A New Beginning

It is the day after Mother's Day.  The kids are all nestled in bed and so much is going through my mind.  I have missed sharing my thoughts in this space.  Blogging was great therapy...sort of like talking to an imaginary friend or my Mom.  It felt good.

Jesse demands my attention lately.  It seems she is on me 100% of the time we are together.  As soon as she walked in the front door from the school, she came straight to me and showed me her art portfolio from the year.  I loved how she presented it to me so proudly.  The custom designed paper cover was decorated with softballs, basketballs and simply her name, JESSE, across the top.  So fitting.  Inside were pictures of a bird, a colorful, abstract version of her hand, and other creations...but her favorite was her frog.  The frog made me smile.  I loved the smile on her face as she flipped through her portfolio of 2nd grade art accomplishments.

Jesse loves to cook when she gets home.  We went through a scrambled egg phase, but she is tired of those now.  Then, we went through a bagel and cream cheese phase.  Nope, tired of those.  She would love to have ice cream every day, but I try my best to sway from that (not always successful).  Today, I grabbed Rice Krispies and marshmallows on the way home from work (along with the ziploc bags that I needed so badly) and you know what that means...seriously messy, good, old fashioned, several times a month it seems gooey treats.  You just can't beat them really.  They have to be better for you than Moose Tracks Ice Cream right?  By the way, the trick to really good ones is extra marshmallows and butter.

Jonah came home about an hour later.  He seemed happy today.  He was very happy to see the Rice Krispies Treats.  He was very upset when I distributed the last batch to her softball team and did not bring him home any leftovers.  This batch was truly more for him for that reason alone.  He hasn't been happy about end of the year projects in 6th grade.  Boy oh boy...so much for a relaxing end of the year.  No more games and parties at the end of the school year for him.  Finals weeks is coming up soon and he is not thrilled.

I am proud of him though.  I truly am.  He has a desire to make good grades.  He seems to truly have a pure, kind heart.  He loves his friends and his family.  I couldn't ask for a better boy...my Kindred Spirit.

But as I finally got them to bed, I am sitting in my favorite chair with a laptop in my lap and wondering where the time has gone.  Jonah still likes for one of us to tuck him in at night.  Tonight he asked me to lay with him just a minute.  I told him how I had just read a few books with Jesse that she has loved this year, Library Lion and I Need My Monster.  Then, I told him how we used to read Go Dog Go every single night.  He laughed when I recited the words from memory, "Big Dog.  Little Dog..."  I continued, "Do you like my hat?  No, I do not like your hat.  Good-bye.  Good-bye."  I must have read that 1,000 times to him in his dinosaur pajamas.

I realized as I said goodnight and told him he is my best boy...as always..that I need to write this down.  They are not grown up yet.  They are still my babies.  I am going to regret not doing this when they are on the verge of finishing high school.  I have continued to take pictures, but I worry that I might forget day to day simple, wonderful, plain old memories like this one today.

We had a wonderful Mother's Day together yesterday.  My love really went out of his way to make it extra special.  I want him to know that I will never forget that.  Where would I be without him...I do not know.

Mama, he is good.  He loves me very much.

And finally, tonight I am feeling equally happy, thankful and scared that this will all end too soon.  I guess you shouldn't fear these things.  When I do, I always think of how Marilla Cuthbert responded to Anne when she said, "Can't you even imagine you are in the depths of despair?"  Marilla calmly replied, "No I cannot.  To despair is to turn your back on God."  I am not a super religious type, but I totally took to heart everything Marilla said as if I were Anne of Green Gables myself.

My fondest memories with my Mom were watching these movies together.  I think I have finally realized how much she related to Anne as well.

Good Night...sleep tight...there is a very young waxing crescent in the sky tonight.

Jesse's Frozen 6th Birthday

Jesse had a birthday recently.  She turned 6 on February 8th, and we celebrated Frozen style.  It has been a very long time since a movie has touched us like this one has.  The music from the movie will be forever in our hearts, so I was so excited when Jesse chose this as her theme.  I was pretty sure I could pull it off.

Then, I couldn't find snowflakes, Frozen plates and napkins, or Elsa anywhere!  It is funny looking back.  I think everyone with a little girl Jesse's age was trying to find the same things.  In the end, blue and pink plates were just fine.  I found a few snowflakes on Amazon, and most importantly, I found Elsa and Anna.



This birthday was an important one I thought.  I have a memory of my own birthday party around this age.  I remember a small group of my Kindergarten friends at our home.  My Mom went with a Strawberry Shortcake theme (the best ever at that time of my life).  I remember Strawberry Shortcake pencils and games and lots of laughter. It seemed so perfect to me.  I know she did everything in her power to make that day extra special.  She created birthday magic for me, and I will never forget it.

Of course, I wanted to create the same birthday magic for Jesse.  I could see it in her eyes throughout the entire party and looking back at these photos, I am sure she felt it too.  I know every single birthday will not involve live princesses and dancing and magic tricks, but this one will be one to remember.

I wanted to share the pictures in a different way this time.  So, here they are set to her favorite song.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I have.

I love you with all my heart Jesse.  In Olaf's words…some people are worth melting for.

Snow Days

Snow Days 2014 in Pictures

The New Year and Snow Mountain and the Rest of the Story

So, 2013 was a strange year for me.  My life got ultra busy.  I quit running.  I quit blogging towards the end.  I just got overwhelmed a bit.  It was very testing too.  It is so incredibly hard being a full-time working Mom during the day and a teacher at night and everything else that comes along with that...let's not forget I have a husband as well...whom I love with all my heart and would like more time with.  I am not one to complain, but I am not going to lie, it has been very hard (and gosh, I don't even know hard really...we are all well...not fighting disease...you know what I mean though).  I miss a lot of things.  I always try to put my family first and there is truly not a lot of time for ME in my life equation.  It's funny how when you put everybody else first that you can start getting miserable by accident.  I have got to start running again.  I'll try to blog some.  I'll keep taking pictures and making memories as well...not sure how much of it will end up here...but I am going to try.

I thought I would share a few more pictures before things get in full swing again.  We went to Atlantic Station (in Atlanta) for New Year's Eve.  My love made us reservations at Rosa Mexicana (known for the amazing guacamole made fresh at your table...heaven), and the bonus was the outdoor ice skating rink.  The kids were thrilled.  Gosh, I made this sound like a planned event.  I should have said that my love was shocked to find that he could make reservations ON New Year's Eve for us because we are the complete WORST planners in the world.  Somehow things work out in some way or the other...or either we make the most of what we have...not sure which.

Here's a few shots from the big camera.  By the way, I shared some of my phone pictures from this night on Instagram.  That's another thing really new for me this year...Instagram and Facebook.  I don't know what the heck I am doing or if I should even be a part of all of it.  It was a trial year...I really like Instagram...not sure if Facebook is good for me...or maybe I'm not using it correctly.















We also visited Snow Mountain at Stone Mountain.  Oh boy, that was cold and fun.  You tube down the mountain with your family, or you tube alone.  We all really preferred tubing alone.  It was faster!  I  recommend it to anyone, although my son, Jonah, thought they needed to add a few more "rides."  I guess he was thinking it would be more like Six Flags on ice.



He said he didn't like that picture up there, but I do.  It was so cold at first, but the sun stayed out and we were losing layers by the end of the day.  It really was a nice time and worth it.





I tend to use my phone for more pictures lately, so here are the Instagram shots from these two days.  I really am loving Instagram...I just enjoy taking pictures and it is so convenient and fun!



Here's to making a lot more memories in 2014 and making more time for ourselves too.  Have a great day!  Love, Heather