Pumpkin Farm

To continue to celebrate fall and the beautiful weather we went to a local pumpkin farm with some friends of ours and their kids.  Connor had a great time!  There was a petting zoo area, a HUGE slide, a train ride, a hay ride and much more!

A new car

He was so so so excited to get a new car!  Thanks Grandma!!

A boy and his car....

Say Cheese

Connor likes to take pictures when it is his idea.  Otherwise, he will not look at the camera.  What a little stinker he is!  He now knows to say "cheese" when taking a picture.  When he hears the word camera he will go find the camera and say cheese, cheese, cheese until I take his picture.  Most of the time the pictures come out like below.

Gosh he is so cute!

Fall Is Here!

We love fall weather around here.  It is great to open the windows and get the fresh air in the house!  Connor loves to be outside running around playing with his cars and going to the park.  He is going to be so upset when it is freezing cold outside....but we wont go there now.

With the fall weather comes all of the fun fall activities.  We started all of the fall activities with going apple picking.  We went to Jonamac Apple Orchard - just like last year.  We had such a great time.  Connor LOVED eating the apples. He also enjoyed running through the pumpkin filed.

Going apple picking will definitely be a tradition every year. 

16 Months

Connor's 16 month pictures.  He is really starting to fill out the chair :)

ENJOY!

Jump Jump Jump

We went to a birthday party last weekend and they had a jumpy.  Connor LOVED it!!  It was his first time in a jumpy and he did not want to get out at all.  He jumped and ran around for a long time.  He had a huge smile on his face the whole time.  It was so fun to watch him.  I can't believe how big he is!

Why being a mom is enough

I found a great article the other day while browsing online.  It made me realize again that being a mom is amazing!  It is the little things that matter and I need to keep telling myself that.  My little boy is happy with us just being there - it is not the big things, but the little things.  

why being a mom is enough.

I'm talking about simply being a mom.

I'm talking about getting up in the morning, slapping your face with water, looking in the mirror, sighing, brushing your teeth (maybe), and picking up that toddler and wandering into the kitchen and pouring cereal in bowls, rinsing dishes, kissing the top of their head, and waiting for your coffee to brew.

There isn't much glamour.

There is you. You giving of yourself. Minute, by minute, by minute, by minute until those hours add up to create a day which adds up to create a week which adds up to create a month which adds up to create years which add up to create a life. A beautiful life filled with ordinary enough mom moments.

Somehow in this mixed up media world of things to do and places to go and dreams to follow the beauty of simply being a mother is completely lost.

Being a mom is enough.

It's enough, I say.

Sometimes we want to look to those big things and use them as a grade for success. We look at the cool science fair projects where our child got the blue ribbon. But, honestly, we miss the hours of interacting and holding glue sticks and looking up things and laughing side by side. We want the trips to Disney or American Girl Doll and discount the time spent in the backyard. The bar of success and joy and happiness gets pushed so high by culture that the little things, the enough mom moments, are lost.

Do you know what matters?

This.

The other day my 15 year old came to me and told me she missed me. Missed me? I couldn't believe it. I was a bit incredulous, actually. I told her about the trips to the movies, the trips to the yogurt bar (are those places ever cheap? I mean, seriously, $24 total for four containers of yogurt with a variety of too heavy toppings? End rant.), shopping together, getting Starbucks, and all of that. She looked at me and told me that's not what she meant. She told me she just wanted me present during the day.

Little things.

Like stopping my crazy busy mom and work agenda to look at the graphic design she made on the computer and really looking at it and trying to appreciate her talents. It's about me taking thirty minutes to play cards at the table with them and not checking email constantly on my phone. Email can wait thirty minutes. They cannot. It's in not worrying so much about the laundry and instead just letting that go and being thankful for a family to do laundry for. Just being there. Cooking together. Laughing. Giving of myself in the simple things.

Mom things.

The things that don't get celebrated on Pinterest that much. They're the just a mom things that I write about and celebrate. They're the things that most people probably won't see.

They don't see you stand in the bathroom and gather your resolve every morning. They don't see those of you who mother alone without much support. They don't see the trips to the car back and forth and back and forth. They don't see you counting to ten a dozen times before noon. They don't see you look at the bank account and sigh and try to figure out how to make three meals with what's left in your pantry. They don't see you walking into the principals office, doctor's office, friend's house and defending your child.

They don't see bandages placed on knees. Kisses on foreheads at night. Pillows pushed just the right way and blankets tucked to the perfect demands. Laundry folded and folded and folded. Tears that sting your eyes as your keep going. Dinners prepped over the stove. Times of laughter over silly things. Hair brushed and pulled back into pony tails. Prayers over wandering teens. Prayers over little babes. Nights spent sleeping in a chair holding a sick child. Days where the house is a wreck but you're reading books. The brave smile on your face when you're weary.

Those things matter.

Those things are the little things that add up and and up and up.

I say those things are enough.

Don't be weary, dear mother, in trying to keep up with a supermom agenda. There is no supermom, really - that whole supermom who has everything together is just a fallacy. There are real moms. Real, authentic moms who admit that they don't have it all together but keep on fighting. Scared and tired moms who keep fighting. Moms who are overwhelmed by keeping up with littles all day long. Moms like you and me who sometimes feel lost in a world of outward accomplishments.

A mother isn't based on external perfection. A mother is the person, the woman, just like you. The woman with little ones in her care that she loves, and sometimes wonders how she loves them because they're driving her batty, but still she does. She fights, gives, prays, works, and doesn't give up even when she wants to throw in the towel.
That's you. Today. Tomorrow. Yesterday.

I say that is enough. 

It is more than enough.

You are amazing.

The terrible 2's.....or 15 months?

I think that the term the terrible twos should be more like the terrible 15 months!  Connor learned how to throw temper tantrums!  FUN!!  He can be happy as can be one second, then the next, he is on the floor screaming and shoving toys away.  I do not know if this is due to teething (he could be getting his molars, but I have not seen anything popping though), not feeling well with his cold the had/has, cutting down to just 1 nap a day (his idea - no ours!), testing mom and dad or all of the above.  My guess is all of the above.  He definitely knows what he wants and if he does not get what he wants - watch out!  He has one heck of a scream on him.  This little guy is certainly going to test my patients every. single. day.  He is lucky that he is so darn cute! 

Under the Weather

Hello Hello!  Happy September!!!

It has been quite some time since I've updated the blog.  I feel like we have been so busy.  Busy with what you ask....well, nothing big comes to mind!  Just normal everyday things.  I hope to blog more this month!

We have all been under the weather the past couple of weeks.  Poor Connor had a horrible cold and still has a cough.  The poor guy was miserable for at least a week.  I did take him to the doctor and they confirmed that it was just a cold and to continue to give him lots of liquids, baby Tylenol and cuddles.  And that is exactly what we did.  He is on the rebound and getting back to his normal self.  It is good to see.  I sure do miss those cuddles though.  For 2 days he did not leave my lap :) 

Enjoy the day!