Family

Bringing in the Big 8th Birthday with Ice

January 25, 2011 by Jennifer Leave a Comment

Having a Birthday Party via an Ice Skating rink provided lots of smiles, laughter and most of all so much fun. It was finally time to celebrate a special little girl’s 8th Birthday. That special little girl would be my precious M!

She has waited so patiently to have her birthday party since she is my little bundle of Christmas joy. Having her birthday party in January just provides a lot more open up schedules with all her friends, so it is what worked well for us this year. Since, she is such a huge winter lover and loves to ski and ice skate, her choice was to have an Ice Skating party. I wasn’t too sure at first how this would go over, but I could just put any doubts out the window as the party was a huge hit by all.

The party was such an answer to this busy mom’s schedule as all I did was pay one set fee and the Ice Skating Rink took care of everything. All we had to do was show up. They provided the cake, all the decorations, the food, the drinks, the ice skates, tokens to the game room and even the goody bags. No stress on this mom at all. M hit the ice as soon as we arrived and looked like she had been skating for years of course. I see more weekends at the rink in our future 😉

M – 8 Years

Oh how I love thee…

You are an amazing young lady who has such a gentle spirit that will be there for anyone. Your teacher says that everyone just loves and adores you in class. She always writes to tell me she wants to have a child like you. You are super smart and very determined to figure out anything. You are very quick to rebound if someone tells you that you are wrong.

You are such a helper as you have been since you could walk. You want to be there to pick up that paper for your classmate, help mommy in the kitchen, help your sister read and teach her to tie her shoe, and even help mommy clean around the house.

You are a friend to everyone and will never release any mean spirit towards anyone. If someone is having a bad day, you are quick to the draw to cheer them up and make them smile. You are always wanting to pray for others to get well.

You love God. You are asking lots of questions and making sure the things you do is what God would want you to do. You love going to church and being involved. You love our devotions.

You are such a computer geek like mommy and can figure out any technology. You text mommy on daddy’s cell phone when mommy is on her trips. You are able to send pictures through daddy’s phone and even send an email. You are an amazing young daughter.

You love being such a girly girl but you still love your sports as well. Softball to be exact and are counting down the days to season starts again. Just like your mommy. Oh how I love you so much.

Looking forward to see what the next year brings with your joy.

Forever Love,

Mommy

Walking On Sunshine

January 19, 2011 by Jennifer 3 Comments

Today the sun tried to peek through and the temps reached in the high 50’s. It was such a beautiful day. The girls were able to take advantage of the leaves that were still hanging around just begging for some attention.

This has been such an extremely cold winter and it did us all some good to just get out and stretch our bones and fill the air with lots of laughter. It reminded me of this song that I videoed of my youngest daughter L this weekend. Her version of “Walking on Sunshine”

It’s so great to just forget about all the stressful days and let your hair down so to speak… and just walk on sunshine. What a great evening this was!

Random Acts of Zhu Zhu Pets

January 13, 2011 by Jennifer 2 Comments

Random acts of kindness is what makes the world a better place. It was such a pleasure during the holiday season to team up with Zhu Zhu Pets and be able to do random acts of kindness. That is what the holiday season is all about. It was such a great experience to have my girls participate in this with me this year to show them how we can pay it forward.

Our first stop was the girls school in which we donated our first group of zhu zhu pets to M’s teacher. Her church was able to fill children’s wish lists and put a smile on their face with the zhu zhu pets. M’s teacher was so delighted to be able to take part in this special random acts of kindness.

Our second stop was to our local children’s hospital here in Raleigh, NC. I shed some tears on this trip as M was able to give out the zhu zhu pets herself to kids. I wasn’t able to get the children on camera of course due to privacy laws, but as you can see in the video, M was so proud to be able to do this.

Onto our third trip, we invited Carolina Mama and her Tigers to help us out. We were trying to do this altogether for our local YMCA but with bad weather moving in and us having to get out of town, Carolina Mama did this stop for us. We so appreciated her help. The YMCA fills under privileged children’s wish lists every year for Christmas and welcomes all the help they can get. They were so thrilled to see Carolina Mama and the Tigers walk in with all these Zhu Zhu Pets. We heard they were a huge hit with the kids.

As we move into the year, we plan to do lots more Random Acts of Kindness. We are so appreciative to Zhu Zhu Pets for leading the leg work on this wonderful event. Lots of children experienced lots of smile this Holiday season because of the Random Acts of Zhu Zhu Pets!

Creating Family Devotion Time

January 11, 2011 by Jennifer 7 Comments

I am writing about our faith today.

Bringing your family closer to God. That is words that really have been on my heart for awhile. I want my girls to know God and all that he can do for us. I want them to know he will protect them. I want them to know they can call upon his name at any given time. I want them to know that he will help them choose the right friends. I want them to know he will deliver them from the evil one.

Yet, I wasn’t sure how to get those messages across to them. I wanted to feel like I was doing a good job, but in my heart I knew that more needed to be done. I entered a local Christian Book Store and right there at the table at the front door was a devotion book for little girls by Veggie Tales. God knew what he was doing by leading me into the store at that given time. We started this book in the New Year and we do it every single night before bedtime. It is just the girls and I all snuggled in the bed and reading the day’s devotion. The devotion is spread out into 365 days so you do a devotion a day. The devotions are so easy to understand and comprehend that it is opening up so many conversations between the girls and I. Not only are they learning more about God and his awesomeness for us, but I am learning too.

The devotions are broken into a bible verse, a devotion about the bible verse and then a bedtime prayer. It teaches about the golden rule, friendships, honesty, and etc. I am setting stones hopefully in their life now that will lead them into a lifetime of calling unto our almighty God everyday to guide them. God is powerful and not only do the girls need to remember and get closer to God but their mommy does as well.

Thank you Lord for putting this great devotion book in front of my eyes.

You amaze me with your powers. We are growing closer to you and it feels so good!

Amy Tara Koch Gives Us Mom Travel Tips

January 10, 2011 by Jennifer 2 Comments

Moms we know it is not always easy taking lots of road trips in the minivan. From food all over the van to getting out at rest stops with sweat pants and looking like you have been through World War III. Never fear, I have you covered with some easy tips to help you look like that mom that has it altogether when traveling!

I had the pleasure interviewing Amy Tara Koch from Bump It Up Style this past week. She was so awesome to talk to and left me feeling so much better about traveling. Also, find out why my husband is so happy that I interviewed her!

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