Things I Love Thursday (being a girl!)

Well, I am going to make fun of myself a minute here because I was tempted to once again write about reading/books that I love, but apparently I have already wrote that blog twice in the past two weeks ... which I believe means I am both incredibly in love with books AND tired. I honestly left my purse at the store and my phone in a field today. I am apparently one tired mama!

SO, I am going to diversify! and talk about something else I love -- Being a Girl!

I grew up in a house full of love, a good home for the most part, we had our faults, but my mom was always really big on making sure I knew she loved me for me. She did not emphasize anything girly. Education was important, not appearance. And I totally get that, BUT I honestly believe every little girl needs to hear she is beautiful. Every little girl wants to be a princess. I did not know that though until I became the mom of now three darling girls who are little mommies, princesses and absolutely beautiful if I do say so myself. And after the birth of my first little girl, I realized I love being a girl! I love watching movies that make me cry. I love putting on makeup and having my husband think I am beautiful. I love getting dressed up and I am working on even liking wearing heels (I think this is optional though) I like when my husband is the brave one and I dont have to be. I want my girls to know they are loved for who God made them, creative, smart, and funny. BUT I also want them to know that God made them girls, and part of being a girl is being a beautiful princess, and that is OK.

This post is linked up to Diaper Diaries, Things I Love Thursday

Wordless Wednesday -- Maybe winter wont be so bad!!!

Last year we built a snow hill in our backyard, my children had a blast! And, joy on my children's faces, is the most beautiful sight in the world!!!

This post is submitted to Wordless Wednesdays at A Beautiful Mess

Top 10 things I am Thankful for... In honor of... THANKSGIVING!!!

It seems to be the theme in my life these days -- do you ever feel like it could only be more obvious that this is something you should learn if someone actually wrote with permanent marker across your eyeballs! My five year old said to me the other night while I was missing my husband, "MOM, do you want to be on the street with me!?!? or have a house over our head and food on the table!" me, "ummm, a house and food?" Five year old, "GOOD ANSWER!" She is right, who am I to complain, my husband has a job, we have a house and we have food. Be thankful! Then my two year old struck me twice in one week. He greeted his eight year old sister with, "Sister, I am so thankful to see you this morning!" Then upon arriving home with groceries, he noticed, skinless, boneless chicken breasts and grabbed them saying, "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! YOU GOT CHICKEN! I LOVE CHICKEN!" As Thanksgiving approaches, I am thankful for little people in my life who are reminding me to be thankful for what I have!

So... I am thankful for....

1. my Savior, Jesus Christ

2. a husband! He loves me despite all my downfalls and thinks I am so funny he actually thought I should do stand up comedy at one point which is just funny in itself

3. four amazing, unique children that have taught me more than I ever thought I needed to learn

4. friends! New and old, we have moved a lot over the past 10 years, and sometimes it has taken a long time to make friends and feel settled, this move has thankfully been a lot quicker adjustment. And I have managed to stay friends with some of the girls I grew up with!

5. a house!!! I have to remind myself of this because it is easy to take it for granted, but just a year and a half ago my family was crammed into a small two bedroom apartment. After 9 years of marriage we purchased our first house and it is so nice to have a home!

6. health! I have been blessed with 4 healthy children.

7. food! I have been toying with the idea of having one day a week where my family just eats rice and beans all day. I think this is something that is hard to understand -- that food is something I should be thankful for that not everybody has it.

8. a job! My husband has a job. That is probably enough said in today's economy, but so far, I have been able to stay home with our children and that is just an extra bonus.

9. forgiveness and grace! I need it every day!

10. that I am 33! I have lived a really good life so far, full of adventure and love and have a lot more to go Lord willing!

this post is linked to Top Ten Tuesdys at Oh Amanda

Top Ten Books I Have Ever Read (well in the past 5 years)

Did I mention that I am a bit obsessed with reading? If not, I am, it becomes a problem at times because I "live" in books. For example, when I was reading the Twilight series and was out running, I would frequently be on the look out for vampires. I think books, particularly fiction has this amazing gift of actually changing me. Sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad. Stories are a gift. I am currently reading four fiction books at the same time, one by myself, one with my children, one with my husband, and one just here and there. I actually got my husband to read with me, which is SO exciting, although he doesnt love my book choice, he lets me read while he sketches (he is an artist...professorpaint.blogspot.com). It is a bit of quality time for us. So... Here are my Top 10 Books I have read (in the past 5 years) -- I am sure I read others in High School/College, but I think I should read them again

1. Mark of the Lion Series by Francine Rivers -- I think this series is THE MOST life changing series I have EVER read in my life! You should read these books!

2. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory -- Only because it made me realize that history can be interesting.

3. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy -- I just really loved this book

4. The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah -- I think one of the only books that has ever made me cry!

5. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult -- One of the first fiction books I read that made me realize the power of fiction to make me think and give a viewpoint without being in your face

6. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak -- Wonderful, interesting, creative! I loved this book! I want to read it again, now that I am writing it on this list

7. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini -- I think anyone who reads this book would put it on their top 10

8. The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer -- again a book that I just really, really enjoyed reading

9. Still Alice by Lisa Genova -- a book that gave me perspective on something I did not know I wanted perspective on -- alzheimers

10. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer -- this is kind of silly to me, but these books made reading fun, not life changing, not really intellectually stimulating, but fun!

There it is, my top 10 books! That was harder than I thought!

This post is submitted to Top Ten Tuesday's at Oh Amanda

Baptism

This is not a theological post on baptism; this is just a story about my daughter's baptism. First,though, I did not actually complete any of my tasks I set out to complete last week — namely,the making of her dress, sweater, and bonnet. I did complete a hat and started a sweater, had allthe pieces ironed and cut out for the dress, but then realized my sewing machine somehow wasmissing one of the major parts AND I just did not have time to complete any of the projects.
Apparently, there was a dress in the family, my sister-in-law over-nighted it to us, and it wasbeautiful! Despite my plans and attempt at doing everything, nothing went as planned, and I wasnot able to do much of anything! I find it a bit amusing (and humbling) when things happen thatway, and I feel like a total failure. But I am somehow ok with it anyway because life has to goon, and that is just what happened. Life went on.
It was a beautiful fall day. My baby is my fourth to be baptized, but, to be honest, with the firstthree, it was more of a faith/following-my-husband thing. This one was an exciting type thing. And she did great.
Our priest read during the baptism: Baby four is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then he said, Baby four is sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own forever. Amen. I wanted to scream, SHE IS MARKED AS HISOWN! FOREVER! It is sealed; it is done; take that, enemy! You are not allowed near this child!
It gave me goose bumps and joy, knowing that my child, this precious little girl, all my childrenare marked as His; they are claimed! What a joyful day!

If You Give a Mom a Coffee... (an updated version of an old post)

If you give a mom a coffee, she will probably ask for cream. And as she pours the cream, it might remind her of a funny story about a two year old, cream and a coffee of his own.
She will probably sit to share the story. And stories might be shared back and forth for quite some time.
She might realize she is really hungry because she forgot to eat dinner, and ask for a piece of cake. If she asks for a piece of cake, she will probably want a fork. If she asks for a fork, she might think about all the dishes waiting for her at home. If she thinks about home, she might think about her children running around instead of sleeping in bed. If she thinks about bed she might realize that she is absolutely exhausted. And as exhaustion threatens her need to be productive, she might ask for a refill on her coffee. And if she asks for a refill on coffee, you know what probably comes next! But, please always give a mom her coffee!

Things that Break my Heart (in a good way)

I had no idea that these wonderful people in my life could break my heart... in a good way because I love them more than I ever thought possible. I want to protect them from every hurt, every broken dream, every sadness. I hate having them sad, BUT I love that I get to be the one that is there when their hurts need kissing, their dreams need redreaming and they need to laugh. Recently my eight year old confided in me that she gets nervous in her gymnastics class because all the girls talk, but she doesn't know what to talk to them about and she feels weird. It broke my heart because who couldn't like this girl. She is AMAZING, I know, I know, I am her mom, BUT she is beautiful, she laughs easily, there is no one she doesn't like, she leads, but not too loudly, and her heart is huge. And I just want to protect her from all the hurt in the world. I want to go into that class and tell them, what a great girl she is. But instead we talked a little about what you can talk to people about and about maybe asking them questions. And I was so thankful that at eight she still felt like she could come to me and tell me that this is hard for her. Then a few days later her little brother, my darling two year old had her read him some good old fashioned Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. You could tell he resonated with Calvin, the mischief and adventure suit him well. He requested a cape and mask, and his daddy eagerly agreed to make one for him. He put the cape and mask on, and ran down the hallway, he then turned to run back as his WHOLE family cheered him on, and you could see this look in his eye, excitement and joy, and he leaped into the air, followed by a serious flop on his face, and then the tears. At first, I thought he injured himself, but then I realized physically he was fine, but his heart was broken. Through tears he explained that he honestly thought he would be in the air. He did not understand why he could not fly. His dream was crushed. He even proceeded to ask me to go to the store to buy some batteries to help him. My eyes burned as I saw my little man's dreams crushed. But so thankful that as a stay at home mom, I get to see these dreams, pick him up in his superhero costume, dust off the cape hug him, and tell him that he should keep dreaming. What a blessing it is to have little people in my life that break my heart because I love them that much, I feel everything they do, I am so thankful
This post is for the 30 minute blog challenge on Steady mom's blog