I Love Her :)

July 5, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Yesterday morning hubby headed off to Cooperstown with his dad and brother.

And left me alone.

With Maelie.

So I wasn’t really alone, but still.

My parenting-patience was already on the fringe, and I knew I needed a break. But since yesterday was July 4th, I also wanted to spend the day with Mae. I mean, she’s funny, she says cute things, she gives me constant hugs…she truly is JOY and I love her to pieces.

And we had a fabulous day together…parade with friends, a little swimming, a nap ;), fireworks with more friends. A late night for sure, but she slept in for me this morning.

But I woke up today tired. We had a full day, but I had hired a sitter for the afternoon so I could get something done (aka: buying a dress for a wedding) that is just easier withOUT an energetic two year-old who already knows how to open the doors of fitting rooms.

:)

I was feeling somewhat guilty. A sitter’s not exactly in the budget very often, if ever. But the one I hired is very, very good with Mae. And sometimes, no matter how poor you think you are, time IS money. So a friend and I hopped over to an outlet mall, and I managed to find something cute. Something I can wear multiple times. It was even really on sale.

Sorry, but it’s no secret that I really, really love a deal. :)

Part of me still felt guilty for hiring a sitter, but I have to be honest.

Sometimes it’s just worth it, and today was one of those days. Even though I was gone for four hours and go-go-going during that time, I came back with energy and excitement. (Maybe partly from the high of new clothes?!?!)

No, really…a little break was good for me. I smiled when I saw Mae, and we have had a good few hours together. There have been laughs and giggles and a phone call with Grandma, and, well…it’s been SO good.

I’m still a little tired, but I’m smiling.

My girl just puts that mongo smile on my face, and I am reminded again of how truly blessed I am to be mama to such a fantastic daughter.

And as I watch her right now, doing her little jump, the occasional spin while her poofy pigtails bop up and down…she just melts my heart.

Love. Her.

LOVE.

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, just life, Maelie, where I am

Fun on the Farm!

June 29, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Maelie and I visited the farm this week with our friend, Kris.

It was actually the dairy farm she grew up on, which made it even more cool…love seeing pieces of a friend’s life. :)

And for a kid, there’s nothing that’s not to love about the farm…yes, I’m talking about Maelie. 😉 Exploring, discovering, getting licked by a cow, chasing kitties, running around, driving a go-cart (ok, ok so that one was more me!)…oh, we had so much fun!

“Grandpa” and “Grandma” R were awesome hosts…we were very, very spoiled and loved. We were fed some of the most yummy food I’ve eaten in a long time, we stayed in the coolest farm themed room ever, and they even took time to love Mae…lots of stories and playtime and some coloring and exploring everywhere.

She had the best time, and She. Loved. It.

WE loved it. :)

I had a hard time choosing our favorite pics, so you get a lot of them. :)

Our first stop was to visit the baby calves. She was a little hesitant at first but was definitely curious.

Up close and personal. She loved it, though…you can tell.

Mae loved the cats, even if most of them didn’t want to be caught. Grandpa caught this one for her. She is still talking about “chasing kitties”. :)

I was surprised this one just sat and let her pet it!

Time for a story with Grandma! This was the first time Mae had ever heard the story of Chicken Little, and she was very, very worried throughout the entire book. It was cute. :)

This was too sweet of a moment not to share. Kris sat down to play the Veggie Tales song on the piano, and Maelie sat right by her, “playing” and “singing” along.

I loved driving the go-cart…it gave me a moment of Indonesia again. And as a bonus, no one died. Always a good thing. :)

I didn’t get too many mommy-Maelie pics on this trip. I like this one, though, even if she is much more interested in the kitty.

What a FUN adventure…YAY for friends and the farm! :)

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, being mommy, blessings, friends, just life, Maelie, travel

Monday Morning Coffee

June 25, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Hey, friends.

I’ve got a little time this morning, have a cup of coffee in my hands, (well, on the computer desk at the moment :)) and decided it was time to update the blog and coffee-date with you all.

I mean, it’s been a whole 48 hours since I’ve posted anything.

YIKES.

No, seriously, it’s good. Yesterday I intentionally stayed away from posting anything. I have to admit that it felt weird going to bed knowing I hadn’t written, and yet, I knew that if I could do it one day, it would be easier later. :)

It’s a strange freedom. And maybe now that I’ve forced myself to take that step, you’ll get a lot more thoughts worth reading and a lot less fluff. :)

Though this blog is about life, and sometimes life is fluffy. So I hope that on the days it is just that…well, that you’ll laugh with me and keep reading.

Maelie and I are off on an adventure to the farm this afternoon. Our sweet friend is taking us to her parents’ dairy farm a couple hours from here. We won’t be back until Wednesday, so we’ll look forward to sharing pictures of Maelie’s trip to the farm to visit the cows! :)

We’re excited. :)

Yesterday’s project (the magnetic paint/add-some-color-to-the-kitchen one)…is done. Ish.

Just, fyi…should you choose to use magnetic paint: a) stir it REALLY well; b)cover everything (and I do mean everything) you don’t want painted, including yourself…see: Mel’s hands. Hilarious; and c) plan it for a day when everyone else in the house can be outside because the fumes are NAS. TY. Golly, it was bad. (Mucho thanks to our friend who loaned us a fan to clear the place out a little.)

I like how it turned out, though the magnetic part isn’t as strong as we thought it would be, so we may end up adding two more coats and painting over it. Again.

Crazy crazy.

Why is it that home-improvement projects never quite turn out like we picture?

It makes me nervous to attack the front room, which is next on the list. OY…

Thursday is Tobin’s birthday. Sometimes it’s nice that our birthdays are all relatively close together, and other times I wish we could spread out the celebrating a little more. He doesn’t want anything, which doesn’t work so well for this girl who loves to gift-give, but I’ll figure something out. :)

And Saturday…well, I’ll talk more about this later, but we get to see a dear friend from Indonesia…we haven’t seen her for over four years. I have a feeling the tears will flow big time. Oh, Linds, I can’t wait to give you a HUGE hug! :)

Lotsa good stuff goin’ on, and that’s just June! I really love summer. :)

I should get going…some things need to get done before Mae and I head out to party it up on the farm. WOO HOO!

😀

Back soon. Happy Monday to you all!

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, friends, just life, Maelie, Tobin, where I am, writing

Our Little Future Gymnast

June 23, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, friends, just life, Maelie

Diet Pepsi on the Patio

June 22, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

It’s been a long while since I’ve been able to blog from outside.

Insert sing-song voice…

Guess what?!?!

My. Mac. Is. BACK.

Stop sing-song voice, though I could sing my whole post to you. I just won’t. 😉 

I honestly feel like I’m on borrowed time with it, but after being without it for almost a year, it sure is nice to have my old friend working. Well, at least for now… 😉

So I’m chillin’ on the back patio, drinking my Diet Pepsi, watching Mae play with her new cozy coupe…and it’s a happy, late-Friday morning.

We’re heading to Janesville this afternoon/evening to see some dear Indo-friends. They’re “home” for a short six weeks, squeezing in the wedding of their daughter and sending the other daughter off to college, and then they’ll be moving to Peru. We’ll see them at the wedding, but were hoping to find another time to catch up, too…you know, when the rest of the world doesn’t want to catch up with them at the same time. Though it will be short, we’re really looking forward to it. :) Precious moments like this, no matter how long, are worth the drive.

This weekend I’m hoping to tackle the first of three summer projects I have planned. (There IS a fourth…if I have time.) The first is the smallest…painting a wall in the kitchen with magnetic paint to make up for the lack of magnetic appliances in our kitchen. :) Then I’m painting over it with green to add a little color, too. 

My July projects involve FINALLY painting the front living room…I decided on a blueish color…and organizing Maelie’s clothes and nursery. And if I get REALLY ambitious, de-cluttering the basement is on for August.

We’ll see.

We’re gonna start with buying all the paint we need at once so it will motivate me more to follow through. And I promised myself that once I do the kitchen, I can do a fun painting for it. (Truly, that DOES help motivate me. ;))

On Monday Mae and I are off for two or three days on an adventure I will tell you more about later. We’re really looking forward to it. :) Well, I am. She will love it once we get there.

And…God has kind of been telling me something.

That kind of thing where I don’t necessarily want to listen, but He’s speaking loud and clear, and it’s time for me to obey.

So, insert deep breath…

It’s time for me to quit writing every day.

Golly, did I just say that? 

I have always been intentional about not letting it interfere with time that needs to be spent on other things. However, no matter when, it’s time. 

And that time is taking away from something or someone no matter what I tell myself.

So, starting today, I’m gonna be a normal blogger.

Just fyi, we’re not discussing the word “normal” today. :) 

There might be weeks that I blog five days and weeks that I blog three.

But the honest truth is that I can’t keep this up forever, and while I love to write and share my heart, I don’t want my daughter to know me as a blogger…

I want her to know me as her mommy. 

While I know it won’t make sense to the vast majority of you, it feels like a death. This has been such a part of my daily life for a year and a half.

But it’s time…so here we go.

My Diet Pepsi is gone, and I’m gonna go spend time with my hubby and girl. :)

And…because we couldn’t get her to sit still for a picture, you get Mae in her cozy coupe. 😉

Happy weekend, friends. I’ll be back soon. :)

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, friends, Indonesia, just life, Maelie, where I am, writing

She’s Two. WOW.

June 18, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

I’m not sure where time went…really.

How is my baby girl TWO already?!?!

But we celebrated her tonight, and like I said before, she’s not really into posing for the camera lately. But we did manage to get a decent shot of the three of us. :)

And then…she sat on the top of her “new car” and posed with some of her favorite friends, too. :)

She may be two…and she may be teaching me a lot of patience…but I…no, WE….are all truly blessed to have this little girl in our lives. I think she’s pretty wonderful. :)

Maelie girl, my Maelie girl. I love you so.
May Jesus’ love shine through you, no matter where you go.

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, family, friends, just life, Maelie

Little Blessings (Pt. 40)

June 17, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

:) Sunday afternoon naps.

:) Gatorade and feeling better.

:) Father’s Day and being able to celebrate my favorite guy! (And…not only did he like the shirt I bought him, he wore it to church today. I love him. :))

:) Squirt gun fights in the pool.

:) Watching my daughter sing at church today. (Ok, I use the word sing loosely…but t’was extremely adorable.)

:) Volleyball tournaments and coming in 2nd…behind a pretty tough team. We’ll get ’em next year!

:) Playing games with some cool 2nd-4th graders for a week. (Thinkin’ maybe I shoulda been a P.E. teacher… ;))

:) Birthday celebrations for the most fabulous little girl on the planet.

:) Hearing I love you, Mommy. Oh. Melt. My. Heart. Every. Single. Time.

:) God’s promises…all of them. And that He keeps them.

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, just life, Maelie, Tobin

Birthday Fun

June 15, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

So this is a day late.

And Maelie is seriously in the I-wanna-look-at-the-picture-on-the-camera stage, even if we haven’t taken it yet! So, despite multiple efforts, this was the best mommy/daughter photo we got yesterday.

It’s still worth sharing. 😉

Golly, I love my girl…even if she drank over half of my lime freeze. :)

Happy weekend, friends!

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, family, just life, Maelie

To My Daughter on Her 2nd Birthday

June 14, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

14 June 2012

My Maelie,

This is a letter that I don’t want to write.

I mean, I do want to write it…to continue the tradition of documenting my thoughts on your birthday each year. Who knows? Maybe these letters will contain words you come back to over and over in the future.

Most of the reason I don’t want to write it is because you are growing up too fast. You are TWO!

The past year has truly been a pleasure to watch…

Last June, you were crawling and standing but still over a month shy of your first steps. Today? You run everywhere, and I do mean EVERYWHERE! You run with abandon, you love to be chased, you love doing the chasing, sometimes you love to run from mommy… :)

A year ago, you said words…several. This year, you speak sentences. You always have something to share, and I believe you might be a storyteller like your mama…I’m excited to watch!

Last June, your hair was just starting to grow. Today, we did piggies, and though I still have to bribe you with fruit snacks to wrestle those pigtails in, you tell me you like them. And you sure do look like a cutie pie with them! :)

There are a thousand other things that have changed over the past year.

But there are also things that have not changed, but just grown even more.

You are beautiful. Daily, you shine…not just on the outside, but on the inside, too. I watch you giving hugs, stopping to “talk” with everyone around you, flashing smiles, laughing with that so-sweet-I-want-to-bottle-it-up-forever giggle. You have JOY in your heart, and God uses that JOY to remind me each day how truly blessed we are.

You are independent. We joke that you came out of the womb that way, which isn’t entirely untrue. But your independence is a wonderful thing…watching you learn and discover and grow has been such a huge part of our year together. You know your ABC’s, your numbers, many of your colors, and you have a lot of your books memorized, too.

You are loved. People surround you, Mae. They love you…to play with you, laugh with you, sing with you, talk with you, just be near you. We are unbelievably blessed by our family of friends…and you are always showered with love.

God loves you. My deepest desire and prayer for you is that you walk with your Father for all of your days. He loves you, He always has, and He always will. And He loves you with a love that is infinitely stronger than the love your daddy and I have for you…which is so hard to fathom but so wonderful to imagine.

My favorite part of our days has become bedtime. Most nights after story and teeth-brushing, you snuggle up to me, and we sing. Jesus Loves Me, All Through the Night, One in a Million, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands…those are some of our favorites. After we snuggle and sing, we pray…always, that you will grow up to love God.

My precious daughter, I love you to the moon and back…plus infinity.

Love,
Mommy

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, family, just life, Maelie

She Sleeps. A LOT.

June 11, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Why, yes is it Monday night.

And, yes, I did work out, though not as hard as I usually do. (Stupid hip=less running.) Bummer.

And…yep, I bet you totally guessed this one…I AM having coffee. But just one cup because I need to sleep tonight.

So my precious daughter, the one who did not want to take a nap today, went to sleep around 5:00 tonight.

She is still sleeping at 10 p.m.

We are hoping to squeak through this time and praying that she sleeps through at least most of the night. The poor girl was so exhausted from a busy morning of playing with her buddies in the nursery and then after VBS with some more of her favorite friends. There was lots of running involved.

I was sure she’d take a nap, but she protested loudly.

However, I needed a nap. So I plopped her on our bed, pulled up Veggie Tales on my kindle, and she watched that while I took that much-needed snooze. It is times like these that I am so very thankful I can be certain of the following two things…

One, that I can sleep through goofy songs sung by talking vegetables playing too close to my ears.

And two, that my daughter will not move from the bed as long as Veggie Tales is going.

Extremely true.

Though not the preferred method of getting a little break in the afternoon, today it worked.

😀

I plopped her in the crib for a few minutes around 5:00 because I desperately needed to get something done, and when I finished and went to rescue her?

Totally out.

Tobin and I tried to get her up around six, but she wanted nothing to do with it…so we let her sleep. It remains to be seen if that was wise parenting on our part or not.

All I know is I miss her hugs…and can’t wait for one in the morning! (But hopefully not before then!) 😉

So it’s VBS week at our church.

Man, I love this week.

I’m game leader for 2nd-4th grade, which basically translates as time to hang out with some cool kids, get to know them, teach them some (mostly) fun games, laugh, and show them Jesus’ love.

I think it could be one of my favorite weeks of the year.

And it’s Maelie’s birthday week, too, which is just fun. We have some good plans this week…swimming with friends tomorrow and Wednesday, lunch with another friend on Thursday, volleyball tournament on Friday, though that doesn’t involve Mae. (I’m just really excited about it! :D)

And, yeah…good stuff. I like to be busy.

I’ve been tossing around a few ideas in my head that might help keep me more occupied during the next school year. We’ll see if anything comes from them. Of course, my first priority is always to be Maelie’s mommy, but it would be nice to use my down time in the afternoons for something a little more productive. (Just, fyi…90% of my blogging happens late at night. I felt you needed to know that…I do consider it productive. Usually. ;))

So I am still watching that video of Mae singing the Veggie Tales theme song. Over and over. I can’t get enough of it. She just makes me smile really big, and my heart gets that little flutter in it, reminding me of how blessed I am to have such a wonderful little girl.

A wonderful little girl who is still sleeping. :)

I’m gonna hit the hay a little early tonight, I think. You know, just in case she decides that she doesn’t want to sleep until 7:30.

Hope your Monday was a good one. :)

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, church, coffee, friends, just life, Maelie
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