So I'm Graduating...well...maybe...

So I came home yesterday with my cap and gown in hand, and one last day of class left before finals.

So, I came in the house, put the cap and gown package on my end table, got the baby out of her car seat, and got Evie her juice etc....you know started doing mom things.  I completely forgot to go back and find a safer spot for that cap and gown.

When I walked by the end table in my living room today I noticed the cap and gown was missing.  I didn't give much thought to it because I knew my son picked up the living room yesterday (part of his chores), so I just figured it was in the pile of stuff on my dresser in my bedroom.

I was wrong.

We decided to take the kids swimming tonight at the Y, but when I realized that the cap and gown were indeed missing I started to panic.  My son had no clue what I was looking for, and when I explained it he swore he didn't know where it was.  I tried asking Evie where she may have placed it (you see she was building a nice fort/house out of blankets in the living room today so she could have easily taken it).  She had no clue what I was looking for either.

We organized a search party and started looking everywhere.  The cap and gown were nowhere to be found.  I patrolled the backyard praying NOT to find it in a chewed up pile of dog poo.  It wasn't there.  We looked through the trash, we looked through the recycling...we looked all over the kids rooms.  It.  Was.. Gone.

I started to feel hopeless because I know there was no way I'd ever get another cap and gown in time for the graduation.  We packed up in the car and headed for the YMCA.

Half way there my oldest shouts out "I think I know where it is mom!  I put it in the Twister game box!"

My husband and I glance at her and almost simultaneously say "Why on EARTH would you put it in there?"

She said "I thought it was the game board spinner."  (BTW it looks NOTHING like the Twister spinner)

"We would have NEVER found that." my husband said.  He was right.  One day we would have opened up that Twister box and found it, and I would of had an aneurysm. "Next time you dye your hair we are going DARK!"  my husband told our oldest.

So, tonight I came home and pulled the cap and gown out of the Twister game box.  I was going to just leave it in the package until Friday to make sure that it didn't get grape jelly on it or peed on by a dog, but I figured I'd open it up to try on my cap for a second.

To my horror, the tassel is missing.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Happy Birthday Myah

May 3, 1999 there was a tornado going on in Oklahoma, but I was far away in Arizona giving birth to my oldest child.  I was young, only twenty one and I was scared to death.  I didn't know what to expect, and I sure as heck had no clue about how to be a mother, but nevertheless it was happening.

I was scheduled to be induced into labor that night at 9pm.  The previous night I started having contractions around 11pm.  They lasted off and on all night but never became regular.  I went into the hospital around noon the next day, but they sent me home saying I wasn't in active labor.  I went back to my mother in law's house and waited there.  Contractions got stronger and stronger, and by around 7pm they were getting closer and closer.  Finally we went into the hospital when my contractions were two minutes apart.  They admitted me and my first baby was born at 11:57pm that night.

She was so beautiful I just held her and cried.  She was simply amazing.

Today she is still just as beautiful and more amazing then I ever could of imagined.  God has given this child such a tender heart and sweet spirit.  She loves to help others, and when she loves, she loves deeply.  She wears her heart on her sleeve.

She is funny and smart and has a great sense of humor.  She loves clothes and make up and doing her nails, but she still loves to climb trees and go fishing with daddy.  She is so talented.  She loves to sing and she loves art.  She can write too.  She has written some of the most amazing stories for her age.  I can't believe how creative she is.

She loves converse shoes and skinny jeans. She knows how to sew more than mommy and she is a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen.  She recently just perfected her own recipe for home made brownies.

She loves Taylor Swift, but she still is so cool that she knows and loves the classics.  She can name ANY one of The Beatles songs.

She loves soccer and volleyball and said she wouldn't mind being a stunt woman when she grows up.  She is so totally cool it blows my mind.

She loves her family and is always willing to lend a hand a help.  She is a giver in the truest sense of the word.  She constantly makes me little gifts, cards and drawings and gives them to me just to brighten my day.  I love that God gave her the spirit of a giver.

God has granted me with an amazing relationship with my oldest daughter, and I love watching her become a woman.  As the teenage years are quickly approaching I'm still a lot like that twenty one year old woman, a bit naive  and a bit frightened.  I still don't know what to expect, but I do know one thing.  If the past eleven years have been any indication on how things will be, I look forward hopeful at what the upcoming years hold for her, and for me as her mother.  She is a joy to have and raise and I am truly blessed to be her mother.

Happy Birthday Evie

Wasn't it just yesterday I was packing your bag for the hospital, holding those little white and purple booties in my hand?  I sat there lovingly packing your bags, stroking my belly and feeling you move inside me and my eyes welled up with tears with just how much I all ready loved you.  I knew you then, and I hadn't even seen your face yet.

You came out of my tummy and they put you on my chest.  You didn't cry at all.  You just lay there, content staring up at me happy to finally be in my arms.  I will never forget that moment.

Ever since that moment you have brought so much laughter, and joy into this home.  You are a bright light in what can sometimes be a dark world.  This world NEEDED you, and God knew that.  Your name fits you "Bringer of good news"(Evangeline) and "life"(Zoey).

I love the way the sunlight bounces off your white blonde hair, and your big blue eyes sparkle with laughter and joy.  You are so smart, and kind.  You make me laugh like no other.

You love to be outside just like your daddy.  You have the biggest imagination that I've ever seen.  You love food, especially fruit.  When given the choice between candy and cantaloupe, you will choose the cantaloupe.

You love your brother and sisters.  You have a strong sense of family even though you are very young.  That is something that God instilled in you.  You also have this knack for being sensitive to peoples feelings and emotions, something you must have inherited from your Grandmother.

You love tea parties and want to be a doctor when you grow up.  You tell everyone, "When I grow up I'm gonna be a doctor.  A happy doctor."

You have the cutest little sing song voice.  You talk to me like you are an adult and it is really funny, even though some may consider it being precocious...I love it.  It's just further proof of just how smart you really are.

You love Max and Ruby, fruit snacks and your favorite color is pink.  You can't sleep without your purple blanket, and that's ok.   You love princesses but you have yet to sit through an entire princess movie.

You can sometimes be a bit high maintenance, but that is ok.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  You are my Evie and I love you so very much.  I can't believe that you are three today.  I am so privileged to be your mother, and thank God for letting me raise you.  I pray that you grow in His grace and beauty and above all learn to love Him.