Mother's Day to Graduation

Happy Mother's Day 2013

What a week it has been!  We celebrated Mother's Day, by letting Momma sleep in - it was amazing.  Leif got up with the kids, fed them breakfast and I didn't hear a single thing until 9am!  Did I say how amazing this was.  This was the perfect gift as I'm running on fumes these days between wrapping up the end of the school year, trying to pack up the house but at the same time keep it clean to show to potential buyers with a moments notice - whew - it's exhausting.  Add to that the other moving duties such as where are we going to live, finding a new day care, and so on - it's all just so emotionally and mentally draining.   So thankful for my faith as this is where I'm finding my strength and energy to get through each day.

Between Leif and I, we had an activity to attend every single night this week.  I knew this week was going to be crazy, so I made a promise to myself to capture moments of "normal" and to celebrate the many blessings in my life when everything seems so uncertain.

Lukkas seemed to sense my level of stress and broke out in hives/rash on his back and torso.  I'm counting this a blessing because even though he looked like he was sick - he did not run a fever nor did the hives/rash seem to itch or bother his skin.  He was a little fussy, well let's be honest, he was Mr. Crabby pants, but none the less, he ate well and for the most part slept well.  This was also a blessing because I remembered Leinna having the same thing and I remember the doctor saying that unless she started to run a fever there wasn't much we could do.  Within 3 days, Lukkas was back to himself!

While we were dealing with Mr. Crabby pants, Leinna was such a blessing and truly entertained herself.  With Leif gone every night - I was flying solo for bedtime, and Leinna was such a good big sister!

She entertained herself with playing Legos and I must say - was very proud of the tower she built.

Or she just hung out on her sleeping bag playing quietly with her baby doll.  I love this age and watching "play time" shift from just playing with the toys to the shift in imagination.  In this photo she was telling me that the baby was awake now so I could be loud again :o)

Our normal day care provider's son is a senior and with the big graduation ceremony on Saturday, she took Friday off to prepare. I don't blame her and I'm glad she put her own family first and gave us plenty of notice to line up another provider. So, I called on a good friend and retired elementary teacher to watch the kids for us.  She had Leinna doing subtraction with her breakfast before I left the house and when I got home, she had taught Leinna how to put her puzzle together.  When I got home she was starting to put the puzzle away so I couldn't tell if she could do the puzzle by herself or not. This morning, Leinna was working on the puzzle again and I knew she could do a couple pieces on her own - but when we saw her do the whole puzzle by herself - we were amazed!!

 So many things to be thankful for and during high times of stress and uncertainty, remember to focus on the blessings in your life.  Trust in God and His plan for your life.  This Proverbs verse came to mind this week "The heart of man has many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail."  As I continue to make plans from a to z, I realize that 's okay to have a plan but to be flexible with where God is going to take us.     As this crazy week wraps up, I pray for each of you to take a moment and celebrate the blessings in your life!