Sure enough, we walked in and she decided to chop it off!

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Before.

 

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During.

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After.  

See ya later six inches of gorgeous flowing blonde locks!

 

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Gracie’s really been obsessed with our two dogs lately.
Here she is squeezing away on Strini. 
If Strini could talk, I think she would have been saying, “Help me!”

 

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The girls are really into self “photography” these days…

 

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and twirling…

 

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and posing…

 

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and picking out their own clothes for school. 

Happy Random Monday!

 

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