Go Ellie!

Dear Ellie,

You amazed me today. Today you learned how to ride your bike without training wheels! That in itself is quite a childhood feat to accomplish for anyone, but for you? For you it was amazing!



You, my girl who fears so many things, faced your fear of getting hurt. You overcame your fear of trying something new. You WILLED yourself on. You actually looked at me a few minutes after we started trying and said...

"Mommy, if I tell myself I can do it, I CAN."

Oh the wisdom of a child sometimes!

Then, as we proceeded quickly from me holding you with two hands, to me holding you with one, to me gently laying a hand on your back, I heard your sweet voice. Almost a whisper, saying...

"I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!"


Tears filled my eyes over your belief in yourself.


You've struggled with so many things that come easily to most children. Life has been difficult for you, but you have persevered. In the past few months you've been improving week by week. You've worked hard at your Occupational Therapy, and we can really see a difference in you in many ways. Today when you took off on your own, and I watched you balance yourself so well, I realized how far you've come. Just Awesome.


After a few tries with some help from mommy and daddy, you took off! I was afraid you would be scared for me to let go, but NO! You just kept riding!



You are going to go far my girl!

And as we wrapped things up, both of us exhausted from the fun and excitement of the day, you looked at me and said...

"Now can I get a NEW BIKE??!!"

HA!

Yeah, that's my girl! And I wouldn't have you any other way.

Love, Mommy

My Perfect Quote.

Favorite quote of the....month? Maybe even the year. This pretty much sums up my view on life...

"Always look at the bright side of life.

Sometimes it’s the only thing between you and the loony bin."

By Ree, The Pioneer Woman.

Seriously, on a day when the first thing I heard was my girls fighting over WHO WOKE UP FIRST, followed later by taking all three of them to Kohl's where Austin's diaper leaked on me, and then I received several dirty looks. And really, I can't blame the cranky people who glared at me, today I probably would have glared at me too! I mean, we were a CIRCUS today! Austin with no pants, Annie with no shoes (she refused to put them back on half way through the store), then Annie kept slamming the door in the dressing room while I was trying to shove all the contents of my purse back after Austin emptied it out...mercy! We finally had to just leave.

One bright spot today was Ellie. Yes, that's right, Ellie! My normally difficult child was beautifully happy and easy today. I pray for more days like that for her, and I!

Anyway, so now it's after midnight, and I was quickly catching up on all things computer, when I came across that quote, and well, just realized how Perfect it describes my life!

I think that one might have to go up on the giant chalkboard in my kitchen for awhile!

Have a BRIGHT day!

This is the man I married.

And I wouldn't change that for anything. :)

T-ball Time!!!

It's that time of year! Time to hear the clink of bats and thumps of baseballs!



Time to play with friends on freshly mowed fields!



Time for Grammie's and Grandaddy's to cheer their grandkids on!







And time (if your little tiny Annie!) to hold onto your helmet while you run to home plate! :)



Another great season of t-ball is in the history books, or at least the history blog. Coach Skip did a great job coaching this sweet bunch of kids!



Shelley

Austin's Antics...part...oh who knows by now!

This boy. OH this BOY!!!

Today during "nap" time, he pulled his latest antic. I'd heard him playing for a little bit, maybe 20 minutes or so, so I knew he was up, but knew he needed some rest, and that's why I let him play alone for a little while. It's a tactic I use fairly often, and although we've had some issues, we've never had anything harmful.

Until today.

Here's what I think happened...

He wanted a toy truck that was on a shelf, high in his room. He's asked me for it before, but it's one that Jason would rather keep for when he's older, in hopes that it might not get destroyed. He climbed onto his workbench, and from there he climbed onto his dresser. He's been on his workbench before, but never (as far as I know) has he climbed onto his dresser.

Until today.

So he was on top of his dresser, which is about 4 1/2 feet tall. There's a Craftsman tool box up there that weighs about 35 pounds. He'd been into that, playing with tools that Jason was saving for him, and pulled all the drawers open. The toolbox tilted forward, under the weight of the open drawers, and knocked Austin off the dresser. He, and everything on the dresser, went tumbling to the ground. In the mix was a picture frame, and when it hit the ground, the glass broke in a thousand little pieces. I don't know how, but miraculously, the only injury my son has is two cuts on his fingers from the broken glass. He fell over four feet to the hardwood floor, and he's fine.

Thank you God! You made him adventurous, to say the least, but you also made him sturdy.

But God? This mama's heart could do with a tad less adventure!

Oh, and the toy truck he was after?

He got it!

Ducks and Fireworks!

We spent the Fourth of July playing tourist in our sweet b-town, and rode the Ducks for the first time!

My little drivers!







And me and my silly girl!



Then we came home to do some fireworks!











I love these crazy kids!



Shelley

Honor America!!!

College of the Ozarks is a local college very close to our home. It's a wonderful campus, very picturesque, and every summer about a week before the Fourth of July they do a celebration called Honor America. Anyone and Everyone is invited to set up their chairs and blankets on the grounds by Lake Honor and spend the evening visiting with friends and neighbors and let the kids roam free with their friends too. There are free crafts set up for the kids to make bracelets and necklaces, color and paint pictures, and even free face painting. That was the first thing the girls wanted to do, so as soon as we set up our stuff with a large group of awesome friends, we headed to the face painting table!

Austin was thrilled with the fire truck that the kids were encouraged to explore! We had to drag him away from it three times!

We did have one little mishap. We were set up by the lake, and Austin loved standing at the fence and staring at the water. Then I guess he decided that something should be thrown in the water, and before anyone could stop him, he'd grabbed a girl's soccer ball and tossed it in. Yikes! Thankfully some quick thinking boys found a long stick (or yanked a branch off a tree!) and fished it out for us!

I just love the whole thing. It's like stepping into a Normal Rockwell picture, America at its best!

And even if we never get the "perfect" family picture, we at least try! :)