Day 76 - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

mother's day

we had such a great day.  the girls woke me up bright and early with breakfast in bed.  i absolutely love seeing the excitement on their faces when they surprise me.  an english muffin with eggs & bacon, the biggest fruit salad this side of the rio grande, and water. 

they also showered me with gifts.  a robe that i have been wanting, a giftcard for a pedicure which i've been needing, a picture frame, and a notebook.  they know me and love me anyway. 

i also LOVE that my kids let me take a picture with them without fussing.  i'm so very thankful for this picture and will treasure it for years to come.  we had such a great day!  we spent the afternoon at my grandparents house eating and playing.  eating and playing.  eating and playing.  the girls always love their time in the country.

my other favorite part of mother's day is spending time with my own mom.  what a treasure she is to me.  she's been a great example, my sounding board, and my toughest critic.  but she's also my best friend.  she too knows me well and still loves me for me.  and i love even more how much she loves my children. 

my sister is another gift.  she has been the greatest aunt my children could ever have.  mykah even said on the way home today "she's the greatest sister you have."  and i agree. 

90/365

87/365

today was karsyn's kindergarten easter egg hunt.  as most of her other school events, i was unsure of what to expect.   we got there in time to help hide all of the eggs, which mykah was super excited about.  i didn't know if they'd separate classes to designated areas.  or if they'd have a free for all on the playground.  there were eggs EVERYWHERE.  they soon walked them out.  sat them on a sidewalk.  blew a whistle.  it was a free for all for sure. 

kindergarten craziness.  and they explained that each kid should get 15 eggs?  really?  i was quick to explain to karsyn, who found 14 eggs that we were so thankful for the 14 she found.  that maybe some friends found less than that.  and how fun it was to hunt eggs with her friends.  she was happy!  and i was proud.  there were kids gloating about their 20 eggs.  some crying about their 10.  and she was happy as could be. 

76/365

 

happy st. patty's day.

david thinks we went a little overboard on the green.  i think i like it.

my little valentine's

yes. i. did.

45/365

we love you.

sweet friend party

i stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to host a valentine's party for karsyn and her sweet friends from school.  the four of them have become best buds and are pretty much inseparable i think.  it was FUN.  i really enjoyed preparing and setting it all up, then, while they were all here, they ate and played and us mamas talked and talked. 

i had a lot of fun setting up the snack table.  i wanted a decent after school snack for the girls, but also something festive and easy.  if it's not easy, i don't do it!  so i thought of doing a "make your own trail mix" bar.  they filled their little heart cups and ate and ate.  it was perfect.

we also used this time to celebrate our sweet friend samantha, who is moving away in a few days.  we are so so so sad to see her go.  she is hilarious and super sweet at the same time.  the weather was nice enough for the girls to all play outside after we snacked and i'm pretty sure they had tons of fun. 

overall, it was a fun party and i cannot wait to host another.

. happy {heart} day .

candy bribes may or may not have been made in order to get one decent picture this morning.  thing 2 just wasn't feeling it.  as usual.  and this was her 2nd valentine outfit of the morning.  she so generously wet herself after i got onto her for being ugly to her sister.  yep.  in order to "get back at me", she pees her pants.  she's very well testing my patience these days.  some days the love is harder to be shown, but it's still there.  always.  why do kids do that to us? 

but ... no matter what attitude we have when we wake up ... it's valentine's day!!  show love and eat lost of sugar!

. 365/365 .

amazingly it has been 365 days since i started project365 on here.  this year, thankfully, has flown by.  it wasn't the best year for me and i'm so ready to see what 2012 has in store.  of course we had some wonderful times that were such blessings for me and my family, but somehow the bad outweighs the good in my mind, most likely because the bad all happened at the end of the year.  this new year's eve we spent going to laundromats to drop quarters in the machines for people who would be coming in to do their laundry.  it's one of my random acts of kindness that i'm doing for my birthday.  so the last picture of project 365 ...

yep.  a stack of quarters.  i would pay a million dollars for this next year to be the best year ever.  and i'm hoping that even the small amount of quarters that we gave out tonight would help just one person in the biggest way.  you never know.

. 364/365 .

it's been a lazy day here.  my mister has been out all afternoon dove hunting for the first time ever.  i just received word that he's on his way home, which is a good sign.  mainly a sign that he's alive.  the girls and i haven't done anything and mommy needed some fresh air, so 4-wheelers were the best option for entertainment.  they love these things and i'm so very glad santa brought them this year.

. 362/365 .

i love seeing the joy in my girls' eyes at christmas.  it really makes me sit back and think about life.  i wish i was able to see the little things as things of pure joy and happiness.

. 359/365 .

santa came!  this year, the girls really wanted one of those big battery-powered jeeps for christmas, but we talked them into asking santa for their own 4-wheelers to prevent future arguments over who gets to drive.  yes, sometimes i do think ahead.  i really think they'll love these.

. 358/365 .

i can't believe it's christmas eve!  the girls choice this year was a brownie and milk for santa.

. 355/365 .

we leave tomorrow to go to my parents house for karsyn's birthday and for christmas and i just now started wrapping presents.  i've been a little busy ... or, i guess i should say, busy being not busy.  wrapping presents has been the least of my worries.  and wrapping presents is my least favorite christmas thing to do.  if i could hire someone to do it for me, i would.

. 354/365 .

my in-laws got me a new jo totes camera bag for christmas!  i LOVE it.

. 353/365 .

it's 4 days post-op and i've done nothing.  literally.  for 4 days.  so, here's another picture of our christmas tree. 

. 350/365 .

i don't have a picture to post that i actually took today because i'm stuck in the hospital, but i couldn't pass up sharing this project that we did with the kids.  it was my mother-in-law's idea and was perfect!  the kids loved it.  it's a sugar cone, green icing, m&m's, marshmellows, and a gummy star.  how cute (and yummy)!

. 347/365 .

i've always wanted to have this amazing advent calendar for us to do each year.  and i want to have traditions with our girls that they want to carry on to their own families some day.  last year, we did christmsas books, which was wonderful.  not only did we get to read new books each night, but we instantly got 25 new christmas books to add to our collection. 

this year, i want to focus on the activities that we can do as a family to celebrate christmas and the birth of jesus.  i got a box of 5x7 envelopes and some scrapbook paper and made my own advent calendar.  these things can cost some good money if you buy them and i had seen several cute ones on etsy.com that i'd love to have, but didn't want to spend the money to buy.  this was super easy and i'll have these envelopes now for years to come.  each night, we open the envelope and do whatever activity i have written down in there. 

sidenote : luckily, my girls can't read yet.  this december hasn't gone by my plans so far, so i've had to improvise every single night.  hopefully we get back on track.

. 344/365 .

although it's not the best picture, here is our christmas tree.  complete with stockings hanging nearby.