Thankful...day 6

i am so very thankful for this spunky miniature version of me. she is my middle, my heart. she might be one of the most difficult children to parent, but that doesn't matter. she is 100% awesomeness.

Thankful...day 5

i am thankful for my maddy girl. she is so helpful and kind. the kind of kid any parent dreams of having.

Thankful...day 4

i am so very thankful for this little one... she is such a joy.

Thankful...day 3

i am thankful for these 3 beauties...

Thankful...day 2

i am thankful for horseback riding lessons for my middle who needs that little something extra...

The November Thankful Diaries...

For the month of November I am going to try to post something I am thankful for every day. Maybe this will get me back into the blogging spirit!

November 1st,

I am thankful for a wonderful 30th birthday celebration that included my very 1st surprise birthday party, a dinner out with my family, and a shopping trip that was all about me!

See you on November 2nd! Maybe even with pictures. Ooh laa laa.

Lets get real for a sec...

Ok. Confession time. Maddy's soccer team this year has been very very hard to watch. The very first game of the season, they lost 4-0 to a team that hadn't practiced yet. Yes. Let me repeat that. To a team that HAD.NOT.EVEN.PRACTICED.YET. Sigh.

Fast forward. Through the past, oh, 5 games. Scores: 10-0, 8-0, 10-0, 7-0, and FINALLY last nights game was 10-1. Mmmmhmmm. 6 Games. Only one goal made. Are you kidding me.

The reason for this post is NOT to put down those wonderful little girls who are running their little hearts out out there. So don't even go there. It's about me as a mom. And the lessons I am getting to learn through my daughter and her teammates attitudes.

To be perfectly honest, I am being HUMBLED by the grace they are showing. I have yet to see any one of those girls CRY, or YELL, or STOMP OFF THE FIELD. They don't have FITS, or get MAD. What I HAVE seen them do is congratulate the other team when they scored their 10th goal on them. High five their friends who are on the other team when they made that goal. All with a smile on their faces. And they show Grace. Every time.

Yeah. They are that AWESOME.

In the past month, I have learned so much about my daughter and the person she truly is, and I am proud. Proud to be her momma. Proud to show her off. Proud to be on the sidelines of the "losing" team. Because you know what? In the long run, they are winning. They are developing winning attitudes. Something that will carry through with them for the rest of their lives. They are learning Grace. They are learning to have fun, while not "winning"at games. And they are learning Dignity. I don't know about you but I see alot of people in this world who could use a little more of that.

Now, don't get me wrong. I would love to see them "win" a game too. Maybe tomorrow... I'll let you know how it goes. :-)

Ahem. Testing...Testing.. Are you there?

Well hey. Its certainly been awhile. Sorry for the lack of blogging. Pesky LIFE just keeps happening all around me. Just kidding. About the pesky part. I love life. But mine is sure keeping me busy.

I'm not going to lie. I have thought long and hard (ok, not really) about deleting this blog, but then I thought, what hurt does it cause my family? None that I can think of, so I am going to give it another shot. Now, don't expect back dated blog posts because I am pretty sure that isn't going to happen. But I can go from here on out. I'd like to start by showing you a photo of my BIG girl Maddy. Yeah, she's totally 8 now. YES, EIGHT. She is half-way to legal driving age. I think I'm having heart palpitations.

Maddy is far and away the best oldest child one could ask for. She's smart, pretty, kind, compassionate, WONDERFUL, and best of all, mine. She can usually be found doing one of the following things: Reading, playing her DSi while listening to either Taylor Swift or Justin Beiber, (Yeah, my house has totally been Beiberized.), or begging her Dad or I to call her BFF Peyton on the phone. She recently finished Harry Potter at school and UNDERSTOOD what she was reading. This my friends, is my happy place. To have my girl love books and reading, well, lets just say it makes this Momma want to do a little jig. Books were my haven as a child and I am glad she has found that same passion. She can also be found terrorizing her sister Alex and cuddling on her baby sister Peyton. But lets just ignore the terrorizing part. OK?

That's all I have time for right now, but I promise to be back soon! I have to tell you about Alex and Peyton.

Crazy freak snow "storm" Dec 2009

We had this crazy little snow storm here the other day. In about 5 hours we got about 5 inches of snow. Here are just a few shots from the day.






Side note, I am still planning on making this blog private someday but seeing as only 6 or so people told me they would read it I am going to put that on hold for just a bit. :-)

Going Private!

Hi! I am going to be making this blog private soon I think. Mostly for the safety of my kiddo's. If you would like to be a reader of the private blog leave me your email address in the comment section and I will add you! Thanks!

Peyton's Golden Birthday

Little Miss Peyton had her "Golden Birthday" this last week. She turned 2 on December 2nd. Happy Birthday Sweet girl!

Miss Peyton is a fun, energetic, spunky, giggly little toddler. She lights up whatever room she is in with her personality and that cute little dimple. Her words are many now too. We still can't understand half of them though and that is the source of many frustrations for her. Some of our favorite sayings of hers are, I unno (I don't know), I firs (I'm thirsty), Maaee (Maddy), Ax (Alex), & Why? Why? Why? (no interpretation needed for that one I'm sure!) She has many many more then that but it would be too long to list them all here.

Thats about all I have time for right now... Maybe I'll get around to posting about our Griswold style Christmas tree hunt soon. Or maybe not.

Halloween

Just pics today. :-)

One relieved Momma!

We got the results from Peyton's MRI the other day and it was NORMAL! Well actually, not normal normal. Normal for Peyton normal. She has some fusion in her vertebra that isn't normal anatomy, but its Peyton's anatomy. So what a relief! Thank you for all the prayers for her and for us, we truly appreciate them. God is Great!

A worried Momma

That is the face of a wonderful kid. I love her so much I can barely catch my breath sometimes. Which is true for all my girls, but this week it was especially so for her. About a week ago, I had taken her into the doctor for a short visit in regards to her dimples on her backside. See, they were not aligned and being the responsible parent I am, I made an appointment. The thing of it was, I fully expected her Pediatrician to say, "Don't worry Mom, its fine." Well, he didn't say that. In fact, he took one look at her spine and said, "This worries me." WHAT? He wasn't supposed to say that! And it wasn't the un-aligned dimples that he was worried about. It was the lump centered right on the base of her spine. A LUMP on my daughters spine. He did tell me that it is most likely a Lipoma. Which is made entirely of fatty cells. Ok. I can handle that. He also said it could be fluid draining there, or a tumor. A TUMOR. The first things that went through my head were: No. Not my kid. We have healthy kids. She's fine! She runs and laughs and plays. There is no way a tumor has been growing on her spine. Then I calmed down a bit and thought we will take it one day at a time. One Prayer at a time. So the Ped ordered an MRI of her Spine at OHSU, with complete sedation. We had to wait a week. A full WEEK before the thing was done. Which was this past Friday. We were to check her in at 1:00, she would be brought back to begin the IV/sedation process at 2:00 and the MRI would be at 2:30. No food after 8:00 am, no drink after 11:00. Of course, hospitals being hospitals, it was delayed by an HOUR. She was not sedated until just before 3:30 and she was off to her MRI for an hour. What a long hour. We got her back and was told that the results won't be in until Monday or Tuesday. One thing I do know is that they only had to take images of her spine which was relieving to me. I was told by the ped that if they found ANYTHING they would immediately scan her head, so the fact that they only scanned her back was good news. Until I know for sure though, my prayers are still right there... I will update with the good news when I get them!

What lisp?

Excuth me? Are you Thelling me that I have a lisp? Why? Oh, it must be becauthe I loths one of my thop teeth. :-)



Yes, Maddy lost one of her top front teeth! It's a funny story how it happened too. So, the tooth had been hanging on by a thread for a.very.long.time. She would not let us touch it. So we just let it hang. And hang. And hang. Then one day when I was on my way home from work with Alex & Peyton I got a phone call from Trav. Trav was at soccer practice with Maddy, so I thought it was somewhat strange that he was calling. When I answered the phone it was Maddy. She said "MOMMY! GUESS WHATH?! MY TOOTH FELL OUTH!" I made all the appropriate oohs & aahs a Momma is supposed to make then I asked her how it happened and if she pulled it her self. She says, "NO! Daddy kicked the soccer ball REALLY hard ath the wall, then Grandpa tried to stop ith, and ith flew up and ith HITH ME IN THE MOUTH! And my tooth justh flew RIGHTH OUTH!!"

Way to go coach(s). Its a good thing that was Maddy!