Celebration!

Sunday Picture 

My mini me!  

Love those eyes!  

They both got "new" bath robes and LOVE them. 

This week we were looking forward to the weekend each day.   Since I was scheduled to travel, we always look forward to when I am home!   Friday evening sometimes can’t come fast enough.     Friday evening this week also meant my parents were in town  (just praying they will retire soon to move closer!).   We enjoyed a family dinner and the girls were asked to spend the night (and were begging to do so).   Saturday we celebrated Ellie’s 2nd Birthday.  We all sure love this girl.   She is rotten (an endearing souther term of course).     Ellie, we adore baby girl (although you are turning into a young lady and less of a baby each day).   We have had the privilege to see  you grow and love all the moments we get to spend with you.   Hugs and big kisses on your 2nd birthday!   

My sign when i got home Friday!  I loved it.  

Gracie and I got hair cuts before the party.  She sure looks like me! 

My hubby!   A fun walk down memory lane in Cleveland.  

Yep... we took the girls to one of our favorite date lunch places in Cleveland, Gardner's Market.   We snagged some blackberry lemonade.   Yummy.    

Birthday girl (and Doc) with Gracie and Maggie before the party started!  

My two girls! 

Its all about Ellie!  Happy 2nd Birthday.   Gabe and Kat you have sure done a great job!  

Maggie getting KK snuggles! 

Gracie playing with the vent and her skirt! 

This girl (although very allergic) loves cats!  

Maggie playing with Gjysh!  

I nailed it!  That is what I thought when I had wrapped up Friday meetings at work.   I had spent the past months planning on what I wanted to share with my team and how.   I was very excited about how the two days went from the activities of conversation Jenga, to building with spaghetti noodles and marshmallows to celebrating each teammates accomplishments in 2014 to a discussion on what it looks like and feels like to lead vs. participate and wrapping up with a focus on personal development.  Not the “climb the corporate ladder” development, but true personal self reflection what are you most passionate about behavior driven development.   I was exhausted at the end as every work anyone said I wanted to validate it, use it and remember it!    

A New Week!

Should have shared last week, we sent Bella to get her eyes trimmed so the could see us.   They sent her home with a bow!  The girls LOVED it.  

Sunday provided some naps and roasting marshmallows!   What a perfect day.  We soaked in every minute of nice weather and being outside as we knew it was about to turn cold! 

Sunday Pic

Maggie was not not into pictures!  I had to capture this face! 

So with Bella I finally got a smile. 

We had such a good family night by the fire. 

I just stay watching these two thankful they are mine!  What a big and awesome responsibility.  

Not sure what this face was about but it was so cute! 

Daddy Daughter! 

After the girls went to bed we enjoyed a few quiet moments outside by the fire.  (no make up ha)

Sleepy girls! 

Sleepy G

While Monday’s are hard just getting back into routine after having a few days home relaxing and playing hard as a family they are necessary!  This week our Monday was an extra day off from work and school.  What a blessing.  The girls enjoyed some extra hours of sleep and a lower key morning, we made yummy oatmeal chocolate chip muffins (at Gracie’s request who wants to be in the kitchen all the time), and then managed to get a few other things done including shopping for the week’s theme days at school and massages for both Jimmy and I.   It was perfect!   

The girls enjoyed the week’s themes (Basketball Spirit Week) including beach day, holiday theme (Maggie had Presidents Day and Gracie had St. Patricks Day), Fan day, and White Out day!   It was a fun week for them.   

St. Patrick's Day! She had matching green pants on too.

Thank goodness for Daddy!  He got really creative for President's Day!  See the dollar bill pinned on Maggie with the picture a president?   

After a busy, hard, and good week I enjoyed a Friday lunch date with the girls at school.  I always feel so blessed that I can sneak away and that they are so close!  

We have started to meet up with the May’s on a Wednesday night for dinner at Chick Fil A.  Its perfect as we get a quick meal, we as parents get time to visit and share life and the kids get to play with no clean up after!  Maggie had worn her ND shirt for fan day at school and Gannon walked in with a ND jersey!  They were too sweet.  They all love playing together.   So glad they enjoy each other’s company as much as their parents do!   While the kids were all playing another family came in to play.  The grandmother came out and specifically asked if we had the oldest sister.  We said we did and she proceeded to share what a sweet heart she has.   Gracie was helping their granddaughter who was timid about going up to play and as soon as Gracie started helping the little girl was enjoying playing.   As we told Gracie at bedtime how proud we were of her and what the grandmother had said she beamed!   I love telling my girls how others observe their interactions and heart too!  

This week Gracie one night came home without her glasses.  We spent hours looking at the house as she was certain they were not at school.    I as not a happy Mommy and had to try really hard to keep my frustration and irritation in check (so for that that know me well I did not hide it well).   She needed them replaced right away, they were expensive, budget is tight with the new year (okay, my version of tight as we made it that way so that “every dollar has a name” as Dave Ramsey would say), and this was not in my plan.   With all the wisdom my husband has, Jimmy sent me to gymnastics with Maggie so that he could help Gracie.   When I got home still not glasses but Jimmy’s comment as I went to tuck her in resinated with me and I think always will.  Yes, she is like me.  Yes the same could and can be said about me and I wish it did not.  He said “Don’t beat her up over this.  She is harder on herself than you ever could be”.    Gracie, we are praying that as you grow in all areas you will learn to give yourself grace.   Yourself permission to not be perfect.   The okay to not meet everyone’s expectations.  The ability to know that you are created in God’s image and he has big plans for you, shortcomings and all He will use for His glory!  The rest of the story:    the next morning we checked her desk...there the missing glasses were!   We laughed and I had to recall one time I lost something to share with her (which honestly was really hard as I don’t loose much...... but by God’s design it came quickly).   I was about 8 and shopping after Christmas or my Birthday with my parents.  I had my new purse with cash in it.  After we left the stores and got home it was GONE!  We never found it.    I was glad that I could share this with Gracie as she had a big smile on her face of understanding and reassurance that it was ok!  We love you G! 

We celebrated not having weekend plans!     While we did do some things it was great to just rest and play.   The weather is getting cooler again (it is January so I guess 60 degrees even in Tennessee is not normal) so we were inside more.   Jimmy planned a guys dinner and movie night and the girls and I planned a Mommy Daughter snuggle night!  

While each of our daughters have had their own struggles and at different times required more firm discipline and consequences to behavior right now Maggie is at the top!   Boy she can wear you down!   She is extra whinny and lacks obedience.    We are being consistent in our approach but I told Jimmy as were both were getting frustrated along with consistent discipline we need to be focused on lavishing love.  Extra love.  The love that is hard when she has tested every part of your being.  The love that won’t let her wiggle way until her honey pot is filled back up.  The kind of love that can only begin to grasp how much her heavenly father loves her!   That is big love!    The love that says its not about what you do but who you are!  That is hard love some days but worthy love and the best love! 

Maggie, you bring us to your knees in prayer daily as we seek patience and the extra ounce of love to give you you.  We adore you and are blessed by you.  I know your persistence and ability to not waiver will be one of your greatest character qualities.  I am eager to see how you will use it to further the Kingdom for God!  We love you beyond measure Maggie Doo!

A full week--Getting Comfortable with Change!

We are back into routine and have enjoyed the schedule.   The weekends are not packed full and have provided lots of time home to play, snuggle, do some organizing and most of all resting together.   

Sunday pic of course with Bella 

Sunday pic 

Snuggles!   

This is how the girls love to snuggle Bella!  

The girls are back into their routines of school, swim/ gymnastics, and homework.    They are each thriving and embracing the last half of the school year.     This week we were all bummed that I had a bit of travel.   We got spoiled with no over night travel from Thanksgiving to now.   But we all did great!  While that is not my favorite part of my role, it is part of it and we work to make it as easy and normal as possible for the girls.  

First fire night on the porch.  It was still cold, but we were all excited to sit out here and have some family time.   Even Bella got into it.  

My girls! 

This weekend we did dress shopping for the Father Daughter Dance coming up.  The girls loved it of course and it was fun to be out shopping with them.  They most of all loved coming home to model for their Daddy!  We had the Bowen’s over for dinner to visit.  We always enjoy sharing life with them laughing!   We always gain such wonderful perspective on raising kids, specifically daughters.   The girls adore their kids who are older so much so I was not sure they were going to let them go home!  

Change its inevitable right?   It has a purpose!   As I sat in meetings in Atlanta while the bank made some big announcements regarding how we were going to deliver to market a cohesive Portfolio Management Team with the merger of the Commercial and Corporate and Investment Banking team I had to think back to the little girl who resisted change as we moved to a new house, the teenager who resisted change as I embraced what going to a college 8 hours away from home really meant, as I got married and embraced the change to living in Tennessee and having to make new friends and start a new job, the change becoming a parent, the change the past 8 plus years of my career where every 18 months we reevaluate the model for delivery and management and again change!   WOW!  I would like to say after all this I love change but that would not be accurate.   I do now embrace it with a peace that as my husband says “it all works out” and with an adventure to see where God is going to take me and our family though this.   What does this mean specifically to me?   No idea and right now I am okay with that.  I may have no significant impact other than a new manager or it could mean its time to explore other career opportunities.  I don’t know and I am okay with that.   God is always good and always knows more than we do.  So....here comes another adventure to embrace.  One thing I know....we as individuals, families, companies, etc do not change just to change.   We change to become better, more refined and to be part of the big picture that sometimes we can’t see fully and other times we see it all if we change the lens through which we view it! 

Its a rough life! 

Same old routine..and that is okay and good!

Sunday we declared to be a family day and skipped church.   It mostly had to do with Maggie not going to bed until 10pm the night before and then up from about 1am to 4am crying and screaming just so she could come down and sleep in our bed!  She is persistent!  We loved her to pieces and kept her snuggled in her bed!  

We spent the day snuggled home and then treated to the girls to a new experience... HOT donuts at Krispy Kreme!  They were in awe as they watched them coming off the line and savored every minute as they melted in their mouth!  Jimmy and I smiled and reflected back to one of my favorite memories from dating.  We were coming back from a date downtown (no idea really where or what but it had to be downtown) and passed Krispy Kreme.  The light was on and Jimmy made a comment about that as if that meant something...what?   So when I acted surprised that the light was a symbol of something he acted shocked and then turned the Blazer around (the car he was driving at the time) so I could experience a HOT donut!   I was not sure what the fuss was about until I took a bite....wow!   So it was time for the girls to experience it too!  Ha.  We joked that we had failed as parents if they had not had a hot Krispy Kreme donut!  The memories were too sweet!   They would have eaten more if we let them.  We did let them bring one home each to heat up for breakfast (although that is not quite the same as right off the line hot).  

Maggie gave it a thumbs up! 

Gracie asked why this was the first time!  

Monday and Tuesday were chill out at home days with special sitters (Ms. Abby and Ms. Tiffany) while we headed back to get into the routine for the new year at work.   It sure was nice to have time off to relax, but it was also good to be back!  It was even better coming home to dinner at home and snuggles from the girls!  It is a great way to start my day and end my day!    Thursday was so cold the girls had a 2 hour delay, which they always love as that usually means they get to grab breakfast at Starbucks and come to one of our offices.  Thursday was Mommy's office.  Of course they were the hit of the office with lots of attention, candy and artwork they made for everyone's offices.  

They were missing their friends so back to school they went on Wednesday.  It was an early morning for them of having to be up AND ready.  Over break they still were up earlier than I expected, but were much more laid back and some days stayed in PJ’s most the day.   

This was weekend finally settled down and felt like a weekend after all the holiday events and travel.   Praise God!  We all needed it.  We enjoyed Lilly’s birthday party at the skating rink with friends then all afternoon home!   It was fabulous.   Saturday night my brother,  sister in and Ellie came over for dinner and to share Christmas.   Between sickness, travels and other family in we did not do Christmas together like we normally do.  It was a great night to visit together.  The kids loved their gifts and Ellie insisted on a bath right away to play with all her new bath toys.  That girl LOVES the water!   I am not sure how I did managed to not get any pictures of Ellie!  We sure are looking forward to her 2nd birthday party coming up!   

Saturday morning smiles!  We love these and after a few rough nights of little sleep we are back to seeing them.  We have taken away her iPad and TV right before bed and that seem sot have helped.   We will leap working on it and loving her to pieces to help us all sleep better!  

Bella has enjoyed the time home and normal routine too.  She had missed Ms. Gail (her buddy who comes to walk her while we are at work and school).

G Bug snuggles to wake up.   Jimmy says often when he looks at her he sees me and calls her "little Rachael".  She just smiles and knows that is a big compliment from her Daddy! 

So this is our favorite to include in hot chocolate and coffee, but is seasonal.   So we stocked up.  We have this one left so the girls and I are using it sparingly.   The first low key Saturday was a perfect excuse to use it!  

Silly girl! 

Gracie, Maggie and Lilly after skating (Lilly's birthday party) 

Paisley, Maggie and Logan at Lilly's skating birthday party.  

Christmas late with Ellie.   

These girls feel asleep on the sofa while Ellie was still over.  She was not sure what to think, but gave them big kisses to tuck them in. 

Sleepy girl. 

Bella was a sleepy girl too!