Great Day!

So, today is my milestone birthday…29 on the 29^th!  I am glad that I am old enough I can appreciate this.  To honor my birthday and as has been tradition, here are 29 things about me {in random order!}

1. It really irritates me when the internet is NOT working!!
2. I got married when I was 19.
3. I used to HATE iced tea, until I  married Jeremy and now we drink gallons of it all year long.
4. I just noticed peanut butter on the back of my hand from helping Preston and Cambree make pinecone bird feeders.
5. I enjoy being in the kitchen cooking and baking for my loved ones.
6. I am a “tech geek”.  An iPad is on my wish list!
7. I am going to have 2 kids in school in August…how did that happen?
8. I like to wear dresses and skirts, even though up until now I haven’t had the opportunity to wear them much.
9. Having dirty kids doesn’t bother me.  I would much rather have rings around the bathtub and clothes that are impossible to get clean than kids who are pristine.
10. I LOVE it when I upload pictures to my computer and get a surprise picture!  My kids love the camera like I do.
11. I just learned there are 45 elves at the N. Pole…according to Cambree!
12. I am hooked on the Twilight saga now.  I needed a summer reading project and thanks to Jennifer, I had the books just sitting in my closet waiting to be read.  I am on the second book already and it has only been 3 days.
13. My new job is fantastic!  I am going to LOVE it.
14. I have a sickness.  I am a surface abuser.  If there is a flat surface I will be the first to make a pile and cover it up. {it’s genetic, my mother has it and so does my grandma betty!}
15. Dr. Pepper is my drink of choice.
16. I am so lucky to have my parents just across town and my in-laws just 20 minutes away.
17. Being “momma” to three kids is so much better than I ever dreamed.  And having three is exactly how it was meant to be.  I always knew I wanted three, then Jeremy convinced me two was enough….little did we know that a mother’s intuition would be right!
18. I like to watch kitschy Christmas movies…all year long.
19. On road trips, I like to be behind the wheel!
20. My heart skips a beat when Jeremy laughs at my jokes.
21. I love raising my kids in the town I grew up in and that they have some of the same teachers I had.
22. I am a sucker for anything with a zebra print.
23. I love the water!  The pool, the lake…bring it on in the summer!
24. I want a travel trailer so that we can enjoy family camping trips.
25. I share my birthday with my nephew Jace.  I will be 50 when he turns the age I was when he was born!
26. I miss my grandma Frazier and wish she was here to see me raise my kids.  I know they would adore her and she them.  I know she watches over us, but what I wouldn’t give to see them interact. 
27. In two months I will have been married 10 years!  Holy cow!
28. There is nothing more exciting that planning a PERFECT party.  The more extravagant the better!
29. Birthdays are a BIG deal to me….they should be celebrated with cakes and parties and love and laughter!

 Our tradition has become to have a "picnic" at the park for my birthday! Here's our lunch date this year.

2010

Play Day

Today was Preston's first Play Day at school and boy did we have a GREAT time!  Preston got a first place ribbon in the football throw, second in the standing long jump and third in the 75 meter dash (or the medium race as the kindergartners all told their parents!).  He had a BLAST and was very excited about how well he did.  I was extremely proud of him.  Not only did he do a great job physically, but he was a great sport too, always being proud of his classmates when he wasn't in first place.  Here's a few pics from the day...

This Old Man

This has made me smile EVERY.SINGLE.TIME she sings it!!

Rockin' & Rollin'

On Saturday we {Cambree, Mom, Westynn and I} attended our Frazier family annual Mother-Daughter Tea. This is I believe the 11th year for this event. My Aunt Debra started it way back when as a way for us women to gather outside of the holidays and to take turns visiting each others homes. It was my turn several years ago and it is SO much for to plan for.

Each woman has had her own "theme" and that makes it that more enjoyable. We usually don't know the theme until the invitations arrive in the mail.

This year was Terri's turn. She lives south of Coldwater, in Buttermilk. Her theme was Rock N Roll, the 1950's! Our invitations were records with all the party details.

She did a terrific job on all the decorations and we felt like we were right at home in a diner.









We each got to take home one of these Pepsi glasses! Cambree and I LOVE ours and we want to get some more for the house...how fun!









The pinata provided A TON of fun later in the day...{keep reading!}



Cambree Jane peaking through the doorway.



Westynn liked it too! I think he even pulled part of it down as we were leaving for the day...at least he waited until the party was over to start taking down the decorations.



Something to munch on while the burgers and fries were cookin'.



Diner baskets for our burgers and fries. I think they just taste better when served in these!!



The Pink Ladies were in attendance, but one of them had to take her jacket off so she could cook!!



A family of Chuck Taylors!! {Cambree:pink, Robin:pink, Westynn:blue, Sara:green}



Natalie avoids the paparazzi {that's me!} Hey, at least I didn't get you with food in your mouth!!



Another pink lady!



Brooke made us play "Grease" trivia...Mindy and Haley were NOT to be beat! Brooke had some tricky questions though. It was fun!



She used a CHS yearbook as her clipboard...how appropriate!!



This is Kelly and she looked so cute! Her glasses and hat were just perfect for the theme.







More trivia fun!!



Aunt Addie, our oldest attendee. I think she is 94, because I remember being pregnant with Cambree when we had her 90th birthday celebration.



More paprazzi! We all take a group picture and then group shots of the "sisters" and their families. Here's our family, minus Westynn, he was grumpy during picture time!  Our sister, is my Grandma Loretta, and we miss her terribly each year because we know how much fun she would have had.  This year we also missed my mom's sister Debra and her daughter Audrey.





The whole clan! {almost, we were missing a few, but this is everyone who was there this year}
Back row: Linda, Hailey, Hannah, Natalie, Victoria, Kaitlyn
Middle standing: Brooke, Quincy, Susan, Dee Anne, Cara, Kelly, Shawn, Carolyn
Sitting: Terri, Pat, Addie, Sue, Cambree, Margaret
Kneeling: Sara, Mindy, Westynn, Robin

And this video is how we finished our evening.  A pinata.  It was a GREAT afternoon and fun was had by ALL!  Enjoy this video and try not to fall out of your chair.  The "olders" ladies got to go first...Sue, Pat, Margaret.  I have cried I have laughed so hard at this video!!

Happy Mother's Day!

...to my best friend!!

Momma

Oh how this name makes my heart skip a beat!

Do your kids call you endearing names? 

Preston called me "MOMMA" for the longest time and I remember that the first time he ever called me MOM for the first time, I was a little sad.  I just love hearing the word Momma come from my little babes.

Cambree Jane still calls me this sometimes.  Mostly she just calls me Mom.

I am so happy that I still have one baby left to call me Momma.  And I fully intend to teach him this.  I know that all too quickly he will be saying just Mom.  Afterall, he does have two older examples.

As Mother's Day approaches each year I take a look at my kids and stop and think, "How did I get here?"

I mean, I don't FEEL like I am old enough to be the mother of three.  I don't FEEL like I should have a 6 year old who is half as tall as me now.  I don't FEEL like I should have a 4 year old little girl who is my mirror image.  I don't FEEL like I am qualified to have a 9 month old.  I just don't FEEL like I should be where I am.

Do you ever have those moments?  They come so randomly and at the strangest times.  I am following them through the yard and I get a thought, "Do I really have a 6 year old?" {Not that I don't think he is mine!}  Where has the time gone?

I am looking into the most adorable little face and I think, "Is this precious little girl really mine?" {Again, no doubt she is!}  How did I get so blessed?

I am blowing rasberries on a soft baby belly and I think, "Wow, I can't believe I never knew I would have him." 

I have been EXTREMELY blessed by my children!!  For Christmas, Janelle gave me a framed quote, "My greatest blessings call me Mom."  It is one of my favorite things in my house.  It hangs right beside our front door and I see and read it often.  I absolutely feel like I didn't become the woman I was born to be until I started having kids.

Maturity comes with children.  One of the first things that comes with motherhood is you loose the selfishness that you possess before kids.  Immediately your first priority becomes your kids.  You will starve so they can eat.  You go without, so they can have.  You hurt, so they don't have to.  You protect so they stay innocent.
Your heart breaks, so theirs stays whole.  You would die, so they might live.

Never did I imagine the feelings and thoughts that would pour out of me once I became a mother.  Never did I imagine the stresses that come, the worry, the nerves.  Never did I imagine that my world would revolve around three small people.  Never did I imagine that my life would not feel complete until August 19, 2010.  Never did I imagine that I could love someone so completely.  Never did I believe that I would BECOME my mother!! LOL!

I LOVE being a mother.  I believe it was what I was born to do.  It's my calling, my life. 

Do I always feel like I do it right?  Absolutely not!!  I often feel like I DON'T do it right.  I doubt myself often.  But even through the doubt and the failures, I am passionate about these kids.  I know that I have grace and mercy to carry me through to the next minutes, hours, days.  I have learned that kids are much more forgiving than adults are.  They don't carry a grudge.  So even though I might fail or mess up multiple times a day, those loving arms are there to give me a hug and a kiss and tell me that I am still the best Mom in the whole world.

And that my friends is worth it every single time!

More on motherhood tomorrow!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well we ARE still here.  I know you find that hard to believe since our posts have been so few and far between.

Here's a little of what has been going on.

This



and this



and this



and this



and this



and this



.

We are just enjoying the spring breezes and LIFE! Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the "busy-ness" of life and forget about the things that are truly important.

I came across this a few weeks ago and I wrote it down in the little notebook that I carry with me EVERYWHERE! It is so comforting & relieving to read it and know that I CAN focus on the things that are important and that make our life so full and wonderful. Maybe it will help you give yourself a break today...

"We women have a lot to learn about simplyfing our lives.

We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us.

We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something.

We have to learn to be content with what we ARE.

As you create a home, don't get distracted with a lot of things that have no meaning for you or your family.

Don't dwell on your failures, but think about your successes.

Have joy in your home.

Have joy in your children.

Have joy in your husband.

Be grateful for the journey."

Marjorie P. Hinckley