e is for emery

this is me and e.

e is for emery...

e is for eight.

she'll be eight this year.

e is for elephant.

she was afraid of them when she was younger.

e is for enthusiastic.

she loves life!

e is for embrace.

she wants to be so close to me these days.

e is for enjoy.

i will enjoy these snuggles as long as she is willing to give them...

selah's first day

 selah started senior kindergarten today...

 she proudly carried her summer photo album 

to school to show her teacher.

she was also excited to see her friends again, after a great summer.

she had a fun day at school, 

and this momma enjoyed some quiet time.

it was a good day for all!

mother of two

my girls.

 full of life.

 full of love.

full of personality...

i'm lucky to be their mommy.

i have a feeling that breakfast in bed is in my future...

does your family have any mother's day traditions?

happy day to all the mom's who are checking in.

i hope your day is lovely.

mommy confessions

life as a mommy is a bit of roller coaster.

oui?

last weekend (and the weeks leading up to it) 

i poured myself into planning and creating 

wonderful birthday memories for selah.

it was an amazing weekend and i was thrilled with how 

everything came together.

happy to see me little girl happy...

i have to say - this week with my 5 year old 

has been a bit of a challenge.

she's been grumpy and defiant at times.

not wanting to go to school, refusing her dinner, saying no to my requests,

claiming she is going to stay up all night and play...

it's so easy to for me to get frustrated and pull away in those moments.

tonight had some frustrating events... 

i rushed through bedtime, 

hoping to get some space to be alone and unwind.

about 30 minutes after i had said goodnight, selah called down to me:

"mommy i feel funny inside..."

i have to be honest, 

it was a real push for me to go to her and be with her tonight...

i didn't want to.

but deep down i knew it was what we both needed.

we talked about how she was feeling. 

we talked about why she might be acting the way she has been.

we talked about how i was feeling. 

i told her i loved her.

she knows...

she cuddled into me on her bed and gave me a kiss on my cheek 

and told me she felt better being close to me.

shedding a couple tears - i was suddenly feeling better inside too.

sometimes when i need to unwind, 

i like to catch up on some favourite blogs.

doing so led me here.

these words resonated with me tonight:

"there is no way to be a perfect mother, 

but there are a million ways to be a good one"

like any parent, i have expectations for my girls. 

i'm realizing that i have even higher expectations for myself as a mom.  

i seem to need repeated reminders that i can't be a perfect mom.

when i'm hosting parties for my girls - i feel like a pretty good one.

when i'm losing my patience with them and rushing through routines...

it "feels funny inside"

first i tend to blame them for my frustrations and tension, 

but if i'm honest i realize i'm frustrated with myself 

for not being the mommy i want to be.

i'm still working through how to relax these expectations

tonight was a good reminder to give love and time even when i don't feel like it.

because when you do, you just might get that love back tenfold...

~

and i just want to thank all of you who take the time to visit my blog.

sharing photos and memories,

processing life as a mom,

hearing your thoughts...

it's good my soul.

i hope your weekend gives you something to smile about!

have a good one.

mommy confessions

you'll never guess where i took these photos!

i love the expressions i was able to capture...

 we've all been there before:

once in a while,

or for some of you,

 maybe once a week...

i hadn't been since i was young,

and it really took me back to take my girls.

they're already asking when we can go again...

 to the car wash!

just another reason why you should bring your camera out often 

and try to anticipate moments you'll want to remember!

mommy confession: day in the life

i'm going to tell you about my day...

i woke up to selah screaming from a nightmare at about 3am.

my brain was ready for the new day, my body was not.  

i didn't get back to sleep til about 5.

we were all out of bed by 7:30 this morning - later than usual.

we were out of waffles.

selah loves waffles right now, 

so i've been making them weekly and freezing them for breakfast.

this morning i made about two dozen waffles 

while packing the girls lunches and eating my own breakfast.

we all walked to school as a family today, even barley came!

barley was invited to visit selah's class, 

but her teacher was sick today so we'll try again another time.

when i got home, i realized emery did not have indoor shoes at school.

i hurried back to the school, so that she wouldn't be going barefoot all day

(emery doesn't wear socks very often).

upon my second return home,
i cleaned up the house and washed the dishes.

while working away in the girls room i got sidetracked...

the girls have a playmobil house with furnishings and everything 

that they got from auntie beth for christmas!

i haven't really had a chance to play with it yet...

so i set it all up the way that i would enjoy it!

kinda fun.

then i checked my email and had some lunch.

after lunch i went for a walk (5k roundtrip) to the superstore, 

picked up a few things, and headed back home.

fortunately i had a book in my backpack,

which came in handy when i realized it wasn't really
worth heading all the way home 

when i needed to pick the girls up from school in half an hour.

so i stopped at a fun little bakery (black sea bakery) 

for a blueberry scone 

(i do believe it was heavily drizzled with white chocolate) 

and read a couple chapters of the mocking jay

(have you read the hunger games?)

on to school from there to get the girls.

we had a very windy walk home (weather changed quickly).

so windy that's selah's white fuzzy hat blew off her head into the mud!

emery gave selah her hat, i gave emmy mine,
my hood was up and away we went!

afterschool we had a playdate with the girls' best friends:
katie and ainsley.
i got to catch up with my friend ali.

though i forgot to prep dinner before they arrived,
still pulled together a nice meal

 before jude was back to work to teach tonight.

after dinner the girls and i played in the basement, 

princesses and puppies and that sort of thing.

then we read mr. men and little miss books to each other
on the couch before heading up for bedtime.

bedtime was going fine until selah realized that a stuffie 

from days gone by was her absolute favourite
and she needed it to fall asleep.

after searching for it in the basement, 

emery remembered that she and selah had agreed
to give that stuffie away 

(it was missing an eye afterall...) a few months ago.

this made selah very, very sad.

i looked again in the giveaway zone in the basement...

 no biscuit (name of the dog stuffie).

selah cried for about 45 minutes 

(not sure i've ever seen her so heartbroken).

after some cuddles and a drink of water and some sore eyes
i was able to read her to sleep.

thank goodness for magic treehouse.
5 minutes into cryfest,
emery realized she would be better off falling asleep in our room...

now i've had my own bedtime snack and
i'm going to go read myself to sleep.

a full day. 

i don't share it boast (or complain).

but just because it's real...

and too be honest it was a day that i felt good 

about how i dealt with the highs and lows that came my way.

how was your day?

(iphone)

because a post wouldn't be complete without a photo,

this is how the walls were painted in the restroom of the bakery - amazing!