Five and One-Half: 55 MPH

Mommy's Little Snow White: Creating Ornaments

Thursday afternoon + Friday.Saturday.Sunday.Monday.....have all run together in a blur of many "mini" projects as the weather changed drastically for us in West Tennessee. A high of seventy last week is now a high of thirty degrees! After picking you up from school on Thursday, we have barely seen the sunshine and have left the house only once to accompany Daddy to Wal-Mart for a few staples to finish out lunches/dinners at home this week. On Friday, you had your first SNOW day from school this season---and today...your second! The inclement weather outdoors hasn't kept Daddy home from working. He has been busy, busy. But yesterday, on Sunday, he was home with us more than usual. I loved that he was home. It allowed me ample time to continue to filter through projects----pulling recycling out, bagging items for the Union Mission, cleaning out my inbox, loading pictures.....catching up my personal calendar from September!!!??!! and MORE. I loved hearing you play with him and how you quietly played in the playroom and around him in the living room when he caught up on some much needed sleep. I loved that we were ALL able to sit down to lunch together (like we do for dinner). It was simply a Sunday full of quiet indulgences. At the end of the night Sunday, I asked you what your favorite part of the day was and you said Daddy being home more. I can't recall the exact words you used (this very minute) as you made note of your favorite part of your Sunday....our Sunday. But, I LOVE that at 5.5 you can search the depths of your heart & your day and NOTE that being together is the most important. It's not what we did....not how we did....but that we just WERE here together. Those little words ended our day and filled my heart.......and with God's grace, we were given yet another day to enjoy---TODAY: Monday, December 9th, 2013. 

Somewhere mid-day, I looked at the date and recalled that you were HALF way to being six! Six years old......we were iced in with traffic getting busier by the hour outside our home but we opted to stay home. We had most of everything we needed....except Daddy-O! He was out and about busy working to get money in the bank for us to pay those bills.bills.bills. (I still laugh when I hear your little voice in the playroom laughing at Cailou and his mommy saying, "Bills, bills, bills!" It was right after Daddy's hand surgery when you were worried about Daddy and his hand and I was worried about Daddy and the bills----and how we comforted one another with silly rhymes like Mrs. Polly who had a Dolly that was sick, sick, sick....and the doctor would be back in the morning with the bill, bill, bill...)----so our day was complete at home without the worries of getting out to risk driving on black ice and/or falling on slick surfaces.....but our day moved at 55 miles an hour on your HALF birthday: 5.5!! 

There were cats to love-------Princess Girl and one of her kittens that you were allowed to keep from your liter of three. She was Sparkle but today you called her Jewel!?! You love to switch out her name but nonetheless, you love her and all her little antics. She loves to hide from you----only to nap!! On her first full night indoors (since it is SO cold outside), we looked for her for an hour only to find her hiding in the coffee table's top drawer...curled up asleep! She probably would have slept in your birdhouse too but I had to tell you she was in there since I couldn't believe she fit in there----an unfinished project that we keep working on together.....

...and hair to curl! On a snow day......we were not seeing anyone but it's nice even at home to look our best so we opted for a few curls.......

.....and a new medium to craft with today: Oven Bake Polymer Clay.....we created one batch of Christmas Ornaments that you and me molded....I set out many different items for you to select from to add patterns.....you added glitter...and paints.....and as the ornaments hardened and dried, I added string to them. We have one more batch to finish this week.....maybe Tuesday or Wednesday.....

Treasures that you've collected from....

Evergreen branch from Kroger that you collected...

"Looks like two eyes and a nose"---said YOU!

Glass---one of your FAVORITE treasures!

The perfect ornament to add to our candy cane glass!

 ...somehow we were side tracked by a package of candles that arrived at our door. It was filled with recyclable items that we could use to play with.......and create with......These are Mommy's favorites....I love to see, touch, and feel......and create items from what is on hand....and search cabinets and drawers for added touches......or nature. These projects appeal much more to my creative side and my thrifty side---using what we have and not wasting resources! And there are no directions.......the mind guides...together with your creativeness and a little Mommy direction of what we should do first, you created a Recycled ART Creation----a Snowgirl that you wanted to add a tiara to but I had not a vision of how we'd add a tiara to a full cardboard.....maybe tomorrow, you can hold up your snowgirl with a tiara in hand and we can photograph her just as you envisioned her......my favorite part of this project was you licking the ICE off of the twigs you gathered from our yard.......

Painting bubble wrap for the sky/background

ICED twig arms...

Snow glue....plus white glitter----m.e.s.s.y. fun!

Blowing the glitter around----what a beautiful wind!?!

 ...and Red's affairs....my.oh.my.he wanted to play today too....Elf angels!?! Isn't he supposed to just WATCH and listen to you and report back to Santa!?!

Max & Ruby-----playroom cleanup......washing/ironing.....making dinner.....Daddy's arrival with DQ treats to celebrate YOU and dinner in the dining room together.....snapshots....playing doctor in the living room floor......tumbling.....bedtime stories.......Zzzzzzzzzz.......Yes! I think with you, our little 5.5 princess, life moves at least 55 miles an hour.

And just as you closed your eyes, I read this piece of encouragement from, "Today's Devotion by Proverbs 31 Ministries: Increasingly I sense God asking me to be more intentional with my days. Maybe it’s because of many years that are a blur now. As I look into the faces of children growing up too quickly, of parents aging, of friends packing to move, I often want time to stop so I can breathe in the holiness of the days God has given. Proverbs 14:22 shows us the importance of planning [to do this]: “But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.” This verse inspires me to plan good things for those dear to me. And in doing so, we will experience God’s love and faithfulness in greater measure. What a great promise from God’s Word."

You may know by now. Mom is a planner. She's also a dreamer. Thus, one who very much needed this piece of encouragement tonight as the night grew quiet and the hours of our day remained in mirrored reflections----in my heart, on my camera, across my laptop-----Daddy noted that you were "a happy child!" and that, "We were blessed!" prior to leaving your bedroom for us to read stories together....indeed we are! May God's encouragement continue to embrace me---our days together---our family so that together we can breathe in the holiness of the days God has given us---directing us towards all that is good so that we may continuously find love and faithfulness----and that we count each morsel of life as joy!!

I love you little one----and like Olivia's mom says, "You REALLY wear me out, but I love you anyway!!"