Maddie's 11th bday

This past weekend we celebrated Maddie's 11th birthday. I know I say this all the time, but really....Where does the time go???? 11 years??

My beautiful little girl.


My little girl who thinks she isn't a kid anymore, who emphatically tells me that she is a PRETEEN now.

My little girl who NEVER wants to order off the kids menu.

My little girl who says she's got style. And I apparently don't.

My little girl who is strong and independent, yet will still occasionally reach for my hand while we are walking through the store or through a parking lot. (be still my heart)

My little girl who loves to laugh and can get giggling at the drop of a hat and laugh so hard you start to cry.



 My little girl who carries her true thoughts and feelings very close to her heart. Please know that I love you deeply and am here for you no matter what. No matter when.

My little girl who loves to watch you tube video's on how to do hair and how to apply makeup.

My little girl, don't grow up to quickly.

My little girl, enjoy these years ahead of you. They will be hard years. Years of learning who you are and what you want to become. But they can be fun years. Build friendships. And the most important relationship you need to build is the one with your Creator, God Almighty. He loves you most, He formed you, He knit you together and you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

You will always be my little girl.

We had a family party on Friday night. Aunts and Uncles and Grandma's and Grandpa's where there to celebrate.


These girls are just growing up way to fast.

This year instead of doing the big slumber party like we normally do ( Momma just can't handle it ) I we decided to let them choose a special place they wanted to go and we would spend the day with them.

Maddie wanted to go to Woodfield. And she wanted her girl cousins to go along.

So Saturday Jeremy and I with the 3 girls in tow headed to Woodfield.

Trying to get the girls to stand still long enough to get a decent shot of them was very difficult.

We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. (I might have given a little push in the decision on where to eat dinner. )

All Maddie wanted for her birthday was a Nook. So that is what she got. Needless to say she is one happy camper and she hasn't put it down since.

I think right now she is attempting to read Pride and Prejudice.

(Jeremy is trying to find some reason to ground Maddie....from her nook......so he can use it. )

My favorite memory of the day......

~watching the girls just be together. I don't think they know how lucky they are to not only have each other, but live close enough where they have a real relationship with each other. I don't think any kid would really get it.

~just being able to spend the day away from the cares of real life and have fun for a day.

~ oh, and Ikea. (now I think I need to want to redecorate my house)

Sunday was Maddie's actual birthday.

We went to church.

Then went to her favorite restaurant where she did NOT order off the kids menu and got her usual chicken strips and cheese fries with a side of ranch.

(I had to throw in a little Emma here somewhere!! ;) )

I also want to say a HUGE thank you to Joanna who watched Emma and Nathan while we were at Woodfield. I think the day would have been to hard on Emma and I think Joanna enjoyed some cuddle time with Emma.

And later in the afternoon we went on a hike.

We had a lovely little day. Even though I thought the kids might kill each other on the hike. And by kids I think I will add Jeremy in on this one. He kept teasing Maddie till I thought she might cry.

I really thought Emma might fall asleep on the hike. But nope, she was to interested in seeing what was going on around her.

We had such a lovely weekend. I am exhausted today and am going to take it easy, and by that I mean catch up on laundry and get the house back in order from the busy week and weekend. And a nap, I hope a nap is in the agenda for today.

Have a blessed day.

Girls will be girls.....

What do you get when you have 2 10 almost 11 year old girls watching you tube videos??

You get.... a very messy bathroom.

Why??

Because they were watching videos on how to do hair.....

and makeup.....

Thankfully, I was there to save Elisa's hair. She had the curling iron in her hair for I would say at least a minute. (I think she was close to burning it off. :0 Joanna wouldn't have been happy with me!! )

I quickly gave her a lesson and told her that she really DIDN'T want to burn her hair off. ;)

Silly, Silly girls......

I can't believe they will be in 6th grade.

I took the kids to the donut shop after school on the last day to "celebrate."

An eventful weekend.....

Joanna was sick on Sunday. With Mike working such crazy hours, she was alone with the kids.

I felt awful for her. So I called her up and told her we would take the kids for the night and I would send them off the school the next morning.

I remember once, man, my kids were little. Maybe 1 and 2. Maybe even younger. But I was sick. I mean the kind of sick were you can't get out of bed but to run to the bathroom. Jeremy was working. The day seemed like it would last forever and it was only 6:30.

Nobody was there. I was alone and in tears.

I called Joanna.

She came immediately. She grabbed my kids and took them to her house for the day. No fear of catching the bug for herself. She was just there.

I will never forget it.

She has done that many times over for me. When she is needed and even when she just feels a break is needed, she is there. Taking the kids. Offering a break. Showing Christ's love.

I admit. I am awful at that. I think I am way more selfish. But with Christ's help, I am trying to put others first. To see a need and to help. Not thinking. Just doing.

The kids were good and had fun playing together Sunday afternoon. I think Eli was plain tuckered out from following Ethan and Nathan around all day. At one point, we bribed Eli to let the boys be for a while so they could play without Eli getting in there way. ;)

After baths, Nathan did Eli's hair. He said that he was going to do the mo hawk for school the next morning. I didn't quite know how that would go over.

The next morning, Nathan did try and do Eli's hair. But I quickly took over! I didn't think the mo hawk would quite go over that well.

Elisa and I were watching Emma before bed. Emma is getting to be quite the strong little girl. Although she still isn't rolling yet. I really need to work on that...putting her down...thing. ;)

I'm only joking. sort of.

The next morning, after I kissed the kids off to school, Emma and I sat in the rocking chair and relished in the quiet of the morning with a much needed cup of coffee. It was blissful. :)

A perfect way to spend a snow day....

Last week we were blessed with 2 snow days. How excited we were. Tuesday night the kids and I were huddled around the tv watching the news to see if our school was closed. Dada was the 1st to see it and you would have thought she won the lottery. She started jumping up and down screaming, running through the house. The she actually started crying b/c she couldn't contain herself. I laughed and laughed and laughed.


Hunny had to work on Thursday which worked out b/c I was able to babysit Joanna's kids while she worked. My mom also came over for a visit....aka cookie making time. =) Since Jessica had to work, Mom also brought Jessica's kids.




The kids enjoyed their favorite lunch of Mac N Cheese with olives on the side....yuck.....and Mom and I made a delicious salad.




My Mom made oatmeal craisin cookies. Dada preferred to just pick out the craisins since those are 1 of her favorite things.

But all the kids were begging for more.




Funny story about the picture of my Mom. I walked into the kitchen to find my Mom scrubbing her baking sheet with my potato masher. =) She had never seen the pampered chef potato masher and she thought it was a flimsy scraper. She wondered why it didn't work so well!!!!





The kids and I made sugar cookies. I LOVE SUGAR COOKIES.


LoVe.


ThEm.



Micah was Mr. Cookie Maker. I think that he enjoys baking just as much as I do.



Grandma was impressed with Dada's knowledge in the kitchen.




These 2 yahoo's could care less about baking....until the comment was made that if they didn't help they wouldn't be able to eat the cookies.




That changed their impression of baking REAL quick. :)




I will have to say that there wasn't a mess under the table until Ethan and Brother came to "help." =)




Soon it was time to ice and eat the cookies.




Thankfully little Mr slept for a little while so the older kids (and auntie) were able to enjoy baking with the older kids MUCH more.

I so enjoyed my day with my Mom. We shared recipes and just chit chatted. It was a PeRfEcT snow day.

Side note.....notice the cup and saucer on the shelf behind my Mom? That is the cup that Hunny broke. I was able to glue that handle on. =) It is now sitting in a place of honor....not to be touched. ;)

A bouquet of flowers

Yesterday, Elisa was able to come over after school and play with Dada for a while before we left for church.
I went to check on them and I found Dada being the maid. She was scrubbing the table with sandy, dirty water!! :) I really had to fight being upset b/c it was almost time to leave for church and she was playing in dirty water!! Then I saw how cute they looked and I decided to grab my camera instead of yelling. They were just playing after all, they didn't MEAN to be naughty.....right!?!

They each had a bouquet of flowers picked. They also picked grass and had a tablecloth of grass for the picnic table. Again, I had to refrain from yelling, I mean, they were picking MY flowers, out of MY flowers beds!! (Can you see the Lily of the Valley!?! You should smell them!!) They were having such a grand ol' time!! How could I be mad?

Did you ever pick a bouquet of dandelions for your Mother, thinking they were the prettiest things ever?! Thinking that she was the best mother ever, and deserved the most beautiful FLOWER?!?!



It was so cute to see their IMAGINATIONS at work. So many times I have felt like kids these days don't use their imaginations! I feel like they just don't know how to play anymore. So I LoVe to see my kids playing. Even if they are messing up my flowers, and pulling out our grass! At least they are playing and not cooped up in doors watching tv, or playing video games!!


I TOTALLY ADORE this picture. I love the look on Dada's face.



I'm really noticing a difference in their personalities lately. Elisa is definitely more domineering, and Dada just wants to keep the peace.
These girls are so special, I know that I have said it before, but I am so glad that they have each other. I wonder what they will be like when they get older.