When you grow up...

Last night my niece Presley graduated from preschool, class of 2023. The kids had to tell all the audience what they wanted to be when they grow up. Pres humbly said she wanted to work at Pet Smart when she grows up.

What you want to be when you grow up was the topic for Maci and me in the car on our way home. Maci was a little fretful that all these kids younger than her had a plan for the future already and she doesn’t. At maci’s preschool graduation she said she wanted to be a baby nurse like her auntie Chrissy. Last night I had to enlighten her that their little minds will change 100 times between now and when they settle on what they really want to do when they grow up. Heck, in reality I’m not sure I, in actual fact, know what I want to do when I grow up.

Maci decided as our conversation came to a close that she wants to be a heart surgeon for babies. WOW, remarkable career choice I said. She followed that comment with the question; do they make a lot of money mom? Well a lot more than mom I informed her. (Yes!! she whispered) So does that mean I could have a house with 4 garages, she asked. At this little innocent age she believes a big house is one with 4 garages and if you have 4 garages your one of the financially “rich”. As for me I believe that if Maci is going to be a heart surgeon I better double up on my monthly deposit into her collage fund starting now, ha ha. But proudly, I said honey you can be anything you set your desires on.

It is conversations like this with Maci that amaze me at how much she has grown this year. She thinks with logic and converses like an adult. She weighs her options and makes rational decisions. But what I find most intriguing about my little bean is she cares so much for other people.

As she takes off her devil horns and says goodbye to red and black and hello to camo…

So many of you know that our extended family is very close, I cherish that MORE than you know. You may recall our “little cousins” Bailey and Shelby who would come to games and many other functions as our biggest fans and better yet now our girls get to go to their games representing some of their biggest fans. The oldest of the girls, Bailey graduated from Huntley Project yesterday. (Choke back the lump in my throat and blink a lot ) She will take off her devil horns and say goodbye to red and black.

It is bitter sweet. I am so proud of her and the incredible woman she has become. As the girls have gotten older they have become some of my very best friends. It has been so fun watching them grow and I can’t wait to see the successes these girls have in life. Oooohhh what lies ahead for these girls, I just can’t wait! The road ahead is of the unknown but these girls have been raised by one of the strongest women out there, and if they are a shadow of their mother they will surpass every expectation.

Bailey has decided to join the Montana Army National Guard where she will serve our country along with many other admirable men and woman. She will tour the world with great pride of her home town where she knows without a doubt it will always be a place to come back to. A pillow will await her for her to rest her head during visits to a place she will always call home. She intends to come back to Montana and get her cosmetology license upon completion of AIT School next spring. After graduating from cosmetology school she would like to get her business degree. Although it is only 6 months that she will be gone we will miss her dearly.

Best of luck Bail…we love you!!!

Thankful Thursday...

Today is one of those days that I need to stop and notice the ever so countless small blessings that the Lord has poured out in my life every single day!! This is a big weekend for us, moving into our new house, a house that will serve as a stage to our future and what our future holds, and most notable a home to our family. Today, I would like to simply stop and be thankful for our financial provision in our household allowing us to buy a new home, the prerequisite that has allowed us stability. I want to take the time to look at my loving family and acknowledge that taking care of them is my divine gratification. I am thankful for the close connection our extended family has and relish that so much. I smile at the fact that I have some of the greatest friends a girl could ask for. Friends that I know we will remain close to as we endure the journey of raising our families in their company. Friends that just call to say Hi or ask how your day was. I’m grateful that we are all healthy and thriving.

Take a moment to look around and be thankful for what you have. Far too often we are wishing for the next thing instead of living for today and being thankful for all that we have today.

We will call it thankful Thursday.

I'm a tooth fairy...

So this weekend Maci lost another tooth. The top front tooth, yep a big one.

Again I think to myself, these kids need to come with an instruction manual. Tooth Fairy…what is the proper edicate. And when I tell Maci that the tooth fairy looks like the one pictured (that’s what I picture her to look like) what do other parents tell their kids? When I give Maci $3-$4 a tooth what do other parents give their kids? And most importantly what do you do with the tooth???

I’ve had this conversation with friends and coworkers in the last year since Maci became the age to start losing teeth. The story goes….Kids put the tooth under their pillow and then go to sleep, the tooth fairy comes takes the tooth and give the kids $… and then what do you do with the tooth?

Some—in fact, surprisingly a lot of them—are on the ‘pro’ side of the great Keeping The Tooth debate. Some of my “mom friends” say they keep them in jewelry box along with all the other tiny mementos of when their children were younger; a time to be remembered and cherished.

To this I have one word: Ick.

Keeping the teeth makes me vaguely uneasy. Having biological remnants stashed next to my diamond earrings kind of gives me the creeps. Like somehow the teeth are jewelry, too??? As though I’m going to string them together on a fishing wire and make myself some sort of necklace made out of human teeth. The idea just does not settle well with me for some reason. Not to mention if I did hang on to the teeth what am I going to do with them? Give them to Maci for her 18th Birthday?

So, as I’ve established myself in the firmly anti-Keeping the Teeth camp, the question becomes: what on earth do you do with the things?

It needs to stay hidden to keep the illusion of the Tooth Fairy intact, and throwing it in the trash is seems to be my only option. Somehow as I burry the tooth as far down as I can so that she doesn’t accidently see it in the trash, I find myself feeling somewhat disrespectful, like a bad tooth fairy. But I throw them out! I’m on the “anti” side of keeping the teeth.

Auntie in a fairy-tale version

I like to think of my role as an auntie in a fairy-tale version! That without the help of mice wearing overalls and dancing on tea cups I make my nieces feel like princesses’ and my nephews like princess’. I take my job duties very seriously. To that I rarely show up empty handed.

As I told you I am a VERY proud Auntie (Anny, or Cafy).

I am lucky to be an auntie to 7 beautiful, adorable, hilarious, sometimes chunky and always lovable sweet kids. I wish I lived near them all, which would guarantee that a smile would never leave my face and my heart would always be warm. They do things like give me slobbery kisses on my cheeks, hold my hands, play with my hair, give me loves and say the darndest things that make me laugh and cry. I feel so very blessed to be a part of their lives and have them be a part of mine. My only concern is that if I have any more kids they may not be as cute as all of these ones have turned out to be. I am grateful that my children will always have such good friends who set great examples. It is very gratifying that Maci has some very best friends out of these kids.

So here they are.....can't wait to see them all again!! I love you all!!!

Celebrate mom's...

Construction paper folded in half with a large flower on the front with cute little note on the inside. A hand-made art project fashioned to be a practical, pretty potholder. Soft, pastel tissue-paper flowers twisted into a creative corsage and a noodle beaded necklace sure to be the envy of all the other moms. Breakfast in bed with chocolate kisses on the pancakes. All delights designed to impress one very special lady.

Yep, Mother's Day is upon us again.

While many use this time to thank the mothers and grandmothers in their lives, I like to also remember my "other mothers" aunts, sisters and friends. Women, who touched my life, imparted their wisdom and shaped my character.

I told you a few weeks back that you would eventually meet more of our family. Those people who brought us up to be who we are today and those who love and support us in life’s journey. What better than the season of Mother’s Day to familiarize you with the women we have been so exceedingly impacted by?

On a day like Mothers Day we find ourselves reflecting on all the joys of childhood and thanking our moms for their unconditional love. A mother is a lot more than mere biology. She represents all that humanity is about — feelings and emotions like love, kindness, sacrifice, dedication, attentiveness and compassion that cannot be quantified. Above all things my mother taught me, I think she taught me the meaning of being a mother is to teach children how to love unconditionally and unselfishly.

And for thoes whom may not know our moms here they are!!

My mom is Lori. She is a woman of energy, spunk and full of love. Mom is one of my best friends. She is my realistic voice of reason and sound balance. She has a mystical mind and is always up for the next adventure. My mom is a woman who I can only hope to live her legacy as a mother.

Kyles mom is Kathie. A woman who has opened her arms and heart to me as if I were her own. She is a woman of pure intelegance and grace. She has more love to give than anyone I have ever meet and I am so thankful to be a part of that.

Thank you for everything. We love you very much “moms”!!!

"I thank my God every time I remember you." Philippians 1:3 (NIV)

Will work for a fridge...

One man’s trash is…yep, you guessed it, another man’s trash too!! We are having a garage sale (yard sale, rummage sale, tag sale, moving sale whatever you want to call it, we are having it) this weekend, out goes our seemingly-endless junk. The more that goes the less I have to move.

It’s perfect for someone who is looking for rollerblades out of the late 80’s, accompanied with bag to put them in, people who are into collecting old college textbooks, not to mention a rusted medal pizza pan, and anyone looking for a functional sandwich toaster. But alas, it’s out of my house! You set it up...they will come and rummage.

So the last few nights Kyle and I have been hauling out to the garage and working to prepare for our garage sale.

Kyle made fun of me for a few things, like for pricing a camera case and putting it out on the table. "Seriously, an empty case?" he said. "Who's going to want an empty camera case?” You watch, you just watch…someone will come up the sound of excitement in their voice and say "Is this a camera case?" almost on queue. "Why yes it is!" I will tell her, smirking triumphantly at my husband as the woman forks over her 50 cents…you just watch.

I have tried to explain to Kyle (prepping him for the “event”) that Spring is a time for love, the season of planting, and hunting for junk in yard sales...What?!?! Yard sales?? That’s us!!!

Aw yes. The annuals of spring cleaning or moving like ourselves bring with it the need to unload all of the unnecessary stuff in our lives. The stuff that we have been stockpiling in the basement, calling it our garage sale pile in the event we one day get organized enough to have one, onto other more deserving souls...the Yard Salers. A unique breed in America, The Yard Saler (or Yardy) emerges from winter like a hibernating bear restless from being couped up for months, they will buy just about ANYTHING, including my old camera case.

I also explained to him that attracting Yardies is really quite easy...albeit somewhat dangerous. (Dangerous?? You may wonder) Let me remind you that once a Yardy spots your sale, all known driving etiquette/laws are out the window. Yardies have been known to create neighborhood traffic jams for hours with no remorse. Hit, bump and run is a common occurrence around these garage frenzies. Chaos is sure to happen sometime through the event. But with a little planning and preparation, a safe yard sale experience to eliminate our jun...sorry... extra, unneeded stuff in our life can be accomplished.

Goodbye 1329...Hello 503!

In an economy where so many houses sit on the market, lonely and sad and dragging down their owners with them, we beat the odds and SOLD OUR HOUSE a few weeks ago! We put it on the market on Sunday, April 18th and sold it by Wednesday, 3 days later.

It happened so quickly, it almost might look "easy" to a casual observer. But let me tell you, transforming our lived in house into a staged, real estate-ready model home was no easy feat. We literally spent an entire weekend decluttering, moving stuff down to storage, cleaning, painting and decorating until the house looked perfect. As good as it could possibly look.

That Monday my mom and I went to lunch, Salad Creations. If you know me well, you know I love the Chinese Chopstick salad with the Asian peanut dressing I called my dear granny Ree at lunch and told her to use her super powers to the lord and say a prayer for us. By this time we had already received a phone call that our first set of buyers would be coming through that evening, less than 24 hours later. Granny Ree instructed mom and I to go get a St. Joseph Home Seller Statue. So after lunch mom and I raced over to Emmaus Road to buy a statue. Legend has it, that if you bury him upside down facing the direction of you new home, near the For Sale sign, and then say a little prayer (one is included with your purchase for a little guidance), then your house will sell.

By Wednesday, 7 viewers and 3 offers later…“Sale Pending”!

Then we actively began the search for a new home. We have a winner!!! The one we put our house on the market in a race to sell before it sold is our winner!! But it wasn’t without viewing a few others and continuing to go back to the winner that we decided for sure that was the one. It will be so awesome to have all this upheaval over and done, when we are all moved into our beautiful house and everyone can relax. For now, though, things will probably continue to be a little crazy until the dealin's done. We are plated to be the proud owners of a brand new home along the 12th fairway in just 18 more days!