Important meetings and a sewing lesson

This particular morning, the girls told me they were going out to have a meeting about bubbles. I can not think of many better reasons to have a meeting in princess dresses with your best friends.

That afternoon, Miss Abby Jane decided she wanted to learn how to sew. She decided on a Christmas dress for her favorite doll, Annabelle. So she dug through my humongous bin of scraps, courtesy of 418, and picked a fabric from a dress she wore at Christmas a couple of years ago.

She was so excited and proud to be sewing all by herself. I also have great confidence in her driving skills someday, as she honestly did an excellent job letting her foot off the pedal the instant I told her to. I will likely still let Jake take the lead on teaching the girls how to drive, but I think she will be a quick study. Now the twins on the other hand... hopefully they'll still want to just follow Abby Jane everywhere she goes at that age. I honestly cannot fathom either one of them ever being safe drivers!!!!

Proud girl. The next day, she told me she decided to applique the dress with an ornament to complete the Christmas ensemble. I love seeing her creativity!! I love her to pieces.

First backyard campout

May 2013

One of our summer kick-offs was a night of good ole back yard camping. We've never done this before, and it was so fun in its simplicity.

 We loooove this tree. It is one of the best things about our home!

One thing Jake did to enjoy the simplicity of backyard camping was put a blow-up mattress in the tent for him to sleep on, despite my significant ribbing. Then Papa Bear ended up helping the twins settle down by lying down wedged between them to hold them still so they could nod off. Then he nodded off. And we ended up sleeping all side by side like a bunch of sardines across the narrower end of the tent with a great big unoccupied air mattress at the foot of the tent by the door. Classic. But cozy!

Breakfast al fresco in the morning! And voila, a wonderful twist on a family favorite was a huge hit! Simple things are the best things.

Start of Summer

May 2013

We kicked off summer with a lot of old-fashioned fun right around the house, just soaking in the opportunity to not rush out of the house in the morning, enjoying full days of the sisters getting to play together, and getting in the habit of slowing our roll for the summer.

We planted these seeds in the beginning of May.

Bonus of late blogging- these zinnia have been over four to five feet tall since July and are still happy as clams!

Notice Annie Oakley has blood stains on her seersucker. My little steel magnolia.

Over the summer we realized how much these girls truly are each others' best friends and truly thrive the most when they are together.

Ballet Recital!

Looking for the post on Joy? Keep scrolling!

May 2013

This girl loves ballet. Her ballet class was the highlight of her every week. The recital in the spring was such a delightful day of enjoying the culmination one of her favorite things!

Two of her favorite sweet preschool friends, Marleigh and Olivia Grace.

Kisses and flowers from the man in her life afterwards!

Wonderful grandparents and great grands this girl came to see this lady's twinkle toes! Mimi was in New Zealand with our cousins, but she was there in spirit.

Blythe and Joy telling their superstar hero how much they loved her performance!

We all came back to our house after for a celebration dinner, followed by these creative treats my mom put together! Such a special way to end a precious season in our lives!

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.