Trying to get all 4 of them to sit still for a picture is often very comical.
Eh, I give up. There they are. All together. And not fighting. I’ll take it 
Four on the Fourth: May 4
May 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Always be Fabulous
March 1, 2012 By 10 Comments
Amelia was coloring the other day and making up stories to go with her pictures. I overheard her tell her creations to always be fabulous.
This is something my girls are especially fantastic at…being fabulous.
She runs like lightning and adores her new (to her) boots. She sings and dances and plays basketball.
She walks away holding my heart in her hands. I wonder if she will ever know how much I adore her.
On Libby…
Dress by her Mama (it’s my newest design! For sale now in my shop!)
Shirt – Target
Pants – Garanimals
Boots – no clue – a fun hand me down from a friend
linking up with Small Style
What Memories are Made of
January 25, 2012 By 4 Comments
“When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life.” -Christopher Morley
As a child, I could often be found lost between the pages of a book. I would become Claudia from The Babysitter’s Club, or Jessica (or Elizabeth depending on the day) from Sweet Valley Twins. I could picture myself living on a prairie in rural Nebraska at the turn of the century, or as a youth in the 40′s. I believe my love of acting was born from my love of reading.
When I was in college I started buying books for my future children. I wanted them to have an abundance of books to choose from. I wanted them to have a story at their fingertips at all times.
My goal has become a reality. My children have books, and books, and books. They love to read, be read to, and best of all, act out what they have read.
From the time Seth was about 2, he has used his imagination to make his favorite books come to life. For about six months, he was Roo, I was Kanga, Jeremy was Tigger and Amelia was “Pliget”. That obsession then morped into Toy Story, Star Wars and then How to Train Your Dragon.
While all of those titles are movies, only two of the obsessions came from the movies – Toy Story and Star Wars. Seth fell in love with the How to Train Your Dragon books before he saw the movie…we all did. He loves that we have Norwegian ancestry and is just sure my ancestor, Thor, was a Viking…thus making HIM a Viking!
He still loves Star Wars and How to Train Your Dragon, but now he has fallen under the spell of Hogwarts and is often found wearing his black robes and waving his wand…he is Harry Potter.
My children are regularly seen playing as if they are the characters from their favorite book. They don’t necessarily act out what happened in the book, instead they make up their own stories using those characters they have come to love.
I absolutely adore this. The use of their imaginations! It is one thing to act out what you have seen or read, just as you have seen or read it. But to create your own stories, plot lines, problems and solutions, that is an entirely different skill, and I love watching it happen.
I love that my children love books. I have always wanted them to love to read and to have the stories come to life.
It has been said the best gift you can give is a book and I wholeheartedly agree. Where else can children escape, become pirates, vikings, princesses, anything their hearts desire. And that is the stuff memories are made of.
:::
I am so excited to be partnering with Hallmark again this year. Hallmark is not only in the business of celebrating the special occasions, but celebrating Life as a Special Occasion. Hallmark and I will both be at Blissdom this year! Come find me as I am a Community Leader, and go find Hallmark (you might see me there too!!) to learn more about how to make Life a Special Occasion!
These Days
January 10, 2012 By 3 Comments
He is mobile. Moving everywhere at a faster pace every day. Upending laundry baskets, exploring the socks, finding crackers, cheerios, cat food to eat.
Why is he soaking wet? What did he get into now? Who left their water on the floor? Oh, it was the cat’s water.
He is happily crawling exploring books, puzzles and packages of wipes. Then I hear it. thud…followed by a cry that tells me it hurt. I run to him, scoop him in my arms and snuggle away the pain.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
This is my day. This is what I do all day. This and housework, and writing work, and game playing and taking care of the other 3 children who need me so much.
The big ones are at school, I miss them so much my heart aches. But when they come home we can’t play. It is homework, and friends, and swim lessons, and dinner and stories and bedtime.
The small one is adapting again to having her brother and sister gone all day. It is hard for her, she misses them, but she is good at being the big sister and helping me out around the house (and watching far too much PBS kids).
This is what we do. I try to work, write a word here, sew a stitch there, kiss a wound here, snuggle a babe there. Do a dish, sweep a floor, pick up a puzzle, read a book, nurse a babe, fold some clothes…it all becomes so much for my ADD mind. So I try to slow it down. I try to slow down my thoughts, my world, their growing.
These days are a woven tapestry of joy and pain that comes from increased independence…for everyone, and it is hard.
Linking up with Just Write
January Four
January 4, 2012 By 9 Comments
They are growing so fast. It seems right before my eyes they are changing and maturing. I don’t want to miss a second of it, but I do.
I am making a decision to slow things down and take a picture of my four on the fourth of the month. My friend Stephanie has been doing this for the last 2 years (first it was on the 1st of the month) and I have loved watching this progression of her children. I also love that she has a visual monthly reminder of her children, their personalities and what they were going through at any given time. Heaven knows my family is not perfect and these photos will certainly prove that.
So, without further adieu, our first photo. I almost forgot about this (oh wait I did forget!), but when Steph posted about it on Twitter I grabbed my camera, ran to my neighbor’s yard where the kids were and made them sit for a picture. It is awesome.
This is the only photo they would let me capture. Seth was busy playing with friends and wanted to get back to it. Libby, as you can see, was ready to get back to ring-around-the-rosie with her friends, and Amelia…well, she was content to just sit and hold her baby.
This how it is. This is how they are. And I love them.
