yesterday

yesterday started like this....

 turned into this....

and ended like this...

a beautiful story that i'm excited to share soon.

welcome to the world, sparkle girl

still one

Well....here it is.

Today was the last day of ONE.

The last day of being one year old...on the brink of being able to valiantly hold up two proud, chubby fingers.

Two years ago tonight, I was feeling icky.  I crawled into bed with a headache, woke up an hour later and alerted J that we needed to go...like now

seven hours later, i was holding my spring tulip

fast forward 2 years.  tonight, j and peach are away at their wednesday night awana fun and it's just me and tulip.

naturally, we put on our galoshes and headed out to make a memory

just me and her

 

a few blocks away, we strolled up to our very favorite place in town. we were greeted by the owner, who told me to bring the stroller right inside.

we had some birthday ice cream, which the owners refused to let us pay for...you don't get that kind of lovin' just anywhere

i almost had to wrestle this kid to get her to share the monster cookie ice cream.

the girl knows what she likes

we sang "pop goes the weasel"

and she gave me sticky kisses while smearing ice cream all over one of the three shirts that still fit me

we had to fight some spitting rain on our way home...good thing we had the rain boots goin' for us

 once we got dried off and snuggly, her only other birthday request was games on the i.pad,

playing Elmo's Monster Maker to her heart's content without having to take turns with big sister...

when i think about where i was 24 months ago, i realize that tonight, i'm sorta feelin' the same way

i've got the "it could be any day...any hour now" feeling

and just like then...i'm excited...and sad

excited for this new person who will certainly open up a whole new space in my heart.

and sad that tulip is about to pass the torch of "baby" on to someone else.

very soon, this sweet baby of mine will become "big sister" and these 

wednesday night date nights will be shared along with a million other things

adjustments ahead for us all....

good, wonderful, beautiful stretching in our very near future

but tonight, she's still one

tonight, she's still my baby

so, i may just sneak upstairs and rock that one year old one last precious time before i open my arms to little miss two tomorrow morning

recipe for a good sunday

what are sundays good for?

new leggings for church...be still my heart

nesting....

washing up diapers for baby...

learning now to be a big helper...

glasses and pretend...

 and rest.

it just doesn't get much better than this.

2 scoops for Tulip

we had a party today...sort of

let me set the record straight by saying that Tulip is not actually 2....yet

she's still 1

for two and a half more weeks

and i'm totally not into rushing the growing up that seems to happen so quickly with these littles that i love

but, with her birthday falling on april 25th and my due date being may 4th

and the fact that both girls were born early...i knew i'd be taking my chances to plan a party for her during her birthday week

so, we decided to celebrate early

not ever imagining that april 14th would be TOO early

too early to count on spring

and good roads

and sunshine :(

after staying up way late getting everything ready, we woke up to phone calls and texts from the family this morning, saying that they wouldn't be making the drive due to freezing rain, wind and terrible roads

bummer.

life in minne-snow-ta

i'm all for winter, but this is getting a little crazy, even for me

 so, what's a girl to do with decorations, food, lemonade, ice cream toppings, presents and no guests?

celebrate, i guess.

open presents in jammies.

eat suckers for breakfast.

and invite over some friends that are just like family.

as with any good party, there was kissing...

and hugs for the birthday girl...

 candles and singing

the guys even got to watch the Masters

she was pleased as punch

at first, i was bummed that all my work was for nothing

but then i decided that we never really know how God is using our efforts.

and it wasn't about the guests...it was about her

the little one who has been my baby for the past 2 years
the one that is so very different from what i expected and infinitely more than i deserve

the wild, snuggly child who is worth every last minute i put into her special day

for whatever reason, i thought about an apple tree today.

i guess i've got autumn on the brain - weird

maybe we're going to bypass summer altogether and head right to fall???

anyway, there's a huge apple tree right over by the school where i work

and every fall as i go back to work, that tree sags heavy with apples that no one eats.

and i'm always struck by that - 

how i wish that someone would use them!

make applesauce

make apple juice

eat one for goodness sakes!

but today i was thinking that the apple tree isn't responsible for what happens to the fruit.

it's job is just to be fruitful

to make lots and lots of delicious fruit and not worry about how it is used.

God can use it to feed people, fertilize the ground, feed birds and other animals or just to make that block smell sticky sweet all fall long.

today was kind of like that

a day when i got to love a little person

and waste all my time and energy on her

and have no concern about who knows or appreciates it

even though it is dreary and cold and awful outside

even though the guests couldn't come

even though she's probably too young to really understand the decorations or the time or the effort

because i'll never know how God uses that fruit

my job is just to love

in big heaps

and let it be used in ways that i can see and ways that i'll never know

just because i can

so, spring tulip....

i wish the sun had been shining today

and that the beautiful tulips in the front yard that make me think of you were peeking through

but, amidst the snow and rain and cold, cold, cold

i'm so happy that you're mine

happy day to you

in big, huge wasteful heaps

i pour my adoration out

and pray that God will let it settle into your heart

and root you in His goodness forever

30 days to 30

In just 30 short days, I will be turning 30....yikes!  How did that happen?  Sometimes I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I'm soon to be a mother of three...wasn't I just graduating high school?  Wasn't I just living in the dorms?  Wasn't I just planning my wedding?  Student teaching?  Moving into our first home?

 I guess time flies when you're having fun.  Regardless of how unbelievable it seems to me, I can't ignore the fact that 30 is right around the corner.

My husband, bless him, decided that with another big event just right around the corner, he'd plan something low key to celebrate.  So, today I opened the first of 30 gifts that he and Peach have been collecting and covertly wrapping. 

With 6-10 inches of snow on the radar, it seems crazy to be talking about planting our garden, but it sure was a sweet way to start out my day.

29 more gifts to open...29 more days of my 20's.

A sweet reminder to think of every day as a little gift to open.  I wont' lie...these past few weeks of getting out...rolling out...groaning out of bed in the mornings have been rough, rough, rough.   And I actually fell asleep standing just the other day.  But even when it requires more than the usual effort, greeting each day is a gift, isn't it?  Seeing, breathing, feeling, thinking....all presents.   May we unwrap them anew each morning.....

making daddy's day

 this morning, peach sent daddy directly into melt-my-heart mode with just 7 little words:

"do you want to golf with me?"

i had found this little golf set at a thrift store over the winter

today was the day peach decided to give it a whirl

and as you can imagine, my husband was over the moon...

i've never shown that much interest in golfing, so getting the kids into the game is something that would be a bit of a dream come true for J

i don't know that we've got any golf prodigies on our hands, but it was fun to see them putting around

and as i played with the manual settings on my camera, it made my heart full of happy to see someone i love so much passing on his passion