The Big 3 with Micah Cree

My sweet nephew is 3.

I so love remembering my sister's stories of the kind of mother she would be.  

She had all these plans but her little man came in and set a path all his own. 

This dinosaur loving little man so enjoyed his day of fun. He has so much fun with friends and family.

Micah loved climbing the tree. He told me stories of the spiders who lived in the tree. 

I loved how all these tiny little things just sat around the table so patiently while we sang to the birthday boy. 

For a little walk down memory lane, here is

Micah as a newborn. 

Micah at his 1st birthday party.

Micah at his 2nd birthday party. 

The boy does not like to sit still or have his picture taken! LOL 

It has been so fun to watch him grown and learn and to watch my sister as a mom.

Happy 14th Birthday

My sweet, kind, amazing oldest child is 14. I keep watching him in amazement. How did he grow so fast? How was I chosen to raise this old soul? How did I get so blessed to be his mama?

 

 

Chaz's 1st birthday was held at a park. We had tons of family there. He was the one and only grandchild so he was very much the center of many people's attention.

 

Chaz's 2nd birthday party was held at my mom's house. He so loved Buzz Lightyear that year. Everything he owned was Buzz!

 

Chaz's 3rd birthday was held at a park. He had some great preschool friends attend. He was into soccer that year.

 

Chaz's 4th birthday was held at my mom's house again. We made his cake and he had a blast with friends despite the swollen eye due to a stye. A friend brought his police motorcycle to show off.

 

Chaz's 5th birthday was held at my mom's house. He loved our homemade Crayola cake.

 

Chaz's 6th birthday was held at our house. He had some friends over for the fun!

 

Chaz's 7th birthday was held at our house but this year we only invited friends, no family. By then, I had Brijet and family making it out for 2 parties in one month was too much. He had a blast decorating his own cupcakes with friends.

 

Chaz's 8th birthday party was held at our house as a joint party with his baby sister. We had blow up pools in the front yard and a clown. It was fun and simple.

 

Chaz's 9th birthday party was held at our house with fun friends. He seems to have that same look every year we sing to him!

 

Chaz's 10th birthday was the last year we held a party for him. He is the only 1 of my 4 kids who had a party every year for the first 10 years. I just could not keep up after having so many kids! LOL

 

Chaz's 11th birthday was spent at our cousin's Elizabeth's house. She made him a little cake and we just sang to him. Small. Focused on him. Love shared.

 

 

Chaz's 12th birthday. He was already taller than his mama!

 

Chaz's 13th birthday. He just hung out and let me snap some pics!

 

Chaz's 14th birthday.  He requested a cheesecake so I made one.

 

It has been so fun to watch him grow through the years!

 

I cannot believe I am the mom of a 14 year old!

Not Apologizing

I hear it so often throughout my conversations with fellow parents. 

I'm sorry. 

I'm sorry my kid played so long.

I'm sorry for the mess in the background of the pic.

I'm sorry he is screaming in the background. 

I'm sorry her face is messy. 

I'm sorry I have to get off the phone to deal with the kids. 

I'm sorry I'm in my sweat pants with messy hair.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. 

You know what? I'm not sorry. I'm not apologizing.

And I don't want to hear others apologize either. 

This is life. Raising our kids, loving on them, guiding them, making messes and friends.  It gets crazy and hectic and it is totally worth it!

I'm not apologizing for the mess in the background of that pic. I'm taking time to capture that smile and take note of that neat creation. 

I'm not apologizing for getting off the phone because my baby needs my attention. 

I'm not apologizing for my kids having a blast, even if it means they played all day at my house, at your house, at nana's house. One day they will be roped into this adult life with bills, chores, jobs, and headaches! 

I'm not apologizing for the messy face! The caked on marshmellow is adorable when you are 1! When else in life are you going to be able to pull that off!?

I'm not apologizing for the noise. Make some noise and soak it up, my babies. Enjoy life. 

I'm not apologizing for my appearance or the amount of pictures I take and post. It is me. This is who I am and I am choosing to embrace me, love me for me, and enjoy this amazing life I have been blessed with. 

I'm not apologizing and neither should you.

It Must Be Nice

It must be nice, she thinks, 
to use the bathroom and shower alone
to have the car ride home to relax and calm yourself
to go out with the boys
to sleep in on every Saturday
to sleep through the night
to have dinner ready when one gets home
to have a phone conversation uninterrupted
to be out in the world having adult conversations
to be able to sit through a whole movie


It must be nice, he thinks,
to always have the milk handy to instantly calm the baby
to be the #1 choice of these little beings we are raising
to be able to nap with the baby
to be home all day
to stay in one's pajamas all day
to not have to deal with rude customers
to see all the funny things our little beings do all day
to get to visit family and friends during the day
to have any family near to even visit

It must be nice, one thinks, about another's life with a slight sting of jealousy and frustration.

The things one doesn't think about is that all can never be perfectly 'fair' and perfectly 'even'. There are positives and negatives to all in the world. Trying to see things from another's perspective really helps calm those thoughts.

It must be nice, they think,
to have the money to put the kids in all those extra activities
to buy that nice car
to go on that nice vacation
to have that big party
to have that great wardrobe

It must be nice, they think,
to hold your kids all day
to be home to prepare dinner without a rush
to be able to have lunch with your hubby during the week
to capture those first steps and silly moments as they happen
to make it to volunteer at the school

Life can never be just right for everyone. There is always going to be a take and give. Reminding oneself that this works for you and your loved ones helps calm those thoughts. Reminding oneself that you are not willing to put the effort or go without to sacrifice for that other thing helps put things into perspective.

Life with sweet little girls

I had so much fun with my Life with a toddler post that I wanted to do one with

 my girls as the subjects. Life with them is so entertaining and full of surprises.

 

If only I could write a post in my sleep

I write some great stuff. Some deep stuff. All in the middle of the night when I wake to nurse the baby. All stuck in my head and gone by morning.

I am still deciding how I want this blog thing to go. What I want to share. I had another blog before and I shared a ton. Maybe too much. I deleted it and am now sad as I remember some of the cute stuff I wrote about!

Back to this middle of the night business. 

I just cannot bring myself to wake up and put these great thoughts onto paper/computer.  My Dax is not a good sleeper. At All. Ever. He wakes every 1-3 hours to nurse all night long.  He nurses a lot during the day as well. Except when there is cool stuff going on and then he can go an actual entire day without nursing. Silly baby.

I am exhausted but I am letting him guide me on his needs for now. I am blessed to be able to nap with him during the day to help with my lack of sleep.  One day I will get to sleep through the night!

Did I mention he is almost 18 months now? Where has the time gone? Kids just seem to grow and change so fast.

Chaz is now taller and weighs more than me. He is way into jokes and learning his Spanish. He totally blows me away with his intelligence and humor.

Brijet is trying to be more mature, choosing 'teen' style clothing, and has become an excellent big sister sitter for Dax.

Ainzley is all into colorful, polk-a-dotted and striped, fashionista clothing. She is so into reading and tries so hard to keep up.

Dax is busy, so busy. He drags chairs around the house all day to climb up to whatever he wants, which is usually the sink/water, food, and the hot stove/pots.  He is in love with being outside since the weather has warmed up.

I am soaking them up. These babies of mine bring me such joy!

Family love {red and green}

Every one who knows me knows I am passionate about photography and family. I love snapping pics of everything! I love to try to snap a pic of my mom with all her grandbabies together as often as possible. I don't have many pics at all of me with my grandparents and it makes me sad. I have 3 grandmothers and 2 died when I was pretty young. I try to snap pics of my one living grandmother (grammy) with my kids whenever possible too.  I love that my loved ones let me get away with carrying the camera everywhere and snapping away. I even warn them that they better wear something they want in pics if they ever come visit me!

 

 

My mom turned 50 recently! We threw her a lovely surprise party and her soul totally needed a day of loving!! She had a blast. My mom's favorite color now is red. {Seriously, everything in her house is red and she wears red clothes all the time} I hand sewed NANA and a heart onto my younger two's shirts.  It was my first attempt at sewing like that and I was thrilled with the results. I love that my twin sis and I are so close with my mom!

 

 

 

St. Patrick's Day came around and we saw a picture opportunity for a different color. Most of our together photos are in red! LOL We loved spending the day at my house, running around, playing outside (in the cold), and enjoying some family meals.  The kids all love on their Nana.  Dax actually decided Aunt Jenn was a fun person so he played with her a ton!

 

My grammy and papa are such sports. They let us come invade them at the nursing home (grammy is there but papa still has to go home at night) and they just deal with our super loud noise! I don't know how they handle us. I love snapping pics of my kids with them. Grammy gets so worn out but she sure loves the cuddles and kisses. 

 

 

I cannot imagine going home to an empty bed after 50+ years of marriage.

 

I just love looking through all my pics later and revisiting memories of those events.