Friday, July 19, 2013

Living the Dream

So, last night, I heard about a woman who is going through super hard times, major life trials - she woke up in the morning with the thought, "I HATE my life!"

That made me stop and ask myself - what was I thinking when I woke up this morning?

And I remembered, it was how much I LOVE my life!

That's not to say everything is sunshine and roses.  My life hasn't turned out AT ALL the way I planned it.  I don't have the only things I ever thought I wanted.  But I am HAPPY!  I love my freedom, and the compensatory blessings and opportunities I have.

I guess that makes it official:  I am living the dream.


P.S.  Icing on the cake, a couple weeks ago - I actually got my Christmas Miracle!   =^..^=

Saturday, July 13, 2013

"Take my picture!"

My sister and I have been discussing when to try and do Tiny's official two-year-old photo shoot, so today when Tiny put on a cute dress, and said to mama, "take my picture!" it was decided.
Here are some of the official pics: enjoy Miss Adorable!

Wanna stand on a rock in the shade? - "NO!"
Forget hugging trees - kiss 'em!
Looking at flowers instead of camera...
What's the lion's name? - "TIGER"


Love those blue eyes!


Love the lady-like stance. ;o)

Can't leave hair-bow alone...
Hair-bow

Showing "two" with her thumb and finger.

Kissin' Tiger


Fake laughin' - Mama said sit down & laugh, and she did!



Look at the bird! Total fake - momma wanted a looking up shot!

Pics with momma!
Goofing off
More goofing off

Blowing kisses
Finger in the mouth - acceptable, finger in the nose - not-so-much, didn't post those...
It's official - the terrific two's!

Right when we first pulled up to the park, Tiny said she needed "fwuit saks" (fruit snacks), which we didn't have.  We promised to get her some after the pics.  So, at the end of the shoot, picture princess got her treat!  She couldn't even wait to get out of the store to start eating them...

Thanks tiny for being such a good model!  Two-year-old pics, done and done!

Oh, and P.S. Tiny may officially be two, but if you ask her how old she is - it's a resounding, "six!"

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Happy Independence Day!

Years ago I read the book 1776, by David McCullough.  Fantastic read.  I was amazed at how crazy of a long shot it was that the Founding Fathers won their independence fighting against the great British Empire.  The book pretty much only covers the year 1776, which was just the beginning of the American Revolutionary War - so as I finished the last page of the book I was rather anxious, "but how does it end!?!"  Lol, I know quite well who won, but now I scarcely believe it!


Reading that book gave me a much greater appreciation and understanding of Nephi's commentary on the war in the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 13:16-19.
    "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.
     "And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.
    "And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle.
    "And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations."

I believe it.  There were too many miracles, and "coincidences" with weather, and otherwise, protecting and helping those men.  I believe that they were in fact delivered by the power of God.
So, thank you Founding Fathers for risking your lives, for trusting in the Lord and His power, and for the many blessings and freedoms I now enjoy because of your sacrifices! Happy Birthday USA!  

P.S.  To celebrate, I made cupcakes (picture above) - had to do something with all that leftover red-white-and blue frosting from Tiny's train cake.  :) 

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Tiny Turns Two!

Thomas shirt!
Sunday afternoon we celebrated Tiny's 2nd birthday.  Yay Tiny!  As she is currently quite taken with Thomas the train engine - you can imagine what the theme of the party was!  She was sooo excited to show off her new Thomas shirt (while clomping around in big sissy's shoes), adorable!

Sissy's shoes - no place like home!

My brother-in-law kept teasing my sister and I about taking too long decorating the cake for a two-year-old (emphasis added by him).  You'd think after eight years of marriage to my sister he'd be used to our perfectionist tendencies, or at least have given up on fixing them by now...  Lol, nope, he still tries!  Or at least teases...  Anyway, I thought the cake turned out rather cute - the Thomas in front is a candle my sister found at the party store.  And the rest is colored frosting, little Keebler cookies, pretzels, and Dots.

The cakc for a two year old!

Tiny loved it!  She told us the names of all the train cars (Thomas' friends), my sister made sure they were the right numbers to go with the right colors for each of his friends - James red 5, Toby brown 7, etc, I clearly don't know them all and haven't been watching Thomas with a toddler!  It was very funny to watch Tiny push an eager Bubba away from the cake with her hips, elbows, arms, feet, anything to totally box her out - she was very possessive of that train!  And when Bubba said "Thomas is nummy!" (yummy) and licked her lips in anticipation, Tiny quickly stated, "No, Thomas NOT nummy! Thomas NOT nummy!"


Tiny didn't really get the hang of blowing out the candle, every time it blew out (by someone else trying to help her blow), she pointed to it and wanted it re-lit.  I think we capped it at three rounds!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch - in the background of Tiny and her cake, Bubba was puking her guts out, again, and again.  Poor thing!  We thought it was because of this blasted heat wave, and the fact that she hadn't been drinking enough water, but I'm pretty sure heat stroke isn't catching - and since her parents later had their turn, and my brother has started in with it as well, I'm thinking it was the flu variety of gut puking.  Sigh.  I'm crossing my fingers it passes me by!  So far so good!

But with the puke all over my floor, and Tiny coughing up gunk on my couch (she's getting over a cold), I made up a new song, it goes like this: "I'm so glad I'm single!" and repeat.  There also may or may not have been a jig that went along with it - not gonna lie! :)

Anyway, Thomas eventually did get eaten.  And the blue frosting all over Tiny's face reminded me of that pic people keep posting on Facebook of the toddler in the high chair covered in blue goo, with the caption, "gimme another smurf!" or something to that effect.


 A little shy at first, not sure if she was really allowed to dig in...


Then I laughed at her blue tongue, and stuck out my tongue...


And she LOVED that my tongue was blue too, so after that it was all "see" food!  Sweet mess!

After the cake demolishing, she was maybe just a little tired:


She wiped out after opening her new Thomas flip flops (a hit!), and quickly put them on (the wrong feet) to show everyone.


And then a present from Grammy, a flying ladybug toy to play with, Papa helped demonstrate:
 

It was a rather enjoyable evening (sans the bodily fluids and sore tummy), we had fun in the backyard, a warm but comfortable night after the melt-worthy weather we've been having!


And a couple more shots of the cutie before the cake came out - note the GREEN tomatoes on the table.  This child loves to pick everything, and doesn't understand the concept of "ripe" yet!  She'll just go out and pick anything she can find.  Lol, glad I wasn't planning on eating those tomatoes!

Happy Birthday kiddo!  May this year be another fun and fantastic one.  Love seeing you grow and develop into your own little person.  Keep up the independence and determination, I like it! ;o)