Because I LOVE my children.
No really, I do. Some days I find myself repeating that over and over while other days, they do little things that make my heart melt into a million pieces.
Some time in the past two weeks, I took Autumn and Millie to Chickfila. It is the ONLY fast food restaurant that doesn't make me want to throw up everywhere. While I am there, I generally only eat the salad. Before this trip, I had run ten miles. I was just down right hungry and didn't feel like being on my feet anymore, so I did what any good mom would do and surprised the girls with an impromptu trip to the chikila (as they say it).
On the way there, Autumn told me what she wanted to eat (salad and chocolate milk) and then asked if she could have ice cream. I told her I would make her a deal, if she ate all her lunch, she could have ice cream. About 50 minutes later, it was time to go and the girl had barely touched her salad, she was too busy playing. As I started to pack up, she yells at me, "BUT I WANT ICE CREAM." I told her that we made a deal and she didn't follow through. I could see her temper escalating and thought to myself that we didn't stay as long as we usually do, so I thought I could compromise. I told her that I would get an ice cream to go and when we get home, after she eats the REST of her salad, she could have some ice cream.
Now comes the mother of all melt downs from my five year old. Autumn screams from the top of her lungs, "I HATE YOU." WOW! I just shook my head and kept packing our things up. She was crying and carrying on. People were looking. I decided that I was not going to be embarrassed into buying this chick some ice cream. Continuing to inform her that there was no way on God's green earth she was ever getting ice cream from me again was not going to diffuse the situation. She stopped yelling when I gave her the death stare, but it didn't stop the melt down. Oh the looks people give you!
I was already feeling like the worst mother on the planet of the earth, my child just told me she hated me for not giving her ice cream, I DIDN'T CAVE and buy her any. Why do people have to make you feel even worse?!?!?
After getting home, Autumn fell right to sleep. She slept for 2.5 hours. She woke up and you know what? She finished that dumb salad! She also told me she was sorry for telling me she hated me.
Too bad those people in chickila didn't see that!
So, what have we been up to? Well, I have a hodgepodge of pictures for you!
Another I love my children moment. A big storm was rolling in and Millie in her little princess dress wearing her headlamp in case the power went out, checking out the menacing storm clouds. That was a scary storm, but we didn't get any hail or tornadoes.
Both girls checking out the sky. Somewhere in that tree just outside our fence was kite fail #2. Kite fail #1 happened at Callaway Gardens where I let Autumn run on a boardwalk over the water with her kite. She about took out some fellow walkers and then somehow dislodged the string from the kite. As we all watched in utter horror as the kite sank, Autumn cried. I will admit, it was sad. I felt terrible about littering the lake, but there really wasn't anything we could do to save the kite. We came home and Sean let her fly the kite in the backyard and I guess she just let go. It was up in that tree for awhile. Not sure where it is now. Bye bye kite fail #2.
In completely unrelated news....
A conversation with Millie.
Millie: I'm licking my glasses.
Me: Wait, what?
Oh, I see!
Millie loves to lick things. I don't really understand it, but her glasses are one of the least disgusting things I've seen her lick, so I will take it!
The last few days I haven't been able to figure out if I am coming down with a cold, or if my allergies are just really flared up, but either way, not been feeling all that great. Sean made me some chicken soup and
Homemade bread. It was good. Best part, he made French toast with the leftovers.
I have to add this next tidbit in because it is classic Sean. He had built us this really nice fire, but there was this one log that just would not catch fire. We were sitting on the couch, when the man that I adore, love to pieces, admire for his absolute brilliance, says to me
Sean: I think I am going to get the leaf blower and see if I cannot get that log to catch fire.
Cherish: The leaf blower?
Sean: Yes. I think that will work.
Cherish: Why don't you use my blow dryer, on low speed so that you don't blow ash all over the house genius?
Just to update you, the blow dryer did NOT work, it did however blow ash ALL over the living room, but Sean cleaned it up. Oh wait, no he didn't.
This all brings me to today. This morning was the Color Run. We all left the house around 715 am and headed to downtown Columbus. I had purchased an extra color pack so that prior to the race starting the girls could throw color on me (I stole that idea from my dear friend Angie!).
My super cool glasses from the Color run that I promptly lost and could not find on race day!
Autumn was really into it!
She was having a great time of it too!
I will take this moment to share some things about Autumn. Stuff I don't want to forget about. Last night at bed time, Autumn said the following prayer.
Autumn: Dear God, I love my dad, my mom, my Millie and even myself. I also love Rowley (Riley) and Dylan. Please help me to not have any bad dreams tonight. Oh and I love you too God, forever and ever until I come back to you. Amen.
She can be bad, but she can be so very sweet. It made me feel a little teary eyed wondering what God thinks about the prayers of a five year old. I can only imagine that that little prayer made him smile.
Back to the run....
Millie was a little more timid about throwing the color on me, so I was trying to get closer to her to help her out. I think she put more on herself than she did on me, but she still had a good time with it.
Couldn't find her glasses this morning, but you can see that she is laughing!
Now for a Millie moment.
I've been watching a lot of Frasier lately.
Cherish (singing): But I don't know what to do with those tossed salads and scrambled eggs.
Millie: Eat it mom!
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
My new tattoo. Man, I need to work on my muscles!
So we walked around for a bit and I could tell that the race wasn't really as organized as I thought it would be. There was not an official time and they were not calling out the waves (there was supposed to be a 8, 810, 820 and 830 wave). I was in the 830 wave. I decided to just walk down towards the crowd and get this race started. I bid farewell to Sean and the girls and off I went. I ran it at a pretty good clip, probably around 8 min mile sometimes a little faster. I only slowed really when I was either passing people or going through the color stations (those were pretty crowded). I would say there were significantly more walkers than runners. That was a little annoying because if you are going to walk, at least move over to the side!!! Anywho, I made it to the finish line and started looking for Sean, but I didn't see them anywhere. I went to the predesignated meeting place and still no sign of them. After about a half hour, I ask a stranger to borrow their phone. Sean doesn't answer (I'm not surprised by this, it was LOUD). Finally he comes walking up and says they were waiting for me but didn't see me.
I think I ran so fast that I was already past where they were waiting for me at! Ha! I know that I didn't get rained on, but Sean and the girls did. I had a lot of fun and I think I may do this race again next year!
Here I am post race!
After the race we headed home so I could clean up and get headed out to a birthday party for a set of twins at Autumn's school.
It was at a gymnastics place and I think Autumn had a really good time. She did cry a bit and was really freaked out about not being able to wear socks! That is my girl!
Happy sixth birthday to Maudie Lee and Sims.
After this party, we were REALLY hungry, so we headed towards home and picked up a Little Caesars pizza and crazy bread. We ate, took a nap and then headed out to birthday party number 2!
This is Millie and I having a balloon war. It was one of those moments that was really fun for me as a mom. Millie and I were bonking each other in the face/head with the balloons and Millie was just laughing, laughing, laughing. At one point, our hairs were standing up from the static electricity! We were just having quite the blast.
I noticed one of the other kids at the party doing something that I thought only my special little licker did.
Millie, and apparently William do not eat their cake, they lick it!!!!!!!!!
During the course of Abigail's party, Autumn walked over to Kristin (birthday girl's mom) and asked if she could have the gift bag back. At this point, I am already embarrassed because who does that! I should have known better than to recycle a birthday bag with Autumn around! Next thing out of Autumn's mouth?
Autumn: We need it back in case we go to another party!
Oh my gosh, my face was so red! Kristin busted a gut laughing which helped me not feel so terrible about it! Ha!
Happy 4th birthday Abigail!
My sweet Millie licker.
What is coming up over the next two weeks. Well, there will be some Easter stuff. Sean is not officially on leave. I don't know what you call it, but he is off AND available for duty. He has gone in a few times and it does bother the girls some, but as long as he uses specifics (such as I will be home at this time), they have been dealing with it. I think they will become less sensitive to it over time.
Two weeks from today will be our great big Disney trip! I'm so very excited about that!
That is it from me today. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my special licking family.
Dear Lord, please help me survive the strangeness that is my darling family!
Cherish Hope.
Some time in the past two weeks, I took Autumn and Millie to Chickfila. It is the ONLY fast food restaurant that doesn't make me want to throw up everywhere. While I am there, I generally only eat the salad. Before this trip, I had run ten miles. I was just down right hungry and didn't feel like being on my feet anymore, so I did what any good mom would do and surprised the girls with an impromptu trip to the chikila (as they say it).
On the way there, Autumn told me what she wanted to eat (salad and chocolate milk) and then asked if she could have ice cream. I told her I would make her a deal, if she ate all her lunch, she could have ice cream. About 50 minutes later, it was time to go and the girl had barely touched her salad, she was too busy playing. As I started to pack up, she yells at me, "BUT I WANT ICE CREAM." I told her that we made a deal and she didn't follow through. I could see her temper escalating and thought to myself that we didn't stay as long as we usually do, so I thought I could compromise. I told her that I would get an ice cream to go and when we get home, after she eats the REST of her salad, she could have some ice cream.
Now comes the mother of all melt downs from my five year old. Autumn screams from the top of her lungs, "I HATE YOU." WOW! I just shook my head and kept packing our things up. She was crying and carrying on. People were looking. I decided that I was not going to be embarrassed into buying this chick some ice cream. Continuing to inform her that there was no way on God's green earth she was ever getting ice cream from me again was not going to diffuse the situation. She stopped yelling when I gave her the death stare, but it didn't stop the melt down. Oh the looks people give you!
I was already feeling like the worst mother on the planet of the earth, my child just told me she hated me for not giving her ice cream, I DIDN'T CAVE and buy her any. Why do people have to make you feel even worse?!?!?
After getting home, Autumn fell right to sleep. She slept for 2.5 hours. She woke up and you know what? She finished that dumb salad! She also told me she was sorry for telling me she hated me.
Too bad those people in chickila didn't see that!
So, what have we been up to? Well, I have a hodgepodge of pictures for you!
Another I love my children moment. A big storm was rolling in and Millie in her little princess dress wearing her headlamp in case the power went out, checking out the menacing storm clouds. That was a scary storm, but we didn't get any hail or tornadoes.
Both girls checking out the sky. Somewhere in that tree just outside our fence was kite fail #2. Kite fail #1 happened at Callaway Gardens where I let Autumn run on a boardwalk over the water with her kite. She about took out some fellow walkers and then somehow dislodged the string from the kite. As we all watched in utter horror as the kite sank, Autumn cried. I will admit, it was sad. I felt terrible about littering the lake, but there really wasn't anything we could do to save the kite. We came home and Sean let her fly the kite in the backyard and I guess she just let go. It was up in that tree for awhile. Not sure where it is now. Bye bye kite fail #2.
In completely unrelated news....
A conversation with Millie.
Millie: I'm licking my glasses.
Me: Wait, what?
Oh, I see!
Millie loves to lick things. I don't really understand it, but her glasses are one of the least disgusting things I've seen her lick, so I will take it!
The last few days I haven't been able to figure out if I am coming down with a cold, or if my allergies are just really flared up, but either way, not been feeling all that great. Sean made me some chicken soup and
Homemade bread. It was good. Best part, he made French toast with the leftovers.
I have to add this next tidbit in because it is classic Sean. He had built us this really nice fire, but there was this one log that just would not catch fire. We were sitting on the couch, when the man that I adore, love to pieces, admire for his absolute brilliance, says to me
Sean: I think I am going to get the leaf blower and see if I cannot get that log to catch fire.
Cherish: The leaf blower?
Sean: Yes. I think that will work.
Cherish: Why don't you use my blow dryer, on low speed so that you don't blow ash all over the house genius?
Just to update you, the blow dryer did NOT work, it did however blow ash ALL over the living room, but Sean cleaned it up. Oh wait, no he didn't.
This all brings me to today. This morning was the Color Run. We all left the house around 715 am and headed to downtown Columbus. I had purchased an extra color pack so that prior to the race starting the girls could throw color on me (I stole that idea from my dear friend Angie!).
My super cool glasses from the Color run that I promptly lost and could not find on race day!
Autumn was really into it!
She was having a great time of it too!
I will take this moment to share some things about Autumn. Stuff I don't want to forget about. Last night at bed time, Autumn said the following prayer.
Autumn: Dear God, I love my dad, my mom, my Millie and even myself. I also love Rowley (Riley) and Dylan. Please help me to not have any bad dreams tonight. Oh and I love you too God, forever and ever until I come back to you. Amen.
She can be bad, but she can be so very sweet. It made me feel a little teary eyed wondering what God thinks about the prayers of a five year old. I can only imagine that that little prayer made him smile.
Back to the run....
Millie was a little more timid about throwing the color on me, so I was trying to get closer to her to help her out. I think she put more on herself than she did on me, but she still had a good time with it.
Couldn't find her glasses this morning, but you can see that she is laughing!
Now for a Millie moment.
I've been watching a lot of Frasier lately.
Cherish (singing): But I don't know what to do with those tossed salads and scrambled eggs.
Millie: Eat it mom!
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
My new tattoo. Man, I need to work on my muscles!
So we walked around for a bit and I could tell that the race wasn't really as organized as I thought it would be. There was not an official time and they were not calling out the waves (there was supposed to be a 8, 810, 820 and 830 wave). I was in the 830 wave. I decided to just walk down towards the crowd and get this race started. I bid farewell to Sean and the girls and off I went. I ran it at a pretty good clip, probably around 8 min mile sometimes a little faster. I only slowed really when I was either passing people or going through the color stations (those were pretty crowded). I would say there were significantly more walkers than runners. That was a little annoying because if you are going to walk, at least move over to the side!!! Anywho, I made it to the finish line and started looking for Sean, but I didn't see them anywhere. I went to the predesignated meeting place and still no sign of them. After about a half hour, I ask a stranger to borrow their phone. Sean doesn't answer (I'm not surprised by this, it was LOUD). Finally he comes walking up and says they were waiting for me but didn't see me.
I think I ran so fast that I was already past where they were waiting for me at! Ha! I know that I didn't get rained on, but Sean and the girls did. I had a lot of fun and I think I may do this race again next year!
Here I am post race!
After the race we headed home so I could clean up and get headed out to a birthday party for a set of twins at Autumn's school.
It was at a gymnastics place and I think Autumn had a really good time. She did cry a bit and was really freaked out about not being able to wear socks! That is my girl!
Happy sixth birthday to Maudie Lee and Sims.
After this party, we were REALLY hungry, so we headed towards home and picked up a Little Caesars pizza and crazy bread. We ate, took a nap and then headed out to birthday party number 2!
This is Millie and I having a balloon war. It was one of those moments that was really fun for me as a mom. Millie and I were bonking each other in the face/head with the balloons and Millie was just laughing, laughing, laughing. At one point, our hairs were standing up from the static electricity! We were just having quite the blast.
I noticed one of the other kids at the party doing something that I thought only my special little licker did.
Millie, and apparently William do not eat their cake, they lick it!!!!!!!!!
During the course of Abigail's party, Autumn walked over to Kristin (birthday girl's mom) and asked if she could have the gift bag back. At this point, I am already embarrassed because who does that! I should have known better than to recycle a birthday bag with Autumn around! Next thing out of Autumn's mouth?
Autumn: We need it back in case we go to another party!
Oh my gosh, my face was so red! Kristin busted a gut laughing which helped me not feel so terrible about it! Ha!
Happy 4th birthday Abigail!
My sweet Millie licker.
What is coming up over the next two weeks. Well, there will be some Easter stuff. Sean is not officially on leave. I don't know what you call it, but he is off AND available for duty. He has gone in a few times and it does bother the girls some, but as long as he uses specifics (such as I will be home at this time), they have been dealing with it. I think they will become less sensitive to it over time.
Two weeks from today will be our great big Disney trip! I'm so very excited about that!
That is it from me today. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my special licking family.
Dear Lord, please help me survive the strangeness that is my darling family!
Cherish Hope.
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