Not My Most Favorite Day Of The Year

real life

Yesterday marked the big day - when summer officially made its exit.  Three of our girls are in elementary school now, and my heart aches even typing that sentence.  I'm a soft, emotional pile of gushiness when it comes to these tiny (some not so tiny) beings.  I don't think I'll ever be able to shake that quality - even though they continue to grow & change by the minute.

Isabella woke up first (thankfully after I was dressed & had my first cup of coffee in hand).  I would say she was the most excited of the three.  First of all - she's a big girl now (apparently you get big girl status when you turn five years old).  Secondly, she's in Kindergarten (only big girls allowed in there).  And most importantly, she's going to school with her sister Gianna

(I'm so excited about riding the bus, Mom!).

Gianna and Espy followed suit - having breakfast and getting ready for the day.  All of them tolerated the photo shoot(s?) I put them through which I'm always thankful for.  As mom, I'm official memory keeper of the family so we will be taking pictures every first day of school

(sorry in advance, girls).

A good friend asked if I cry every year.  That I do, at some point of the process - even if I will myself not to.  Yesterday it was during breakfast.  Evangeline was still asleep, but her sisters were eating breakfast & chit chatting about their new teachers, classes, and friends - no bottles, no diapers, no random crying - just three girls having breakfast together.  I had to go into the kitchen and have a moment -

a moment to enjoy their sweetness with each other

a moment to be thankful for their unique selves

a moment to forever remember them just as they were:

hair tousled, pajamas wrinkled, and eyes brightened with thoughts of a new day

not a fan of the first day of school

Miss Mommy*

November 2010

December 2012

My mom is amazing.

Proof: here and here.

Not only that, Bill's mom is fantastic as well.

I have awesome mentors.

In addition to savvy advisers, God has surrounded me with other moms to walk with on this journey.  Some have older children, others are in the same boat as me, and still others have recently boarded this roller coaster ride known as motherhood.

Bill is ridiculously good in his role as husband, father, and best friend - however he has no idea what it's like to be a mom.  I don't fault him for that.

However, that void is filled with friends who I can reach out to in a heartbeat who have the right

words, hugs, smiles, tears, prayers,

or a combination of all of the above to help me realize:

I'm not in this alone.

Their reassurance, encouragement, empathy, and love keep me going when I'm sometimes at my wit's end.  They are amazing and beautiful inside and out, and I'm thankful for each and every one.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Miss Mommies*.

You are a gift to your children.

You are a gift to me.

*

Dear Evangeline,

You have recently decided to call me Miss Mommy.  Perhaps you hear the children I take care of call me Miss Grace?  At any rate, it's kind of cute and I'm kind of a fan - unless you make it a permanent thing. Don't do that - it would make me sad.

Love you forever, 

Mom

To My Girls

May 2013

So a friend and I were having a conversation on Facebook.  You will probably have one of these one day - that along with a whole array of social media at your fingertips.  That makes my head spin slightly, but we'll come to that road when we get to it.

You need to know how I feel about you - all the time, but that might get lost in the hustle and bustle of our everyday.  I hope that you do know how I feel, though - how much your dad and I love you - more importantly, how much God loves you.

That is what is so amazing about the Gospel. Amazing! That is what I want my focus to be - that is what I want our girls to learn from us. It seems more often than not, that the church places a huge amount of emphasis on purity in the sexual area. I want the girls to know that God calls us to be pure in all aspects of our lives - physically, mentally, spiritually. Those who know me know how much I enjoy my husband. I want our girls to recognize that. I don't want them to idolize sex (our culture does a great job of that on its own). At the same time, I don't want them to be terrified of it. I want them to love their husband(s) as much if not more than their mom loves their dad (and vice versa). As a mother of these sweet, precious girls - I'm fighting fiercely for their self-confidence & their self-esteem. I want them to celebrate how God made them inside and out - how amazing and wonderful that there is no one else that is like them. There never has been, and there never will be. They don't have to measure up to that which our culture demands. God thinks they're fantastic just the way they are. I want them to know that nothing they ever do (or don't do) will change how much their God loves them - the same goes with me and their dad. We will fail them in that area because we are imperfect, but God never will. I want them to embrace that their self-worth is not wrapped up in a list of dos and don'ts. As a lover of lists myself, I can so easily get caught up in what I'm "supposed" to be doing and not doing. However, I want our focus to be the amazing love of Jesus Christ and showing that love to others. (...Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’... -Matthew 22:37-39)

I love you so very much - really, it's a ridiculous amount.  You might not think that when I'm mad or upset or when I start cleaning like crazy because the house is a mess, but I do.

I will love you forever - no matter what.

Valentine's This and That

Isabella partied Valentine's-style with her class yesterday since she doesn't have school on Thursdays.  A sweet momma snapped the shot above since Bill and I couldn't be there, and she made these fantastic personalized bins for the class (Thanks, Robyn!).  Isabella and her teachers made the box behind the bin to hold all of their goodies:
 
Yesterday afternoon, I found these on our porch (in a box) with the sweetest message ever inside:

 Bill set these out before everyone woke up.  My favorite is the homemade card and the special message for each of the girls inside:

Mom came by this morning to bring flowers (from her and Dad) and a special treat

for the little ones:

Last year, I made these adorable valentines for the girls to give to their classmates.  This year, I thought we were still in January - and then all of a sudden we weren't.  I bought a box of Angry Birds, Brave, and Lalaloopsy cards for them to pass out to their friends.  They came with cool pencils so I'm hoping that makes up for my lack of creativity.

I still had time to make a little something special that the girls could give to a few people.  Since the program I used for our other valentines is no more, I found an editing tool online (befunky.com) and made these to share with our family and the girls' teachers:

 

We stuck these valentines on big Reese's Hearts for our amazing teachers:

We were allowed to bring treats to Espy's class today (Gianna's class has too many allergies and a no-candy rule at her school, and Isabella already had plenty of goodies at her party) so I tried my hand at some "homemade" goodness.  I'm a big fan of chocolate-covered pretzels.  I've never made them so I was pleasantly surprised at how simple they were to put together.  It probably would have been easier if I wasn't talking on the phone at the same time, but catching up with a friend (love you, Abbey!) was definitely worth the stiff neck I got while dipping, spreading, and sprinkling.

I'm thankful that only a handful of these are left in the house - as is my waistline.

Let's Take Pictures All Day Long

If you're my friend on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, you probably think all I did today was take pictures of our two youngest daughters.  You may or may not be correct.  It's been an emotional time for me with our cousin (more like our brother) getting married to his beautiful bride, lots of quality time with family from all over the continent, and the anticipation of (and preparation for) Jesus's birthday next week.  With this year coming to an end in a few, short weeks - I'm starting to get all sentimental (once again) about our girls. Time just won't slow down for me - no matter how adamantly I insist that she does.

Those of you who have met Isabella know that she has quite the demeanor.

I like to say that she has a sparkling personality.

One might also call her loud, exuberant, and sassy.

Isabella spent nearly an hour cooking and doing a fashion show for me while I attempted to catch up on e-mails, etc. and fold our never-ending loads of laundry.  Since I had my phone (Happy Birthday to me from The Husband) by my side, I freely took a bazillion pictures:

Her little sister immediately followed suit.  Evangeline turned two last month, and it's not making me excited - at all.  She has now discovered the words mine and no and uses them freely much to my dismay.  I'm always amazed when our girls learn to talk and start to communicate - not so much when they do so in defiance or disobedience.  

Here's a fun little tidbit for you to look back on Miss Evangeline:

We made an impromptu visit to Lolo and Lola's house tonight while your daddy took Espy and Gianna to a youth event.  You decided it was a good idea to snatch a chip out of your sister's bowl.  When I told you to give it back, you thought you should smack that bowl and every chip out of it.  You were reprimanded and had to sit in my lap until you apologized to Isabella.  Your Lola tried to rescue you, but you wouldn't have it.  At the same time, you struggled between apologizing to your sister and standing your ground with the bowl-smacking.  Eventually (after many tears and "No, Mommy!"s) you said, "Sorry, Bella," and she forgave you in her sassy way.  Don't you worry, I corrected her  phrasing and tone - and everyone was happy at the end of the 12-minute ordeal.

To my 2 and 4 year olds, you may slow down with the growing up thing any time you'd like.

Thankful (29)

It seems like we waited forever for this child when in reality she came three days before she was due.  Espy, Gianna, and Isabella each spoiled us by arriving around two weeks early.

  

I've told her story before, but that's ok:

Evangeline made her own way right from the start.  I was nauseous for several weeks - nothing like I had experienced before.  I was sure Evangeline was going to be a little boy when the whole family (minus Isabella) went to her 20 week ultrasound.  Instead, we found out we were going to have a sweet baby girl.  We also thought that Evangeline would arrive about two weeks early, just like her sisters.  We were wrong!  Evangeline's due date was December 2nd.  We went to the hospital November 26th and got sent home because I was only dilated 3cm and wasn't in active labor.

Boo.

Early monday morning, November 29th - I started having STRONG contractions around 4:15am.

I was in the front room, and PaPa could hear me crying from the bedroom
where he and NeNe were sleeping.

  They were definitely stronger than any of the contractions I had when I went into active labor with our first three daughters.  They got stronger and came closer together more quickly than with Espy, Gianna, and Isabella.  Bill and I both showered, got our things together, and headed to the hospital around 6:30am.  I was 5cm in triage, and they transferred us to a room.  At that point, things continued to progress quickly.  I was ready to push around 11:30am.  My water broke, and they called the doctor.  One strong contraction and one strong push later, Evangeline was here at 12:04pm.  This pregnancy was by far the most difficult for me physically, emotionally, and mentally - but when it came to labor and delivery, it was the quickest and easiest of all four (with my trusty, ever-present epidural!). Bill and I were so thankful for such an awesome delivery.  All the waiting and false labor was worth it once we saw Evangeline!

In Greek, Evangeline means, "like an angel."  McRae is a name that Bill discovered and liked.  Bill and I knew it was the one when we found out it means "son of grace" from the Scottish name MacRae.

 

 

Extremely thankful for our Evangeline McRae.

Happy Halloween!

Sisters Minus One

The girls were super excited about getting their costumes on this afternoon and making their rounds for treats.  Poor Espy has been sick the past two days so she helped pass out candy with my mom (thanks,

Monday Just Got Better

We had an amazing, crazy busy weekend, and everyone woke up this

morning like they hadn't slept in three days.

The girls are usually pretty good about getting ready for school, but

-Espy "got attacked" by our dogs while she was trying to feed them and came in

Parenthood Wrecks Me (The First Day of School)

Did you watch Parenthood the other night?  If you didn't, you should - because it's awe-some.  Bill and I don't watch much TV, but if we do - it's rare that we find something we both really enjoy.

Enter Parenthood.

I can't remember a time when I didn't shed at least one tear during the show.

While we're watching - Bill will ask,

Goodbye Summer

Happy Labor Day!

Memory Loss

 There are probably ten thousand things that our girls have said that I find hilarious - that I promise myself I'll remember, but of course - I don't.
Thus the random conversations below...

On singing together:
ISABELLA

We're great songers, Momma.

GIANNA