Naughty on Mother's Day

Mother's Day is so special, maybe because it's a personal holiday, yet publicly shared. I'm not sure why, but my Mother's Day is one I will not soon forget. I woke up to homemade gifts from my girls, and yarn spelling out "MOM LOVES" on my bedroom wall. Super cute. Extra Thoughtful. Great start!

The girls made me crafts during church, explaining what they love best about me.

• Maddy: "She plays with me. She took me to the carnival with her. She likes to swing with me. She makes cookies with me."
• Bekah: "She helps me ride my bike. She makes me breakfast. She helps me plant seeds. She lets me cook with her."
• Izzy colored a cute little cutout that said mom.

I'm thinking what you're thinking at this point, "I'm a great mom!" After lunch, I lie down to nap on the couch. Since it's raining out, the girls retreat to my bedroom to shout across the yard to the neighbor girl in her bedroom. I think this is pretty cute until I hear that a mermaid has "made it out the hole." Upon checking, I find a hole in the screen and the curtain rod shaped like a V. The girls are asked to go clean their room in order to make up for messing up mine. I must say, I have NEVER seen them work so well together and gotten their room clean so fast. Until I hear "Izzy, stop putting pudding on the mirror!" Well darn. The naughtiness continues.

I feed them a quick cheese sandwich and celery, and send them back to their room to do some school work. A little later, I see Bekah's head bound quickly from my room to her own. When I asked why she was in my room, she said it was because she couldn't open the bathroom door, so she went out my room. When I begin our bedtime routine, I find that this is not true. Bekah had been in the bathroom and wanted to leave the door shut because she didn't want me to see that she had done a building project in there with all of our toilet paper. After a quiet chat about honesty and honoring the Lord by honoring our parents, the girls commence a giggly sister slumber party of epic proportions, resulting in yet more consequences.

It took about 24 hours, but now I appreciate the humor of it all. Gosh darn it, it's funny (don't tell the girls I said so)!

Explore. Dream. Discover.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover"

~~Mark Twain

What things come to mind when you read this? What things are you keeping in the safe harbor?

20 years from now, I don't want to regret that I didn't take more time to kiss boo-boo's, make messy projects, play dress-up, listen to outlandish stories, make more forts, eat crazy foods at silly times, sing lullabies, paint fingernails, have tickle wars, go star-gazing, bike riding, or stop to smell the roses.

No one says to their grown children, "man, I wish I would have spent more time house-keeping." or, "I wish I would have stayed in bed longer/played on facebook/watched TV more." What is so important that I miss opportunities with my girls?!

• What is so difficult about stopping to hear Bekah explain to me the complexities of how the guinea pig is playing with his chewy toy?
• Why is it so difficult to pick up a hurt Maddy and just cradle her, sing to her, and make everything okay?
• Why is it so time consuming to get off the porch to give Izzy an underdog on the swing set?

Being more attentive to my children is something I want to be better at. Afterall, 20 years from

now, I want to be able to say that I did "Explore. Dream. Discover." at every opportunity with my kids! Plus, they are very entertaining and cute!

Seriously take a moment to consider how Twain's comment applies to you in this season of your life...

The Royal Wedding

With a blog entitled "Bringing Up the Princess," it seems wrong to not mention the Royal Wedding. I recorded the big event on my DVR, but haven't watched it yet. I have, however seen highlights on the news here and there. Watching it with my own little princesses is so much fun! Kate Middleton is living a true life fairy tale. She is beautiful, grounded, poised, charming, and educated. She has met her Prince William Charming, become the Duchess of Cambridge, and is in line to be the next Queen of England, Catherine of Wales. Tell me that doesn't bring out your inner princess, your little girl giddiness! Admit it, it's fun! I pray, Prince William and Catherine, have a happily ever after, a marriage of strength and honor to God.

Now, I'm not going to be naive and believe that Kate and William were pure virgins coming into the wedding day (although that would be cool if they were), but the idea of a royal wedding leads me to think ahead for my girls. After all, their Father is a King--they are royalty! I pray that God would not allow love to wake in their hearts until it is time. That they would find a prince that would honor their relationship with purity (from now until they marry). And that they would have all the things instilled in their marriage (trust, honor to God, respect, love, commitment) that would bring them a happily ever after. I've been reading them this book, a gift from their grandma and grandpa, and I hope they take it to heart.

An Easter of Answered Prayers

At Easter Service on Sunday, I had the most glorious worship experience. I allowed my self to just bathe in His glory and be reminded of all the ways He has answered prayers over the past year. This Easter seemed to be the culmination of many of those prayers. Some things I knew, outside of Him, were not possible. Other things, I knew He would bring, but didn't expect it so quickly. This Easter,

• I felt like not like just an in-law, but like a part of the family.
• Chuck's step-sister is pregnant! Her husband joined us for Easter dinner (and even performed Easter Bunny duties)!
• Chuck's parents have settled into a new home, after leaving the house they've spent their whole married lives in. Yet, God has allowed the new home to feel like home!
• Chuck has gotten a promotion that will financially change our lives, help us pay off bills, and allow us to purchase our first home.
• My girls are growing to love Jesus more and more!
• My husband is becoming more and more the man I always knew him to be!
• My father-in-law coordinated the most amazing Easter carnival for their church. He worked through pain and exhaustion and still reflected Jesus to our family.
• My best friend is in the midst of finding love after years of healing from heartbreak.
• My counseling career has a path and direction--one that allows me to remain at home with my girls!

There are still prayers I am praying, but there is fuel in my prayer life, that will provide faith to know that God will answer even these!

• I still pray for the salvation of my brothers and their families.
• I pray for continued spiritual growth for my family.
• I pray for direction for my children's education and wisdom in our new financial situation.
• For God to bring our extended families closer together and closer to Him.
• And I pray that I would be a light in people's darkness, a repairer of their breach, and a restorer of what has been broken.

Here's a family pic:

It's been a long time

I get a little more discouraged from blogging every time I read someone else's blog and it shows how much time elapsed between the current blog and the previous one. That timespan for me is becoming longer and longer. So, today, I determined that I would blog about my Easter of answered prayers. As I was uploading pictures from my camera, I decided I would build a bridge. Yes, you read that right. I amgoing to build a bridge first--a bridge of memories to span the time between my last blog post and my Easter of answered prayers.

• Rebekah trekked out into the unknown --leaving the comfort of Eugene Christian School, to begin homeschooling. That is a story of it's own and I'm sure I'll spend some time blogging about the blessing of home-school.
• Madeline has begun reading!
• Isabelle has become her own fashion designer.
• We have baked, crafted, and experimented to our heart's content!
• The girls and I spent a few nights at my mom's in her motor home on the beautiful Oregon coast.

• We've been on a family vacation to Arizona; road-tripping through California, visiting Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Sanders, staying with Oma and Opa, watching a Mariner's Spring Training game, and visiting the Grand Canyon.
• 
• Friends we have a plenty! We do gymnastics, library, tea parties, birthday parties, roller skating, and park hopping.
• 
• Chuck has gotten a promotion at work. He loves his job and we're so grateful for all of God's continued provisions!

That should just about bring you up to speed!

Movie Night!

I can't blame them, but my girls think that every night is a slumber party. Especially Isabelle, who until a month ago slept by herself, is excited to share a room with her 2 best friends in the whole world. Unfortunately, this does not suit me well. I'm off the clock and only on an on-call basis after 8 pm, in case of emergency. So, I put my professional expertise to work and made a bedtime chart (how useful a Master's Degree is for a stay at home mom). They strive to show me whether they want a smiley face or an X. 4 smiley faces = movie night on Friday. 7 Smiley faces = Movie Night at the theater. That was all the motivation they needed! We got to go see Toy Story 3 at the cheap theater--IN 3D! Here is my Bringing-Up-Princess Toy Story 3 Movie Review:

The beginning is another Pixar Short called Day & Night. It is nothing but creative genius! One character only sees the world in daylight, the other character sees through night time. How will the two of them ever come to an agreement? You'll have to watch and find out. The 3 D effect was wonderful! Watching my kids watch 3D was even more wonderful! Maddy kept exclaiming, rather loudly, that various objects were coming off the screen, receiving chuckles from people throughout the theater.

I have to say, Toy Story 3 is my favorite in the Toy Story trilogy! My mom and I like to rate movies based on a Kleenex rating scale. The more kleenexes necessary, the more you can expect to cry. This movie provided what I like to call a "good cry," earning a rating of a "2 kleenexer movie." It provides humor, as is expected with a Toy Story movie, and also provides suspense. I am not embarrassed to say that I held my breath several times throughout the movie. One of those instances, is considered the scary part of the story by my kids, but I don't want to ruin any plot points for you. You all know that Andy has to make a decision of what to do with his toys when he leaves for college; take them along with, throw them in the trash, donate them, or put them in the attic. Come to find out, some toys are bitter (not Andy's toys), and create a toy mafia of sorts, complete with torture scenes and ultimatums (in the most amusing ways)! Will Woody, Buzz, and the gang be able to work things out one last time?

It was ironic to be watching a movie about growing-up, with my girls who already seem to be growing too fast. I had to sit and relish their sweet little faces, covered in 3D glasses. I wanted to snapshot that moment in my memory. I came away from this movie with some fun little lessons to point out to the girls. First of all, do you want to be the girls that take good care of their toys, whom their toys love to belong to? Then there are the lessons of teamwork, being kind to one another, and taking care of your yucky feelings, instead of becoming a bully like Lotso.

This is a great movie! And I'm excited to add it to my movie collection! I'm also happy to have a positive experience for my girls to be motivated to keep getting smiley faces...

Dreams come true!

Imagine this: An eight passenger vehicle, filled to the brim with laughing kiddos. Eating snack, asking for the music to be louder, giggling about farts, and making paper airplanes to launch across the seats. That was my bliss for about 40 minutes today! When having children, this is what I always imagined. I've always wanted my house to be the place for friends and laughter. To have my kids prefer to bring their friends here, rather than always wanting to be away. I haven't quite arrived there yet, but the carpool today was just a taste of that dream come true!

Bekah also had a dream come true this week. She finished one of her timed math tests! The idea of being timed was just too much for her, but she's finally mastering the skill!