Take Heart

Today two sleepy eyed girls woke me up.  Today they ate cereal, brushed teeth and got dressed.  Today I slipped two little arms into backpack straps and we climbed into the car.  Today I looked back (as I do every day) on our way to school and said, "I love you baby."  Today I stopped.  As her eyes met mine I went there...just for a moment...because it was impossible not to.  I thought about what I'm sure all mother's of tiny people (and especially sweet faced little first graders like mine) have thought about over the last couple of days.  I thought about what it would have been like to say, "I love you" and watch her hop out of the car and have her never come back.  I went there because it seemed appropriate to honor those 20 mothers unimaginable loss with all the empathy and compassion it deserves.  I went there and then I quickly left because the thought is too much too bear and that's no place to dwell.  But even as I type that I realize there are those that have no choice but to bear the weight and to dwell in that place this morning.   My prayer is that you will find peace in the middle of the darkness.

I have never been more grateful that we live in a place that is not our home.  We are dwelling in a fallen world, full of evil and tragic things that no one can explain.  There will never be a sufficient answer to the question everyone is asking..."Why?"  We are surrounded by heartbreak and pain that cannot be stopped but neither can our almighty God.  He stands with the broken hearted.  He brings comfort and peace into places it shouldn't exist.  In this world we may have trouble...

A thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but our God stands with us against a powerful enemy.  He came to give us life.  I am comforted by knowing that in this battle He fights for us and His weapon is love.  

Where the Wild Things Are

Last week I let Carter play hooky and we loaded up and headed to Temple...

She had an important date with fun.  She was playing Elf with Kim and Bryan for the Temple Christmas Parade...

 Christmas will make you Jump, JUMP...

They were very official with their "parade marshall" sign and pageant waves...

 Emme and I took it all in from the curb...

Along with Pops and Roxi who indulged her with cotton candy and souvenirs...

Having a famous Aunt can be pretty darn fun...

The next morning the girls took their reindeer for a spin...

Did a little fishing...

 And walked Mitzi and Abby...

It was a successful 24 hour excursion.  Back home we've been busy cleaning up and clearing out...

Did I mention we're moving?  Yep.  T minus 10 days and counting so we held the obligatory garage sale and Carter also made the most of the entrepreneurial opportunity...

With moving, Christmas and a plethora of other things on the horizon I've found myself feeling busy lately.  It's those days when I'm trying to accomplish a lot that I sometimes look at my girls and one word comes to mind...wild.  Black feet, crazy hair and dirt underneath their fingernails are becoming signs of happiness around here...

It reminds me of the hours I can remember spending outside exercising my imagination when I was little.  I'm so glad they are beginning to get a taste of that in spite of the electronic craziness we live in.  I hope that kids being outside and running free will always have a place in our home...

I love my little Wild Things...

But there is nothing better than a nice warm bath to clean them up at the end of the day...

Hi Emme...

I'm also happy to report that even though we are moving 5 days before Christmas I am bound and determined that it will still feel like Christmas around here!

This week our Christmas activities included a family date night to a live nativity...

And Emerson and I also went on a search for Baby Jesus...

I'm happy to report that we found Him...

She insisted upon Him having a place of honor with the rest of our friends...

Our Christmas spirit is also getting a boost from the weather this week.  We had our first freeze last night...

Hope you're feeling jolly, merry and all that good stuff!

Born to Be Rad

Sunday Carter and I made a memory.  We tied on our running shoes and put on our raddest faces (photos by Carter)...

I've been seeing crazy colorful photos for a while and always think it looks like such a fun way to run.  Carter has never had a "race" experience so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get her started.  Here we are all nice and clean...

But it wasn't long before the color started flying...

We were covered in color and we hadn't even crossed the starting line!  Here's Carter ready to get the show on the road...

She took off like a little lightning bolt (seriously I could barely keep up) and I quickly tried to explain there's no way we were going to sprint 3 miles!  We found a more reasonable pace and quickly headed into the first color station...

It was so fun!  Carter probably ran 2/3rd's of the time and I was so proud of her!  We were sporting all the colors of the rainbow by the end of the race...

Kim and Bryan had spoiled Emme with a doughnut breakfast and then brought her to wait for us at the finish line (Emme loves her a little "Bwyan")...

She wasn't quite sure what to think of us!

I'm also shocked to report that for the most part we were each pretty clean after a nice hot shower.  The only thing still sporting a remnant of color is Carter's hair, but that's not surprising considering what it looked like! 

Carter, I am so SO proud of you!  I hope this will be the first of many races you will run in and enjoy.  Thanks so much for being my little buddy I had the best time getting colorful with you.  You bring so much fun to my life!  I love you sweet girl...

 Stay Rad!  XOXO Mom

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Thanksgiving left our hearts full this year.  Time with family has a way of doing that...

I love this time of year.  It's my favorite.  I think we make family a priority year round but for some reason it is easy to look at the ones you love and feel just a little bit luckier around the holidays.  We took Emerson to her first movie over Thanksgiving...

She was a lot more into the popcorn and candy than the movie (but that's to be expected).  She also asked for a drink from our gallon sized coke about every 30 seconds.  I loved it...

While we're on the subject of Emme's favorite things I just have one word...lipstick.

Nate and I have been having that moment lately where we look at each other and wonder for a minute exactly how we got here...

It's a wonderful life.  It's also a bit of a crazy life and it's about to get just a little crazier.  If our best laid plans hold to be true we'll be moving into a new house just in time for Christmas.  I'm not quite ready to believe it but I'm hoping for it with all my heart.  That being said I haven't quite known what to do with Christmas.  I usually go all out decking the halls but I've been torn with how far to take things knowing we are hoping to be moving in just a few short weeks.  But a couple of days ago it hit me...crazy or not...it's Christmas for crying out loud!  So with a little restraint I did some decoration after all...

No one was happier than my sweet little Emerson.  She spent the better part of the evening oohhing and ahhing over everything.  She also had a chat and shared more than one kiss with Mr. Claus...

Seeing her excitement was enough to kick my butt into Christmas gear!  I spent last night setting up their advent calendars...

This morning when I saw their faces it was totally worth it...

And day one basically said, "It's Christmas Go Time!"

We spent they day alternating between Gingerbread house decorating (Trader Joe's takes the cake on pre-fab houses)...

And snowman making...

I realize snowmen and pumpkins don't usually go together.  But it's South Texas and with no snow in the foreseeable future we had to do a little improvising...

Not too shabby for warm weather alternative to Frosty...

Their Ginger Bread houses were pretty spiffy too.  Before...

And After...

Their individual houses made me smile (here's Carter's)...

And Emerson's which needed a little improvisation.  About 5 minutes after I had set everything up I got a phone call and came back to find Emerson with a half eaten gingerbread tree.  When I told her to stop or she wouldn't have a tree she quickly said, with a mouthful, "I didn't want a tree anyway"!  So a green lollipop it was...

And I don't know if it's just me but I think all this Christmas spirit has Emme looking just a bit like Buddy the elf...

With all the craziness to come Christmas may look a little more homemade around here this year, but I'm more than okay with that...

Because after a little afternoon yoga break...

The girls and I headed over to Kim's where the elves have been hard at work...

There were lights, carols and a real tree so if we need Christmas it's nice to know it's just around the corner...

Happy December!  Oh and just a word to the wise before you go decking the halls this year you might want to make sure you've got a reliable ladder...

It just might come in handy.   :)