Day 34: Talent Show

I am so proud of Bella Bella!!!  She organized a performance with her friends and then they performed at the talent show--and won!!  She was so excited and it was so much fun to watch!  After hearing rehearsals for the past few weeks, seeing it finally come together was delightful!

Day 33: Music to my ears ;)

I have written before about my daughters and their amazing writing talents.  Tonight, my oldest shared with me some of her most recent song writings.......I was blown away!  She amazes me that she can write with such eloquence and conviction at such a young age.  She has an uncanny ability to write from the heart and passion of an experienced adult when she's merely a 13........and she's been writing since she was 4!!  We laughed at that memory of her very first song (Because of You) and when Kelly Clarkson came out with a hit that same year......she said "mommy, she stole my song!"  :)  The music was completely different but to a 4 year old.....it was her title, so it was her song! 

I've been encouraging her to keep all her writings and even record them so she won't forget the melody she had in mind and she's found a way to get all her songs on the computer now, which is wonderful!  I love listening to her work on a song or share one as she's developing it.  Truly music to my ears!!!

Day 32: Wicked

I took my girls to see the Broadway Musical Wicked this weekend!  It wasn't on Broadway but it was in a beautiful theatre in another town so we made a day of it!  We went out for dinner and did a little shopping too.  It was so nice!! 

I had never seen Wicked before but grew up watching the Wizard of Oz, loved it and my children are fans as well so we thoroughly enjoyed it!  It was very funny and had an interesting storyline of all that went down before Dorothy lands in Oz.  The show was great! If you haven't seen it--I highly recommend it.  They've been doing the tour all around for nearly 10 years now.  I had only recently heard of it within the last few years but come to find out--it came out around 2003. 

Our dinner was at one of our favorite restuarants and as usual, it was delish! But my favorite part of the day was the long car ride home, where my girls and I sang our little hearts out to some Taylor Swift (and other) music!  I so enjoy spending time with them and while the boys were enjoying some manly football......we girls were enjoying some WEtime! 

So I found this one on Pinterest......and just had to include it with this post.  I found it too cute not to share ;)

Day 31: Homework Help

Experienced a wonderful thing tonight.  While my oldest was working online at a scholarship application, his younger sister was working at the same table on Algebraic equations.  She wanted him to check over a couple of her problems and he paused what he was doing long enough to see if her skills were on target.  It was a sweet gesture--and I'm certainly glad older brother recently had Algebra and can offer assistance!  ;)

While this was going on, youngest cub was practicing for an upcoming talent show.  She has written a medley song routine with dance, piano and music and I am so proud of her creativity.  She's been eager to rehearse!  I love it when everyone is home, doing the day-to-day things and life is perfectly, normally, blissful!!  It's one of my favorite times of the day.  Mornings can get hectic, but evenings are so nice.....especially when we all have dinner together at the table (yes, that should be the daily routine but sporting schedules can deter from those routines all too often).  My kids laugh at me for saying this but I love it when everyone is getting along.  (Actually, they say "mom, we always get along"!  And for the most part, they do.  But I just relish in the day to day-peaceful conversations, when everyone is being nice to each other.  Now, in their defense.......they truly do get along well.  And it is rare that we have a flare up or issue with anyone being unkind.....but I enjoy so much the day-to-day happenings of family.  We know they won't be "ours" for much longer.......and they've grown up so quickly already......so I am very much aware and living in the moment.  Which means I am blogging about the most mondane events--which to me, are anything but ;)

Day 31: Little moments

This picture says it all.  I am fully aware of the speed of childhood and how much I treasure every day but I can always use a nice reminder to really relish the little moments! 

So I'm on my way downstairs to breath and notice and touch their (not so tiny anymore) faces.  We've had a nice weekend.......house cleaned and managed to make it to church......also baked a new pinterest recipe for pumpkin cake (which was delish btw) and we danced and laughed but I mostly listened.........to the girls play barbies.....and relished the little moments that make up their childhood.  Thank God for them!

Day 30: Prayer

I found this prayer on pinterest and instantly knew it would be a fav!  It pretty much sums up everything in one clean sweep-

I am continually trying to teach my children the power of prayer.  I am also trying to instill in them the practice of going to God for guidance and direction as well as praising daily for the many blessings we have.  They are teaching me as well.  The other day my youngest was stressing about an upcoming piano lesson and having soccer practice.  She was concerned with doing both things and we stopped to pray.  Instantly the stress was lessened and she turned and said "Mom, I think God is glad we asked his help with this."  

Today she was trying a new recipe and wanted to complete the directions totally independent of my help.  As hard as it was to resist, I watched as she proceeded.  She did a great job and I told her these may be the best snickerdoodles we've ever had.  I could see the pride on her face!  She's such a sweet, energetic bubble of goodness.  I prayed while she was reading the recipe and getting ingredients out, not for the recipe to turn out, but for God to guard my tongue so I wouldn't interfere!  So to her, I say, I think God is really glad I came to him over it.  It allowed her to learn on her own with my support and not with my direction ;)  (always a challenge for me!)

Day 29: F.R.O.G.

You are probably wondering F.R.O.G.??  Let me explain...... earlier I posted about the GET TO outlook on life.  Well the second part of that book is the F.R.O.G. motto which means Fully Rely on God.  (I told you it had a strong spiritual message :)

It's another lesson learned from reading Denise Taylor's book (Heavenly Birth) and it has great impact if we choose to do it! 

It means fully--that is in everything--the good, the bad, the amazing!  It's easy to come to God when we NEED something......when we are struggling....or when we are lost.  But we must remember to rely on God even in the good times and when things are going well. 

Speaking of amazing....I posted about Denise's book and her daughter Jonnae's struggle with leukemia......but after her daughter died, Denise went back to visit her grave site and a frog literally jumped out from under a rock as Denise was placing flowers down!!  WOW!  How amazing is that?  I love it! 

Ok--so now you know......and can apply the F.R.O.G. acronym to your life along with we GET to!