february extras

This month had its highs and lows.

No different than any other month, I suppose.

Here are the extras...

We'll start with a high...waking up to this gorgeous frost one Saturday morning.

I ran outside in my pajamas to take these pictures.

I'm sure the neighbors were thinking, "Freak!"

But, really...how can I resist when God shows off like this?

Moving on to another high...miss Peach has grown fond of leg warmers.  She calls them "warm legs" and thinks she looks like Fancy Nancy when she wears them.

hmmm...this isn't quite a low, but it has caused a few tears.

Tulip learned how to open drawers...and close her chubby little fingers in them as well.

thinking about walking

doesn't matter how the day is going

when you see this happening on your kitchen floor, the day goes from zero to sixty in about three seconds flat.

oh, the diapers!

I had to let the elastic out in the legs again.

There it is...that little pang that I feel every time I admit to myself that she is growing up and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

low of the month...we've had some rough, rough nights with this one

i don't know if it is teeth or growing pains

but there have been a few nights where she is just unconsolable

however, things have been better lately, so we got real brave and moved the girls into the same room!

I love it!  There is something sooooo sweet about them sleeping in the same room together.
And they love it!

We hear them talking to each other sometimes, after we've closed the door and it makes me so excited for that bond of sisterhood to unfold.

The other great part is that this opened up one of our bedrooms for a play/toy room.  I don't mind toys in our living room, but honestly, it was starting to suffocate me.  So, most of them have been moved into the new toy room and I've reclaimed a bit of our living area.  It's been a win/win situation!

sisters together in one room - one more point for the high side of February

no month would be complete without a little color to jazz things up

my mom brought these melt-in-your-mouth cookies when she and my dad came to visit just before Valentine's Day

the high - duh, they were delish

the low - i lied to Peach and told here they were all gone just so i could save a few (or 7) for myself!

not going to win any mother of the year awards for that one.  :(

drama over owies

honestly...i know that someday i will miss her little voice, but the high-pitched whining has.got.to.stop!

these photos were taken by my sister-in-law, Jen

the last weekend of the month, we took a family road trip to western MN.

J stayed with the girls at his parents' house while I traveled on another hour and a half to see my great-grandma.

She's a shell of the go-go grandma I grew up knowing and seeing her was so tough and so good.

I had the undeniable joy of combing her hair, rubbing her back and weeping tears over her almost-96-year-old hands.

I prayed for her, laughed with her and told her that I loved her a thousand times over.

What a great privilege - to return the favor.

Now that I have children, I realize how desperately they need to be loved.  And the fact that she did that for me...rocked me, held me, told me I was important...well, it made the drive seem not that far and the time away from my girls seem not that sacrificial.

The silent, reflective drive back left me thinking about all the highs and lows that 96 years will bring you.

Certainly, sitting in a nursing home with no memory of the ones you love is a low, low, low.

And seeing her like that, well, it hurts.

Chalk up another low for February.

But in the midst of that sadness, I managed to thank God for the shining sun, the fields stretching as far as the eye can see and the contrast of empty branches against a blue, blue sky.  Wish I would have had my camera with.  I'm learning that even in the midst of pain, there is no life if there is no thanks. 

So, I make the choice to be grateful, even when it is hard and the answer to the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" is honestly, "I don't know."

When I returned to J's childhood farm, my father-in-law had a few "treasures" to show me.

He knows I like old windows from barns and have used several to make picture collages in our home.

He'd saved some from a barn that he was having torn down.

After I picked out a few, he went on to show me the contents of an old one-room school house, filled with dusty, dirty remnants of the 100 + years of Wacek's that have lived on that land.

I came home with a trunk load of treasures and have been busy ever since, turning these old, dirty vases, pots, screens, crocks and jars into something beautiful.

Turns out that when we give choose to look for the good, instead of waiting for it to come, we see that it was right there all along.

Peach took great delight in helping J turn these little gems into bird feeders.

I took this old drawer and, with a little paint and pretty paper, turned it into our living room book box.

Grandma is still in the nursing home.

Tulip still wakes when I most need rest.

Peach still whines about things that really aren't that big of a deal.

And no matter how hard I look for the good, difficult will still be a part of my life.

But March is knocking at the door.

Offering difficult, hard, joyful and wonderful.

It's all part of life.

And I get to experience it all...lucky me!

Spring is just around the corner.

And I have a feeling there's a whole lot of beautiful comin' our way.

i love to read month

it is I Love to Read month at school

J's building is cookin' up some sweet dance moves for the kiddos

we've been nurturing our love for reading at home, too

First, J's February pick:

Parenting with Love and Logic

By Foster Cline and Jim Fay

we laugh about how we thought people were crazy when they talked about the "terrible twos"

The age of two seemed like a breeze with Peach.

Don't get me wrong...we all had our moments.

But, overall, it just wasn't as bad as people made it out to be.

Then we hit three...oh my.

We think we know what people meant now....

This girl is testing us.

And we're trying to learn as much as we can.

This book is filled with great stuff and we've had ample conversations about what we want our home to look like as J has shared with me what he's learning in this book.

We give it 5 stars.

On to Peach's pick for the month.

Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy

We're still missing our sweet Mya and this book has inspired Peach to ask about getting another puppy on numerous occasions.

We're considering it....

But, of course, she couldn't pick just one favorite, so the Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo goes on her list of must-reads as well.

Peach has informed us that she wants to be Mercy Watson for Halloween.  There's lots of time to think about that, but I agree..it would be an awesome costume!

On to my reading list...

this one is always at the top.

...but when I have time for a little more, I've been picking up 

Shepherding a Child's Heart

by Tedd Tripp

Tons of good parenting advice!

In fact, there is so much packed in this little book that I find myself going back and re-reading sections to uncover gems that I missed the first time around.

And Tulip...well, she's not old enough to voice her opinion on these matters, but if I had to guess, I'd say that her recommendations would be as follows:

Fast little reads that I can get through before she starts eating the pages!  :)

Happy I Love to Read Month!

more today than yesterday

I can still remember our first three dates.

The first time J took me out, it was under a starry sky on the bleachers of our university's football field where he had set up a blanket, 2 capri suns, teddy grams and a candle.  We talked for several hours before realizing we'd been locked in and had to jump the fence to get out.

Our second date was the one that won me over.

A totally creative and personalized scavenger hunt all over Fargo/Moorhead, ending at Barnes and Noble, where I had to pick out books that described me and explain them to him over coffee.

But the third date is the one we relive on a regular basis with our girls.

J busted out his singing voice on that date and left me laughing so hard I cried.

The song...I Love You More Today Than Yesterday by Spiral Staircase

We caught ourselves singing it to the girls again the other day and I thought it only appropriate to post some sweet pics of our girls with the lyrics of this stellar tune.

I don't remember what day it was
I didn't notice what time it was
All I know is that I fell in love with you
And if all my dreams come true
I'll be spending time with you

Every day's a new day in love with you
With each day comes a new way of loving you
Every time I kiss your lips my mind starts to wander
And if all my dreams come true
I'll be spending time with you

Oh, I love you more today than yesterday
But not as much as tomorrow
I love you more today than yesterday
But, darling, not as much as tomorrow

Tomorrow's date means springtime's just a day away
Cupid, we don't need ya now, be on your way
I thank the lord for love like ours that grows ever stronger
And I always will be true
I know you feel the same way too

Oh, I love you more today than yesterday
But not as much as tomorrow
I love you more today than yesterday
But only half as much as tomorrow

My favorite line is the last one...

but only half as much as tomorrow.

With that kind of math, it makes me insanely happy to think about how much love there will be 2 years, 10 years...50 years from now.

How does the love keep growing?

Even on the rough, rough days I find that our hearts just keep getting bigger.  We find ways to love deeper and wider.

J loves and lives the quote, "Today, little things with great love."

And when you live like that, you're bound to experience more joy, more love, more good today than you had yesterday.

It's a fact.

the Jesus jar

a fistful of coins...

just a small amount in the big people world that i'm forced to live in for part of my time.

but an absolute fortune in the little people world where i choose to spend the rest of my life.

ever since Peach received her first piggy bank from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas, she's been scouring floors, couch cusions and momma's coat pockets for pennies to drop through that narrow little slot.

the satisfying clink of their arrival at the bottom never fails to spread a grin from ear to ear.

just recently, she and J were reading this story over breakfast.

and the wheels started spinning in my head.

that very afternoon, we had us a project.

a Jesus jar.

and a promise to give Jesus our first and our best.

this time, when I pulled out three dollar bills, she chose the crispest, greenest one to put in the Jesus jar.

the other two went in her and Tulip's piggy banks.

and the little pile of coins was spread out on the table as she searched for the very best coins to put in Jesus' hands.

i know she can't fully grasp it yet, but J and i have been intentionally peppering our conversations with how thankful we are that Jesus has given us the plates we eat from, the shoes on our feet, the warm water in the bath tub and the soap at our sinks.

when we've got a few extra coins laying around, we give her an opportunity to give back the goodness He's first given us.

someday soon, we're gonna' help her get the contents to church or another place where she can give it away, trusting that God will do something really big with her little coins.

God doesn't need the $2.73 that is sitting in this jar on her dresser.

He already owns every star in the universe.

it's not about the money.

it is about one little heart learning to trust a big, awesome God with her first and her best.

a life like that is worth more than any bank can contain.

an extra 24 hours

we had one extra day this weekend.

and it was phenomenal.

what do you do when you've got an extra 24-hours?

we don't take it for granted around here...savor every last drop.

it started with blueberry banana bran muffins.

yep.  they were every bit as good as the name suggests.

then, dress up....

followed by having a pal over for tea

 home made bread made the cut for 3-day-weekend activities

something about kneading the bread...letting it rise...

made me think a lot about patience.

talk about a virtue that is hard to come by.

If life is a school and God is the teacher, He's definitely got me in a course on patience right now.

I don't like it....not one bit.

But I know He's right.

So here I am...kneading bread, watching it rise and trying to be okay with the waiting.

when I stop feeling sorry for myself and look around, I see that there is an abundance of awesome-ness around me.

like this little chick.

even though I'm in an uncomfortable spot right now, it's all good.

made honey apple cake with butter almond frosting while the dough was rising

and home made chicken noodle soup

Finally.

Our prize for waiting.

The house smelled like heaven.

The butter melted into each nook and cranny.

mmmmmmm....

Yes, Lord...you're right.  The waiting is always worth it.

The extra in our weekend inspired me to stay up late one night making this:

"God loves His children with a never-ending,

never giving up,

unbreaking,

always and forever

love."

From Peach's Story Book Bible

I love the verse and came across this idea for hanging it in the girls' room.

God's Word...mobile style

I love how it twirls above their beds, reminding me to speak it over them.

And with the extra hours we were blessed with this weekend, we began an adventure in learning capital/lowercase letters.

Big A, little a...what begins with A?

Aunt Annie's Alligator, A, a, a - Dr. Seuss

thank you, Pinterest

We also found time to satisfy Peach's pleas for a swimming pool...family date.

Went to church, where Peach danced like her hair was on fire and Tulip eventually napped in my arms.

And Peach and I squeezed in our own special time at the library.

Just me and her.

Oooh, how I cherish that time.

It was as yummy as it always is.

Her picking out books left and right.

Me putting a few back when she's not looking.

And the smile of satisfaction that she flashes me when she gets to "do the beeper" (scan the barcodes) at the end.

The weekend didn't feel like it flew by.

It was just the right amount of all the things we love.

Playing

Growing

Reflecting

Baking

Eating

Reading

Laughing

And some of the stuff we don't so much love...like catching up on laundry and vacuuming the kitchen floor after each meal and snack, but hey - you take the good with the bad, right?

It's amazing what an extra day will do for you.

Or maybe it's not the extra day.

Maybe its the little extra that you choose to put in the day...no matter what day it is.

Either way, I could get used to this. :)