A Happy Heart

On this Valentine's Day, there are so many things I love. I cannot even properly do a post about it because I'm at an all time full capacity. So, I will just post a few of the many things capturing my heart during this month of love. Without further adieu....

I'm loving cousins and family time and adorable baby cheeks.




These pigtails and wild hair have me swooning.


I'm loving my friends of forever land and all the fun we continue to have.



Snow days, hot chocolate, and endless giggles with these two leave me a total mushy mess.

I have a new found love for handmade cards and gifts.


I adore this little Valentine and her sweet dress.

And it warms my soul watching this wild thing stretch out and read.


See what I mean? I could go on for years. Happy Valentine's Day.

Beauty

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye." - Miss Piggy

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Definitely how I feel about my babies. As in, I could not enter them in a pageant "for fun" because I might have to enforce Miss Piggy's quote. Lol, scary mommy. In all honesty, I feel that they are just so precious and smart and most importantly, so good for my soul because their inner beauty is innocent and sparkly. How's that for mush and gush around Valentine's Day?

Super Gam and Gamp to the Rescue

After the fiasco with Lynna, Amelia wanted to call Mom (and Meme and Steph) to see if it would help her feel better, but when I got them on speaker phone she bawled hysterically. At first I thought that was weird, but I do that too. Do you? If I am shaky and on the verge of tears (granted, she was already crying) and I hear my mom's voice, I just go ahead and lose it. Same goes for a hug from my dad when I am trying to hold back tears. Anyway, Mom and Dad were taking her to a motel for her birthday to swim in an indoor pool and Mom decided to move it up to that very night. In a spontaneous and whirlwind event, we loaded up and met them in Branson.

Amelia wanted Elise to come too and swim for a while. She is really wanting to include Elise on all things lately- even if the outing is designed just for Amelia to have some time by herself. The place was incredible--- a huge indoor water park. I was shocked and Amelia's jaw dropped. We were expecting a pool and there were five pools and a lazy river and three kid slides and a big slide and on and on.

Amelia ran off with Mom, so I didn't get many pictures of her, but she had a ball.


Elise was pretty timid at first, but she warmed up to the idea and started having a good time splashing around. I think her favorite was snuggling with Gampy though.

The motel had a little restaurant downstairs that was fast and yummy and after we ate Amelia went back for more swimming and Elise and I went home. She had a special time and slept until 8 the next morning!!!! Really late for one of my kiddos, haha.

Thanks Mom and Dad for loving my girls so much and for being such a powerful part of their lives. And you came to the rescue for Elise and I too since Ross was on call and we ended up having a great night with you guys. Love you so much and all the sacrifices that you continue to make for our family don't go without notice.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Cue our big and fun weekend. Lynna is coming from Kansas and Amelia has asked to see her every day since she was here last. This time, the whole family is coming and staying for three whole nights. Countdown, countdown. THEY ARE HERE!
We scurry around to go see Disney Live at JQH and everyone is pumped. As soon as we walk in there are pictures of princesses everywhere and the girls want a picture.


I am giddy as the lights go down in the theater. I love shows, musicals, plays--you name it. And, even if it was Disney Live, I am anxiously awaiting the start. It seems Amelia is not so giddy, but I think she must be in awe. Nope. She is immediately terrified five minutes into Snow White when the Queen comes out in all her evilness. We exit the theater and I calm her down and coax her back in. She is then immediately terrified of Sleepy, Doc and the others who are now onstage.

We are done. 90 bucks and five minutes later we are done. Amelia's take, "I'm just not old enough for that stuff, Mom." The girls want popcorn and cotton candy and we oblige, trying to save the evening.

The girls say all they really want is to watch a movie. Which we could have done for free. Here are the best friends doing just that.

The next morning has new promise and we are excited to head to gymnastics for open gym at a new place.
Lynna throws up everywhere in the house and in her car as we try to find the new gym (which we never found). They decide to take her home for fear she has a stomach bug and that is that. Our three days of fun was cut very short and Amelia cried for over and hour. She was so heartbroken. It was the saddest I have seen her I believe. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why Lynna had to get sick and wasn't spending the night at her house. And of course, since I was sad too and couldn't understand, my explanation of "sometimes these things happen," wasn't very comforting.

ENTER GAMMY AND GAMPY. Stay tuned to see how they save the day, the weekend, and probably even all this week.

Life isn't Always a Walk in the Park...

But, sometimes it is! Sometimes you get to take a walk with Mommy in the morning- just you and her-and see a pretty goose. Sometimes you get to learn how to honk at him.




And then, when you pick sissy up from school, sometimes you get to walk in a different park! In the same day! Here is that special sissy enjoying a strawberry cupcake. Isn't she SWEET?
And this is from a different day, but I love them playing in the sand together.

Yipppe for days at the park in the middle of winter :)

Little Red Schoolhouse

*sidenote- Even though Amelia is a little under the weather today, she was elated to get up and see if her precious groundhog saw his shadow. We watched it online and she was so excited to see the REAL groundhog. So Happy Groundhog Day from us :)

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Amelia is very into playing school right now. She loves to sit at the table and have me be the teacher. Her favorite thing is to get the answer right and have me announce that all the other children got it wrong. LOL. I don't encourage it, but she really pushes for someone to be wrong and for me to hold her work up to show the other "kids" that she did the best. Yikes, ha.

She wrote her name for the first time last week and I just started bawling. Little by little she was getting a letter at a time and finally just wrote the whole name. My smart, smart baby.



Then, she asked me if she could learn how to write another name. I told her that Dad should be an easy one and she cranked this out.

I am her teacher, the beloved Mrs. Tonya from her school. Once we are in the zone, she never breaks character. In face the other night when I tucked her in, she said, "Mom, you aren't really Mrs. Tonya, are you?" I laughed so hard.
Yes, I am so proud of her :)


I am also really proud of my other baby. Elise plays school with us and really gets into her drawing and sticker love, haha. She sits very nicely for about 20 minutes while we do some lessons. And it doesn't seem to bother her that she often has to be someone that just doesn't get the answer right.

Little

Big things and events are obviously important and I love to celebrate them. But I try not to overlook the little. I think that is something my childhood prepared me for very well. Not everything is huge or spectacular or expensive or a big deal. BUT, you can live like it is. React like it is. My parents did a fabulous job of showing Steph and I how to be present and love life and all the littles.

I love my rainboots.

I love Amelia in my high heels.


I love Elise making soup and art.