Our Easter Lily

"Ann Catherine! Look at the Easter Lilies!" I said as we walked into our grocery store.

"Mommy, they're beautiful!" she said.

I have always loved lilies. At the church Chris and I attended before our current one, you could buy Easter Lilies in memory of those you loved. We always did so in memory of our grandparents and then took them home after the Easter service.

I have always loved the beauty of a Lily. I could never have dreamed that God would give me my own one day.

But he did. And that makes me love Lilies even more.

AC and I started shopping, but a few minutes later I said, "AC, let's go back and get one." She was thrilled.

We chose one with two beautiful flowers and three buds that had yet to open. As we put it in our cart, I told her:

"Ann Catherine, lilies are special to me for two reasons. First of all, they remind me of our Lily and how God sent her to us so we wouldn't be alone. They also remind me of Melissa. Easter means that we can go to Heaven one day and see her again. So this Easter Lily makes me think of her."

AC and I talked about that as we continued shopping. We spent some time talking about Melissa and it was so special.

When we got home, AC wanted to take our Lily in the house. As we walked in, she ran to LB and said, "Lily! Look what we got for you! A Lily!"

Lily Baker's face lit up as she said, "It's MY flower! It's a Lily!" And she took it from AC, grinning from ear to ear.

It was precious.

One of the buds opened today and it is just beautiful. The girls love watching it and watering it.

This beautiful flower gives me so much peace as Easter approaches. It's a beautiful remembrance of Melissa and what she means to us. And it's a beautiful remembrance of the Lily that God sent us three and a half years ago to heal our hearts.

Thank you God for both of them.

Rockin' with the Mouse

We went to "Disney's Rockin Road Show" at the VBC Friday night. Of course, the girls had a blast!

I do believe we have been to every children's show that has rolled through Huntsville in the last four and a half years and I rank this one right up there with my two favorites: Disney on Ice and The Wiggles. It was fast paced and lots of fun!





It certainly wasn't cheap, though. We got there and two tubs of popcorn,



two lemonades in Disney souvenir cups,




and two overpriced souvenirs later, we had already spent $76!! I agreed with Chris it was insane, but added, "Look at Lily Baker's face when Cinderella comes out on stage, and tell me it wasn't worth every penny."



And we did.

And it was.



LB also loved seeing "Buzz Light-leer" and "Fairy God-mudder." AC loved singing and dancing along with the songs.

And Chris and I?

We just loved watching them. :)

Role Reversal

I recently took my mom to have a medical procedure done.

"What's your cell phone number?" she asked. (She has it, but it's programmed in her phone so she actually never dials it.) As I told her, I noticed she was putting me down as her emergency contact.

"How funny," I remarked. "All those years of you being my emergency contact, and now I'm yours."

"Thirtysomething" is that age where we find ourselves in an interesting place. Not only do we have children who we are responsible for and who we care - and worry - for, we also find ourselves worrying more about our parents.

Now, don't get me wrong. My parents are completely capable of taking care of themselves.

It's more about me. I find myself worrying more about them. If they tell me about an ache or pain, I encourage them to go to the doctor and I find myself lecturing them on how it could be something serious. When they travel, I find myself calling to make sure they got there safely.

Funny, isn't it? That's the same thing they've done all these years - for me.

As I went into the recovery room and my mom was sleeping, I kept checking the monitors. Just making sure she was okay. Same as she has done for me so many times.

Later that evening, my mom repeatedly thanked me for taking her to the doctor's office. So did my dad, who was out of town and couldn't take her himself.

I told her it was no problem, that I was happy to do it. In all honesty, I was honored to do it.

I mean, this is the woman who spent five nights a week in the hospital with me for seven weeks while I was on bedrest with the twins, just so I wouldn't be alone if the worst happened. I think the least I can do is take her to have a medical procedure done.

It's what parents do for their children every day.

And now, I'm learning, it's what children also do for their parents.

That's What I'm Talking About!

This is why I live in the South.

Not for the snow that fell on Monday (at the end of March? Really??).

But for the 70 degrees and sunshine we had today.

Today was one of those "blow off your nap, break out your shorts, go to McDonalds and eat outside and play on the playground, then come back home and play outside some more" days.

And that's just what we did :)








Here's hoping this sticks around!!

Still Learning about Girls

My husband is a man's man. No foo-foo stuff about this guy.

I already knew that but it became apparently clear during the girls' bathtime the other night.

I bought the girls' some conditioner because lately they've had some tangles and LB doesn't like to cooperate when I'm working those puppies out. Chris was giving the girls a bath while I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner, and I reminded him to use the conditioner. And the conversation went something like this:

C: What goes first? The shampoo or the conditioner?
A: (Laughing to myself) The shampoo.
C: Do I rinse the shampoo and then add the conditioner?
A: (Kind of sarcastic) Yep.
C: Do I rinse the conditioner?
A: (Walking into the bathroom now) Seriously?
C: What?! Why would I know? I just use my shampoo and am done with it.

I got a good laugh as I explained to Chris how this whole conditioner thing works. I mean, it just never ocurred to me that someone wouldn't know how to use conditioner?

But I guess it makes sense. I mean, I don't know how to use motor oil.

Ohhh, the fun he's going to have through the years with little girls. :)

Back from the Beach

The girls and I got away to the beach last week with my parents. Unfortunately, Chris couldn't go because of work and I was so bummed. Then I realized that God was giving me and my girls the opportunity to spend time with my parents and that is such a gift. We so missed Chris, but we had a great time with Mimi and Poppy! My niece and nephew, who live nearby, also came over and the girls were in Heaven.





It was a little cool there, but nothing compared to how cold it was back home, and at least it was sunny every day but one. Luckily, there's an indoor pool at the condo and we seriously spent almost every day there!

The biggest news was that it "clicked" for Ann Catherine as far as swimming goes. This was the first year that she could touch the bottom in the shallow end and it was just a huge confidence booster. I guess she realized that the pool wasn't a bottomless pit. By day two, she was swimming underwater and jumping into the pool. The hardest part was making her leave the pool :) She just wanted to swim, swim, swim!



We did visit the beach one day, but it was incredibly windy which led LB to declare, "I don't like where the sand lives!!" AC, on the other hand, actually got in the freezing cold ocean.



After three straight days of swimming, we were feeling a bit waterlogged so we visited a fantastic park in town. We had a picnic and the girls played for hours! Even my mom got in on the fun :)





My sister lives just an hour away from my parent's place, so we got to watch my nephew Will play baseball while we were there. Since I don't have boys of my own, I get such a kick out of watching him play. The girls cheered so loudly when he got a hit! AC, ever the performer, actually brought a microphone to cheer for him. I quickly found the "off" button so Will didn't die of embarrassment :)





And last but not least, a happy Daddy gets his girls back. :)

Take Your Hockey Player to School Day

...or two of them :)



Ann Catherine's favorite players, Travis Kauffeldt and Justin Rohr, visited her class today. To say that she was excited is the understatement of the decade! This was the ultimate for my hockey-lovin' girl.

She was beaming when they walked in (she was wearing her Havoc shirt, of course, with Travis' name and number on the back) and she introduced them to the class. Then they read her "Z is for Zamboni" book that she got for Christmas. (Thank you, Ashley, for letting me know about that book. We love it!)






The guys each read half of the book, then after they answered some questions, they got their picture made with the class (and AC sat with Travis, of course:)




On the way home, she just went on and on about how great it was that they visited her class. Then she said, "Mommy, that just made my day!"

Mine too :)

LB Gets Her Turn

Since we last talked...

LB "fixed" my kitchen table with her Handy Manny tools,



AC spent sweet time with her daddy doing a puzzle,



and my girls got to ride their bikes in 70-degree weather. Woohoo!!




But the sweetest thing happened Friday night. Lily Baker had her first Daddy/Daughter date.

Chris was supposed to watch both of the girls for me because I was working a festival at church for our kindergartners through 3rd graders (I serve in K-1st on Sunday mornings). But I unexpectedly ended up staying at the church doing something else Thursday night, so I told Chris I would take AC with me to the festival and he could spend time with LB.

So he asked LB what she wanted to do during their Daddy/Daughter time. Her answer came as no surprise. She wanted to go to "Red Robin!" So off they went together.



And AC was beyond excited that she was going to a festival for 5-year-olds, because when you are four and-a-half (as she loves to point out) that's a very big deal.



It's nice sometimes to split up like this and give each of our girls their own time. They each get our undivided attention and we get to focus solely on them. It's good for all of us :)

Mommy Moments

You know, there are some things about being a mommy that just melt your heart. They are those "moments" between you and your child where you just breathe and thank God for choosing YOU to take care of this wonderful creature. Even amidst all the madness.

Because there is plenty of that.

LB ran a fever all weekend long. When Monday morning rolled around, I took her to the doctor who diagnosed her with a sinus infection. After a couple of days on her antibiotic, she is a different child. As Chris said at the dinner table the other night, "We've got Lily back!"

Rewind to Monday morning. As we were waiting for the doctor to come in the exam room, LB felt really crummy. You know that lethargic feeling they get when they feel lousy? She had it.

She couldn't stop coughing, her eyes were all puffy and she just felt bad. So she put her head in my lap, and I started singing this song I made up when she was a baby. You're going to laugh, but it's to the tune of Ernie's "Rubber Duckie" song on Sesame Street. It says, "Lily Baker, you're the one. You make mommy's life so fun..." and on it goes.

So I started singing it - very softly in the exam room so the mother in the room next to me wouldn't beat on the wall begging me to stop, - and stroking her hair. Kids on both sides of our room where screaming their lungs out (shots I'm thinking). And in a moment I looked down, and she was sound asleep.

That's when I was filled with emotion at what being a mommy really means. My lousy, off-key singing put her to sleep. Because I am her mommy. God gave me the ability to do that.

How do I know this? Because any other child would have said, "Knock it off, please! I feel bad enough without having to hear you sing that song."

But to my kid?

It was music to her ears.

Thank you God for giving mommies these special moments. Thank you that we are so far from perfect, but our kids have no clue. Thank you for giving us the ability to soothe them, even with off-key tunes.