CARNIVAL

About a week ago we had the AWESOME opportunity to shoot with Ashley Marie Photography at the carnival.  Grace had a blast and I was dumbfounded when the pics were posted.  My baby girl turned 16 overnight!  Ashley rocked as usual and we can't wait to shoot with her again :)

AHHHHH where does the time go?

LUNCH FUN

I have been working REALLY hard on making sure that the small amount  of free time that I do have is maximized by cutting out distractions.  TV and FB have been put on the back burner as I try to re prioritize all of the "little things" in life.  Anyone with me?  Some days I feel like I am missing out on my life because I am so wrapped up in other peoples.  

So anyway this morning I woke up at 4:30, ran 2.25 miles before the hubs left for work, and then started making lunches.  The extra time afforded me the ability to get creative.  :)  I purchased these food writers on a whim and was so glad I did!

After using a biscuit cutter to remove the crusts I decided to make a caricature of each girlie.  I am sure these would work better on a smooth surface but they are still cute and most importantly they will make Grace and Faith smile!

COUSINS

Snow + Cousins = Memories

We had over negative temps and over 6 inches of snowfall  in the last few days leaving many without heat and electricity but with plenty of opportunities for 30 to Play snow days!  I am SO thankful that my brother and I live in the same town.  It is such a blessing to watch our children grow up together.  Cousins are precious, especially when they are cute like ours!

These make me laugh every time!

Hee hee!

 

This was taken right before Faith declared she was THROUGH!

 Oh to be 5!

Sweet C!

Hope you are all staying warm while you marvel in the wonder of His creation!

30 to Play

We are now roughly 3 weeks into this experiment and although there have been times that life gets in the way it truly is changing our family from the inside out.  One thing that I am coming to realize as we make this a part of our daily routine is that there isn't a set of rules that I have to follow.  We are implementing it in ways that work the best for us and I am so excited about what I have seen so far. 

Lately 30 to Play has been full of...

DANCING!

(Check out Faith's cool move!)

SINGING

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Serious dicussions regarding the correct way to count your game spaces.

DRAWING 

Our Family Portrait...in chalk.

We are constantly searching for new and fun things to try but most of all we are enjoying our time together.  After all Life's all about the SMALL things.

SICK

Our house is sick...Faith still doesn't feel well and now Grace is hacking.  The hubs and I are just trying to keep up with the extra laundry and strange requests.  For instance Faith wanted Cheetos for dinner and Grace chose a PopTart for breakfast instead of a muffin, oatmeal, grapefruit, or a thousand other healthier options.  I am starting to realize that sometimes it just not worth the fight...

So this is life...30 to play won't always work and I am struggling with feeling like a failure.  However, there is no way that this SHOULD look and I need to remind myself of that.  This didn't start with strict perameters stating that we had be outside having active play or inside playing with dolls.  This was a God given idea and I need to let go of the legalism and instead grab on to the concept.  Today 30 to play is me and two sick girlies curled up on the couch watching "Ninnie" (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and Word World.   

And you know what?  That's ok.

Complicated

I would love to say that we had a FABULOUS night, that we played, that we laughed, that we got to bed way too late, simply because we were enjoying our time together.  Unfortunately, fairy tales don't exist and our lives are not anywhere near their perfection so tonight was less than amazing.  The majority of it was my fault because, let's get real here, after you cut your hair only to discover that you look exactly like you did when you were 12, it's just not the best start to an evening.  So the hubs took the lead, told me that "It's not terrible" and ran into town to grab supper.  (12 yr olds can't cook remember?)

We bathed our bunnies...

and then settled in for some "Fancy Nancy."

This is were things became complicated...you see not only am I Grace's mom but I am also Grace's teacher meaning that she hears at home in the morning, at school during the day, at home in the afternoon, and during the evening.  We are with one another pretty much ALL day and although this is a TRUE blessing most of the time.  Times like tonight make it hard.  Grace has been taught to read phonetically so her arsenal of sight words is small but rapidly expanding as she becomes more fluent.  She however, does not realize this and tries to breeze through books inserting, skipping, ad libbing, whatever it takes to not have to actually READ the word.  I think if I didn't see her at school and know the actual skill set that she has then this wouldn't bother me but it drives me NUTS!  Everything takes 12 (yes, I know stuck on that number again) times longer than it should because we have to read each word over and over again. 

 See, even Faith was over it.

As we both became more and more frustrated I realized that this was not what 30 to play was about so we called it a night.  I guess it dawned on me that 30 minutes simply for the sake of 30 minutes is pointless.  To enjoy the time we have together is much more important and somehow I am going to have to turn off the teacher and just be mom for her sake and for mine. 



Apparently, "Ninnie" is one of the girls too. 



Bubbles

Grace was at gymnastics and Faith wasn't feeling well so 30 to play was rather low key last night.  Faith is a very entergetic child that rarely wants to be held and can only sit still for minutes at a atime so we knew when she wanted to be held all afternoon that this was the real deal.  She looked so sad that I started searching the house for something that just might make things better...for a minute or two at least. 

After searching through the magic closet of wonders I found a HUGE set of bubbles.  She was thrilled!  She just kept running back and forth saying "Bubbals! Bubbals! Mo?"  It made my heart sing to see her smiling face and I was relieved to know that know matter the day bubbles still make all the bad things float away.

It's About Time...

Today was one of "those" days were my list of to do's was much longer than my list of got dones.  I don't know about anyone else but that frustrates me to no end.  I struggled with feeling as though the day was wasted simply due to the fact that not everything was crossed off.  As I sat folding yet another load of laundry (I am still staring at one, my daily limit is 5) it dawned on me that many of the items on my list were wants not needs.  I wanted to make a case for my Kindle, I wanted to get Faith's cow and Grace's sock monkey made, I wanted to take a nap...none of those wants were in and of themselves bad.  However, when they stressed me to the point of snapping, perhaps it was time to distinguish the difference between what needed to be done and what I wanted to get done.  

After wrestling with the perfectionist that perches on my shoulder and tries to convince me that sleep is a luxury not a necessity, I came to the conclusion that there are very little needs in my life.  

• I need to spend time in God's word.
• I need to spend quality time with my husband.
• I need to spend time with my girls every, single day.

Now I realize that that is probably a bit simplistic.  I mean we need clean clothes and we need food on the table but when I really took a look at the ways I was spending my time, I wasn't spending it, I was wasting it, on "things" that have no eternal significance.  My girls won't remember that our house was always clean or  that dinner was on the table at 5:30pm (ha) but they will remember whether or not their mom thought that they were important enough to put all of those things aside to just play. 

So tonight my list is left undone but my heart is full because instead of tackling another task we played.... 



and as I looked at the joy that was so evident on the girl's faces as they moved their little men around the board I felt like the Lord was whispering "See Bethany, it's about time..."

30 to Play Daddy's Way

Ok, so I know that this post is all about the hubs but I had to redeem myself after that last photo.  See, I really do wear makeup when I am not having a strange reaction to something I passed while jogging that triggered never ending GINORMOUS sneezes and watery eyes that could rival Niagara Falls.  Anyway...

My honey decided it was his turn to take 30 to play and he did it his way!  Love it!  Grace found a Play Dough kit (that we have had for over a year and has never been opened) and asked if they could play.  At this point in time I should point out that I would have most likely said "No" because come on say it with me "It's a mess."  Maybe that's were being a man comes in handy.  He didn't see bits of Play Dough pressed into our carpet, or little fingers sticking it under tables and on top of hard surfaces.  Nope he just saw a fun afternoon with his girl and went for it.  (Sugar Booger was still asleep so she missed out.)

They worked very hard on their creations and I awoke from a much needed nap to find them happily playing, while watching football nonetheless!  They made snakes and planes, dolphins and trains...

But my very favorite?  Me!  In Play Dough form! 

Hee hee, don't you love how Tinkerbell is pulling a Vanna White?  TA DA!

REAL

As the idea of blogging about our journey became more concrete several things became clear to me. 

1.  If I was going to do this I was going to have to be REAL.

2.  That even when I didn't want to I was going to have to.

3.  This could NOT become about me.

Each of these statements is relatively simple when contemplated alone.  However, when placed together...they become downright intimitading!  That being said each one rings true as I write this post.  Especially the one about being REAL (otherwise there is no way I would be putting up a picture were I wasn't wearing any makeup)!

 

Little did we know that we would have the pleasure of entertaining Belle and Cinderella this evening!  Both "princesses" were a joy to be around and we discovered that each one closely resembled our own girls.  They spent the night as all true royalty would...eating pizza and watching the Falcons game.   (Sorry hun!)  After their gourmet meal was complete and the servants (ie. the hubs and myself) cleaned up their mess we set about the business of play. 

The man had to work all last night so this morning we met for breakfast and afterwards he went to bed and I hauled the girls all over town hoping that he might be able to sleep if we weren't there.  We ended up being out for over 4 hours and I have to admit that I wasn't reallly feeling the whole "play" thing tonight.  I asked Belle  what she wanted to do (selfishly hoping she would say go to bed even though it was only 6pm) and she decided on coloring. 

Two arguments between the sisters, one broken pencil sharpener, and almost 40 minutes later the masterpiece was complete.  And I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Belle was in rare form and informed me that her favorite part of the day was "Being able to hang out with the family,"  that the best part of school is "Recess" and that "Sometimes people just have to be yellow" ;).  She also divulged the names of the fairies we were coloring....Purple Flower, Sugar Cupcake, Blue Water, and Love Puppy. 

All I can say is that their momma's must have had one heck of an epidural!

Have You Ever?

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The girls and I were in the car on the 1st of January heading home after meeting our "bests" two and half hours away.  The day had been one full of emotions and I was spent, so after getting them settled I turned on the radio.  Not so much for the music but just for the noise.  I didn't want to have to think and I most certainly did not want to have to sort through the flood of feelings I was experiencing. 

My plan worked for about a minute...and then over the airwaves a haunting melody began to play.  I turned up the radio to hear "Have you ever thrown a fistful of glitter in the air?" and for some reason the statement struck me.  The remaining lyrics faded into the background as I began to think about how much fun the girls would have watching it twinkle and shine as it fell to the ground.  I quickly dismissed the thought however, I mean when would I have the time?  Things are crazy enough at our house between the husband, the 5yr old, the 2yr old, the dog, the job, the dishes... you get the point.  Glitter would be just one more thing to add to an already overflowing planner and it's a pain to clean up!

As I reached down to change the station I felt convicted.  Really?  I didn't have time to throw a fistful of glitter in the air?  I looked in my rear view mirror and just stared at the girls and their beautiful faces.  I was missing it!  The big things in life were crowding out the SMALL things.  And it's the SMALL things that life is all about. 

I began to pray and ask for guidance.  You see, I am a type AAAAA personality and I like to have everything under control, but at that moment I felt completely helpless.  "Show me a way dear Lord," I asked "show me what it will take."  And then I remembered a conversation my husband and I were having.  "Think about what just 15 minutes a day would do for our relationship," he told me one night.  He was right of course and we are still working on that but what about the girls?  "They need to play," I felt like the Lord was telling me.  "And YOU need to play with them."  

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Thus begins our journey of adding 30 minutes of unadulterated play to our everyday lives.  So grab your glitter and come along the for the ride.  The trip is sure to be messy and full of failure but hopefully, when we look back, we will see that the SMALL things are the biggest blessings of all!