From the category archives:
Emma is out on Christmas break this week, so I have less time for blogging and more time for playing! In that case, I just have one quick share today with the promise of much more in the next couple of days.
flowers for Emma from her great-grandmother after Emma’s flawless performance in their school Christmas program
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Happy Mother’s Day …
* to the one who taught me what it means to be a mother … my mom.
* to the one who taught her … my mema.
* to the ones who teach me daily … my friends.
* to those mothers who have lost their precious babies and to those who are still working on becoming mothers.
I wish you ALL the most beautiful day full of live and love and everything you deserve.
Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.
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Today is my mom’s birthday.
She taught me what it means to be a mom. How to love unconditionally. How to discipline gently. How to allow for individuality. How to leave everything behind and be there for my girls. How to set aside my wants for their needs.
[guess which baby that is!]
How to cook [although she is a MUCH better cook than I am], how to clean [again, much better], how to fold towels and sheets and t-shirts [there is only one right way, which makes it hard to let Ken do it since he does it ALL WRONG], how to garden [okay, I’m just now realizing how much better she is at everything], how to manage money wisely, how to swim, how to spend money on high-quality shoes and sheets and towels, and how to shop sales for everything.
She also gave me a strength and independence that makes me who I am. I’ve often thought back to the day I went into labor with Lucy, and how I remained calm under the circumstances … until I heard her voice on the other end of the phone. I inherited the ability to deal with stress from her, but it’s like I knew that talking to her gave me the option to allow HER to be calm and ME to freak out. And she, of course, calmed me back down and told me what I needed to do.
She is smart, funny, the most organized person I know, loving, caring, selfless, gentle, and one hundred percent amazing. She has always been there for us kids. She quit a high-paying job at the University of Georgia to work in the lunchroom at our school so that she could be home with us after school and in the summer.
She went without new clothes and shoes for years so that I could take piano from the best instructor in the area, so that Chad could play baseball and football, so that I could run track and be in the flag corps, so that we could go to a private, Christian school.
She used coupons and shopped sales and budgeted their money to send me to a private university … and I graduated with NO student loans.
She went on all of my school trips, and she was always the coolest chaperone there.
She has been at the births of both of my girls, even though they live an hour and a half away.
She raised a clean-freak boy to become a man who respects women, treats everyone with kindness, and gives more to the people around him than he would ever think to give himself.
She raised a messy and scatterbrained girl to become a woman who is independent, open-minded, loving and really really pretty. Oh, and funny.
In other words, she raised a boy and a girl with two totally different personalities. And yet, she embraced their personalities, let them blossom into a better version of themselves, and ended up with some pretty great kids [in my opinion].
I only hope I can do just half as good of a job with our two girls as she did with us.
I love you, Mom. Thank you for encouraging me to be who I am … I think all the good stuff is from you.
Happy 29th Birthday. Again.
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Sorry I’m a day behind on this project … I was a little busy yesterday. Lucy and I headed down to Georgia to snuggle this little ball of cuteness.
And when I say “ball,” I mean it. My brand spankin’ new nephew spent his time inside the womb with his toe touching his forehead {no exaggeration} and he has spent his time outside of the womb pretty much the same way. It’s like holding a soccer ball!
A cute little soccer ball named Cooper Lee.
I never did get a good shot of his face, because he eats his blanket constantly.
Little stinker.
His big sister, Sydnei, is already a pro at snuggling her baby brother.
Anyway, I did get back home early enough to get a picture for yesterday’s Joy of Love prompt :: love to hate.
Emma does a lot of things that I love to hate. I mean, they drive me completely insane, but she just wouldn’t be Emma if she didn’t do them … so I love them at the same time. Honestly.
She tells knock-knock jokes constantly. Made up knock-knock jokes.
knock-knock
who’s there?
lucy
lucy who?
lucy chicken toes HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Multiply that by 328. Welcome to my day.
But there is one thing that drives me absolutely bonkers. If she has access to stickers, like these that she received from her great-grandparents, Mema and Poppee, she will use every.single.one.of.them. At one time.
I try my best to get her to ration them out so she’ll have them to play with for a while. But nope.
She must use them all. And she usually puts all of them on one piece of paper.
But that’s what she does. It would be weird to see a card with just one sticker on it. And I do love that about her.
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today, the hubby and i are celebrating four years of wedded bliss.
(yes, that’s the ocean in the background — our wedding was amazing!)
we have our moments, but he’s a pretty great guy to put up with all of my crap. and i’m a pretty great wife to put up with his other wife.
her name is Sports. playing tennis and then watching pretty much any other sport on tv. or at the stadium.
some of our friends are getting married in september, and the first words out of ken’s mouth were, “i wonder what [football] game they’ll be missing?”
gotta love him.
and i do.
so very very much.
happy anniversary to my best friend.
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