i like her

love the dress, hair, tights make up 
Maybe i'll cut my hair like that one day (after my current endeavor to grow my hair long)
reminds me of one of my favorite movies "Amelie"
I saw this picture somewhere and i need to figure out where- i just copied it to my desktop a few days ago because i liked her so much.

love MADE BY GIRL

Discovered something new today and I likey!
Made by Girl items below are a few of my favorites.
"Love" in different languages
"Hello" in different languages
and you can customize a print so that the contrasting letters sell your child name:)

KIMMEL KIDS!!

LOVING THIS!! Oh my, I stumbled upon this thru a blog I love Little Lovely- visit it here. And oh my I want to have the kids make art for our home with it!! Kimmel Kids site is under construction, but you
can check it out here....AMAAAAZING!!




Wild Ones

Found this post "Wild Ones" here at time of the aquarius and fell so in love I had to share it!! The photos are by Julie Blackmon 

the piano

We got a piano thru a dear friend of ours. We are very excited about it to say the least:)
This is a drawing elly did of the piano the same day we got the piano

one afternoon


We are not big fans of playdough in this house- at least papa and i aren't, due to the ungodly mess it can make. But we have lately given into letting the kids play with it because of how much they enjoy it. 
This is Elly's OCD realized in playdough. :)


 
Watch Papa's looking at her- he didn't know i had him in the shot;)
so sweet

 Robin on my finger

 Elly took the camera and took this photo!


you may be wondering where lulu is during all of this.....she is asleep on the couch


shaving cream and a butter knife

Those 2 ingredients are all you need to add to a bath for hours of entertainment for you chilins (children). The butter knife is for "shaving".
the part you can't see with the "eye brows" is when they raise their eyebrows it is pretty funny!

a few revelations-from then to now

I have been wanting to do a post on this for a while. (Before healing to after healing from the surgery) And went to start it and I came across this post I started to work on the week after surgery, when I was home healing. It is pretty intense and I am glad I had it saved on here so I could be reminded of the reality of where I was at and what I was dealing with.

Here it is:
so it is 8 days after the surgery and i have been home for..........5 days.
#1 waking up with pain medication worn off, 32 staples in your head from front center behind my hairline down to front of my ear-i can't get over that! and only being able to sleep in 2 positions when I am a 10 different positions a night person is unsettling at best.

#2 i have never felt so vulnerable in my life

#3 when comfort, the future you thought you could count on, your daily routine and things you do regularly are not so regular anymore you really are forced to reflect on 
all those things deep down inside that make you uncomfortable to think about, the things that kind of make you shake your head and close you eyes and do a jiggly dance to get the thought out of your head are pretty unavoidable unless you decide to sign-up for another mental life to escape reality.
questions like:
what is the meaning of life?
what gives me purpose?
where is hope?
where is future?
is this world it?
because if a house, a family, clothes, food, $ and the like are what I have all my chips in - man i am more fragile, vulnerable, flippant then i ever thought before.

It's like having to choose who to give your new born baby a ride in their car and your options are a 16 year old that just got their license and there own car or a 50 year old man with years of experience.  there is just a difference in their views, values, goals in life.
which one values life better?
which one values each moment and which one can't wait to get to the next moment?


That is all I had finished in that post. I remember I was pretty overwhelmed with what I was trying to communicate. I remember my head hurt every time I heard a loud noise (like a motorcycle), I would wake up with deep head pain and was thankful I was alive. The reality of how everything can be taken away to instantaneously was so real and annoyance with how for granted i had taken things and how many sweet moments I would so easily breeze thru or pass by instead of just sitting enjoying them. Here is a picture in the hospital and a picture I took with my phone for my mom like a week ago! (I know the one picture is kind of graphic- but it is just reality!) And look at where God has brought me:)

It is good for me to read that again and be reminded again. Maybe today I will choose to look at and enjoy seeing my daughters face when she is talking to me instead of looking at the thing I am doing while she is talking to me. Maybe today i will take in the moment when I hug my husband today and remember how blessed I am that I get to be here with him. 

I just have to Praise my Father in heaven for the indescribable faithfulness He had and has toward me, the indescribable beauty He brought into and from that difficult, painful, earth shaking experience. 
May we all be more thankful and less complaining, may we enjoy what we do have instead of never seeing those things because we are so focused on what we want!
"count your blessings, name them one by one"

To HIM be ALL the glory! Thank you sweet Jesus for all you have done! May it be forever etched on my heart and in my mind!


Our trip to Clear Lake

So this is a bit over due. But better late then never right? So we stayed in a little cottage on a lake called Clear Lake in Michigan for about 5 days. The kids had so much fun. We swam in the lake every day for a few hours cooked smores and just spent time together as a family. It was really peaceful.
i just loved the look of her arms and skirt here:)
my sweet boy excited about smores
here he was telling me about the smores:)
my girl loves her chocolate!
i think he liked the smores
she is her father's daughter
batman and robin waving to Atticus 
my little Batman Robin boy