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?

via

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."  

via

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!