A video worth watching

Movie Stars

I have always wanted to be in a movie, and a few months ago, I had that opportunity (along with Alan and his brother, Brian). We were invited to be extras in the movie "Ted" (set to hit theaters July of 2012). I cannot tell you much about the filming process or even our experience (we were sworn to secrecy). I can tell you that we had a blast and that it was so fun to pretend for a day. We were welcomed by the crowd as movie stars (some even wanting our autograph). What an adventure and something to check off the bucket list. So, remember these photos next year, and hopefully it is actually a good movie!

A little Princess

Kalli is our little princess. If it's pink or purple and has fancy lace or flowers, she has to have it. More is always better for this little princess. She often comes downstairs with leggings under a skirt with two shirts on and some fancy scarf or shawl. Then she needs a pony in her hair with a headband and some barrettes. Her favorite books are Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy. She LOVES having her nails painted and lip gloss. So, when we celebrate her, we incorporate everything beautiful.



She asked for a ballerina cake that was pink and purple so this is what I came up with, and she loved it! Of course, I was very frustrated because my frosting kept melting (which you will see in another photo), but she didn't care. I am so thankful that my kids don't see the "mess ups."

And of course, she had to have her party outfit.
She is also using her brand new Burt's Bees Lip Gloss.

And a little pin the tail on the donkey.
She got a very cute Tinkerbell Tutu, and had to change into it before the day was over.

We finished the evening with a nice fire, marshmallows, and glow sticks. Kalli had a blast with her little girlfriends who speak the same language as her. They all enjoyed the lip gloss, purses, dressing up, and just being princesses.

Kalli is such a gem. Everyday I am blown away by who God has created her to be. She is such a servant. I often here her saying, "I can help you, Jeremie" or "I will do it, Daddy." (she especially loves helping Daddy do....well...anything). She is also a giver. She gives of her time and of her things. Kalli gives us such a great picture of what it means to be excited about life! Each day she gives us reason to smile and be thankful. I am so excited and expectant to watch my Little Princess grow and change into the young lady that God has made her to be.

Savoring Summer - Strawberries

There is nothing like biting into a strawberry while juice oozes out the sides of your mouth and drips onto your clothes. The only time that ever happens in Maine is in June. Don't get me wrong, we can purchase strawberries all year long at the local grocery store but not the juicy, dripping, oh so delicious kind.

Naturally, we savor this part of our summer...

who wouldn't? We take the kiddos to Fairwinds Berry Farm in Oxford every summer to pick buckets full of strawberries for freezing, making jam, fruit leather, smoothies, muffins, and anything else we can think of. The littlest ones get a few in their mouths while picking and the older two wait expectantly saying, "I cannot wait to have one when we get home."

Fairwinds is our farm of choice because it keeps in step with our values and ideals. We love supporting local farms and building community through that. Alan met David Knightly (the owner) when he worked at the High School. The farm is completely family run and the strawberries are kept as organic as possible with minimal spray in the spring and absolutely none after the buds form. We feel comfortable there because it has become more than just picking strawberries. Cami conversed with a chicken,


Kalli ran up and down the path exclaiming about the goats, Jeremie stood on an old box just so he could see over the counter to have a conversation with Mrs. Knightly about all the honey, syrup, and treats displayed on the counter, and Kaylynn watched intently as Mr. Knightly taught her how to wink both eyes.

While picking, I couldn't help but glance up every few seconds to watch my kiddos. They were so diligent searching for the perfect strawberry. Then running to daddy, "Come look at this one before I pick it please!" After daddy gave the approval, the berry went into the bucket and then shouts of joy (literally), "Look at this one! My bucket is almost full!" I even stopped taking pictures just so I could soak it all in.

I thought, "this moment will never be again so I want to drink it all in." And I did. No worries about the time, no thoughts about the laundry, no wondering about tomorrow.....just enjoying a very simple but meaningful summer evening.

Make sure to check out Renee's blog FIMBY to see what others are saying about their summer!

Savoring Summer - A Backyard Firepit

I am joining Renee (a dear friend, great blogger, and wonderful inspiration) over at FIMBY and posting a bit about how I am savoring the summer!

A couple of years ago, Alan built this small but perfect fire pit for the purpose of enjoying more of what summer has to offer. Sitting around late night fires in the backyard, dreaming with my husband with the sounds of my children running barefoot through the grass echos through my mind right now. Then their squeals of excitement as the first firefly shines its light. And, of course, the anticipation while helping mommy and daddy catch one just to watch it blink and glow in the darkness. This piece of summer is pure delight!

Ten Year Lilies

Alan and I are coming up on our ten year anniversary which has put both of us in a stage of reflection and evaluation so many of my posts may possibly have something to do with marriage or thoughts about the last ten years of our lives together.

I was actually thinking about our marriage two weeks ago as I walked the trash out to the dumpster and growing right next to the dumpster was a beautiful brand new Lily plant. And to make it even more exciting, the lilies were yellow. Yellow lilies just happen to be my favorite flower, and they also just happen to be the flower used in our wedding bouquets. I was literally jumping with joy as I ran inside to find some scissors so I could cut just one lily to put on our kitchen table. I could hardly believe it: A brand new lilly plant for our ten year anniversary!





Now, this story becomes quite humorous (at least it is now).....which will explain why I only picked one lily. The day after our wedding we went back to my parent's house to open all of our gifts with friends and family. My mom had brought all the flowers back to the house and placed them strategically around the living room, kitchen, and bathrooms for added beauty....and of course fragrance. Not ten minutes after we arrived, Alan started sneezing like crazy. It turns out, he is extremely allergic to lilies (or at least that particular type in large quantities) so we gathered up all the beautiful flowers and set them on the back porch which is where they stayed until Alan and I left.

In Which We Dance

Since the time she was three years old, Kaylynn has had an intense desire to be the prima ballerina. She danced EVERYWHERE. She danced at the grocery store, in her carseat, while brushing her teeth, and at any other opportunity. Kaylynn enjoyed listening to classical music over any other kind of music and could explain The Nutcracker music in words. Her desire for dance was so great that when she was three her gymnastics teacher told me to switch her to dance. So I did, and she has simply loved the past 5 years of dance. This year was different, though. This was the first year of "real" ballet, and she is no longer convinced that she still wants to be the prima ballerina. This year pink and purple are out and yellow and orange are in. This year princesses and ballerinas are out and explorers and adventurers are in. This year fancy dresses are out and ripped jeans are in. This year my little pink princess turned into a tomboy! She is now following a path similar to my own. I used to hide my ripped jeans (because my father would not allow me to wear them) by rolling them up past the rips then unrolling them when I got to school. My favorite shirt in third grade was a HUGE black sweatshirt with a skier on it. Who knew she would go through such a massive transformation? So you can imagine my surprise when she was actually excited to don her Bright Pink leotard and tutu for the recital. She told me, "not all pink is bad, mom." (As if I didn't know that already). And she was ecstatic to perform in BOTH recitals this year. This girl was made for the stage. She has nerves of steel and certainly commands attention when on stage (well at least my attention). I am excited to see what next year brings as she changes once again and continues to grow into the young lady that God has made her to be.



I have a second little princess waiting in the wings, and although Kalli has never had a great desire to be a prima ballerina nor does she care to be on stage or in the spotlight at any time, she LOVES pink, purple, tutus, and ANYTHING that big sister is doing. So, she wanted to do creative movement this year. I spent the first half of the year participating in the class with her because she simply refused to go in alone but when offered to wait and take the class next year, she insisted that she loved it and wanted to continue. I was not expecting her to actually go on stage this year, but she did! She was certainly more interested in how her tutu spun than actually doing the dance number, but that made it all the more memorable. And often during her "performance" she would stop and turn all around watching her classmates do their part, then she would do a nice twirl for good measure! She was so happy when it was all over and so proud of herself! She also loved receiving her own flowers (which were far too big for her to carry). So, I still have one little princess for at least a few more years. And who knows what Cami will be like?


Inspired by our girls, or possibly some sense of nostalgia, Alan and I joined a swing dancing class. We used to dance together (about 10 years ago) before we had children. We even "performed" one time at the Homecoming football game half time show (wow that seems so long ago). But alas, our dancing activity has since been restricted to the living room, the kitchen, and often the back yard, with our children looking on or interrupting to be twirled or thrown into the air. So here we are again, re-learning what we learned many years ago and enjoying every minute of it. We are currently learning East Coast Swing. Our next class will be West Coast Swing and Waltz. We are the youngest in the class by at least 10 years, and most of the other participants actually thought we were in high school (so good to hear that at 30 years old).
As we danced this past Tuesday, I had some time to process the "art" of dancing and how it pertains to our marriage. You see in swing (or any partner dancing), there are good leads and bad leads; there are good follows and bad follows. The dance does not work when either the lead or the follow have no idea what they are doing. We are learning that to be a good dancing duo, we both have to know our part. What a great picture this has painted for me in our marriage. We both have to know our part in order for this to work. When I attempt to lead, we wind up tripping and stepping on each other's toes. When he fails to lead me properly, the dance just stops and we go no where. I can pinpoint times in our marriage when either one or the other of us did not do our part well, and the result was....well....you can imagine. Not to say that we didn't grow or learn from the experience because we did. Which leads us to where we are today. We are in a stage of our marriage that I feel we both know our part well and we are functioning in that role well (there is still always room for growth). This has come from years of trial and error, learning from each other, shedding tears or laughing about mistakes, and growing together. My husband is a great lead both on the dance floor and off, and I am so thankful to be dancing life's dance with God as the "band" and Alan as my partner. The dance of life will always change, the music will be different, the tempo will vary, but we will stay with the music and dance our way through every season of life.

Cami Eats Rice

The other night at dinner we turned our backs for one moment, and Cami decided to pull the entire rice bowl to herself and dig in. I am so glad she enjoys healthy food so much!

Back in Time

One of the many advantages of Homeschooling is the amazing field trips we get to take! Last week, we went back in time and visited two historical places in Maine: Willowbrook Farm and Old Fort Western. The post is full of pictures and not a lot of commentary so enjoy looking.

Old Fort Western

Cutting fire wood

Willow Brook

Using the old printing press

Going to school 100 years ago....boys on one side of the room, girls on the other.

Kaylynn gets 20 lashes for playing with the boys outside
and bringing cards to school.

Then she gets in trouble for being rowdy in class.

Cami insisted on wearing her boa scarf all day.

One of the oldest carriages in the nation. There is only one that is older.

Cami never left the technology behind. Here she has my cell phone and my camera.

He turns 6!

It's inevitable: children grow up. I love watching my children grow and change, but I do not welcome the thought that eventually they will grow into adults and move away. So, I do my best to cherish each and every moment that I have with them now (not always so easy when they are testing their limits). I have watched my son grow into a young man this last year. He has become such a servant. He encourages his sisters and has really stepped up to the challenge of being THE brother. He has also grown into much more creative mischief which keeps me on my toes and sometimes leaves me wanting to pull my hair out at the end of the day. We celebrated him exactly the way he wanted to.....a quiet party with just a few of his friends (he is not into crowds), a yummy dinner, swimming, and of course....a Minecraft cake (which he helped with). If you haven't heard of it, Minecraft is a computer game in which you can build houses, castles, farms, gardens, and many other things.....but you are doing it all with square blocks.
So, we made a Minecraft cake of bedrock and grass...complete with some Playmobil trees and a guy (although Jeremie did point out that the guy isn't really Minecraft because he is not square).

Jeremie's Minecraft house (made with square cupcakes).
He had fun helping me frost it.

Eating bedrock.

Legos!

And his very own Nerf gun.

A Mother's Legacy

The past few years have been ones of deep reflection and change. Everything from food to faith. You name it, I have wrestled through it and come out the other side changed and stronger. And this Mother's Day is following a similar story. Generally, I do not use Mother's Day to reflect on my own mothering. It is usually a time for honoring my dear mother and mother-in-law, but this year has been incredibly different. I suppose God decided is was time to strengthen my ability to mother my children. Typically I am not a super insecure person, but these last few years of change have left intense pockets of insecurity. I think insecurity can come with any kind of adjustment.


We make a change, but often we doubt our decision before fully accepting it...then we embrace change, and the insecurity slowly disappears. I have made many changes in how I mother my children, and found that instead of being confident in those decisions, I was constantly second guessing myself (thankfully I have a husband who is faithful to remind me that we made these decisions together and to persevere). So, I made up my mind to embrace this stage of life and allow God to let me be the kind of mom I want to be (and the kind of mom I think He has called me to be).....still insecure.... thinking I was the only mother out there making these kinds of decisions or choosing this way of life, thus something MUST be wrong with me.


I started reading a book called The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison (recommended by a dear friend. You can read her blog here). In this book, I found another mother who willingly admitted her insecurities and challenges. I found another mother who wrestled through change and heart ache and came out the other side stronger and more appreciative. Although, I am not in the same stage of life as Kenison (her sons are grown now), I found I could relate to her struggles and also her longing for simplicity and embracing that which seems commonplace. I made another change: I started appreciating everything that seemed ordinary. I intentionally thanked God for everything that I seemed to take for granted in the past, and in this, I found beauty. The insecure thoughts were replaced by thoughts of thankfulness. I realized recently, though, that I had not dealt with the insecurity, I had simply pushed the thoughts into the darkest parts of my mind. Yes, they came back at the most unexpected moment. So, I called in reinforcements (drum roll please).... MOMMY!!!!! She listened in silence. She allowed me the freedom to share ALL of my insecurities and then quietly said exactly what I needed to hear. "Honey, I know that many moms seem to have it all together, but EVERY mom is insecure." Rewind.....YES! I did know that, and about three years ago I actually shared that same thought with another mother, but somewhere in all the currents of change, I had forgotten it. Thank you mom! I hung up feeling free. Freedom in remembering that I am not alone.....that every mother struggles with some sort of insecurity. Freedom in understanding myself and my children, and freedom in admitting that I DO NOT have it all together (yes, I am confessing it here too).


The title of this post is "A Mother's Legacy." We all have an opportunity to leave a legacy for our children. For some reason, we have a culture of mothers who are constantly questioning, constantly comparing, constantly second guessing their parenting (maybe it has always been this way). For me, this is the time to say good bye to those insecurities and embrace who I am. I choose to leave a legacy of confidence. One that is identified in Christ and no one else. I choose to say I am the one chosen to be mama to these little gifts... not the neighbor lady....not my best friend....not my sister....I AM THE ONE GOD CHOSE TO PARENT THESE CHILDREN. I will do things differently; I will pull my children close when they need to be pulled close, and I will give them the freedom to run and blossom. I will not measure myself up against another mother. I will only measure myself against my heavenly Father and His expectations of me. I will be transparent with other mothers so that they have the opportunity to be transparent with me. We cannot allow our insecurities to keep us locked into emotional isolation. I will not compare myself to other mothers, but I will encourage them in their own parenting. I will not think that I can do it better than that mother over there. Let's face it, we do not have TIME to compare ourselves to one another. I have lost so much time wrestling with my insecurities. I choose now to fill my mind with gratitude for each and every blessing. I will take notice of those things not so easily noticeable.


Grandmothers, I ask you to speak encouragement to the young mothers around you. Tell them often how proud you are of them and what they do well. Be specific. A mother needs to hear it. I am glad my mom took the time to encourage me. Leave a legacy of encouragement.
Leave a legacy that delights in all the ordinary things that might be overlooked.
Leave a legacy of confidence and encouragement.
Leave a legacy that has no place for insecurity. Happy Mothers Day