MOG Dress

in 6 weeks i'm going to be a MOG! 

"mother of graduate"

{an 8th grade graduate}.

isn't the MOG suppose to purchase a pretty dress for the occasion?

huh? 

different  MOG.

are you sure? 

cause i think this MOG needs to wear one of these lovelies to the celebration.  

 what do you think?

all dresses available at eshakti.com

 

speaking of dresses and noah~ when my almost-8th-grade-graduate was 5 he declared that when he grew up he was going to marry me. he said i was going to wear a green polka-dot dress to the wedding.  he said we would have chocolate chip cake and dance to "how sweet it is."

noah.  

he knows how to tug on this mama's heart strings...

tugs on them, gives the look, and i'm wrapped around his almost-in-high-school finger.

a few years ago he took back my ring-pop and broke off our engagement. 

it was fun while it lasted. 

so i was thinking maybe he'd get a kick out of his MOG wearing this to his graduation? 

or maybe the red one, i really like the red one. 

noah's first crush

this short clip was made by noah and his friend, carson.

it's so funny i almost wet myself.

meaningful

"mommy, come here!"  they yell.

"mommy, mommy, come outside!"

 "come swing with us,"  they insist.

 i put down all the things that keep me occupied indoors: dirty dishes, tidying, sweeping, laundry, lesson planning, penny pinching, facebook... 

 and recess with my three a.maz.ing people.

"look mommy, watch!"

i look. 

really look.

 and laugh.

"mommy, you should go on the swing!

come on, i'll help you."

as she helps we giggle.


she pushes.

and i swing.

they holler and cheer, "yeah! mommy, isn't the swing fun?!"  


it is fun.


after we swing they show me their fortress.

they built it together. 

 they lead me past the fort to a small patch of wild flowers. 

the wildflowers invite her to twirl in her tutu. 

she picks me a dainty flower from her dance floor.

he sits beside me, places his almost 14 yr old hand on my back.  
without words he tells me he is delighted i put down the meaningless for the meaningful.  
i listen. 
really listen.

next, they lead me over to a cluster of boulders, which they have named "bobcat rock."  i watch them climb.   


they show me the waterfalltrickle.

which leads into the creek. 

and i think about the gift it is to be, "mommy."
i am overjoyed that they call to me.
want me.
 
i'm honored to be invited into their backyard world. blessed to have it shared with me through their eyes. 

and i am so glad that i put down my not-important and 
took hold of my so-important.
 

on his own

one evening last week noah asked to talk to us.

his eyes were glossy and his spirit tender.  it was evident he had something important to say.

he talked for a bit about youth group.
that night his leader had asked, "how do you know you are going to heaven?"
one kid thought he would go to heaven because he rescued a drowning dog from a pool.
noah told him that, "we are saved through our faith in Jesus, not by works."
his leader asked, "who in this group deserves to go to heaven?"
a kid in the group pointed at noah and said, "that kid."
noah replied, "i don't deserve to go to heaven anymore than any of you. it is only because of Jesus that we deserve to go to heaven."
after sharing this with us, he talked about pride and humility.
he thoughtfully communicated that he wants to have humility.
he expressed his desire to make jesus look good.  

next he talked about jr. high, and his experience in traditional school last year
as a 7th grader.
he talked about feelings of acceptance and rejection.

then he talked about God.
he said that last year he wasn't sure about God.
he looked at us like we would be disappointed.
we weren't.
we told him questioning was good, and that he needed to find the Truth on his own.

he told us he wasn't sure about God, then he went to camp.
at camp he watched his counselors really know and love God.
he wanted that.

he shared that when he came home from camp he gave his life to jesus.

joy. 

as he shared all this he looked radiant -like moses coming down the mountain after being face to face with God- like he had, that evening, been face to face with God, working out his salvation.

smells like roast beef

as i type the house smells like roast beef. it smells like roast because yesterday as i was getting fish out of my freezer to make for dinner {yes, fish! eaten 6x since jan 1.},  i discovered a roast and a ham that my sister," toni bologna full of macaroni," brought us in january. discovering food you didn't know you had in march when gas prices are astronomical is AWESOME.
{thank you, t.b.f.o.m}.

while i am typing, my husband and daughter are hanging this chandelier.

as a gift for my birthday i asked my creative m.i.l., cindy {who the kids use to call "cinderella," because we told them that was her real name}, if she would make me a chandelier for our new entryway.

i didn't give her any suggestions. cindy is very creative and really good at making things.  she made my husband.  'nuf said.

i like the simplicity of the chandy with the burlap shades.  thank you cindy!

 

sometimes i am good at making things too.  i  made her.  

emilie is wearing an apron because before she and michael were hanging my new chandelier they were making foccacia bread to eat with our roast for dinner.

{good thing i walked 4 hilly miles earlier}.  

as you can see, while michael and emilie hung my chandelier, i was being annoying helpful by taking  photos of them.

i snapped this shot immediately after fulfilling my one job of turning on the light.

upon seeing michael's expression on my canon power-shot screen i announced, "i am going to blog that picture!"
to which michael responded,  "no you're not."

as i post the photo, unaware michael, is done hanging my new fancy chandy and is immersed in a game of wii with noah. 

noah had his mop hair cut this week.
against his will.

thankfully, after his locks were abducted a few girls swooned over him and his new do {the girls may or may not be limited to his mother and sisters}.

 

16 weeks of puking, and i made him too.

i made her last.  

josie is pictured with my "grandaughter, elise denise." someday she will make me real grandchildren. hopefully she does not name them "elise denise." 

although i am not as inventive as my m.i.l.,  last week i attempted a bit of creativity and whipped up this pillow.  it took 30 minutes and no puking to make {unlike another pillow which claimed to take 30 minutes, but consumed an entire day}.

 it was so easy to make that another 30 minutes later i had an identical pillow for the other couch.

the striped couches like the pop of red color.

my walls on the other hand are undecided on the pops of color that they would like to have permanently reside on them.

none of these colors is a contender.  they were slathered on two weeks ago and will likely remain here, driving o.c.d.-me crazy, until gas prices go down.

gas prices have made paint purchasing impossible.

gas prices have also made pot-roast purchasing impossible,
which is why i am really thankful for the roast my sister gave us months ago.

which happens to be ready now. 

as well as the homemade foccacia bread. 

while i inhale dinner i'm going to think about how very good my life is, despite unpainted walls and sky rocketing gas prices.  i'm going to think about free roasts, a gifted chandy, a handsome man, and 3 amazing children, which God generously provided for me long before i asked. 

what has God recently provided you with before your asking?

tuesday

it's tuesday and my three are at our home-school charter site for the next 4.5 hours taking classes and tests.  i am home alone.  i can't remember the last time i was alone for 4.5 hours.

josie took my strawberry shortcake lunch pail to school today.  she said her fabric lunch pail  "smelled like barf."  my 1980 lunch pail smells like "awesome."

last week emilie got a new full-size bed.  she is excited about her teenagey room and has big pinteresty plans for it.  twelve-year-old emilie needs to get a job if she wants to see her plans come to fruition.

i'm glad that though emilie's room is transforming into a "big girl" room, she still has her cow, mabel, on her bed.  after emilie named her cow mabel, i told her it reminded of the sitcom "mad about you," where character's paul and jamie also named their daughter, mabel, because "mother's always bring extra love."  sappy.   
 
when we have guests they will stay in emilie's room.  a full size bed is guest insurance. insuring that guests will be comfy for a few nights, but will miss the spaciousness of their own queens and kings and want to go home.

 

josie wanted emilie's twin so she could have bunk-beds again.  josie isn't a type "a" personality like her mother and brother and sister and is fine living with clutter {i envy her}.  knowing this, i told josie that one of the beds has to be made at all times. i warned her that if it is not i will take away her socks and make her wear matching white socks for a week!  she looked at me like that is the worst punishment she would ever have to endure {it would be hard on all of us. we really love her colorful feet}.

we came up with a method for deciding which bed josie will sleep in each night, roe-sham-beau. for three nights in a row i have won and josie has slept on the top.  i have mad rock-paper-scizzor skills.

we have lived in this house for 3.5 months and in that time the girls- who wanted their own rooms- have had sleepovers in each others rooms at least 2x per week.  i asked why they were having these weekly slumber parties, to which emilie replied, "i like having our own rooms but i miss the conversations we would have when we got in bed each night."

have i mentioned that i love how they love each other.

years ago i purchased this banana hanger to display a large round purple ornament that was gifted to me.  a few weeks ago i unpacked the banana hanger and hung bananas on it.  noah thought my creativity to use the ornament hanger as a banana hanger was genius.  funny. 

speaking of noah, last week we registered him for high school classes.  before registering we packed into a multipurpose room with other freshman expectant parents.  the principal opened with "what to expect when you graduate from high school."  whoooaaa nellie!  'didn't i come here to register my baby for high school!?!?'   college is another 4.5 years away... 

COLLEGE IS ONLY 4.5 YEARS AWAY!!!  

somebody hold me.

4.5 years... reminds me that i only have 4.5 hours without my kids, and what do i do??
blog about them.

the truth is i  tire of being with them all the live long days, BUT i can't stand being without them either.

i'm crazy about these people! 

i saw this video by david & jj heller the other day over at linda's blog
{thank you linda for sharing it. it makes me a thousand kinds of happy}.
i feel this way about my kids.
i feel this way about my good good man, too.

If you were a boat, my darling

A boat, my darling

I'd be the wind at your back

If you were afraid, my darling

Afraid, my darling

I'd be the courage you lack

If you were a bird, then I'd be a tree

And you would come home, my darling, to me

If you were asleep, then I'd be a dream

Wherever you are, that's where my heart will be

Oh, do you know we belong together?
Oh, do you know my heart is yours?

 

If you were the ocean, I'd be the sand

If you were a song, I'd be the band

If you were the stars, then I'd be the moon

A light in the dark, my darling, for you

Oh, do you know we belong together?

Oh, do you know my heart is yours?

Oh, do you know we belong together?

Oh, do you know my heart is yours?

Oh, do you know we belong together?

Oh, do you know my heart is yours?

blink

this past weekend we celebrated josie's 10th birthday. 

TEN!

 78,840,000 blinks

 and

my baby is 10.

josie wanted to celebrate with a "just dance" slumber party.
she began planning 6 months ago,
and knew exactly what she wanted...

bright colors and lots of them!  

i relinquished control and let her choose everything.

her party looked like her!

*love*

josie gave each of her guests a gift containing her must-have-favorite-things:

mismatched socks

silly bands

fruity chapstick

&

pixy sticks

for the cake josie selected rainbow cake-jars {seen on pinterest}.

these were easy to make, 

and fun to eat! 

as the girls "just danced" together 

i was entertained by the mini flash-mob in my living room.

the evening was filled with games.

 "twister" was a giggling must.

as well as  "spin the nail polish!"

{various colors of polish, played like "spin the bottle,"

when the polish lands on you, you paint a nail that color, and so on}.

 

and because no event of josie's would be complete without tutus, each of the girls made their own tutu to be fabulous in. 

our d.j. friend loaned us his disco ball for the occasion

and the girls "pumped up the jam!"

{i'm think'n a disco ball NEEDS to become a permanent part of our decor}.

10.

i can't believe she is 10. 

after the girls were giggling in their sleeping bags i said to michael,

"i want to be like josie. when she enters a room she fills it with joy."

he agreed.

the moment josie was born,

 78,840,000 blinks ago,

she entered our lives and brought with her joy. 

it's who she is.

who God in His generosity and sovereign plan created her to be~

illuminated joy!

her joy shines on us through the songs she sings, the out-loud love she lavishes on us, the grace she lives in which splashes on us, and her uncomplicated faith.

oh! it has been a good 78,840,000 blinks!

and though i know from experience that the next 78,840,000th blink is just a blink away, i'm looking forward to   indulging in every blessed blink'n minute with my deLIGHTful girl!

may God be glorified in your life Josie, and continue to illuminate Himself to you and through you in Christ Jesus! i know He will!