THE talk...

I'm pretty sure I just had my first "talk" with my two-point-five-year-old.
You know.
THE talk.
Like the birds and the bees kind of talk.
Seriously?
What in tarnation?!
NO ONE told me, I'd have to be prepared for this business SO stinkin' early!
Where have I been people?!
Our snuggle-at-bedtime convo just went a little somethin' like this after our snuggle-prayer time (in which we prayed for health and protection for the little cousin in the womb of her Aunt Suzanna):

Anna: I'm gonna have a baby too.
Mama: (choking, gasping, grasping the air for words) Oh wow! Not for a really long time, honey. Not until you're really old like mama. And there's a daddy too. And you're like married. With a ring on your finger. Like mama's ring on my finger that daddy gave her when we got married.**
**Can you tell I'm doing some serious stumbling and bumbling around in the dark. Literal and figurative dark?! Because I TOTALLY was.
Anna: What's married?
Mama: Ummmm, it's where a daddy gives a mommy a ring, and they stay together forever.
Anna:  Oh. I don't want a ring on my finger.

END.of.convo.
NO.more.baby.talk.

Think I diverted that one ok? Bahahahahah! 
Calling all veteran mamas HEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!

















And mommy and daddy made one.

Did you cry when...

you first discovered your toilet training toddler standing on a stool so she could turn on the bathroom light, then dragging the stool over to the toilet, while tripping over her pulled-down pants and panties, to step up, sit on the potty and go, for the first time, on her own? WITHOUT telling you she was going or asking for your help?!
Hold on, let me go check with myself to verify, but I'm pretty sure, I actually just melted over it.
Where does the time go and who took my itty bitty away?!

TOTALLY…

It’s the most hilarious, freaky, weird, gut-laugh-provoking, scary thing when you have a mini-voice-recorder following you around all day long, parroting back to you every.single.word.you.say.

Case in point #1…

The word TOTALLY (emphasis on the TOE-tally)

“Adv. totally - to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (`whole' is often used informally for `wholly')”

Synonyms…all, altogether, completely, entirely, whole, wholly

Conversations with proof of proper adverb usage…

Mama: So-and-so sure is a good friend for you, isn’t she Anna?

Anna: She so TOTALLY is.

 

Mama: You like cheerios don’t you, honey?

Anna: Oh, I so TOTALLY do.

 

Anna: Hi GG!

Mama: Oh, so I’m your GG now, huh? (GG=Anna’s great-grandma)

Anna: You so TOTALLY are my GG friend.

 

Well, I guess I’m glad she’s getting “all, altogether, completely, entirely, whole, wholly” of something I’m spoutin’ off in this home!

But WHUT in tarnation happened to my innocent two-and-a-half year old and who sent over the fifteen-year-old-full-of-tude?! When you find my itty bitty bundle of pink fluff, can you send some of the innocence (of mouth) back please?

 

A GIVEAWAY!

By one of my dear ole friends (I was her boss, she was my boss, we was our boss, and then we were our boss' friends and then we were our friends' bosses and then we were just friends--sisterfriends connected at the heart, at that)!!!
But now that she's skipped right on outta town and sought out the warm sunny rays of Cali, she owns Kia Gregory Photography in Central Valley, CA. Kia is giving away some jewels from Stella & Dot jewelry on her blog right now and I WANT IT!!!  (Kia Gregory Photography Giveaway Link)
So, here's your postage, sister KG!
Sure hope I win!
And to all the rest of you in Central Valley Cali...go get you some photographic family artwork done by her!!!!! She's unbeatable!
And now, because this postage is ALL about you Kia Gregory, and just because I can, I am going to highlight your beauty and why EVERYone in Central Valley Cali should go find you!!!!

Cuz really, who could ever resist this gorgeous face 

that NEVER ceases to bring deep hearty laughs and joy to my heart whenever we are together...

So, don't just take my word for it folks, go see her work for yourselves at:
http://www.kiagregoryphotography.com/index2.php#/home/

You won't be disappointed!

Feeding the Yammies!!!!

This post goes out to our fabuloso friends who allowed us to crash their peaceful Friday morning to visit their friendly yammies (lambies, in Anna-speak)!!!

We are SOOOO grateful, M & B!!

You know when you have taken so many pictures of a treasured event, and you love them all so much, that you have a terribly difficult time narrowing them down to your absolute favorites for a succint and quick post?! Well, this is one of those times. So, consider yourself fairly warned that this is some photo-heavy-postage!

When we arrived, all bundled up in our allowed-to-be-soiled-farm-wear, Anna got to start up the morning by mixing the yammie milk on her own (well, maybe with a little help from her friends)!!

And off she went with her mt. dew-yammie-bottle in hand!

This yittow yammie has been rejected by her mama yammie and is therefore needing 4x a day feedings by bottle—gooooo Michelle!

 

She was ONE happy yammie-feeder!

 

And then the yammie yicked her finger! “That tickowed!”

Some yammie-yub (lambie love)…

 

The mama-yammies…

The perfect yittow white easter yammie that Michelle made sure Bill chased down just for our photo opps (we sure have fun and gracious friends, don’t we?!)…

Daddy and Mama got to yub on the yammies too!

  

I never knew cute-snuggly-perfect-white-easter-yammies were so snuggly!!

And then the mama got pee’d on by the cute-snuggly-perfect-white-easter-yammie…

  

And then we went home.

No, not really.

But those jeans really did go in the washer as soon as we walked in the door. Good thing we were wearing our allowed-to-be-soiled-farm-wear!!

Thanks for the day at the yammie farm, M & B!!!

You made our Friday extry-special and good!

Check This Canvas Out!!!

So, a few months back, one of my nearest and dearest's
sent me a forward on a possible FREEBIE on a photo canvas job, since she knew I'd been dreaming about wall art around my home with some of the work she has done (Captivating Photography & Design Co.)
or some from our wedding day.
Sounds simple enough right?
But isn't there always a "catch" with these freebie deals?
(I'm totally not-so-sold on the couponing craze for this reason, in fact.)
No. Not so much. Not always. Not with Zaza Gallery.
All I had to do was place an advertising link to their site on my blog page
and write up a post on my product satisfaction
when she was all made up and prettied in my home.
Well, here she is folks!!!
Isn't she a beauty!!
And the incredibly fast and competent customer service, quality of craftmanship and print,
the image wrapping job, and beauty of the finished product pretty much speaks for itself.
So, I'll just stop there and let you all see and let Zaza's work speak for itself.
And then go get yourself over to their site and ordering some canvas work, you WON'T be disappointed...

BIG SHOUT OUT AND HUGE THANKS FOR MAKING MY HOME A HAPPIER AND MORE BEAUTIFIED PLACE TO THE TEAM AT ZAZA GALLERY!!!

The FEET!

Praying so hard already that these little feet 

would grow up and walk closely and quickly towards Jesus 

and then lead other little feet His way too...

How beautiful on the mountains are the FEET

of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, 

the news that the God of Israel reigns! -Is 52:7

Just in awe...

of how God takes ONE + ONE and makes ONE. 

And how they are such a perfect 

mini mixture of the TWO.


Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--
and how well I know it. 
-Ps. 139:14

Now these are the days of our lives...

Does anything else seem to consume your life
like these "days of our lives"????
I'm only a veteran mama of a whoppin' two years...
and I already think not.
"Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself." -Deut 23:12

Do you think this counts as a place outside the camp???

This MAMA...

don't clean up your tantrum-highchair-tray-throwing-loving-mess. Especially when it's crumbly scrambled mushy eggs. YUCK. You get your own little mini-vac out and regulate that under-the-table "situation", we'll call it.
YES, we are learning these personal responsibility and accountability lessons young in this house.And now I have this really strange feeling that because of the two-year-old-techno empowerment this created, I will be having many more mornings filled with messes.
I guess that's some personal accountability for this MAMA too.
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." -Prov. 22:6 
Funny how we're all gettin' trained in this process.
Does this verse also promise that she'll never turn from vacuuming my house either?!
That makes it worth every battle. ;)

No WONDER…

they call it a winter WONDERland!

This girl was full of it today!

Wonder and delight was spouting out of every last inch of her this morning when she awakened to her first rememberable snowfall!!!

“It’s painted mama, it’s painted!”

“Yes, baby, God sure does some marvelous and wondermous work with His paintbrush on our land!”

   

“Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder”

–Isaiah 29:14