First kindergarten graduate!

May 2013

Suddenly it was kindergarten graduation. It rocked my world to end one season and begin the next. Obviously Abby Jane wasn't the first little girl to graduate from preschool, but she was our first. As I said then, I have always made fun of moms who had a hard time letting go of their kids. Then I became that mom.

This is the part where they sang, "Kindergarten, here we come, here we come, here we come; kindergarten, here we come, we are ready!"

 Sweet Bop Bop at graduation!

 Precious Ms Tricia!! We loved her. The kind and wonderful people who nurture and bless your babies are always tops on your list.

 It was such a special day of celebrating!

 So proud of big sis!

Mother's Day

May 2013

Mother's Day  morning was kicked off with precious cards from the three gifts from heaven who make me a mama.

We had our mamas over for a Sunday breakfast before church. This was a little selfish because breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, but it did enable the girls to have grandmas with them for breakfast and church before they crashed for the naps they used to take back in May.

My very favorite little ladies in the world.

Two more of my very favorites!

These are precious little projects Abby Jane made for me at preschool. Note the yellow crayon hair.

Then note that she says I have brown hair. Perhaps my highlighting to cover all my grays has confused my five-year-old on her colors? I would also like to point out that my husband is 34. I am a young 31. Lastly, for the sake of my mama heart that sunk when I saw that she said I spend most of my time sewing, all the other mamas' cards said things like "does laundry, does dishes, etc." right here. All of of mamas decided the teachers' prompt here must have been something about jobs moms do at home or else. But I do love sushi! Bless her.

I love this little girl, and I love most because of HER heart!!!

I'm just like Joy

YES, we're still alive and I am about to be back in the business of recording our family life right here. Just to be clear, it's been three months since I've blogged, and I was a month or two behind when I stopped, so we've got a lot of work to do to catch up. But it's going to happen because we've had a lot of great life happen! Get excited.

But for today, we're going to chat a little about my precious Joy. Joy is hands-down the most passionate person I know. What you might not see on Instagram is that- as hard as it is to believe- Joy's passion is not always expressed in a healthy fashion. Can you make out the scratch on my left cheek? That is from a knock-down, drag-out tantrum Joy had on Friday afternoon at the home of a new friend in front of a cul de sac of my new friend's lovely neighbors I had met 90 seconds before. As you can tell, Miss Joy was putting all her amazing athleticism to use in physically communicating to me that she was not pleased with a decision I had made, and she would really prefer to have her way. I would rate this in the top three of other similar scenarios I have experienced with Joy, although the very public setting of this particular one does push it perhaps into first place.

Side note: My new friend is also a pediatric occupational therapist whose role was key in ending Joy's assault on me mode of communication. One more reason I sure am glad God brought this fabulous lady into my life!

So on Saturday morning, my beloved little Joy sees the fresh scratch on my cheek and said, "What happened to your cheek, Mama?" I gently reminded her that she had indeed been the one who inflicted the injury, and a very subdued, suddenly saddened little girl said, "Oh." Off and on yesterday and today, she's pointed out the scratch and sadly explained how I got it. Her heart seems very repentant.

Off and on yesterday and today, whenever I have caught sight of the scratch or felt it sting a bit, I think about Jesus.

The scratch on my cheek is tiny and will not leave a scar. But I have a Heavenly Father with scars on His hands, not from a tiny scratch, but rather from the nails they used to hang Him on the cross. And He, in utter sacrificial love, allowed them do that because He was taking the consequences of all my wrong-doings.

I see my scratch and I am not at all angry with my precious Joy. I am overcome with compassion and grace on my little girl who makes mistakes that I forgive her for. I love her more than I can possibly express, faults and all.

Jesus sees the scars on His hands and loves us more than we could possibly imagine, faults and all. He is the definition of compassion and grace.

I'm glad I won't have a scar from this scratch. But if I did, I would probably think more about Jesus and what sacrificial love truly is. My daughter would have a reminder of the consequences of her actions.

My new friend commented that Joy is going to change with world. I honestly agree- all that passion funneled the right direction will be a force to reckon with. It's an honor and privilege to be her mama, battle wounds and all. And how precious that God proudly claims us as His, no matter how we've kicked, scratched, or pummeled Him as He shapes and directs us. He loves us, forgives us and wants to be with us because we are His beloved children. So precious!

It's pretty easy to have grace on three-year-olds when you realize we are not very different from them at all.

Just a Saturday morning

 Saturday morning pancakes with my sous chef.

 Jake with a monkey on his back teaching the game of checkers.

It feels successful that the girls have been aware of the game of checkers for about three weeks now and can access it on their own and we actually still have all the checkers so far. I don't expect that to last long, but it feels like win for now!

Dad of dads

As some of you may have seen on facebook recently, the girls have given Jake a new title: "Dad of Dads!" There are a million reasons they think this, but here is one of them.
One day, the girls said, "Dad, I think we need a swing under this tree." We actually had a random swing kit I had purchased years ago from IKEA stashed in the barn. So Jake said, "OK" and 15 minutes later, a swing was hanging under our dogwood! It is the front yard hot spot.

Here is Dad of dads drilling in climbing pegs for easier access to our favorite climbing tree. Love this man and love how these girls love this dad!

Legoland

 Last month we surprised the girls with a morning at Legoland, thanks to a great deal on Google offers. Jake had taken off the day to go with us to the zoo on our last month of membership, but we woke up to chilly drizzle and made a change of plan. The girls were ECstatic. Abby Jane went last year with cousins, and the little girls had stayed behind, making this their first time. They loved it! This first room was a huge and ridiculously detailed display of the city of Atlanta, all in legos.

Here we are at the 4D movie. Joy made it about 20 seconds into the 12 minute film before she was shaking and crying so hard that Jake made a quick exit with her. It was not her forte. Blythe tolerated it, but Abby Jane LOVED it.

 They had fun climbing in the massive playhouse, mostly having the place to themselves.

I thought this was funny- it was just the two dads building legos together for a little while til the kid walked up. Legos: not just for the kiddies.

The girls loved this ride that goes up and down as you pedal. There was another ride that Abby Jane also loved where you shoot the bad guys, but we came nowhere near attempting that one with the little ones! It was an INCREDIBLY fun morning, and I'd absolutely recommend going for a fun outing!

The New Naptime

Abby Jane has been spending an hour of the twins' "naptime" in the playroom since we moved into the new house. She is so creative, and it's fun to see what she does with her alone time... party invitations...

Tying together triple strollers...

Teaching classes to her babies...

And conducting all kinds of parties!

Love this girl!