If you let her build it...

Today Brendon went dove hunting so Olivia and I had a mommy daughter day!

Home Depot had their FREE kids workshop today and it was building a Wizard of Oz birdhouse.  This was perfect since we saw the movie a few weeks ago.  I know it says you have to be 5 to go...but I don't think even a 5 year old could have built that birdhouse on their own! I was pretty impressed with my building skills.  I actually built it faster than the mom and dad next to me who were too worried about their daughter building it perfect...I felt like saying...let her build it the way she wants to! I kept getting looks from them because I was building so quickly and praising Olivia for being such a great helper...which she was.  After we built it we painted it! By the time we got home it was ready for the stickers!!

We went to a few other stores and popped in to see Kristy at work! Olivia loves surprising her at work!

Then we came home and had lunch and did some laundry.  After rest time we went for a quick swim and daddy came home after dinner! 

Closet project

We have been working on our closet project and it is near completion.  Just have to work on some organization of a few things....but close to the final product! Thanks IKEA for having all the supplies reasonable priced! I got the rod, pink flower end caps, the hinges, clips/rings, and 2 panels for all less than $30! I had to hem the curtains which I did myself using this easy iron on stitch tape! Go me!

Doors are off and curtains are hung

Open Sesame!

Just being silly!

Sometimes you need pancakes

Sometimes you just need to have pancakes for dinner...so Olivia and I did.  I was just tired....busy day at school...so while it was raining again tonight...pancakes were just what we needed.  Then we played Candy Land and played with some stickers and the world just seemed to right itself.

Blessing in Disguise

There are times I am fine talking about being a family of 3 and there are definitely times when I get flooded with emotion talking about it.  It is a struggle and a process of letting go.  As I quickly perused Facebook while cooking ravioli for dinner this post came up that I noted to read later...when I could actually read...the link below is to blog post to read on the MOD squad page

http://mothersofdaughters.com/blessing-in-disguise/



Probably the best part is the ending:

But being the mom of an only child didn’t start out as a blessing. Every baby shower was pure torture for a long time. I hated Babies-R-Us and rushed out of there right after buying a gift card. I didn’t want to have to shop the aisles looking at all the adorable baby stuff I’d never again use. Self-pity clawed at me, reminding me Who was really to blame. Or so I thought.
God, in His wisdom, taught me huge life lessons by not giving me my hearts desire.

Sometimes a hard diagnosis and a hard truth turns into a big blessing.

It may come disguised as tragedy or loss but in time and with perspective, the dark edges turn clear and what started out as a clenched fist of loss turns into God’s open hand of blessing.

It just doesn’t always look like it at first. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I could have written some of those words myself...or maybe the author just knew I needed to read this today...Thank you Kate Battistelli for taking the words right out of my mouth...this mommy of one needed to read this to know that I am not the only one who struggles with this. 

Tuesday Blahs....

I had the Tuesday blahs...didn't sleep well, still not feeling well today.  Felt like I was in a fog all day.  Thankfully my students were really good today since they knew I didn't feel well. 

Olivia was kind of grouchy tonight.  She didn't want to get dressed for dance class...but when I peeked in on her she was having so much fun! Then everything I asked her to do was a big deal and I got a whole, "I don't want to and I don't care!" statements tonight! It was a fun night!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a busy weekend.

Saturday I woke up and ran and Brendon biked when I got home.  Olivia and I did some serious vacuuming while Brendon was gone.  Then I got up in the HOT attic for some things for school after he came back.  Then I noticed my throat was feeling too good- thought it was from vacuuming and being in the attic.  Olivia napped and then we got ready for the Georgia game against Clemson! Such a good game and Olivia was a great cheerleader!

We also solved the problem of how to push the stroller and walk your dog at the same time!

Go Dawgs!

Sunday I woke up and didn't feel well at all...stuffed up...yucky! It always seems to catch me on a holiday! I even took a little nap myself.  So we bummed around the house Sunday but got some chores done- bathrooms cleaned, Jake got a bath, and I started working on Olivia's closet! Now all we have to do is get the doors off.

Today I still didn't feel much better.  Brendon had to work so we had breakfast together before he left.  I have been wanting to take Olivia to the movies for awhile now and so we went today and saw Planes Fire and Rescue.  It was a cute movie...plus it was super short and enough for her attention span.  She had some popcorn and a juice box and said she had a good time.  On the way home from the movie the clouds got all yucky and it basically rained/stormed the rest of the night.

It was hard to get a picture of her at the movie!

Rain...