Have to share this

I was looking over the blogs I follow and catching up on some of them this morning and I have to share one with you. This is probably one on my favorite blogs and I love reading her new posts but the one I read this morning was not an enjoyable one to read. Don't get me wrong, she wrote it beautifully but the subject matter was very difficult. Apparently there was a dance competition in which 7 and 8 year old girls danced to Beyonce's song "Single Ladies". It was incredibly wrong! The moves these young girls do and the clothes they are wearing are absolutely inappropriate! It is a very direct and powerful post and I just had to share it. You can read it for yourself here. Please read it and take what she says to heart! Also while you're there look around a little bit, it's truly an awesome blog!

Two peas in a pod

Konner and Lexi are absolutely best friends! They have been from day one. Konner was so filled with fascination when Lexi was born.



He very quickly decided she was pretty cool and could stick around for a while!



As soon as she could play they were inseparable. They spent almost every minuet together, always playing, (almost) always laughing! :o)



*Yes they are in a box!*



*They both had babies in their tummy because I had a baby in my tummy! :o)



All in all they are the sweetest kids and the best of friends. I pray that they always remain as close as they are now!

All grown up

We found out last week that Konner was accepted into Carver Early Childhood Academy! He will be starting Kindergarten this fall and is absolutely thrilled! We applied back in January and have been waiting all this time to find out if he was accepted, I know it's not been a super long time but for someone who has trouble being patient it felt like forever! This school is a charter public school and they only accept so many students each year, plus the students are chosen through a lottery system so there really wasn't a certain way of knowing if he would get in. So I was very grateful to get the phone call saying he'd been accepted!

Since Konner was a baby we were planing on home schooling our children, Colby and I both were home schooled ourselves and have just always planned on doing the same with our kids. But about a year ago I started really not wanting to, I really felt like the kids, especially Konner, would benefit from actually going to school. So I started looking into Carver a little more and fell in love with this school! They teach piano, spanish and dance on top of all the other regular curriculum. Then once they get into 2nd grade they can choose from other instruments and languages if they are interested. But it took some doing to talk Colby into the idea! :o) I was honest with him and told him I just didn't feel that I would be able to give the kids as good of an education as they would get going to this school. I mean I sure can't teach them spanish, piano or dance, at least not any dancing they would ever want to do in public! :o) So Colby, Konner and I went and visited the school, took a tour and absolutely loved it! Konner got to go into one of the classrooms and play on a computer and with some other kids and he loved all of it. He was so upset when we had to leave, he really wanted to stay the rest of the day!

So now that he's been accepted and he knows for sure that he is going to school this fall i'm having to really face the fact that he is growing up. When he turned 5 a couple of months ago it hit me really hard. I remembered my mom talking about my 5th birthday being so hard on her and I always thought that was weird, I mean 5 years old really isn't that old so it shouldn't be that big of a deal right? I was wrong. It hit me so hard, my little baby boy was all grown up! He was suddenly huge in my eyes and it was very hard to deal with. Now on top of all that he's getting ready to go off to school!

It honestly doesn't feel like it's been that long since he was born, a lot has happened these last 5 years and yet it still feels like he was born yesterday! I remember looking and his tiny little face and thinking "I only have you all to myself for 18 years!" Now that 18 has shrunk into 13 and continues shrinking all the time. However I plan on enjoying every single day of these next 13 years as much as I can! I love you Konner-bear and still can't believe you're old enough to go to school!!

So tired!

Yesterday I woke up feeling sooooo tired! I haven't been that tired in a really long time! I'd been up sick the night before for a couple hours so i'm guessing that was the reason for my lack on energy. But gosh, it was bad! I had trouble walking from one room to the other. I got no house work done at all. The kids pretty much played on their own for most of the day and I really did very little. It was crazy! But for some reason after giving the kids their baths and putting them to bed about 9:30 last night I suddenly got enough energy to clean the kitchen, including sweeping and mopping, as well as cleaning the whole living room! Not sure where that came from! :o)

This morning I decided I wasn't even going to give myself the opportunity to be tired. I woke up and 7:00 and took a shower, made coffee and got going with my day. The kids took their bath last night so they're already dressed and everything. Plus the house is already clean-for now-since I did it all last night. It's awesome! I'm really not a lazy person, please don't get that impression but for some reason I just had trouble moving yesterday!

But I have to say, Colby was awesome about the whole thing! When I told him I hadn't done much of anything all day his response was "Well good for you. You deserve to have a lazy lounging day now and then!" Seriously? How many husbands would tell their wife that?! He's awesome! He has never made me feel like I have to keep the kids and house looking spotless since i'm a stay at home mom. Whether I get everything done or nothing done he never treats me any different. I know of women who's husbands treat them just awful if they don't keep the house looking spotless at all times. I'm so glad Colby's not like that! This house is never spotless! :o) That may make me a bad stay at home mom but when you have a 1, 3 and 5 year old kids running around a tiny little house it's just not gonna happen! And I don't feel bad for it either! :o)

Another reason i've been so tired might be because i've been getting up way earlier than normal lately. My friend and I have been going walking every morning. We meet at either 6 or 6:30-in the morning!-and try to get in 4 miles every day. It's been awesome but I have never gotten up that early on a regular basis before so it does take some getting used to that's for sure! Plus her and I are starting a volleyball league tonight actually. We'll have practice 2 nights a week until the games start and them games and practices 1 night a week till July I think. I'm super excited but also a little nervous, I haven't played in years!! I played for 6 years in middle and high school but haven't really played since my Jr year. I've had 3 kids and gotten really out of shape since then so this should be quite interesting! :o)

Well it's time to get ready for much so I guess i'd better go. Enough sitting around for today I guess gotta get busy!! :o)

What will they remember?

I was looking over my facebook information the other day and noticed what i'd put under Job Description. I put, "I am a, chef, housekeeper, nurse, comedian, seamstress, entertainer, chauffeur, a parent, a teacher, a referee, a nanny, a handy man, a maid, security, and a comforter. I don't get holiday, sick pay, or a day off, I work through the day and some of the night, I am under paid and over worked. But I must admit, I love every minute of it!!! :o)" I actually got this from someones status a while back but it so perfectly describes my days so I had to use it.

I've had a few conversations with Konner lately about the fact that I really do work. He sees his dad leave for work every day and hears us talking about his job and was convinced that since I didn't leave for work I didn't have a job. Thankfully my hubby stepped in and explained that Konner was in fact my job, along with his sisters. Taking care of them was part of my job, as well as cleaning the house and preparing meals for everyone. Konner brought it up a few times after that but was always given the same response and eventually it must have sunk in because we haven't heard anything about it in a few weeks.

But today as I re-read the description on my facebook I had to stop and ask myself if this really does describe my job as a mom. While I am all those things and while I do completely love being a mom there's just something off. Does everything in that short description cover everything? Is that all there is to me? Surely there's more to it, more to me, than that! When my kids grow up will they simply remember that I got them food and drinks when they needed them and I always had their clothes clean for them? Will they ever remember anything other than the things I did for them? Is that all there is?

When I was younger I wanted to and dreamed of the day I could make an impact on others. I was going to grow up, get a testimony-as every good little Christian does-and go out and change the world! That was my plan! But then I grew up and instead of making an impact I made some pretty stupid choices. Instead of going out and changing the world I had children and rarely do much outside of them. Instead of getting this great testimony I simply have stories of what NOT to do. That's it. Most of my plans changed, I ended up doing things I swore i'd never do and feeling very much like a failure. I didn't get the great testimony I dreamed of, I simply had stories of lots of hurt and shame.

Or did I get a testimony? Did I get something useful out of all those things? As for my dreams of making an impact, are those a complete failure? At first glance you might think so but if you'll take a closer look you'll see three very small children watching everything I do. You'll see a man who needs someone to lean on after a horrible day. You'll see a mother who looks forward to a phone call most days to simply say hi. You'll see a friend who takes morning walks and enjoys simply talking and laughing every day. You'll see a nursery full of children who need smiles on an early Sunday morning.

And what about the testimony I wanted? Well I will be the first to admit that I didn't get the one i'd dreamed of but I sure did get a testimony! I've thought a lot-and even blogged about-all the things I dreamed of and wanted to do and honestly not a lot of them have happened. I'm at a different place in life than I really thought i'd be but even here I have the opportunity to make an impact, to change lives. My days really aren't just about getting cups and changing diapers-although there are plenty of days that's all it feels like! :o) My days are about teaching, training, loving, comforting, guiding and many many other things. It may seem insignificant to many many people, and honestly it does feel that way some times, but it truly is so important.

I'm not impacting the people i'd imagined but the ones i'm impacting are so important. They are my family. The difference i'm making in their lives makes everything I do worth it. When they're older, my children will remember more than the silly insignificant things I do. My husband will remember more than the fact that at any given time I know where pretty much anything he needs is. My mom will remember more than the trouble I gave her as a child. They will remember the love, the comfort, the support, the compassion and even some of the cooking i'm sure! :o) When I look at it that way I really am ok with my job description. It really doesn't feel unimportant anymore. In fact, I think it is one of the most important jobs in the world! I am a wife. A mom. A daughter. A friend. I am simply me.

More bows!

Ok, I admit it, making bows has become my new obsession!! I don't know why it has taken me this long to finally start making them but now that I have, I do it all.the.time! I actually got my first order this week too! A girl in our church wanted some, she's 16 and her mom said she is trying to bring the 80's back! :o) So it was a bit of a challenge to make these, I didn't want them to be too "little girly" since she is 16 but they are hair bows so they need a touch of girly. Like I said, it was a bit of a challenge but in the end she seemed to like them which is of course what matters most! :o) So here they are...

I made two of this one for her, she has a school event this weekend so these were for that. They are both 5" bows and turned out super cute!



These were all just for fun and I believe they are all 5" bows as well, except for the last one, it is a 4".








So now that i've made my first order i'm back to making for the girls again. I made these for the girls easter dresses. Would you believe we didn't get any pics of them in their dresses? They had matching dresses and bows and my photographer husband didn't get any pictures of them! We're bad parents! :o) We have decided we'll have to go up to Colby's work and take some photographs of them in their easter clothes because they just looked too dang cute! Anyways, here's their easter bows. This one was Lexi's...



And this was Logyn's...




These I made just for fun, I even made 2 of each of them for pigtails! :o)






And this one I made just for fun, I don't really know of much that Lexi has to match it but I got the idea for it and it ended up looking so cute! So eventually i'll have to find something that matches it just for the simple fact that it's cute! :o)




Ok, i'll stop for now...and I promise to blog about something other than bows next time! Cards maybe... :o)

Bows

My last post was about the bow board I made so I decided I should post now about some of the bows i've made. It's harder and yet easier than it looks. It's harder because unless you learn some tricks you're out of luck and will just end up with a big knot! But once you learn the tricks it's actually pretty simple....and for me it's getting addicting! :o)

Ok so here are my very first bows, I made two of the same kind because I love putting my girls in pig-tails!



Now these aren't the greatest bows in the world but they're also not the worst ones out there either so just bear with me. It gets better... :o)

With this one I tried to get a little more elaborate. This one-according to the website I was using-is called a loopy surround bow. Once again, this is the first one like this i've made so it's not great. I'm totally going to have to make another one and see if I can do better.



Here is my first cheerleader bow....seriously, who comes up with the names for these things?!



This was my first attempt at a stacked boutique bow...i'll show you what a good-or at least decent-stacked boutique bow should look like next.





Isn't that much better?! :o)

Then these are just some basic boutique bows...the princess one is of course Lexi's favorite! :o)








That's all the bows I have for now but like I said, it's getting addictive so i'm sure i'll be back to post more soon! :o)