Changed for the Better

Grace is turning 11. How did that happen. It seems like just yesterday I was the mother of 1 and Abby and I were sitting in bed painting toenails and eating pizza. Little did I know that the next day, on June 28th 1999 when I met a little girl to be named Madison Grace Bentley that my life was about to be changed.
At 1:13 pm on that day I gave birth to a perfect little angel and I have loved every minute that God has allowed me to have with her. For every year that she is, there are 1,000 reasons or more that she has changed my life for the better:
1. She taught me that a mother can love two children equally but differently.
2. She showed me how fun it is to play. She loves to play.
3. She strengthened my faith in God.
4. She showed me how to be stronger.
5. She survived a brain tumor.
6. She has been my easy child.
7. She has told me some really funny jokes (knock knock. Whose there? Interupting cheese. Interup..CHEESE!)
8. She has made me smarter through helping her study.
9.She has made me more important in this life.
10. She has given me many, many, many reasons to smile.
11. And she has loved me unconditionally.......

Grace you will never know the many, many, many ways you have changed my life for good and for the better. Your smile and honest to goodness love will never leave my heart. You are there forever. I love you.......

As a mommy, the most precious thing in the world is when your kids tell you they love you. Tonight as I was getting out of the truck after work Mary Paige comes running out of the house in her underwear (which is her outfit of choice these days) Yelling "mommy's home, mommy's home!" She then runs into my arms and hugs and kisses me, What a welcome. I LOVE it!!!!!
Even though my kids do some crazy things to annoy me, they do A LOT that really tickles my heart.
Do you know the feeling when you hug your kids and you notice for the first time they are patting you on the back? Or when you look down at them as you are scolding them and they are looking at you with those eyes and it melts your heart and you just can't do it? How about when you are doing the blessing at the dinner table and you look over and they are so cute you start to giggle and then everyone else starts to giggle too?

I will miss those welcomes, giggles, eyes and hugs when they get too big for their momma.

Mary Paige's Big Weekend

Mary Paige started swimming this weekend! It was so cool to watch her slowly spread her wings and get braver with each time she got in the pool. Saturday was a scorcher and of course we spent all day at Nanas pool. She was already jumping off the side of the pool with her floaties on but she finally got brave enough to go off the diving board with her floaties of course but the pool is like 10feet deep. Thats a huge accomplishment for a 3 year old.

The next day we swam at Aunt Tara and Uncle Brians pool. By the end of the day she was jumping off the side of the pool, in the deep end, WITHOUT her floaties!!!! She would jump off and swim by- her-self to the ladder. She is so awesome! On top of that she's not just "jumping in" she is DIVING off the side. HEAD 1st!!!!!! It was years before I knew how to do this. So it was a busy weekend for Mary Paige.

So yes I am very proud of her. She is soooo brave but I am also frightened to death! She has no fear. NONE! One minute she is playing in the shallow end of the pool the next she is swimming toward you in the deep end. So I ask that you keep us in your prayers. Help me to never take my eyes off her for even one minute. I was never this scared with the big girls. Or maybe I was I just don't remember it.

Summer has set in. The kids are constantly bored. The house is a constant mess. The grocery bill is higher. I cant go anywhere by myself. UGH!!!!! We have VBS this week. Maybe that will occupy them for a while.

Mary Paige is in this mode where she thinks if she repeats something over and over it will get done faster. Today while grocery shopping she wanted Mc Donalds. I told her if she could be quiet for a few minutes I would take her to get something to eat. So sitting in the Walmart bugy she repeated over and over "I want some McDonalds, I want some McDonalds, I want some McDonalds" I said "if you don't zip it we are not going to get anything". "I want some McDonalds, I want some McDonalds, I want some McDonalds" ( now imagine this in your most whiniest voice). I said "if you dont ZipIT your are not getting anything to eat". This went on for the entire trip. No she didnt get McDonalds. Lesson learned. This just reminds me why I like to shop alone!

Gracie took Tennis lessons last week. She liked it. Thinks she might like to try out for the middle school team next year. We will see about that. I am also playing tennis again. You may not know this but I played tennis back in high school. Guess what? I stunk then too!

Abby had her 1st Date (kinda) You know the kind where your parents take you to the movies to meet a boy. Luckily I know the guys mom so we dropped them off and went to have some BBQ as a form of Prozac. Of course they have since broke up which devestates us moms. We had Christmas' planned and everything. She is the type of in law I would not mind adding to the family. I guess it was just wishful thinking.

Right now I am at work. My family is at home asleep. When I get home there will be stuff that has to be done and peeps that are ready to go go go. So it should be an interesting day. My friend Angie is having surgery in the morning. Say a prayer for her. It never hurts to have extra people praying for you......