I'm Out of Shape

"One, Two, Three, Get off my father's apple tree!! Tag, Momma, you're it!!!" It has been years since I have heard those words and needless to say, I totally forgot their meaning. It's a beautiful day out today, one of our first of the year, and the girls and I were out enjoying it, that is, until Ariel wanted to play tag. I'm thinking this will be fun! Until while I was resting on home base, I got tagged "it". So, the reality check is that I need to dust off my elliptical and get moving so I can keep up with my kids in a game of freeze tag.

We all made dinner together tonight. Cannelloni. They helped me wrap the lasagna noodles around filling. It's so much fun when they help out...most of the time. The process usually takes twice as long, but when I stop and savor the moment of them wanting to be with me, knowing that I'm still cool to them, it makes the extra effort worth it.

I'm Cleaning the Bathroom!

Ahhh...My bathroom! It's the place that I retreat to when I need a bit of solitude. It's my escape when I'm having a heart to heart on the phone and don't need little ears listening or interrupting. I love to fill the tub up with lots of hot water and bubbles and soak the cares of the world away. Last summer, I ripped down the wallpaper that was barely hanging on, and painted it a sage green and bright blue to match the new shower curtain and rug. You should have seen the girls' faces when, as I'm ripping down the paper, I tell them to help! They looked at me and said, "Really? Is Daddy going to be mad? Are we going to get in trouble?". I couldn't help laughing and saying, "Daddy is going to be excited!! Rip the paper, ladies!". Ripping down wallpaper is equivelent to months of thearpy.

So...all this backgroud to say that I think Belle has decided that the bathroom is not a bad place to hang out either. She spends times standing on the counter, looking at herself in the mirror and singing. Today she was in there, singing as usual, and I said, "Hurry up, and come get some lunch!" And her response is, "In a minute, Momma, I'm cleaning the bathroom!". Needless to say, I had to rush in and see what she is doing. She was indeed cleaning the bathroom. She picked up all the clothes that were strewn in the hurry to get ready for church and she was wiping down the counter with a wipe. It was the sweetest gesture. Sometimes the kids frustrate me so much but I think that God gives us those moments, the gimmers of hope, that I really am not screwing up my kids too much, and gives me the drive to push forward with another day of mothering.

This morning, durning our Sunday worship service, I had the privlege of leading our Praise and Worship with Ariel. She has done this with me before, but today it hit me in a way that I have never thought of it before. Here we are, worshipping God, together. Amazing. There is nothing material that we can take with us to Heaven, but our kids are one thing that we can.

Let Me Introduce Myself

Spring...a time of new beginnings. Is there such a thing as a Spring Resolution? I have long since given up on my New Year's Resolution, so this seems like a good time to make a new one. Today was warm and I had all my windows open, the breeze was perfect. It seems like the perfect time to take on a new task, clean out a closet or start journaling. Journaling is a new concept to me, not that I hadn't thought about it, but to me it seems like it needs to be a long drawn out process with eloquent words and something of substance to say. But I'm realizing that all the sweet little things that my kids do are disappearing from my memory. Day to day things are important when you see how fast childhood flies by. My kids are growing way too fast. It's such a dichotomy of thought, I'm glad they are growing and are healthy, but I long for the day when they were so tiny, where a kiss made everything better. Now problems seem to be bigger, not as easily kissed away. Anyway, I guess the thing I'm trying to get at, is that life is going by at such a rapid pace that if I don't write all this good stuff down, I'm going to forget it, and blogging seems to be the way to preserve all these memories.

So, to start off....

"Ariel", 7, is my fashionista. We hit the bargains at The Children's Place outlet and the child had a fashion show this morning that lasted about 30 minutes with her trying on all her new outfits and showing them off to Daddy. She loves the bright, new spring colors and wears them nicely with her red hair and green eyes. The more sparkles the better. She loves to sing and has been composing songs recently. She amazes me with her insight and softness of spirit for her Savior.

"Belle", 4 1/2, is the snuggliest kid in the world! She has these huge brown eyes that seem truly to be windows to her soul. She recently learned what a butterfly kiss is and gives them very freely. For some reason, she is obsessed with ears. She "twiddles" my ears, my taking my ear lobe between her thumb and first finger and rubbing. It was something that she did when she was nursing and continues to this day. You know when you are "in" with her when she does it to you!

Hubby is the master of multi-tasking. I don't know how he keeps his life all together. He is a Sergeant with the State Police and he enjoys his job. Hostage negotiating and Incident Managment are his specialities and they keep him hopping. It amazes me how he can switch his mind set from call to call that they recieve. They get called to anything from a car going the wrong way on the interstate and debris on the road to bank robberies and homicide. He has helped motorists change tires and has pulled victims out from under tires. He is also a Major in the Army Reserve, commander of his battalion, and has spent a year in Iraq. Needless to say, life is never dull. We look forward to his days off and being together as a family.

Today was so beautiful that we spent a good part of it outside. It's so nice to be able to not have to wear a jacket. One of the girls' cousins came up to play with them and it was nice to have a chance to tidy up the house with out little ones underfoot asking to "help". Some times I cringe when Ariel asks to help, but I have to keep remembering that this time in life is fleeting and I need to soak up this time when she is still little and still wants to be around me. I know a day will come where I will no longer be cool and fun to be with, but will be embarrassing and not as much fun as the girlfriends. So for now, it's all about keeping perspective.

So this blogging/journaling thing is fun so far and hopefully a resolution I can keep.