Treasures

Every time I go to visit Mom and Dad I am sent home with some sort of "treasure" what that actually means is Mom wants stuff out of her house, but can't bring herself to throw anything away...so it comes home with me! Sometimes the treasures don't even leave my car and go straight to the donation bin...shhhh...but every now and then something comes along that I love. A sweet book, craft stuff for my classroom, random pots/pans/bowls, a beautiful pink 3 tier candy dish thing that belonged to my Great Grandmother(now that's a treasure!!) Last weekend I came home with a bag of "goodies," as I pulled things out I came across a puzzle box...now if you know me you know that this girl does not do puzzles...at all. Don't be giving me puzzles or plants... if you know, you know. This puzzle box had something written on it...and when I saw it it almost took my breath away. That wasn't just anyones handwriting...that was my Granny's writing. "Dress I wore to Charis's wedding" was scrawled across the top of the box...I could picture the dress before I even opened the box. A chartreuse colored sheath dress with a short sleeve jacket. I opened the box and carefully took the dress out, and immediately brought it to my face...as if maybe that box had preserved some of her smell. My wedding day was one of the best days of my life, outshined only by the births of our children. We chose to have our wedding at my grandparents house. We (really they) worked for a year getting everything ready. My grandparents were so excited that I chose to have my special day on their property ... but it also stressed my Granny out just a bit. She needed me to have a "plan B" because "What if it rains, Charis!?" to which I told her plan B was an umbrella, and rain boots, because there were two things I was sure about ... who I was marrying, and where I was getting married...nothing else mattered to me. The day before the wedding she informed me, that she did in fact reserve her church..."just in case" ..."Oh Granny," I giggled, "I'm getting married right here." so... they (my family) started praying...there was a chance for rain, and I guess they didn't want to get wet...becuase I really didn't care! The day turned out to be gorgeous, complete with butterflies flittering around, or so I'm told...I don't remember the specifics, just that it was the most perfect day, because I was with the one I loved, surrounded by friends and family, at my most favorite place in all the world...Granny and Grendaddys. I got off track a bit (that happens pretty often) back to the dress. I never realized the significance of that color until yesterday. I love Fiesta dishes (Granny did too) and for my registry those are the dishes I asked for...I still use those dishes 23 years later. One of my most favorite colors in those dishes was the lime green/chartreuse color...that of course was discontiued at that time. Granny liked that color too, and kept her eye out to find me some. I don't know if she thought about that when choosing her dress, but when I realized that today it meant something to me. More than that though, I realized how special that day had to have been to her...special enough to put that dress in a box, label it, and save it... I never knew that I would want that dress, but what a treasure it is!!

The Mom

I don't know what possessed me, but I pulled up the old blog, and thought...it might be weird... but I think I want to start up again. When pulling it up I came across an old draft that I never published...apparently this isn't the first time I thought I would start this up again! This post still rings true today...although much has changed, and my children (we added one, that's her story though...and a story for another day) are all older. I still get to parent Seely, but the days of "parenting" the girls are pretty much over. We've reached the age where we get to be friends...and as much as I miss the days when they were younger, this age is pretty fun too! Here's the draft from years ago (and the piece of paper in question is still one of my treasured possessions) Who knows, maybe 2026 is my year to start writing again...if anyone in blog land is reading this,don't hold your breath...but maybe check back, because...who knows! ***************************** Written in 2020************ It's been years since I have written...and I could try and explain or catch the blog up but...I'm not, at least not today. So... on the side of my fridge hangs a picture, and it is one of my most favorite things ever. I am not sure which kid colored it for me, or even when the act of vandalism took place. At one time this picture said "Happy Mother's Day To the Best Mom"...a few years ago I was doing something and happened to notice this picture hanging on the fridge. What caught my eye was the black mark in the middle of this colorful picture, so I took a closer look. What I found was that I was no longer the best....I was now just "The Mom." Now, for some this may have hurt their feelings, maybe made them sad... but for me... oh man I laughed... and I laughed hard. Who did I make so mad that they went out of their way to find a black crayon and deface this picture! That picture still hangs on the side of my fridge and everytime I notice it I still chuckle. Over the years though it has come to mean something more. First... I'm not meant to be my kids friend, sure I want them to be able to come to me, I want them to know that I'll always be here for them, but I'm not their friend, I'm their parent... the authority figure...and they aren't always going to like the decisions I make ... sometimes they are going to dislike them so much that they will dislike me... and I will become just "the mom." Two: I'm not the best mom, shoot, somedays I'm barely "the mom," and you know what, thats ok. i want my kids to know that we mess up, we make mistakes, and that's ok...what matters is that we keep trying, we dont give up... even if we aren't the best we are still important, we are still somebody to someone...even if its just "the mom."

I Am Not A Farmer!

Earlier in the year we decided to join 4-H, Becca is in 3rd grade now so this was the first year she could participate. We had big plans, cooking, photography and chickens. Yep you heard me right...chickens! Funny thing happened, we got busy, life happened, and somehow we skipped out on the cooking and photography...but we still got the chickens. Thursday Feb. 21 we get the phone call to come pick up our 50 chicks (that was the smallest amount we could order), so I head to the fairgrounds with the kids. First we stopped by the store to buy a large plastic tub... I was sure they would laugh at me for only having the one tub, because, well 50 chicks thats alot! They would have laughed alright...apparently chicks are small, like super small, they had them all crammed in this tiny box ready to travel haha. I knew I was in trouble when we walked in to get them and they start sifting through the box to check them and record their tag numbers... the first chick they pulled out had a broken leg, then the second chick they pulled out had...ahem...expired, pretty sure I wanted to run out the door right then...without the chicks, but we didn't, we packed them up and headed home. We get the chicks home and because they are so small and the weather is still cold here at night we chose to keep them in our "office"...ok I can't lie the "office" is actually called the "junk room" around here. So here we are with 50 chicks in a tub, what could go wrong? Day 1, the girls are loving them they are so small and sweet, the kids hold them and help feed them etc. Day 2 more of the same, we did lose one chick but the kids didn't notice, and we didn't tell them. By the evening of day 2 the girls are starting to lose interest. Then came day 3...We woke up to another dead chick. The girls were super sad so I sent them out and tried to figure out what to do with this chick... I look around the room and find a large chic-filet cup (I didn't catch the irony of this until many days later) I scoop the chick up, I put him in a box and set it in the closet for Josh to dispose of when he got home. By this time the girls have decided that chickens stink and are gross (both statements are quite true). They continue to help me take care of them, only now it's because I force them too haha. Day 4 we are cleaning out the tubs, feeding etc when I notice chirping coming from somewhere other than the tub. I send the girls out and listen closer....No, it can't be! The chirping is coming from the box with the "dead" chicken! This poor chicken had been without food, water and heat....closed up in a box overnight and was ALIVE! Apparently I can't tell a live chick from a dead chick....now do you see why I am not a farmer!

Where did the time go

So I was thinking I could just start posting again, but when I realized how much time had passed since my last post I felt kind of silly. I could tell you about my day yesterday but you would go from a post about a sweet 10 month old Seely to a post about a rambunctious 2 year old. Wow time really does fly! I'm not sure why I havent posted in the last almost 2 years...we have definitely been incredibly busy but more than anything we have just been enjoying a calm normal life, nothing blog worthy I guess. Then I realized when I started this blog it was for me to record daily...weekly....ok monthly sometimes memories:). When I look back on my posts I am so happy that I have those memories written down because as time passes I seem to forget those sweet, funny and sometimes sad memories. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm back!!! I would love to go back and do a review in pictures maybe of life in the past 2 years but that will have to come later, for now I'm just going to jump back in! I feel that I should give a disclaimer, I will be writing these posts whenever I have a few minutes to sit down, so please do not expect them to be perfect...I write like I talk, there will probably be many run on sentences and in case you haven't noticed I use a lot of ellipsis....and yes I had to ask Josh what the correct name was for those, he's so smart:) So ready or not let's jump back in, I wonder how long it will take before I post again!

I Scream...

You Scream....We all Scream for icecream!!! Well atleast my kids did this past weekend! As many of you know my sister and her best friend own a photography business.... Hard 2 Hold photography....they take some amazing pictures. They have taken pictures of my kids for a while now and when they decided to start doing it proffessionaly I was pretty excited. Keelie came to me and asked what I thought of the name Hard 2 Hold.....hmmm I wasn't really sure it fit. You see when I think of something that is hard 2 hold.. weird, funny and crazy are a few of the words that come to mind to describe that phrase. Well after watching these girls this past weekend I now realize that the name fits them perfectly! These girls will do absolutely anything to get a smile out of your kids....absolutely anything to get that perfect, treasure for a lifetime picture....even if they look Hard to Hold doing it! :-) We love you Kiki and Jess!!!
Now scroll down to the next post and enjoy our Icecream pictures....and if you love them as much as I do (and I know you will) Call and schedule a session with Hard 2 Hold photography! I promise you won't regret it!

Hard -2- Hold Photography - Blue Bell Series

Just like me

What do you do with three kids when you are stuck in the house on a cold rainy day? You could bake some yummy banana muffins,


make a mess with some homemade playdough,



put together a castle...


yes, these seem like fun things! Or while Mommy is out of commission feeding your baby brother on the couch you could.... find a pair of scissors and give your doll a haircut. Then upon your mom discovering said doll and asking you about it, you could say...."well Mom I wanted my baby to look just like me!"