Long Distance Prayers

When Jason was out of town last week, we decided to video our prayers so he could "be" there with us! Not sure why but Lacy always sings her prayers now and most times at dinner, she has a new prayer for us. Lily doesn't normally sing her prayers but I think she thought she should since the others were doing it. Harper usually copies Lacy's prayers and Haley's got her Amen down which I think is great!

Reminders

Sometimes I like to complain about living up here, I complain about the snow, the rude people, the ridiculous property taxes, the horrible potholes, gas prices, tolls, lack of a real mall close by, yada yada yada and then God likes to give me a little poke to remind me that lots & lots of blessings surround us.

• A great church that helps us lead our girls to God
• Locked myself out of my house yesterday morning, called my awesome friend & neighbor Lauren at 8am and of course she said come on over, even watched the girls while I went grocery shopping and fed us all lunch while we waited for the locksmith. All this graciousness as she's dealing with cancer and adoption issues.
• 8 inches of snow last night & a morning phone call from Theresa telling me she knew Jason was out of town and her husband Joel was coming over to snowthrow our driveway, then our neighbor Mike did our sidewalks
• A super flat tire greeted me when I got out of the car from taking the girls to school this morning, Michele offered to lend me her minivan or run to the store if I needed anything
• My sewing class every other Monday with an awesome teacher who not only has taught me to love sewing but also provides a great opportunity to fellowship with some great women

Sometimes, I just need that little poke! Especially in the middle of winter...I know I must have adapted to these winters since I didn't even bother checking the school closings!

Car Convo

Lots of our best conversations happen in the car...
Lily, "I've decided to invite you to my wedding Mommy"
Me, "Thanks Lil, I'm so glad"
Lily, "WAIT, won't you be dead then?"
Me, "Ummm...I don't think so"

The next day...
Lily, joking says, "I'm going to unbuckle my seatbelt"
Me, "No, no you're not"
Lily, "What would you do?"
Me, "I would pull over, make you buckle, take away your movie time"
Lily, "What if I unbuckled again?"
Me, "Then I would put you back in a baby car seat"
Lily, Well, I know how to unbuckle the baby car seat too"
Me, "You know, Lily it's the law that you have to be in a car seat. Mommy could go to jail if you don't sit in a car seat"
Lily, "How long?"
Me, "How long what?"
Lily, "How long would you go to jail?"
Me, "I don't know, why?"
Lily, "Well, if you go to jail for like a week & Daddy's at work, we can do whatever we want. We can eat sandwiches and watch movies all day"

Says it better than I can...

Another blog I read is a Mom with quadruplet boys...different from our house but I think every mother can relate. She put words into feelings that I have so often.

"Yet they still remain impressionable, which is both comforting and terrifying at the same time. There is so much I long to teach them while they remain teachable. Often I feel inadequate and overwhelmed, but there is much joy in the invaluable moments that we just live life together."

"We may not be able to provide them every opportunity or experience, but they are loved. And they are loved well."

We have made a very conscious decision to not have the girls try every sport, take every class, have playdates scheduled every weekend, etc. while they're still so young and once in awhile, I feel bad that we don't do Disney every year or have dance 4x a week. We want to spend these years WITH them, taking advantage of the time when they think we know what we're talking about. To enjoy lots of time to play, use their imagination. This was a great reminder that the best thing we can do is LOVE them, be there as much as possible to show them that. And Lord knows we try.

Going to Charity

I let Lily wear my scarf to school the other day and of course she lost it. I've told her to check the lost & found.
Lily, "I checked & it's not there. They take everything to charity"
Me, "I know but they don't take it everyday, usually just when we have a school break"
Lily, super dramatically, "It's not there, it will never be there, it's already at CHARITY!"
Me, "Well, just keep checking Lost & Found, it may be there"
Lily, "It won't, where CHARITY anyway? Can we just go to Charity to get it?"
Apparently, our efforts at teaching charity have fallen on deaf ears!

Tooth Fairy Sister

The girls are always saying, "I think my tooth is getting ready to fall out" because they want a visit from the tooth fairy but Lily wants more than just money from her.
"I wish the tooth fairy could become a sister"
Me, "What would you do with her?"
Lily, "Well, I would keep her in a little jar but I would poke holes in the top so she could breathe"
Good thing none of her actual sisters could fit in a jar.