You all know what a blessing good friends are! And these are our good friends, Jason and Karolyn, and their beautiful girls. It was a chilly afternoon when we took these, but they were all so cooperative.
Karolyn had made their pretty dresses, and they all matched so well!
It all started with these 2 🙂
A card…
Thanks for asking me to take your pictures, Jason and Karolyn! It’s great having you as friends 🙂
Have a good week, all!
It’s late on a Saturday night. Dale and the boys are having a father/son night with some friends, and I’ve put the girls to bed, but they are still talking. Or should I say, the little one is 🙂 Our night went well, till I gave them a few minutes of “reading time”. Our oldest loves to read! Meanwhile, the younger girlie played, and did what she does, make a bit of a mess. Not a big mess, just things scattered here and there. And I could hear her older sister talking to her, scolding her. And it went on till I’d had enough. I decided it was bedtime.
And that’s when the arguing with my 13 yr. old began. She said she is NOT picking up her sister’s mess. I thought it must be bad, but there was maybe 8 toys scattered around the room 🙂 And I told her I did not like how she spoke to her sister, that she is little, and little children play and make messes. And I raised my voice, and she raised hers. I told her I would never have talked to my mom how she talked to me.
I came downstairs feeling so defeated! Like a mom that had no clue. What happened to my little girl? The one I rocked, and fed, and cuddled. She used to think I was the greatest. Now I get accused of favoritism, and unfairness. And I wonder, should she have a room of her own? I know how little sister’s can annoy you, but it seems to be escalating here. Are we short changing her by making her share a room with her sister? Right now it’s our only option, unless we remodel, and I don’t see that happening yet. I remember sleeping in a full size bed with not just 1 sister, but 2. And I really don’t remember much fighting. Perhaps my mom would tell you differently 🙂 It seems like as the oldest, she wants to control all her siblings, and they have other ideas 🙂 I get so frustrated at this. Is this maybe a thing with being the oldest? To be in control.
This battling of wills, is just not something I feel qualified to deal with. How much do you chalk up to hormones, and how much is blatant disrespect? I truly think we are alike in some ways, and that is why we can really clash 🙂 I love when she talks to me, and we discuss things, and she listens! I just wish there weren’t so many flareups. I wonder sometimes if I am too harsh? Or too picky about things? I never remember my mom raising her voice to me. And I don’t want my children to say that’s what I did. I get my quick temper from the Brubaker side, I think 🙂
Any words of advice from some of you who are more experienced? 🙂
On a good note, she came downstairs and apologized, and I apologized too. As we shared a hug, I told her I love her no matter what. Because that’s what we do isn’t it? No matter what they throw at us, how they may hurt us, we love them unconditionally. I thought of how often God must feel like that with me. And how He forgives and loves me no matter what. Grace upon grace.
I may be new at this stage of my children’s life, but I do know if a child is loved, and they know it, they are not going to remember all your flaws so much.
I hope you are blessed with a good week, and that you don’t get to discouraged in your parenting. A verse that was shared at church that I love… Psalm 127:3 ” Lo, children are an heritage from the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” Our children, our rewards. May we not take them for granted!
Another family from this fall. They made it easy on me 🙂
And some cards I designed…
Thanks for allowing me to take your pictures, Jason and Sandra!
I’m still learning how to do this mom thing. If another more experienced mom would have told me at 20 yrs. old what all I was getting into, I probably would have thought they were exaggerating 🙂
Last evening we were home, and I was out of lunch meat, eggs, or anything else that I often have for a Sunday supper, so I decided on soft pretzels. The kiddos all wanted to help make them. I wanted them to be able to help, but the neat freak in me was cringing inside. “Please keep the flour on the island”, “are your hands clean?”, ” roll up your sleeves, they are covered in flour”. And then the fighting began, and I forgot to grease the wax paper I put them on, and they looked they were all made my 4 yr. olds. Sigh. And then they were coming out of the oven, and Dale came in, and as fast as 1 pan came out, they were soon devoured. I didn’t count, but I would say it made 20-25 small pretzels. I got 2. Which is reasonable, but the pregnant mommy wanted another, and they fought over the last one! Needless to say, I was perturbed. Being a mom means servanthood, and I really struggle with that sometimes.
Being a mom means sometimes we let the messes go to do something more important. Like write a blog post. Ok, kidding a little, but right now my house is messy, and I chose to write instead. And this morning I felt a bit lousy, and Jenna wanted me to play a game with her. I so often choose the wrong thing, but this morning I played with her for 10 min., and she was so happy. Taking time for our children is always a good thing. It’s just not always what we feel like doing. Again, being a mom requires serving.
Being a mom means you are a walking wet wipe/tissue/burp rag. Got a booger, give that to mom. Snot nose, her clothing will clean that. Sticky mouth, wipe that good on mom’s outfit. It works great 🙂
Being a mom means that we clean, and wash, and bake, and cook, and discipline over and over and over again. Because we love them. And sometimes we do it while feeling very unloving. At least I do. But love should override feelings. Sometimes that selfish nature comes out, and apologies need to be made. And sometimes we need to give ourselves a pep talk, and change our attitudes. But love serves, even when it’s hard.
Being a mom means you make a great pillow, and your bed sleeps better than your children’s beds. And there’s always room for one more 🙂
You are the boo boo kisser, the dishwasher, the cook, the nurse, the story reader, the referee, the taxi driver, the cleaning lady, and so much more.
And guess what? Sometimes being a mom means we can do what we feel like doing. Within reason 🙂 And tonight I felt like making these, because baby wanted some chocolate 😉
These are so easy! I may have shared these before, but since I don’t remember, and I feel too lazy to look back, I’ll share again.
I make 1 brownie mix (9×13), bake at required temp, throw on marshmallows to cover and put back in oven for another minute. Cool a bit. Mix 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup peanut butter, and melt together. Add 2 cups rice Krispies to chocolate and peanut butter mixture, and spread on top. And eat with a glass of cold milk 🙂
To all the moms out there, hang in there, take a deep breath, and keep serving your families. It is a high calling for sure. And if you’re not a mom, I hope I didn’t scare you from it 🙂 Because it’s so worth it, every bit!
And now I have to take a breath myself, a very deep one, and referee a big fight happening here 🙂
I’m just doing a quick post to share a praise and correct something from my last post.
I shared in the previous post that I had a subchorionic hematoma. Well today I had a checkup, and there was a mixup with my ultrasound report and someone else’s, and I do not have that after all. So I was thankful for that. After examination, it appears that I have a cervical polyp, or the possibility of placenta previa. So basically, I still have to be a bit careful, and they will do another ultrasound in a few weeks to determine for sure. Then I should know a little more. I was beyond relieved to hear a strong heartbeat, and thankful that my hubby was along to hear it too 🙂 Life can throw you a curveball now and then, and they aren’t always the way we want them to be. But I am thankful we can always count on God to walk beside us, no matter what the situation is!
And I want to share a few snow pictures with you as well 🙂
I love how pretty snow makes everything look!
And this one I took with my phone after we had some melting.
The children love our old pony that was given to us. I will have many more pictures of him, I’m sure 🙂
Thanks for reading! And I hope you are having a good week!
I’m writing, even though I’m not totally sure where this post is going 🙂 That’s the beauty of a blog, I guess 🙂 The children are finally quiet in bed, the noisemaker playing the soothing sounds of rain falling, and hubby’s snores are continuous 🙂 He’s had a week of working almost every night, hauling snow away from parking lots, and streets, and it’s caught up to him 🙂
Today was a good day for me, and I was so happy to attend church! I haven’t been there on a Sunday morning for a few months, and it was refreshing! I can finally say most of my days I feel back to normal 🙂 I move a bit slow when I get up, but after a few hours, it usually goes well, and I praise God for that!
This pregnancy has definitely been harder on me emotionally. I don’t want to go into too much detail, other than I’ve been diagnosed with a subchorionic hematoma, and it is a stressful thing to have. My restrictions are no heavy lifting, and no going to the barn, so I’m thankful I can take care of my family, even though I’m ready to help out with milking again. I’ve definitely prayed more over this pregnancy than any of my others, because it’s so easy to take a healthy pregnancy for granted. I have an appointment this week, and I am uneasy about it, but I try to cast my worries on God’s shoulders. Because He can handle them 🙂 I know there are many women that have gone through miscarriage, or still birth, and I don’t want that to be my story. But I also know God’s ways are not ours, and He sees the bigger picture.
The children just went through the 100th day of school, so that’s a milestone 🙂 They got to enjoy some fun activities, and I appreciate all the effort our teachers put into keeping school exciting for the students. They have highly enjoyed all the snow we received, and loved the days off school 🙂 This was a blizzard for the record books! I think our area had somewhere around 30 in., so we’ve been seeing white around here yet 🙂
We had our friends over Sat. night for pizza, and it was good to have company come again 🙂 Especially when it’s your awesome friends;)
I’m so glad tax time is basically finished for us. I was working on mailing all our 1099’s out last week, and I asked hubby what I get paid for all this 🙂 I would never make an accountant, for sure! 🙂
I think I did enough rambling for one post, so I wish you all a lovely week! Be blessed!
