Perfect Grace

2015 is upon us. 

2015!!

Where did 2014 go?! 

2012 was a nightmare in the end due to The Accident. 2013 was a blur as I came out of the fog of mourning. But 2014?

It was busy. It was crazy. It was chaotic. I didn't get a lot of blogging done because, while my kids are no longer itty-bitty and hanging off my arms, they are now big and require more space in my lap and block my view of the computer when they sit on it... And well, typing is hard when you can't see the screen and the keyboard. Yes, they are in school during the day, but good grief it's been busy and that's when I can actually accomplish things like cleaning the pee off the bathroom floor and grocery shopping and volunteering and trying to grab a cup of coffee with a friend. Once they go to sleep, I'm back to cleaning and visiting with my husband before I crash into bed and sleep. 

As I type this... I'm not at my computer. I'm on my phone. Typing into an app. Dinner is done. Bedtime has not quite happened yet. I am kinda-sorta hiding. Because that's how I roll these days. 

2014 was probably the most disorganized year of my life. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off most of the time. I've been hard on myself and hard on my family because I just couldn't cope. Disorganization causes me to lose my mind. When it's self-inflicted disorganization? Nope. Can't even. 

During all the craziness that was my year... add in December and all that it brings with it... I was a hot mess when I received a Facebook message from an old friend: "Thought of you." It then went on to talk about a small band of bloggers that she was putting together. "Bloggers Anonymous." A 12-week challenge. 12 topics. One per week. A place for us to come together. To grow. To connect. To encourage. 

I've been doing pretty good to blog once a quarter in the past year (maybe less than that... Please, don't go count!), so I decided that maybe reconnecting with my writing and my readers and this little band of bloggers was just what I needed. An outlet. Something to put the chaos that is my brain into order. Just the way I like it!! 

So here you go, readers!! 12 posts in 12 weeks!! Can you handle it?!?! I sure hope so cuz it's happening! 

Power Word

This year, 2015 gets a Power Word! 

I have struggled to come up with a word or phrase that will define and shape the next year. But today, while scrolling Facebook, it came to me. 

I try to keep a lot of my inner dialogue hidden from the world. Mainly because I think that I'm a little crazy. I've recently begun to branch out and let a few people see it... And out of that has developed the phrase, "I pulled a Monica and (enter any neurotic, paranoid, freak out, fast talking, coffee-fueled scenario you want here)."  I know they mean well. I love my friends.  Imagine the brain of a neurotic Jack Russell terrier and a chihuahua combined and you have my brain. 

Now for some of you whom have known me for a long time, you may be saying, "No way! You are so even-keeled!" No. I'm telling you! I am a duck!! Calm on the outside and completely freaking out and paddling to stay afloat under the surface!! 

Letting my friends get a glimpse of the real me has been so freeing!! Weight has been lifted off my back! Now that they know... What do I have to hide from them?! 

Most of my life I have felt like had to be perfect. I felt like I couldn't make a mistake. I couldn't get a bad grade. I had to have my life together. I had to be able to do it all. 

But let's be real. I am far from perfect. 

Only one person has ever been and will ever be perfect. He is the one that I live my life for and the one I strive to be more like, but in reality, I fall short every day. 

So in 2015, I am offering myself grace. Grace to mess up. I will allow myself to get up and try again. I will ask my kids for forgiveness when I lose my patience and make a mistake because they need to know that Momma isn't perfect and that I mess up just like they do. I'll be real with my friends and let them see me for me. I'll focus more on the relationship with the friend rather than what I THINK they are thinking about me. My REAL friends accept me for me and love me for me, so why not be real with them? 

I have goals this year. Goals to simplify my home and life and get back to the organized state I prefer.

But my mantra for this year: I am far from perfect. Let there be grace. 

Who Told You That?

Sometimes as women, we have a habit of comparing ourselves to others, of taking on more than we can chew, of allowing others to shape our identity. 


Why?


Why do we allow Pinterest to laden us with guilt over what we are not doing? Why do we allow the lives of our friends shared on Facebook to give our inner voice a platform for self-doubt? 


Why do we compare the lives we live everyday to the lives that people edit and glamorize before sharing on social media? Those short posts and pictures are only a small snippet of what is truly going on their lives. We don't know what happens behind closed doors. We don't know the struggles and messes that occur for them. We only know the messes and struggles that we go through. One of my pastors once said that comparing our lives to people on Facebook is like comparing us at our worst to them at their best. It's just not fair to do that to ourselves! 


Why are we, as women, so hard on ourselves? Who is creating the standard that we feel that we can't measure up to?


“Comparison is the great thief of Joy.” -Theodore Roosevelt
 


I was listening to a podcast the other day on InspiredtoAction.com.  Kat Lee and her guest, Elisa Pullium, spoke about the comparisons we make. There are two different reasons and outcomes when we compare. Sometimes we do it to grow and be encouraged and to learn something from that person. We do it to become a better mom, wife, sister, daughter, or friend. But sometimes, we compare ourselves to others and it's negative. It leads to questioning our self worth. This type of comparison is not healthy.  It is not productive to who we are and the person that God created us to be.

Comparing our life or circumstance to another should be about having a teachable spirit rather than an achieving spirit. What is our motivation when we compare? Is it to say that we are better than that person? Or are we tearing ourselves down because we feel that they are better than us? "The only person we should compare ourselves to is who we were yesterday, last week, last year." 

Kat Lee at Inspired to Action

God has created us uniquely. Psalm 139:13-14 says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
 He has created us with a specific purpose and has placed us in our circumstances for a reason. 
We cannot see the entire picture, but he knows the beginning and the end. We need to trust the process. 


"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11


He has designed you to be the mother of your children and you are perfect for them. He has designed you to be the wife of your husband and you are perfect for him.  He has designed you to be a daughter... both HIS daughter and the daughter of your earthly parents.

Does this mean we shouldn't grow in our walks with Christ? No.

Does this mean we constantly be striving to better ourselves? No.

But it does mean that HE sets our measure.

It means that we shouldn't change our whole being to be someone that we are not.

It means that we are NOT worthless in who we are because we don't measure up to this "ideal" that we have imagined but cannot possibly obtain.


I am not meant to be a calm, go-with-the-flow mom. As much as I try, I will always find myself writing out a schedule and labeling something. Trust me. I can always find something to label. It is who I am. It's not something I gleaned from reading organizing blogs and magazines or scouring Pinterest for homemaking tips. When I was in elementary school, I was given a rotary label gun. Complete with a rainbow assortment of labeling tape! I was in heaven! And I labeled EVERYTHING that I was allowed to label... well, and probably things that I shouldn't have labeled, and definitely things that do not really need labels (like labeling which bunk was mine). Each shelf on my bookshelf was labeled with the genre of the books that sat on it. All of my boxes and bins were adorned lovingly with the brightly colored embossed labels. Currently, if you were to look on and in my fridge, you would find a weekly schedule broken down into times. There is a slot for bedtime, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, gymnastics, therapy, puzzle time, game night, chores, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. You will also find a bedtime routine chart and a morning routine chart. And opening the door will reveal labels for each shelf and bin (that, for the sake of full disclosure, were probably put there during a "MOMENT" in which I was losing my mind and the stress had mounted just slightly too high). If my plans get messed up, I can self-combust in T-minus 2 seconds. 
Organizing and planning is who I am. Denying it, would be to deny part of myself. So try as I might to be an easy going, calm, go-with-the-flow mom, I'm not.

I'm like a duck, calm on the outside, but paddling like crazy underneath. I am high strung and neurotic. I've embraced it.

But do I let those moments of self-doubt creep in? You bet!!

Is it beneficial to me? Mostly, no.

Do I have room to grow? DEFINITELY, YES.

I know that this is not only who I am, but also a stronghold that needs to be broken in my life. And this is something that I am working on so that I can lead a more balanced life. But I need to learn... and I encourage you to do this also... to take those doubts and comparisons to God and discover whether that is in His perfect plan for you.


Discover His purpose for your life, not your purpose for your life. 


Discover who He has created you to be, not whom you and others think you should be.

Be a beautiful mess. 

Motherhood

During this time of year... well, often throughout the year... I reflect on the calling of Motherhood.  

Growing up, I often didn't realize what motherhood was really like and all that it entailed.  After all, raising kids isn't too hard, right? WRONG!! 

Motherhood is messy.  It's exhausting.  It is draining and thankless and never-ending.  Just as you think you have gotten it all figured out and life is smooth sailing, one of your children will vomit all over the rug, or one will punch another one in the face (this hasn't happened to me... yet... the punching, not the vomiting - that has happened... a little too often for my taste... and not just by the 2-legged children... but more often by the 4-legged ones... but I digress...). 

My point is, motherhood is hard.  There isn't one perfect way of doing it, if there was, motherhood (and fatherhood) would come with an instruction manual.  But it doesn't.  Every mother is different.  Every child is different.  Two women can have the same basic event happen to them, but you know what?  It's still not the exact same because each woman will have a different personality and a different outlook and therefore will EXPERIENCE it... differently.  

Our goal as mothers should be to raise upstanding citizens that care for others, that have passion and a drive for something, that can stand on their own two feet in life, and make something of themselves. Our goal shouldn't be to "outdo" the mother next to us.  It shouldn't be all about "keeping up with the Jones'"... sometimes what the Jones' have isn't what is best for your family.  Stay true to yourself and who you are.  

As mothers, we should be encouraging one another.  We should be supporting one another.  We should be uplifting and mentoring and just being there for each other!  Instead, I see passive aggressive Facebook and "Mommy Board" posts or not-so-passive-but-just-plain-ol'-aggressive posts tearing each other down and lifting ourselves up.  

So whether you are a mother of 1 or a mother of 20, a cottage dwelling mom or a mansion dwelling mom, an organic eating mom or a food allergy mom, a gifted student mom or a special needs mom, a stay-at-home mom or a work-outside-the-home mom... YOU ROCK!  

You do you, I'll do me, and lets just agree that we are all doing the best we can for our children and families.  And if we see one of us struggling, let's lend them a hand and maybe supply them with a coffee to make it through the tough times.  If we see a mom do something that we would "never let our children do" (like letting our son walk into a cement pillar face first and bounce off of it), remember that you don't know the full story (like the fact that I have told him countless times to watch where he is walking and that I decided that maybe the consequence of running into said cement pillar would be the best way for him to learn to walk with his head facing forward and his eyes open). We have all been there and I'm sure one of our kids is just waiting to throw us a curve ball just as we get a little comfortable.

Enjoy your children.  Sing songs from Frozen with them... belt it out!  Turn on a bubble machine and dance!

Happy Mother's Day!

Patience

Patience is something I have always struggled with and there is nothing like having two children close in age to remind me of that struggle every day. 

It seems as though my kids are bent on beating my alarm. No matter how early I set it, they wander in just before it goes off. This does NOT bode well for my patience for the rest of the day. Momma needs to wake up SLOWLY!  The mornings are usually frantic trying to dress two kids whom only want to cuddle and watch cartoons. Well, Missy would also like to write and read and draw... But that's life with her, all day everyday.  We normally do good to get out the door to "beat the bus" (the elementary school bus picks up the neighborhood kids next door at 7:50) but that is rarely done smoothly nor without me nagging the kids to hurry up and move. 

There have been more than a few mornings when we did not beat the bus. :/ 

On a particular morning recently, it wasn't because we were moving slowly. We were actually doing great on time! 

Then Bub had to go to the bathroom. 

Whenever he has to go, he climbs up onto the toilet facing the tank and walks around in a circle to sit frontwards. He uses his hands on the seat or tank for balance. He has never fallen so this isn't much of a worry for me... Anymore. believe me, in the beginning it was very nerve wracking. My nephew climbed onto the toilet the same exact way. Is this normal? Or a genetic thing?

Anyway, this one morning... He REALLY had to go. He climbed up facing the tank (let's call this "12 o'clock") and began turning his circle. At 3 o'clock the sprinkler began. In his panicked state, he didn't think to just aim downwards. No... He thought it would be best to shriek and continue turning to 6 o'clock while continuing to "water" the bathroom cabinets... And Missy... And the step stool... And the floor... And the rug. 

I'd like to say I laughed it off right there. I didn't. I shouted his name trying to get him to sit while Missy yelled and whined "HE PEED ON ME!! HE PEED ON ME!!" 

He finally got to 6 o'clock and sat. And found that he had emptied his bladder... Everywhere EXCEPT the toilet. 

I removed him from the toilet and cleaned the bathroom and started the rug in the wash and changed two kids. And THEN we were able to head out the door. The bus had long gone and yet somehow, we weren't late!! 

As much as I think we NEED to be out the door before the bus everyday, we don't.  I needed that wake-up call. We still strive to beat the bus every morning. When we do, we do a little dance and celebrate. When we don't, we say, "Oh man!!" And shrug it off. No biggie! 

How are your patience levels lately?

Until next time!

Another "Glorious" Moment

Have you ever had one of those moments when you just have to breathe and count to 10?  I had a moment today when I had to keep counting.  Counting to 10 was just not enough of a breather.  

A few hours before the moment, we received a package from my parents with a birthday gift for me, some goodies for the kids, and some art supplies I had left at their house by mistake.  Missy was SUPER excited!  Her voice kept getting higher and higher and culminated in shrieking and jumping onto the dining table for this little Strawberry Shortcake On-the-Go Activity Pack.  In this box was also 2 tubes of glitter and 2 bottles of glitter glue.  Can you see where this is going?!

Fast forward to quiet time.  Glorious quiet time.  

I'm scouring Pinterest in peace.  The Hubs and Bub are sleeping and Missy is coloring with her new activity pack.  I decide to look in on her to find crayon all over her dresser and mirror.  Of course, she chooses the blue crayon.  Did you know that blue is the hardest color to remove from walls and furniture?  I have had more luck removing black crayon off of flat builder's grade paint with a Magic Eraser than I have had with blue crayon.  I am out of Magic Erasers and have to get more, but baby wipes were not budging the crayon from the dresser.  Anyway, I scooped up the Activity Pack and informed her that after the marker incident the other week and this crayon incident, she was loosing the privilege to color in her room for awhile.  She apologized and went back to her bed to play quietly.

Nearly a half hour later I hear the bathroom faucet turn on.  And off.  And on again.  And off again.  Then she comes running out to excitedly tell me that she washed her ears.  I off-handedly say, "Oh cool."  Because really... washing her ears?!  Then I look at her.  And I see it.  

There, on her left cheek, is a small smattering of pink and blue glitter.  My eyes must have bugged because she immediately fell silent.  I got up and headed towards her room and she did not follow.  I walked in to find a sight dreaded by every janitor that works in an elementary school.  

She had snuck out of her room and grabbed the glitter and snuck back into her room and opened them!

 In her own words, she wanted to "make her dress sparkly like a princess.  And her pajamas.  And her face."  

Thank goodness the bottles of glitter glue were sealed!!  Those did not go all over her bed and carpet.  But that doesn't mean she didn't try.  Oh she tried!  The lids were off.  

This behavior is so out of character for her!  I counted to 60... not really... but I definitely stayed in her room and took a few many deep breaths before going back to the living room where I found her standing with her fingers in her ears (her scared/nervous stance).  I told her that she lost glitter privileges for awhile and that she knew she wasn't to be playing with glitter without me being right with her.  She, again, apologized for messing up her room and for spilling the glitter.  But then asked if I could put the blue glitter and the pink glitter back into their tubes so that she could use it later!  HAHA!!  Uh... no.  She got to watch me vacuum it all up.  

Good news: my new Dyson vacuums up glitter AMAZINGLY!!  


Until next time,

~Monica

24 Days of Christmas: Day 3

Have you ever been to a preschool gymnastics class?  Its pretty hilarious!  To see them springing on the trampoline and swinging on the bars and teetering on the beam... trying with all their might and fighting every urge to run around like little banshees.  I love it.  Missy has been taking gymnastics for a year and a half now and the thing that impresses me the most is not the maturity that she has gained, not the skills she has learned, not the dedication she gives to something at 3 years old by practicing at home as much as she can... the thing that impresses me the most is the patience of her coach.  

I have my degree in teaching... teaching elementary school.  However, I know that I do not possess the patience that it requires to teach the younger children.  I'd much rather have a classroom of thirty-four 6th graders than a class of twenty kindergartners.  Preschool? I don't think so.  Preschool Gymnastics?! A place where they can run around without desks and chairs for them to sit in? A place where older children and teenagers are tumbling? No way!!!  And there are only at the most 6 other preschoolers in her class!!  Yup!  "Miss Jennifer" has the patience of a saint!

She works with one child on a back bridge while simultaneously reminding another to stay in a certain position.  She helps one child with a spider hang on the uneven parallel bars while also reminding the other children to stay on their carpet squares.  She manages 3 jumping children on the trampoline while making sure the others are seated on the side of the trampoline and not falling off! She walks them, in a single file line, through the gym while the competitive girls are practicing their routines and skills all over and keeps them all safe and in line.  She cannot leave the child she is working with because that child is normally not in a position where they can do it on their own.  Could you imagine if she were to help a child get into a position hanging upside down on the bars and then walk away to redirect another?  She would have upset parents on her hand.  In the year and a half that I have watched Missy do gymnastics, I have not seen lose her patience once!! I can't recall her ever even raising her voice!  She has definitely not put my child at risk.  She calmly redirects the kids and they listen.  

She has definitely taught me a lot.  She has three children of her own, two of which I have met.  They are respectful and get along very well with my own children despite the rather large age gap.  I even believe that Missy has a huge crush on her son.  :)  Watching her reminds me of how I want to discipline and correct my own two little ones: with calm redirection rather than the impatient demands that I can lash out with in frustration.  Patience is not a strong suite of mine.  

Due to gymnastics, we decided on something very easy for Day 3 of Advent.  In the cone for day 3, they found a little ornament for each of them to put on their tree.  

Princess Aurora for Missy and Lightning McQueen for Bub.  Simple.  Short.  Sweet.  The longest part of the whole thing was them deciding on the perfect spot on their little tree to put their ornament!  

Each was moved around a handful of times before it was JUST RIGHT.  :)  My little perfectionists!  I think their little tree is turning out great!  Suites them perfectly!! Bright.  Colorful.  Whimsical.  Perfect.  

Until next time!

~Monica

A Glorious Moment

There are moments... many moments... in our house that chaotic.  The kiddos are 17 months apart and that means I have the "Troublesome Threes" AND the "Terrible Twos" going on - at the same time.  I have one in diapers with GI issues who can have explosive blow-outs at the exact same time that I have another forgetting that she does not have a diaper and she cannot just go in her panties.  I have a cat who likes to pounce on the dog and a dog who is afraid of her own shadow, so is naturally also afraid of the cat.

Needless to say, quiet time is a much anticipated moment in my home.  Its the one time in the day when both kids are in their rooms and either napping or playing quietly, when both animals also decide to take naps, when nothing is getting messed up or thrown out of order.  Its quiet.  Gloriously quiet.  Most of the time, its interrupted many times by Missy coming out and asking questions or just saying hi, but for the most part, I can sit and read or blog or catch up on my Hulu+ queue.  

A few days ago, the Hubs was outside working on his truck, Bub was napping, Missy was coloring, and I was watching a show.  Missy was actually not coming out, but she would call out from her room periodically.  All of a sudden she came running out of her room yelling excitedly, "Mommy!! My boo-boos are gone!! My boo-boos are gone!!"  My first thought was, "what boo-boos?" but then she turned the corner and I saw her....

With all my might, I did not laugh... at first.  Instead, I quickly grabbed my phone and started snapping pictures.  :)  

"Look at my nose!! My boo-boos are gone!!"

Well of course the boo-boos are "gone"... the scratch on her nose is no longer visible under the marker!!  And notice that she applied it like eyeshadow!!  The more I looked, the harder I laughed!! How can you not?!  

She was very detailed in covering her ENTIRE hand!! Every speck of skin was covered in the marker... but somehow, she managed to keep her dress clean!! Although I had to keep reminding her to stop touching the couch and the table!  She only smudged a little on the carpet directly in front of the mirror in her room.  I noticed this before running her outside so that the Hubs could see.  He also laughed!  Before washing her off, I got her to pose for a few more pictures.

She did not understand the hilarity of the whole scenario.

She was quite proud of herself.  :)  Fortunately, it all washed off very well!  It practically rinsed off in the water, which created pink bath water and a very excited little girl who kept squealing, "MY FAVORITE COLOR IS PINK!!! JUST WIKE MY BAFF!!!"  A few spots needed a little scrubbing, but by the time the bath was over, she was perfectly marker free.  I did not have to bring a red-colored child to gymnastics! YAY!

It's moments like this that make me so happy that I am a stay-at-home-mom.  I wonder how a daycare provider would have reacted.  Would she have gotten in trouble?  I know that she has never done this before and that she simply got carried away... she is only 3!  Things like this happen!  Nothing is ruined.  No one is hurt.  And even if it was permanent marker, going to gymnastics with marker on her face probably would have taught her that we don't color on ourselves!  So we laughed.  We took pictures.  And we cleaned her up!  Then she went back to her room to finish quiet time, withOUT markers; and I sent the pictures to friends and family and Facebook!  :)  

And as you can see by the background in the pictures, the tree is up and the stockings are hung.  We will be starting a new tradition of the Advent Calendar this year and I'm so excited to see the kids' faces!!  It's the first year that they both get to participate in the festivities!  More "mommy moments" to come!! :)

Until next time!

~Monica

I Have a Confession

I am so humbled by the responses to Friday's post. You guys are so encouraging! I definitely don't have it all figured out, but I am learning to live in this new state of normal. 

I have a confession. If I can help it, I do not take the kids grocery shopping by myself. As they get older, I feel like I could do it; but as it stands right now... I'm afraid of it!

I've had a few horrible experiences. One of them I'll share with you. :)

Missy was about 15 months old.... Maybe 16 months. I was 8 or 9 months pregnant with Titus and was going grocery shopping with her to pick up ingredients to have a fun "make your own personal pizza" night with my parents. At this age, keeping weight on her was an issue and we were constantly needing to feed her and she was seemingly always hungry. So you can imagine what taking a toddler who could, at any point, eat her body weight in food into a place with a TON of food that she couldn't eat was like. I came prepared with snacks and the lady behind the bakery counter also offered her a small cookie. If it meant more food in my arsenal, then I will take it!

I should also note that Ana HATED being in a shopping cart the correct way. Even while strapped in, she would wiggle her way around so that she was on her knees facing away from me in the seat of the cart. We never got great looks from onlookers but constantly turning her around and garnering "make-your-ears-bleed-screams" from her was not my ideal shopping trip either! So often, we let her... as long as she stayed on her knees and did not stand up.

I'm hustling through the store while simultaneously keeping her on her knees, feeding her snacks, grabbing items, and squelching meltdown after meltdown because she could not eat the items that I was putting into the cart.

Half way through the store it happened. I ran out of snacks. I started moving even faster as her meltdowns were growing. Before I knew it, she was flailing herself around in the seat of the cart and screaming those "make-your-ears-bleed" screams that was making EVERYONE in the store not only look over at us but actually come to the aisle we were in to make sure that we were okay! At that point I called my dad. He walked over to the store which was around the corner from their home and took her outside as I quickly grabbed the last few items and checked out.

From then on, I have been terrified to take them BOTH into a grocery store by myself! I can take them to other stores... But NOT a grocery store. Even when the Hubs and I go together it can be a struggle as they fight and kick and hit and want to eat EVERYTHING. When they aren't both toddlers, it will be much different, I hope. :) I'm just going to keep telling myself that. I also have plans to organize our shopping trips better so that the kids are involved. :) It'll take some time, but I'll share once it is all done!  

How are your kids in a grocery store? Is there anywhere that you avoid taking them?


Until next time!

~Monica

The Princess and the Prince

I guess it's really the princess and the musketeer... but the kids think that Budboy was a prince and that is the opinion that counts, so we'll go with it. Tonight we went trick-or-treating on post. The kids, mainly Missy, as Budboy didn't know about trick-or-treating, had been looking forward to this night for weeks!  

As you can tell... they are oh-so-excited!!

Budboy was practically running up to the first house. Missy was in dress-up heels ("up-shoes" or "slippers with sticks" as she calls them) so she was having a little trouble walking, but she was a trooper and refused to change into the alternate pair of real shoes that we had on hand. 

Budboy just got his first ever trick-or-treat candy, and he now loves this holiday!

She wanted to make sure she had her picture taken after the first house also...

 After the first house, Budboy was even more excited and ran to the next. He was getting free candy and all he had to do was say "trick-or-treat" and "thank you!" Of course, his sounded more like, "teek a teet" and "tank you!" And at a few houses he added, "see wa way-der" (see you later) and "ha-ee ha-wee" (Happy Halloween). 

These boys were so sweet to the kids! One even helped Missy find her shoe and commented that Cinderella lost her slipper!

By now, Missy is a pro at trick-or-treating. She is not shy, though she sometimes appears to be, so walking up to strangers and asking for candy and engaging in conversation is a dream come true for her! Yes, that thought is scary. To her, everyone is a "friend." We are working with her on that.

His "Chandler smile"... Friends reference... :)

 Near the end of the night, we could tell that their buckets were getting harder and harder for them to carry... but would they let us help? Nope!! THEY wanted to carry them!! 

Glow stick swords!!

After the last house, another girl handed them each a glow stick. Which, of course, became swords! And at that point, they were more than willing to let Daddy carry their buckets so they could duel. 

The kids were not thrilled with the idea of heading back to the car, but once we were there they did not fight it. They were visibly tired and a part of them probably wanted to relax... and eat a treat. :)

All done, and another "Chandler smile!!"

My sweet little girl. Tired but very happy!

We got home and dumped their loot onto the floor and divided it up. Missy does not like chocolate and Budboy cannot eat chocolate... so all of that and the hard candy went into the blue bucket for Mommy and Daddy and all the rest went into the pink bucket for the kids. They don't get to eat lot of candy normally, so it will take a long time to go through it as they will get one piece a day, but I was very excited to see that we seemed to get a fair amount of teddy grahams and pretzels this year! So YAY!!

Tomorrow For the rest of this week and possibly next week, I'm expecting to have a little princess and prince running around the house. I'm excited for them. This is Budboy's first "dress-up"!!  :)

How was your Halloween? What did you do? What did you or your kids dress up as?

Midnight

When I was younger, I had an imaginary friend zoo. Yes that's right... a zoo. Well, maybe more like a farm... or a menagerie. Anyway, call it what you want, but it was not a person. No little friend that spoke to me or ate with me. I clearly remember in third grade, sitting there while the teacher was talking and then thinking, my bird is sitting on my friend's shoulder!! I giggled, then proceeded to tell her that Tweet, my bird, was sitting on her shoulder! Oh the look!! You'd have thought I had sprung two heads!! She looked at me like I was crazy because, of course, there was no bird sitting on her shoulder!! After that, I only told a select few about my "friends."

The bird in third grade was probably my first imaginary animal.  The first that I can remember. There were more at that time, but the bird was the closest to me. In fourth grade, Midnight entered my life. Midnight was a beautiful black stallion that I found in the baseball field of my school. Like all of my "friends," he did not speak to me. He was like any real horse, except he lived in my backyard instead of a stable. He also came with a white mare and a spotted black and white foal. Whitey and Spotty, if you must know their names. For the next three years or so, these horses went everywhere with me! They went on family camping trips, to the grocery store, to my grandparents' house... they simply ran along side the family van along the freeway. Now I know what you are thinking, "She must have been a loner" or "This chick is crazy!" No... I was not a loner, I had many friends, and I may be a little crazy, but my imagination has always been vivid!

So, imagine my surprise (and glee) when Missy walked up to me and asked me where her horse was!!! Yes, that's right!! My 3-year-old has an imaginary horse!! I was so excited! Inside, I was jumping up and down... outside, I had to keep my cool... I don't want my hubby to think I'm completely insane! He knows about Midnight and the others, but I don't think he realizes the depth of these "friends." I asked Missy what her horse looked like and what the name was and if it was a boy or a girl. Galahap is black with pink streaks in his black hair. "He wuvs to gawup (gallop) weally weally fast," she told me as she demonstrated around the coffee table. :) I am so excited about her new friend and intend to encourage her in this, but not force her into keeping these friends. She has also mentioned a pink giraffe with green spots, but she doesn't have a name as Missy says she is "wittle bit scared of da giraffe."  :) I love this age we are entering! Pretending. Imagination. AAAHHHH!! It's just so much fun! Dress-up was the beginning of the imaginative play in our house... and it's an everyday thing! But more on that later. :)

The tiger is rawr-ing at the kitty!

Did you have any imaginary friends or animals growing up? What about your kids?

Until next time!

~Monica

Mornings

Do you wake every morning with a smile? Ya…. Me neither. Not every morning anyway. This morning was different, though. The hubs gets up with the kids on his days off and lets me sleep in. This morning was one of those mornings. {happy face!!} I woke up to the sounds of Disney Princess songs blaring on Pandora and very loud giggles and squeals from both kids. They were clearly dancing together. I couldn’t help but to wake up with a smile! And then Budboy tripped on (probably) nothing and crashed into the picnic table and the giggles ended and crying began followed by loud admonitions from Missy that he needed to get up. Yup. It’s a normal morning now. 

How has your morning been?