Thursday, June 30, 2011

Rest

























Sometimes, life forces you to slow down.  I've been feeling the weight of our busyness for quite some time now.  Papabear has been working so hard.  I have been working, going to school and trying my hardest to keep a tidy house (ok, maybe not that hard).  Our girls are growing, oh so quickly, and I find that I am failing to keep up with their pace.  It feels as if every weekend is taken up by work or other family obligations.  And all I want to do is sit and catch my breath. 

Although this isn't the way I was looking for rest, I got it.  Monday evening I missed a step while I was walking down the stairs.  I was also holding Lu.  I came down on my left foot, hard, and it bend backwards.  Thankfully, Z was right behind me and she was able to retrieve the phone for me and I called Papabear.  I somehow managed to get out "I...hurt....myself!" and he was on his way.  He called our Priest who made it here first.  Papabear misheard me on the phone and had informed our Priest that I hurt my mouth.  I explained how I hurt my foot, then Papabear walked in.  He looked extremely relieved to not see blood coming out of my mouth.  I was trying to convince him to let me wait until the morning to get it checked out, but he was adamant about going somewhere right away.  My brother came over to watch Z and we were off. 

A little over two hours and a few x-rays later I was told I just sprained my foot.  Let me tell you, friends, that a sprained foot is extremely painful.  Both my mom and my MIL said it's too bad it didn't just break because it would heal faster that way.  For now, I get to wear a cast shoe and rest as much as possible.  As you can imagine, this can be difficult with two little ones.  But our amazing family has stepped up and helped out a lot this week.  I am so grateful to have them nearby. 

These past few days there has been a lot of rest (for me) and lots of cuddling on the couch with Lu.  While it's not the ideal situation, I'm grateful for the time I've had to slow down and rest. 

Friday, June 24, 2011

this moment

Inspired by Soulemama:

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 



Monday, June 20, 2011

...makes me smile


























Happy Monday!  Here's what made me smile last week:

Celebrating a friend's 30th birthday...
A long, relaxing bike ride...
Parking lot tacos...
This quilt...
Watching Lu snuggle her daddy in the middle of the night...
New Father's Day traditions...
This...
This brunch birthday party...
A month of Instax...
These crayons... (via Design Mom)

Have you seen anything lately that made you smile?  Contact me with a link!  If it makes me smile too then I'll add it to my list the following week. 

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Father's Day

Father's day has always been a little hard for me.  I had some great father-figures growing up (Uncles, you are amazing) but it's strange celebrating a holiday for a person who is completely absent in your life.  Truthfully, Father's Day was the one holiday I found myself dreading year after year.  It served as a painful reminder of what I was missing in my life. 

Now that I am married and my husband is a father, I can look at this holiday in a different light.  I am incredibly blessed to have a husband who is caring, attentive, selfless and loving.  He is everything I never thought existed in a man.  To watch him father our girls is an honor.  He is very much a co-parent with me and I know I couldn't do this parenting thing without him.  I am blessed to know that my girls will grow up knowing their father loves them, that any doubt of that fact will not be present in their minds. 

Tomorrow we have a few things planned, but mostly we are going to spend a lovely, relaxing day with our favorite Papabear. 

Enjoy Father's day and give that father, uncle or future father a big hug for me. 

Friday, June 17, 2011

this moment

Inspired by Soulemama:

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 



Thursday, June 9, 2011

We're Off!

























We're off on our second road trip of the summer!  We'll be celebrating a family wedding.  Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I'll be back in this space next week.  Look forward to some activity bag posts and a giveaway (hopefully in the near future!)  


Monday, June 6, 2011

...makes me smile

























Monday already?!  Here's what made me smile last week:

Digging in the garden...
Spending so much time outdoors...
This tree stump...
Sunday lunch with my family...
This stamp set...(via Angry Chicken)
My 8 month old's love of green beans...
This party idea...
This dog...(I'm not sure why...but this dog kind of reminds me of Lu!)
This family photo...
Sleeping in on Saturdays...

See anything that makes you smile?  Contact me with a link!

Friday, June 3, 2011

this moment

Inspired by Soulemama:

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 



Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Activity Bags

























We recently traveled to Jackson, Tennessee to watch my little sister graduate from college (so proud of you seestor!)  The trip is a little over 10 hours from Nebraska.  Since we have two little ones (one of which is still breastfeeding like a champ) we decided to break the drive up into two days.

I wasn't really worried about how Lu would do on the trip.  She's such an easy baby and pretty much just needs a smile and some "mommy milk" to keep her happy.  Z, however, would be a challenge.  We had a few people offer to loan us a car DVD player.  Both Papa and I were really against the idea of letting her watch T.V. in the car, especially because it's so stimulating for her.  Can you imagine spending 10+ hours in a car with an energized and agitated 3 year old?!  We certainly didn't want to.  So we had to come up with something different.

That's when I discovered activity bags.   Hallelujah!

The concept for activity bags is pretty simple...one self-contained activity per bag.  But the possibilities are endless.  This post was VERY inspiring.  I ended up using a lot of the links found there.  I decided to make 20 activity bags for the car.  I wanted to have one bag for every hour we would be on the road.  I knew that some of the activities wouldn't fill an entire hour, but I thought 20 was a good goal. 

I decided to tell my daughter about the bags, but not share what they contained.  This made the bags a little more special and helped her become excited about them.  The minute we were in the car she wanted her first bag.  She played with it for a while, then asked for another, then another, then another.  I got nervous, seeing her go through so many bags in such a short amount of time.  I started to panic a little, thinking, "I should've made 50!  What was I thinking?!  20 isn't enough!"  And then, she slowed down.  She asked for specific bags and played with some activities more than once, sometimes three or four times.  I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, knowing that the bags were a hit.  My husband surprisingly remarked, "She hasn't said she's bored ONCE on this trip".  I was so pleased.

I'll do a couple of posts in the coming days detailing what went into each bag and where I purchased/found materials for the activities!  I'll also share what worked, what didn't and what I'll be adding for our next road trip.