Here we are… the last day in May! I’m glad I stuck with the challenge and wrote all the posts. It’s been fun!
I hope it’s obvious what I’m most excited for this summer.
Tiny toes, late-night snuggles, and spending a million moments memorizing all her features.
Taking my two girls for walks every day.
Nursing again.
Kissing her forehead.
Having my heart grow another size bigger.
I probably spent waaay too much time trying to decide on an “ultimate favorite” Disney movie. There are so many good ones! I didn’t want to pick anything too new… it has to stand the test of time! So I went with…
Beauty and the Beast.
It’s got good music and lovable characters, but what I think strikes me the most is one of the life lessons it teaches.
You can be whoever you want to be.
Whether you want to be a girl who goes against popular social stigmas, a mean and ugly beast, or a candlestick… You can choose your attitude and you can decide whether you’ll change or not. And, go figure, the choices you make can deeply affect others around you.
How many times do you have to do something before it’s technically a “tradition”? Hopefully there aren’t any tradition-police out there, because this one is fairly new for us.
Everyone who’s anyone knows that all the best traditions involve food. I’m not about to break that stigma!
For every recent holiday, we’ve had a surprise donut breakfast (although I guess if it’s an official tradition, the surprise part will eventually wear off)… When I was a kid, we used to get donuts every Sunday morning. I really don’t think that any of us need to eat them every week, so I really like just keeping donut breakfasts as a special holiday tradition.
On Christmas we had reindeer and snowmen, Easter was a bunny, and then having donuts at all on Mother’s Day was a complete surprise to me! I love coming up with something special to give my family, even if it is as simple as a holiday-themed donut.
As Kaya gets older, she definitely gets more excited about little things like these!
Today, Kaya woke up early from her nap, crying. I waited a little while, but she wasn’t calming down, so I brought her into my room, hoping she’d want to cuddle.
She happily drew a few pictures and played with her stuffed animals before granting my wish. She rolled up next to me, cuddling in close. There might be nothing I love more than snuggling with my little girl.
Today’s assigned topic is supposed to be “profess your love for a blog(ger) friend”, but I wanted to do something with a little more meaning. Michael supports me through everything I do, and he definitely doesn’t get enough credit, so this post is for him!
1. He gives (at least) 110% of his effort to every commitment he makes. If he tells you he’ll help you out with something, know that you can rely on him to go above and beyond to get it done.
2. He’s smart. He knows more programming languages than I could even name. If he doesn’t know something, he teaches himself (and usually pretty quickly, at that).
3. He’s selfless. He’s actually nailing together a shelf for me right now… even after a long day at work and a trip to the grocery store.
4. He has a special way of understanding people. It’s pretty amazing… almost like he can see straight through your heart to know what you’re feeling and how to help.
5. He’s the best daddy. Just ask Kaya (or watch her sob whenever he walks out the door). He never acts frustrated or frazzled by parenting. He makes Kaya laugh almost constantly from the moment he gets home from work until she goes to bed. I can’t wait to see the love he’ll have for our new little princess.
Love you buddy!
I’m not sure how we’d “win” a million dollars, since we don’t gamble or play the lottery. However, if we somehow received so much money, I’d definitely have some uses for it!
My first priority would be to pay off our student and auto loans. Hopefully then we could look for our dream house!
I’d also love to have enough saved away for our kids’ college educations, church missions, and weddings (especially with two girls… hopefully they don’t anticipate having extravagant weddings)!
Maybe we’d invest some of it, and set the rest aside for a rainy day. I’d love to have enough money to do random acts of kindness for people I know who need it.
(Santorini, Greece, 2009)
My junior year of college, I was blessed with the opportunity to study abroad. Our home base was in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, but my peers and I traveled around as much of Europe as our time and budgets would allow.
Exploring Europe truly changed the way I saw the world, and if I could go back, I would in a heartbeat. This time, I’d love to take Michael with me to show him all the amazing things I discovered before (and of course, explore some new places, too)! I loved vacationing as a family of three last week, but if we went to Europe, I think I’d rather have it be sans kids (especially since you do a lot of walking to really see everything).
Watching the sunset, indulging in the best food you’ve ever had, and riding four-wheelers all around a Grecian island? Sign me up (maybe in ten years or so…)!
(the nose-picker)
(pizza… with a fork?!)
(chapstick-aholic)
(putting on “makeup” in the morning)
Happy Friday!
Linking up with Erin!
Sometimes, it’s hard to find the willpower to get everything done (not that I do get everything checked off of my to-do list every day…)
It’s hard to be 8.5 months pregnant and still find the energy to work out first thing in the morning. It can be hard to handle the tantrums of an almost-two-year old. The laundry is never completely folded and put away, and dinner lately isn’t usually as nutritious as I’d like it to be.
Despite all these “hard” things, I somehow keep trying to do better. My biggest motivation is knowing that through the enabling power of Christ’s atonement, I can improve each day. By His grace, I can become stronger, in every sense of the word- physically, mentally, and spiritually. I want to be an example for my children and show them that we can set any goal and work toward it.
So, even when I feel like the day didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, there’s always tomorrow to grow a little better.
This might sound crazy, but when I read the prompt for today, I was honestly a little stumped. I feel like (especially lately) we are always on the go and doing something! Even my hobbies get listed as “to-dos” (editing photos, blogging, crafting, etc.), so I’m not sure how relaxed I am when I’m trying to accomplish those, either.
I realized, though, that there is one thing that never fails to relax me…
Music.
Listening to music can dissipate any strange mood I might be in or worries I might be having. Kaya loves to dance around crazily right there with me, so now it’s an even better stress-breaker.
How do you relax?