my kids are the best.

My kids have been making me laugh and smile a lot today...And I've needed it! So, I thought I would share a few of the things that they do that put a smile on my face and maybe it will bring a smile to your face too. I think that the stages that children go through are, in many ways, a gift from God. I know that even on my worst days, something is going to happen, with my kids, that is going to crack me up!!

A, my youngest love to dance, bounce around and clap to the theme from Hannah Montana and The Office. She will stop what she is doing and get to where she can dance, I kid you not, I plan to post a video of this soon.

K, my middle girl loves to sit on my lap and tell me how pretty I am.

M, my oldest loves to make things for me and create things.

A loves to climb all over me and lick my face.

K loves to cuddle right up against me as close as she can.

M loves for me to come outside and run with her.

A climbs up on me with a books and says "reee mee" (which is "read to me" in baby speak).

K says she wants to marry her best friend because she loves him and he's her best friend.

M thinks she is an expert at everything, drawing, applying make up, etc.

A is hungry ALL the time! She *loves* chocolate and goes to the pantry saying "eeeeat eat. eeeat eat."

K is soo sassy! She dances around and always goes to put dresses on and wants to wear heels a lot.

M used to go and ask for candy by pointing and saying "shimmeee shimmeeee"

A has started talking and using her own versions of words and I absolutely ADORE how she talks about things and talks to us...She even calls her daddy by his first name.

K has asked people to start calling her "Princess" instead of her birth name because she is a princess! She also quotes Anjelica Johnson's skit "beautiful nail" and "bon qui qui" - look them up if you don't know them... you won't be sorry.

M is so smart! She amazes me on a daily basis with the things that she knows how to do and take care of. She helps out with her little sisters so much and on Valentines Day, she made me breakfast in bed, toast and all!

What are some of your favorite things that your kids, nieces/nephews, etc do? I'd love to hear about them!!

age appropriate chores and chore charts.

So yesterday and today we have been discussing chores with our three children(8yr, 5yr, and almost 2yr). They decided they wanted to choose their own chores, which is fine with me, but in choosing their own chores they seem to be a little over eager. My 8yr old wants to cook dinner and lunch and breakfast and take out all the trash and my 5yr old wants to do some of the same stuff. Now, while I know that my 2yr old is incapable of doing the above mentioned things, I started wondering about what they should be doing at their respective ages...I don't want to be the parent that has her kids acting like adults. I want my girls to have fun, be responsible but still be able to enjoy being a kid.

I started thinking to myself, what are some things that they should be doing at their ages, above and beyond their homework, etc. AND in my efforts to not reinvent the wheel, I did a lot of googling...And I was in luck! I found some great sites that have age ranges and age appropriate chores, so I thought I would share these with you.
http://housekeeping.about.com/od/chorechart1/a/ageapprchores.htm
http://www.workingmom.com/age-guidelines.htm

I thought those two were great sites! And don't be afraid to use them either! My youngest, who will turn 2yrs old in September of this year, understands soo much at her age. We ask her to take stuff to the trash, bring us a diaper, wipes, her shoes, socks, etc and she knows exactly what we are talking about and does exactly what we ask. AND anytime she does this she gets super excited and claps saying "yay" each time...and I just think that's one of the cutest things ever! And they are never to young to instill good values and habits or to use positive reinforcement for a job well done!

What are some of your favorite ways to incorporate chores into your kids' daily life? How do you make it fun for them? How do you encourage them in their chores? What chores do you have your children of different ages doing?

snow day! yeah!!!

snow days in our town are VERY rare! so when it happens we tend to take lots of pictures...and this snow day happened to fall on my middle girls birthday(I can't believe she is already turning 5, time flies by WAY too fast!!) so she was excited because "God gave me the best birthday present ever, mommy" and that he did! school was canceled and it is 9:30pm and it's still snowing! we have made snow cream, soup, apple cider, oatmeal cookies, etc and have thoroughly enjoyed the day! my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces all were here to play and enjoy the day too! here are some of our photos from the day...hope you enjoy them!

snow angels and snow ball fights!

my house...covered in snow w/more snow falling as it gets darker

my sister Heather and I

Heather and I and our oldest girls

my birthday girl!!! she's five today!!

my precious niece!

my oldest daughter :)

the three musketeers :)

january birthday party. valentines day.

soo...the end of the year and the beginning of the year are VERY busy months for us with the holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. i am one of those creative types, or at least i like to think that i am, and so i usually find myself wanting to do too much in too little time...well this year that has changed and i promised myself that it would. and i've also promised myself to take the time to do little special things for my girls that would make a big difference for them.

one special thing i do for my kids every year, is that i make their birthday cakes. this is something that my mom did and it's something that i wanted to carry on to my girls...i think it adds a little something special, but then again, maybe i'm crazy ;).

with that being said...here are some photos of the game & cake from my oldest daughters birthday party last month AND of the homemade Valentines cards we are making/have made for their class parties this year... enjoy!! (also - for those wondering, i do make cakes for other people and other occasions...i've done birthday, baby shower, wedding cakes, etc...and i love doing just about anything creative!)

he is jealous for me.

this isn't my usual blog post, just posting a song and the lyrics to it, but this song is so powerful and the words speak to my heart and my soul in a way than really any other song does. don't just listen to the song, listen to the words, and meditate on them. sometimes we just need to be reminded how strong and powerful the love our Father has for us, despite ourselves and despite our situations... he's there. loving us. wanting us. even when we feel like no one else do or when we feel unworthy to be loved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC1ec-lYps&feature=related

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

that's what i love about Sundays.

So it's the end of the weekend and i'm looking quite forward to it! i am excited about the rearranging i'm doing in my home. and i'm excited about my hubby getting to go sub at the school he loves to sub at. and i'm excited about some down time while my girls are at school.

I got to see my best friend today, i LOVE her! And she lives in florida now and I miss her soo much! We had a great time... Got our nails done...Which the whole time I was at the nail salon I was picturing this skit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWrY77o77o absolutely HILARIOUS! You MUST check it out! I kid you not!

So - I had a couple God-moments today. You know what I mean? Those moments that you just "get it" in a way that you didn't get it before. We were visiting a church with my sister and her family today and something the pastor said struck chord in me in a way that it never had before... And it's something I already knew but today, for some reason, it "hit" me. He was talking about how when his daughter runs up to him with her arms up and stretched out to him that he doesn't turn her away, that he takes the moment to pick her up and embrace her and her charisma in that moment... We should be like that in our relationship with our Daddy in Heaven. We should run, unashamedly with arms stretched out to Him to hold us and to love us and for us to love Him and express to Him how much we love Him and want to be with Him and spend time with Him. We need to be intentional in our relationship and intentional in that relationship with Him.

Why are we so worried what other people may think or say about our relationship with our Daddy? When we go into worship him why are we so concerned with what others think about our worship? We shouldn't be. We are worshiping for an audience of one, not those around us. What does God feel about us holding back in our worship of Him, in effort to not "offend" those around us or make them feel "uncomfortable" - we should worship unashamedly and unabashed!

rearranging. recreating.

i love making old things new and changing this around a bit...and finding a GREAT deal on things too! the blue dish and the yellow dishes were less than $5 for all of them, i bought them on a clearance sale at a local antique mart a little while back. the teapots were a really great find at marshalls...and the china is a hand me down wedding gift from my grandmother that I have always wanted to display some how. here is a photo of the "after" - i didn't think to take a picture of how it was before BUT the bottom shelf and then the 2nd from the top had books on it and the middle one had a photo and a few other things...it looked kinda busy but was functional. here is what it looks like now...i'm not completely done, i still want to tweak a few things but here it is for now...and already its a MUCH bigger improvement!!