Crazy Hair Wednesday

This is the little bed head I have had on my hands the last several days!

We prefer to call it the Farrah Fawcett feathered do, though!

Embarrassed

So, last night I had a very humbling, embarrassing, mortifying, helpless (did I mention humbling and embarrassing) toddler parenting moment?!?!  You get where this is going!

Ironically, I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my MOPS meeting back in September at which Michelle Duggar spoke.  I took in everything she said like a sponge that day.  But, like many other things in life, time passes and things are no longer fresh on our minds.  Six months later and having a strong-willed, somewhat rebellious two year old on my hands, I revisited all of the material that she gave out to all the mommies that day.  It never hurts to refresh the memory.  I have been trying hard to implement some of the principles that Michelle talked about like demanding that your child look you in the eyes when you speak to them.  Like discipling Cilla in private and praising her ten-fold in public.  Like teaching her Godly character qualities such as being kind to people, being obedient, and having self-control.

Well, last night I was put to the test in front of my mommy mentor herself!  That's right....Last night right there in Wal-Mart in front of Michelle and one of her older girls, Jessa I think it was!  

I was reaching for something on a shelf and right about that moment it registered with me who was walking toward me.  {Cue Cilla whining to get out of the cart.}  Thoughts starting running through my head.  She is watching me (Michelle, that is).  I can't cave in and let Cilla have her way.  I MUST make my child obey me.  So what did I say?  "Cilla, mommy needs you to look me in the eyes."  The fussing got louder and I started to feel like I was having an out-of-body experience.  I wanted to run and hide but I couldn't hide, the crying was too loud!  Of course she was doing everything but looking me in the eyes!  I continued, "Cilla, I need you to sit down in this cart (she was standing in the cart by this point.)  Mommy needs you to listen and obey."  I was trying to stay calm but still have a firmness in my voice.  But, the crying turns to screaming as I try to sit her in the front of the cart.  Geez!  At this point I am mortified and the Duggar ladies had passed, so what do I do but let her out of the cart.  Yes, I gave in!!!  There, I admit it!  Right there in Wal-Mart the Lord worked on me.  I learned that it doesn't matter what people I am around  or what anyone thinks- I have to stand by my convictions as a parent.  I have to demand respect and obedience no matter where I am.  Even it means walking out of the store; even if it is not the easy choice to make.  I also have to tell myself that even Michelle has moments like I had, it is just all in how we handle those moments!  I am not perfect and she is not either.   

I finished shopping for my short list of items and found myself walking out of the store with the Duggar ladies.  I wanted to pour out my soul and apologize and make excuses.  Instead, I took it as a lesson learned and walked away a better mom (hopefully!)  I politely spoke and went on my way.  Funny how the Lord works.  Needless to say we are still working on teaching Cilla about self-control.  But, hey, aren't we all in need of a little more?!?!

A Chance to Win!

Some of you probably know by now, some of you are sick of me talking about it and some of you may have no clue what I am talking about when I mention HolyTurf.

Well, the Hubby has a little website called HolyTurf which explores the passion of college football.  If you have read it...THANKS!  Really, he appreciates it and I do too!  If you haven't read it yet, it is a great time to start!  Sure some of the articles are way over our minimal female football knowledge heads, but there is lots of stuff you would love if like college football at all!!!!  So check it out!

HolyTurf is working to improve and wants your feedback.  Go here and click the link to fill out a short survey.  Seriously, it only takes 3 minutes.  After doing so you can enter to win the sideline polo of the team you like to cheer for!  Just follow the directions.  So, girls, this is a great op to get the BF, the hubby or even dad an awesome gift.  Like the kind your fav team's coaches wear and a $70 shirt!  Heck, you could even keep it for yourself!  You have until April 5th to enter!  So HURRY!

Keeping it Real

This is what happens at our house when mommy gets a shower and the two year old is left semi-unsupervised.....
*please disregard the horrible lighting in the picture!

Flint went to church early and I was left to get both of us ready this morning.  While I was in the shower and getting dressed, Cilla got a bottle of lotion and put it all over her face (and jammies and my bed) and threw diapers all over the floor!  For the love!

This, however, pales in comparison to the lip liner artwork on the back of my bathroom door or the toilet paper roll completely unrolled in the bathroom floor or the Rice Krispies all over the kitchen floor (see this post) or even the shattered make-up bottles and fingernail polish bottles!  

So, now you know why I skip showers some days!

Spring Break

Today was, ironically, Cilla's two year wellness visit.  After being a little under the weather this week we headed to the doctor for her two year visit.  She was a champ!  All 31 lbs, 35 inches of her!  It helped that we got all of her shots at 18 months so there were none today!  Hallllllll-elujah! 

Her doctor wanted to make sure that she was saying at least 20 words and it just made me laugh because she never quits talking and repeats everything we say!  So the answer is YES!  He basically confirmed everything her mommy already thought!  That she is smart and beautiful and right on track!!!  I know, gag!  I am her mom, I have to say that stuff!

Her favorite thing to tell us this week is how she jumped out of the car!  We had the biggest "I told you so" moment of her little life thus far!  She insisted on jumping out rather than letting me help her and I preceded to tell her that I was confident that it would not end well.  But, what does my hard-headed two year do when I walk away?  Jump out of the car, of course, and belly splats on the garage floor.  I guess she is proud of her bravery, but I just saw it as foolish!  Lesson learned?  Probably not!

We have been flying a little under the radar this week trying to get back to 100%.

Wednesday, we skipped playgroup so we did not give all the other kiddos the icks and we went with daddy to an afternoon Razorback Tennis match to see some of his former athletes and coaches.  Cilla seizes any opportunity to wear her "pink Hog dress"!  

Thursday, we ventured out a little more.  We went to Toddler Time at the Fayetteville Library and had lunch with some of our besties- Katie, Paigie and Avery!

Cilla absolutely loves these girls.  She would move in with the Allen's if we would let her!

We love being so close to them and getting to spend lots of our days together!

After getting off to a rocky start to spring break week, we had a good week!

Since we are all grown up and really have no ties with any school systems now, I am not sure why we still observe spring break...I guess it is just one of those things you hope you never have to let go of!!!  I hope everyone had a good spring break!

Under the Weather and Overly Sassy

Cilla woke up a little under the weather today, so we are having a lazy jammie day at home!

Look at those pitiful rosy cheeks (pouty face).

She didn't want her picture made and I can't say that I blame her.  Who wants their picture made when they are bumming around and do not feel well?  However, I couldn't resist a few shots of my under-the-weather, sassified girl!

She was "text'n daddy" and working on her "puter"!  There is no time to be sick!

Sending more texts from bed.  Probably texting her friends to come save her!

Yes.  Yes, she was watching Mickey with her shades on.  Miss Cool!  

That's right.  SO, I am going to admit this, mainly because she watches a very limited amount of TV on a daily basis!  We have watched about three episodes of Mickey (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), Bambi and Veggies (Veggie Tales) all before our afternoon nap.  DON'T JUDGE!  We have also worked about 19 puzzles and read about 27 books!

Hopefully being low key today will pay off and we will be out of self-put quarantine tomorrow!

Just for the record, she really does text her daddy from her momma's phone.

Today's correspondence went a little something like this:

Cilla (on Rebekah's phone):  Ygdghyuoijb

Cilla:  Yggih.  H6

Flint:  Hi Roo!

Cilla:  Thy.  Uj credit.

No joke!

Welcome Spring

Hooray for Spring! 

 We have been loving the warm weather and longer days this week!  

I have a feeling we will be outside all summer!  Cilla loves it!

Her new bike is a hit!

So was this cookie!  Thanks, Kelly;)

Hope you had a good weekend!  Our's was lazy and I loved it!  I needed it!

Sunny Days

Oh how we are loving the springlike weather here in Northwest Arkansas!  

Yesterday Cilla and I had BSF then we had a little lunch date on the patio at Stone Mill.  Oh this weather is wonderful and so was our lunch!

Cilla loved her PB&J.  She would say, in her own little Cilla way, "delicious"!  Of course, I thought it was cute.

After we attempted a nap (I have video to prove her lack thereof) we played outside most of the evening!  Yep, my child is barefoot!  What is mom to do?

Can you just hear the squeals coming from this picture?!?!

Discipline

So, we have the hit phase of life that is ever so widely known as the terrible twos.  So far, I do not think there is anything terrible about it.  Is it hard some days?  YES!  Do we have some power struggles in our house with our strong-willed child?  SURE!  But I love this age!  There, I said it!  It is so so fun to watch an inquisitive little toddler just soak up life like a sponge!  I mean, she takes in EVERYTHING!  She repeats everything.  She can do just about anything...that she wants to do!

Back in September, Michelle Duggar spoke at our first MOPS meeting.  Although I do not fully agree with her on some of their family and parenting philosophies, she had a lot of great insight into parenting...especially discipline.  If anyone would know....she would!  What is the count right now?  19 Kids?!?!  I must say, she is the MOST soft spoken woman and you can tell that it is truly her heart's desire to train her children in the way they should go!  For that, I admire her and can definitely learn from her!

She spoke about instilling Godly character in your children.  Which just happens to be the desire of my heart! 

Michelle gave out this handout that shows the operational definitions of character qualities. I really liked the way each one was defined. Here are a couple of examples:

Contentment-realizing that God has provided everything I need for my present happiness.

Punctuality-Showing high esteem for other people and their time 

Patience-Accepting a difficult situation from God without giving Him a deadline to remove it.

That is just a few...there are 49 of them. I just really think it makes you think of those words in a different way.  Couldn't we all learn a little from some of these?!?!  I know I could work on each one of those qualities in my daily life.

She also said that the three she felt were most important to emphasize with her children were:
1. Attentiveness. She said that she always has her children look her in the eyes before she talks to them to show that they are listening to her.  I try to use this with Cilla and it makes all the difference in the world!  Michelle said that when you have a child's eyes and ears, you can get into their hearts.  I am definitely I believer in this now after putting it into action!
2. Self-Control. She said it doesn't do any good for them to be attentive if they don't follow through with self-control and of course...
3. Obedience. She said obedience needs to be instant, cheerful, thorough, and unconditional. Wouldn't that be awesome!  We are still a work in progress on this one.  But in our house we believe that we should set the bar high and expect great things from Cilla.  

I thought it was was interesting that she referred to "correcting" as "encouraging".  She also pointed out that rather than lifting up our children with praises such as "You are such a little Princess" or "You look so pretty" she challenged us to look deeper and praise them on their character qualities!  Tell them that we love how they were kind to their friends or how wonderfully they respected their teachers.  WOW!  I have lots to work on.  I want to share some more of the qualities sometime.  It is my goal to try to incorporate a couple every couple of weeks in my time at home with Cilla.

As an overall philosophy on life, Michelle said that as a parent, you have to "choose joy" even on the rough days. She is spot on!  It is a choice and we have to make it daily!

Here a few pics of the day with the Duggars.  

The camera crew was there and some of the footage actually was aired.  It was funny to watch as the room was scanned- to see a room full of my friends!

I was a little too embarrassed to get my picture with her so, I borrowed some friends' pictures!  Her oldest girls were also there and played their violins.  It was beautiful music.

My friends, Sara and Jenna with some of the Duggar girls

Sydney and Sara with Michelle Duggar

Rainy Play Day

It has been a cold day outside but warm inside!  Our friends, Lindsey and Adeline came over to play today.  We had a wonderful time playing and visiting....despite having to share toys!

If only this vacuum really worked!

Thanks for coming to play with us today, girls!  We loved our time together!

Thank you Lord for sweet sweet friends!

Now I am gearing up for The Bachelor Finale tonight!  

I have a bad feeling about this, but come'on Brad, pick Em!

Little Party Animals

Just because I want to document more memories of Cilla's second birthday party......

Here are some of our memories and our friends!

{The Birthday Girl}

{Making a Wish}

{Reid}

{Lilly}

{Kelly, Harper, Nana and Brayden, who ran straight up to my mom and wanted her to pick him up.  How cute is that?!?!}

{Sarah Kate and Emily}

{Katie and Helga}

{Zach}

{Laci}

{Mommies.  Melissa, Kelly, Katie and Candice}

{Daddies.  Flint, Tim and Adam}

{Chris and sweet Brody}

{Lisa and Trevor}

{Brody}

{The duck pond was a hit!  Titus, Zach and Lilly}

{More fun in the balls}

{Noah}

{Cilla}

{Harper}

{Jennifer and cutie pie Jillian}

{The roller coaster was also popular with the little ones}

{Caedmon}

{Besties.  Cilla, Paige and Avery}

Look at that mischievous grin!  Doesn't she just look like she is up to some two year old trouble making!

After a fun day, she still mustered the energy to play with some of her birthday presents!  She pushes her stroller and her vacuum simultaneously!   Such a talent!

Barnyard Bash

Today was Cilla's birthday party!  We had such a fun time with our friends!

It was a farm themed party (chic, of course) since Cilla loves all things to do with horses, cows, tractors...you get the idea. Some of our friends have a "party barn" at their house that they, so graciously, let us use.  It could not have been more perfect for all the little ones running around!

The Birthday Girl loving her cookie!

Most importantly, the dessert table.

Yummy, yummy iced sugar cookies.  The biggest hit of the party!

The down home drink table complete with Sweet Tea, Strawberry Lemonade and of course, Mason jars to drink from!

I hung pictures of Cilla from the past two years on a clothes line over the drink table because every momma loves old pictures of their baby!!!!!

And what is a party with lots of yummy food to munch on?!?!  We had Dickey's BBQ!  Delish!

One big table covered with paper, rather than table clothes.  Perfect for coloring on!  It was a two year old's birthday party, after all!

We also had pony rides!

A duck pond to play in!

And a Barn Dance!

The daddies played lots of carpet ball.

There was lots to do for everyone in the family!

Thanks to all of our friends for taking time out of your Saturday to help celebrate Cilla's second birthday!

We love you all!

Look how much fun this birthday girl had!  Her day was perfect and so was her afternoon nap!

I have lots more pictures!  I will have to post all of the little party animals later!