The love of a Mom

Hi, my names Monica, I've been a mother for three and a half years and I have never spent a night away from my girls. Some of you might be absolutely shocked, ready to run for the door at the though of spending every night for three and a half years without a break, but then I am sure there are some like me too. I honestly love being a Mom, I can remember all the millions of times 'playing house,' and pretending I had my own kids when I babysat, but now all of the pretending is over and I am really a mom, TWICE over! Of course there are those occasional days when Jason comes home and I have to excuse myself for 20 minutes to re-group, but 99% of the time I am so happy that I get to stay home and be the life-line for these girls.

But, a few months ago, I caved, I hit 'check-out', before I could talk myself out of it. I am L.E.A.V.I.N.G. my girls a country away for 8 days... I know everyone says once I am out the door I will have such a good time and I am looking forward to time with Jason and a great couple we are traveling with, but mainly up to his point I have tried not to think about it too much... just typing this brings little tears to my eyes as I think of all the smiles, laughs, cuts, and bruises I will miss during those 8 days. We have really started planning for the trip this past week and it has me paying more attention to the girls and their every detail. It's like I am already trying to store up for those 8 days I will be gone.

I'm noticing how very big Blythe has gotten, not just in stature, but maturity too. She is no longer begging me to push her, instead she is learning to pump her legs, out, and back, out, and back.



Now that Blythe doesn't need to be pushed she assumes it is the 'Big Sister's' responsibility to push Jericho.



Oh how that girl LOVES to swing





Jericho used to be my more hesitant child, but she is growing more and more independent each day, no longer wanting to be caught at the end of the slide or for you to hold her hand as she goes down



The confidence that Blythe radiates is awesome, I so wish this would last through the teenage years, but I know I'm dreaming. She will proudly proclaim, "Mom, I am beautiful, take my pictures!"



We had our first egg hunt for the Easter season yesterday and what a change it was from last year. Last year we were encouraging Blythe to go get the eggs and keep filling her basket, this year she needed zero encouragement, she knew what she was doing and what she wanted.







Jericho is my little animal lover, wanting to touch each and every moving creature without hesitation.




Digging through her basket to find something for the chicken's to eat


The look on her face when I tried to convince her to go find eggs instead of playing with the chickens


Her 'serious' furrowed brow - classic Jericho



The idea was to decorate a cupcake to look like a lamb, Blythe decided it was sugar over-load and Jericho decided she would rather dip the marshmallow's into the paste then put them on the cupcake





The way Blythe always seems to befriend the older girls



Jericho and the confetti eggs



Happy Pre-Easter!

A lot of work, a little play, but all good

This weekend was mainly a work weekend. Meaning I spent a solid 5 hours pulling all the weeds out of our over-grown raised garden beds. I thought about taking the easy rout and just turning the soil up, hoping for the best and pull the weeds bit by bit as they come back up, but I knew I would be happier in the long run if I did it the right way. So I showed up for my date with the weeds and with the help of my ipod taking me down memory lane as I listed to the songs that are in there and haven't been touched since I was in college, I conquered the weeds. The girls were all gung hoe on helping me dig up the weeds, but after about 5 minutes Blythe said "are we all done with this?" to which I replied "we are FAR from done with this," so she bailed and found some fun of her own. However, Jericho really enjoyed digging and even threw a fit when it was time to stop digging and go have a rest, I guess she'll be the gardener. As my nails were caked with mud, my back stiff from bending over, and my skin sun-kissed I didn't think about taking any pictures, but it would have been nice to see a before and after because BELIEVE me there were A TON of weeds.

By Sunday it was time for some play so we met up with our friends and went for a 26 mile bike ride. All fun for the kids as they reclined in their nice bike trailer and some work for us adults who were hauling said kids for those 26 miles. We biked, ate lunch, and did lots of exploring.



















And then there is the ever-challenging quest to get that perfect Bluebonnet pictures before the Bluebonnets have come and gone.

To the ZOO!

You know that little problem I have where when I start something I have to keep at it until it's done and no other projects can come between us, I'm a one project at a time wonder. Well that's where I am at now, stuck in the Hunger Games. The good news is there are only 3 books and they are a pretty quick read so I think this project will end today and life should return to our normal by tomorrow.

So I have very few words for you today, but pictures are better, aren't they?

My little Picasso

I jumped on the computer this AM to check e-mail and found this pictures lying on the desk and it made me smile, and I had to share.



It's so creative, complete, single colored, then multi-colored, but my favorite part...the little person on the bottom. Did you notice the person has a body! I didn't teach her to draw a body, but somehow her people drawings just matured from a head with arms and legs to a head with a body and arms and legs. When did this happen? I know I saw her working on this green masterpiece yesterday before nap time, but I'm not sure when the person was added. I guess that comes with 3.5..the body. How do they get SO much older every single day? I love this girl and love how creative and artistic she is, she must get that from her daddy.

A Date with My Girls

The girls and I went to our first theater production a few weeks ago. There is a local theater here called Magik Theater that does live productions geared at little ones. They are currently doing If you take a mouse to school. We have read If you give a cat a cupcake and if you give a pig a pancake so we were familiar with the author. I was a little nervous Jericho might not sit through the entire production, but she did a good job. It was advertised as a 40 minutes production, but ended up being closer to 55 minutes (Jericho and I had to sneak out and put a few more quarters in our meter!)

We decided to make the morning out of our Theater date, starting with a park date (what better way to run out energy before having to sit still).











Then we had a fancy picnic - toddler style



Then it was off to the theater.









And what's a theater production if it doesn't end with autograph's and a picture?

Our First Spring

It's official, spring is here, and our backyard is showing off. We did a lot of things to our Bryan house, but landscaping was not one of them, there wasn't spring it was just winter (dead grass) to summer (still dead grass unless you water like crazy). But this new backyard of ours, it screams "Spring is here," and although I claim to not be a flower girl, I have to admit that it's really pretty and I can't help but stare out the windows that overlook the backyard (which is easy to do since we have 14 of them). My grandfather would be ashamed that I don't know the names of these wonderful trees that are producing such pretty flowers, but I plan to learn their names, if that is any consultation.














We spent the weekend outside with fantastic weather and a show from the sun peeking out of the clouds, and the breeze running through the flowers and bending the branches as if they are waving to us. We practiced our balancing act, checked on our strawberry plants and dreamed of how beautiful the entrance to the garden would be if all those thorny, presumably rose bushes, bloom.













And since it's still Spring and not summer the evenings were begging Jason to teach his daughters the art of the Marshmallow roast.







It's March, it's Spring, it's a time for new beginnings, new life, new buds, new appreciations. What are you looking forward to this Spring?