Today Let Me Appreciate

So if you saw my post on FB last night, you will know it wasn't my brightest day. It was Sam's birthday and I wanted it to be a perfect relaxing night. I was going to have the kids showered, the house cleaned up, supper ready to go, and a cake-frosted and decorated by the kids- for dessert when he walked in the door. Instead, what actually transpired was about as polar opposite of the above scenario as possible. I was just starting supper, no cake at all-let alone one frosted and decorated, the house was a WRECK and the kids were whiny and fighting. Laundry was piled up, everything was a disaster, and so was I. Sorry honey-Happy Birthday to you! :( Sam wasn't the least bit fazed and just went on as normal, but I love birthdays and wanted to make his special, even if it really wasn't that big of a deal to him. He does so much for us and in my head, this was how I was going to show him how much I appreciate all he does and what a great dad he is.
AND to top it all off, Kai was being an absolute BEAST all day yesterday. He was whining, biting or crying pretty much all day. When he wasn't doing one of those things, he was hanging on my legs and fussing. We were ready for lunch and the kids had turned off the tv, but Kai wanted it on apparently. He climbed on the tv stand and tried to turn it back on (which he can totally do...*SIGH*). Darren tried to get him off the stand to bring him in for lunch, but Kai was hanging on the top of the tv and pulled it over, off the stand, onto the floor and crash-our tv is shot. The screen is broken and completely unwatchable. Oh my word.....I wanted to run out of the house screaming. Seriously. I really did. The kids knew they were in so much trouble and all 3 of them just looked at me with HUGE eyes. I didn't freak out-I just told them to go sit down and eat their lunch and tried to take lots of deep breaths in the meantime.
I wanted to bawl. We have been doing really good about trying to stay in our budget, even though it's squeaking. We have been doing good, but it's Christmas! I know my kids don't need a single things and it's about memories, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas and watching how happy they are when Santa brings them the perfect gift. My commission checks from Initials have been paying for Christmas so far, and that helps us to stay on budget in other places, and everything seemed to be going good, and then BAM! (literally....) this happens. I know that TV is definitely NOT a priority and not even a need, but my mornings seem to go so much smoother when Kai has his juice and his blanky and watches "go go go" in the little chair while I am getting the other kids ready. This morning? Not so smooth :) but we managed and everyone made it to school at their appropriate times. :)
Ok, so now you know how my day went. I am not whining (ok, I was, but not anymore-I'm just telling you now) but seriously...it was a STRESSFUL day. This morning, not so much better-crabby fussy teething monster. Finally decided that we were going to go pick up Arby's for lunch, got D to school, put Kai down for a much needed nap, got Claire situated playing quietly, and sat down to chill for a bit. I was looking thru Facebook and saw this blog post at "Hands Free Mama". I literally cried as I was reading it. I know for sure that this was one of those times when God let me see exactly what I needed to at the exactly the right time.  I shared the link to the blog post and the poem "Today Let Me Appreciate". It's so very true and so often I lose sight of it.

This is the part where the tears really started to flow:
Today let me appreciate the gifts in the mundane, ordinary moments that are graciously given to me. Because even though it’s far from perfect … and sometimes it’s messy and hard … this is my life.
And for this anything-but-small miracle that is my life … I am thankful.

Today Let Me Appreciate

 

 

Maybe you are having a tough day too or maybe not. Maybe we all just need a good reminder to be thankful for all the little things that add up to really big things.

So for now, I am going to go snuggle with my kids, rock with my grouchy baby, keep the motrin coming and be ok with frozen pizza for dinner and be thankful for all the little things. Thanks Lord, I needed that~

November Thankfulness Day 8:

Day 8: Today I am so thankful that my kids do not get out of school every day at 12:20. They did today and they were driving me crazy fighting non stop about completely ridiculous things and changing their clothes 6 million times and running around outside in their swimming suits and Darren was punching people and Ellie was bawling about everything and their fighting woke Kai up from his nap and THEN Claire wet her pants....dear friends. *sigh*
Oh right...we are being THANKFUL, not whining....right.

Day 8: Today I am so Thankful for my wonderful neighbors! Our home is surrounded by wonderful people. They help me run my kids to school if I need them too, they let us sit with them at the top of the bleachers right on the 50 yard line for one of the biggest football games of the season AND share their really warm blanket with us AND buy us popcorn, they invite my kids over when their grandkids visit or send the grandkids to play in our yard since we seem to have a gazillion toys. They (ok I mostly call Sharon but I know the other would too if I called them) willingly send over whatever ingredients I seem to be missing for what I am making which happens way too frequently. They bring us over food after surgery and keep up on Kai and Claire and their medical issues. They turn on their porch lights on Halloween even tho they hardly get any other kids.
I know that there are lots of eyes on my kiddos-watching them play, etc. That might bother some people, but not me. I love it.  I love that my kids can make people happy just by going about their little people business. I love the protection that is there and how they watch out for my kids. I love it when the neighbors call me to tell me that my little daughter just locked her big brother in the trunk of her daddy's car and then left (true story...that really happened-so much for that mom of the year award!) I love waving as we drive past, chats by the mailbox or backyard or street or wherever we happen to be. I love the feeling of belonging here. Thanks neighbors! We love you! :)

PS Reason 6 million why we love our neighbors: When "Santa" finds a really great gift at a really great price, he can store it in Sharon's garage where little eyes don't find it!

November Thankful Days 1-7

So, as usual, I am late with joining the whole Thankful Challenge thing for November, but decided to do all 7 days on here! I think I will do all of my days on here so I have them to look back on thru the year and be thankful all year long!

Day 1: I am so Thankful that I know The One who holds my future and that all of my sins are covered by His blood! Not sure how I would have made it thru this last year without my faith that there is a plan and His plan is always better than mine.

Day 2: I am so Thankful EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. that I get to be married to my very best friend and there is no one I would rather go thru life's struggles and the daily grind with than Sam. He is an amazing father, and is the calm and logic to my crazy. We balance each other and while there are times that it definitely drives me absolutely insane, I rely on his calmness and logical thinking so much. I tend to be an emotional thinker and he is a logical thinker, so it works. Its amazing to me that God, before time began, created us for each other and where I am weak he is strong, and where he struggles, I have strengths. I see it every day and it's just another reminder of the amazing love of our Creator.

Day 3: I am so Thankful for my Ellie Girl. I think of all my kids she is the most like me, and because of that, there are times that we butt heads, but every day she makes me smile. She is my little performer and wants to be a cheerleader like her mom. She loves all things girly and is trying to grow up a little too fast for mommy's heart. She is an AMAZING big sister and the bond between her and Kai is very evident. She is very responsible and helpful (when she wants to be!) and I rely on her a lot to help with the littler kids. She is a smart little cookie and has been reading to her siblings lately. It absolutely MELTS my heart to see them all crowded around her on the couch listening intently while she read them a book or to see her and Kai snuggled in a chair and see her pointing at pictures in his books and him responding. Her and Claire have a new thing that they think is secret where after I put them to bed Claire snuggles over by Ellie and El will read her a book. They think they are so sneaky but what they don't realize is that Mom is the one that put that nightlight there in the first place! :)

Day 4: I am so Thankful for my Dude. He is SO very protective of his siblings and I truly believe he would fight to the death for any one of them. He can push the girls buttons like no other, but the second he hears about someone else messing with them or hurting their feelings, he is ready to battle! He is having to learn to play by himself now that little sis is in preschool too, so that's a work in progress, but he is trying! :) He loves to be Moms helper and is my garbage-taker-outer and laundry-hauler-downer. The kid can eat like you would not believe, and I'm not sure how we are going to keep food in the house when he is a teenager if he eats like this now! He's still skinny as a rail, and I'm not sure where all the food goes-I think he has a hollow leg. He is ALL boy and loves teaching his little brother how to play "ball" and play with tractors.

Day 5: I am so Thankful for my Claire Bear. Oh my...how does one descibe Claire? She makes me smile every.single.day with her thoughts on life. She is ADAMANT that she is NOT little, she is BIG! She is very go with the flow and can play with anyone and everyone. She is amazing at playing by herself when the other kids are at school and LOVE LOVE LOVES her kitchen. She will play with it for hours. She loves to help me cook and things like that and has decided that emptying the silverware drawer is her job. She teaches me patience and how to view life thru the eyes of a 3-ALMOST 4 Mom!-year old. She goes to school 3 days a week and absolutely LOVES it. Loves her teachers, loves the kitchen at school, loves the projects, loves that she is learning to write her name like big kids-just LOVES it! I am thankful that she does and hope she never loses that love for learning.

Day 6: I am so Thankful for my Mr. Man! At the current moment, he is having a very whiny morning, but hey, we all have those at times, even when we are 32! :) Through all of the medical issues this year, I have learned so much about patience and learning to wait on the Lord. Of course, I would so much rather that he DIDN'T have the issues that he has, but I KNOW that I have learned faith like I never would have had he not had the issues he does and for that I am thinkful. I love his happy smile, his obvious adoration of his big brother and sisters, how he gives squeezy hugs and slobbery, smacky kisses. I love how he loves things that roar (dinosaurs, lions, tigers, sheep :)) and making all the animal noises. I love how I know exactly what he wants and how I know his language-it's definitely ones of the perks of motherhood! :) I love morning-after-bath sleepy snuggles and how he smells SO good.  I love how he runs and is in a hurry to get everywhere. He definitely has his brother's facination with all things sports and his newest word is "kick" and he'll kick anything he can find that even remotely resembles a ball. He would live outside and has learned to yell "DADDY" and run to Sam when he gets home from work and squeeze his legs. I love watching him wave out the big window in the living room at random people driving by. I am just so thankful that he makes our family complete! :)

Day 7: I am so Thankful for my home. It is incredibly small for 6 people, that's for sure, and I would LOVE to have something bigger, but this home is ours and we are doing it with no help from anyone. I love how we have made changes to make it ours. I love how Sam and I can dream about the somedays that will hopefully come and our plans for the future.But it's more than that. More than just the physical house, I love our home. My hope is that people can come over and just chill and relax. I hope my home is a welcoming place. I love our location and our neighbors and the fact that they watch out for my kiddos. I love our little garden and the sandbox and the swingset and watching my kids learn to ride their bikes on the street. I am thankful that we have someplace warm in the winter and cool in the summer, a place of haven and retreat from the crazy world around us. And I really love my attached garage in the winter....:)