It's Really the Small Blessings

I often tell people that I'm so blessed. I have a wonderful husband, three precious children, a roof over my head and a car that works. While we don't have a ton of money, we are comfortable in our lifestyle. There's plenty of food on the table and we have many other things for which to be thankful.

But sometimes I forget about the small blessings in life. Yesterday morning, H slept until 8:20 am. That's not normal for him. Normal is 6:30 at the latest. That meant I got to sleep in, too. Mama always needs extra rest. That was a small blessing.

Then K came in my room around 7:45 (late for her as well) carrying her devotional that she got around Christmastime. She said, "Mama, you really need to read this. You will be so blessed by it." Those are her words, not mine. What was it? The Doxology. It tied into the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with just a few fish and loaves of bread.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Amen

A hearty amen to that...

Birthday Pictures

A few for your enjoyment...

I'm Back!

As promised, I'm back to give you all the wonderful, mundane details of our lives here at Maison de Mama. And they are so wonderful and mundane all at the same time.

Let's recap what's happened over the last (almost) two months

• S went out of town for the first time with the kids out of school
• His parents arrived with B, his sister, and her four kids, P, M, A, & W
• We spent almost every day with them doing tons of fun things
• K and L both celebrated their birthdays (K is now 6, L is now 4)
• H learned a new word: "No!"
• VBS (one word of advice to all you mamas out there who will be sending their kids to VBS next year: pre-register)
• One last hurrah with B and her kids
• Somewhere in here H got 2 new teeth with a third about to pop through at any moment. I'm not sure how I missed the 2 new ones but I did as I only discovered it today.

I think the gist of the list (ha!) is that we've been really busy doing really fun things. And even though there's a certain stress related to having 5 extra people around for over a month, we had a blast with them. H really took up with P and was definitely missing him the first few days they were gone. I've finally downloaded all the pictures and will post them very soon.

It's good to be back!

I'll Tide You Over with an L-ism

I still need to get pictures downloaded from my camera and I just haven't had that much time so I'll give you this little gem from L.

One day last week after going to the gym (still doing that wretched thing in the attempt to be healthy, blah, blah, blah) S was sitting on the sofa writing a quick email before hopping in the shower. He had removed his shirt because it was soaked from the gym and our house was cool thus making him cold. L, who was in the kitchen, looked over at him and said, "Daddy, why are you showing your boobs?" My sister-in-law and I busted out laughing at that one.

L's really not afraid to say what she's thinking.

Delinquent Blogger

I've been such a bad blogger lately and I have lots of pictures to share from the birthday celebrations we've been having lately. We've got VBS going on this week (I'm in charge of registration) so I'm somewhat busy. Hope y'all are well and I promise to get pictures up soon!

(I did manage to change the ages on the sidebar, noting that I now have a six-year-old and a four-year-old. Where did the time go?)

Random Pictures

As I was downloading the pictures from the previous post, I found a "random pictures" file that has some really interesting photos in it. I thought I'd share a few.

This is a picture of H from VBS last year. It was about this time last year that our church had VBS and a friend took a picture of him as we were waiting to pick K and L up at the end of the day. He's changed a lot since then...

This is a picture of my grandfather reading to me and my friend Josh, who is a month younger than me.

And here's a picture of K and her friend, Katelyn, playing princess.

Emma, our friend's dog. I just love the angle of the photo.

One more, this one of K meeting L for the very first time.

What pictures are you hiding on your computer?

P and H

Here are a couple of pictures of my nephew P with H. P was the ring bearer in my wedding and he has grown A LOT since then. We're having fun with them!

Birthdays

This morning I had to make a run to the grocery store to pick up some items for a baby shower happening this evening. Since I signed up to bring both food and decorations, I felt it necessary to actually purchase the food. Fortunately, I have cheese and crackers so there isn't much in the way of cooking.

As I was being helped out by the bag boy, he asked if I was ready for the 4th. It kind of caught me off guard because I actually haven't thought much about it. There's a picnic at our church, complete with volleyball (S's favorite) and a large water slide (K's and L's favorite). Other than that, it hasn't been on mind. I guess it should be since I'm an American and proud to be so. But there are two big events that happen right after the 4th that are weighing much more heavily on my mind: K's and L's birthdays.

I remember celebrating the 4th 6 years ago in New Orleans. A friend of ours said it would be cool if I had my baby on his birthday, which was July 7. His wife, however, didn't think it was funny because our church friends had planned a surprise shower for me on Sunday the 7th and wanted us to be there. Well, his wish came true as I had K on the 7th and completely missed my shower.

Two years and one week later, I was doing the same thing: having a baby girl. I don't even remember the 4th that year. I barely even remember K's 2nd birthday. I think there were friends but I know there was cake.

Fast forward 4 years and here we are. I can hardly believe that my girls are about to be 6 and 4. They are growing up awfully fast and I'm not sure I like it. I love watching them in every stage; love it when their little hands grab mine knowing that all too soon they will be grown and gone.

So look for some wonderful, fabulous birthday pics in the next week or so. And have a happy 4th!