Oh memories!

Last year for Labor Day we went down to the "Redneck Riviera" (a.k.a the beach) for Labor Day. Since we live so close, this is something we do all the time, but last year, we carted our new baby down with us. She was 2 months old when she first visited the beach. This is my girl last year. We will be making the trip again this year with my family (Happy Birthday Gammy!) and I can't wait to see how different this trip will be! Walking on the beach, playing in the pool....this year is going to be so much fun! I leave you with some of my favorite pictures from her first beach trip! Ya'll have a fabulous Labor Day!
Really...my kid is so stylish! And then she must have a beach themed outfit! :)

please excuse my ginormous header. I am working on it. now I am tired and off to bed. Please forgive the cuteness on my page..tinypic and I are having some words right now.

Like a child

I was blog reading the other day and Angie Smith over at Bring the Rain was discussing prayer (and speaking of her blog, if you haven't visited her site run over there....really, don't walk or skip...get your hiney over there and read her amazing story and love for our Father!) I digress. So she was talking about how she prays and how we sometimes have crazy ideas for how we think Jesus thinks of us as we pray and it got me a'thinkin. How do I pray? Well for starters I pretty much just pray whenever I think about praying, whether it be in the grocery store line or driving down the road. When something hits me, I'll just pray. If you ask me to pray for you, by goodness, I'll just do it right then. No sense in waiting! But my real praying (as if the other is fake) is most often at night when I crawl into bed. I have always wanted to be the kind of
pray-er who gets on my knees, but by the end of the day, I don't do it. So I lay my head on my pillow and pray.

And I thought about what I think when I pray. I pray like I am a child. I envision myself just plopping down right in front of God. You know, He's on His throne, all big, with a white beard and fully robed in bright garb. I sit "criss-cross-applesauce" in front of His throne and just start talking. No bother if He's busy doing something else.

And it really reminded me of my school children. I sit in that big blue chair while they are on the carpet and they have to look up to me. I am teaching, they are listening, I am trying not to laugh at their silly stories, or their interesting questions, or the fact that I wore eyeshadow today and they are all discussing how different I look. And I have power. I can calm the class, or continue to let them talk, or I do the teaching. God is the same way. And I need to open myself up to the fact that sometimes I do need to close my mouth and just listen. I do a lot of talking. I need to listen more to Him. What is His plan for my prayer? I just have so many prayer requests and needs!

We as Catholics are never really "taught" how to pray. We have memorized prayers...which I love because they make it really easy. Our mass is one big long prayer from beginning to end. But ask a Catholic to "spontaneously" pray at a meeting and you'll get no hands for the pickin. I attribute my quick prayers to Methodist school. I was taught to pray there. I am grateful that I did.

I also do a lot of praying through song. I love to sing and praise and worship music make it wonderful. I am teaching Lucy to sing "Our God is greater" and it just makes my heart melt when she tries to sing with me.

I wish I was a devotional person. I want her to see me spending time with the Lord. I want her to know it's okay to pray whenever and that we have times spent each day reflecting on our behavior and fostering our love for our Lord. That is one of my goals this year. To find something she and I can do together and also find something I can do as a mom to quiet myself in front of Him.

Something I love this year in school is that we stand for the pledge as a whole school in our classroom and then we have a moment of silence. I tell my kids they can pray, think about the day or just be still, but that we are taking a moment to prepare ourselves for the day. I can't tell you how wonderful our day goes when I can stand before my class with my eyes closed and pray right over those kids. I do think this is one reason why I am having such a good year. I start the day off with Jesus.

Oh, I have rambled on this post. I want one day when Lucy reads her blog that she knows that I am a lover of Jesus, a full-on Christian. That when I leave this world that I am going to meet the One who loves us, created us, thought of us long before we were born, who Abraham saw stars for long ago.

How do you pray?

"I always thank my God for you as I remember you in my prayers"

-Philemon 1:4

I was blog reading the other day and Angie Smith over at

Toddler Time.

So.... my sweet little baby is now ONE. One. as is a whole year gone by. And in this year, I have grown as a person, as a mommy. Grown in my attitude, grown in my love, and grown in my faith. I have worried, cried, laughed, and worried more, but overall... this has been the best year of my life. How in the world did I live my boring life without Lucy?

We celebrated her first birthday with a cupcake themed party here at our house. She got way to many presents and is already so blessed in the friendship department. I love all my mommy friends and I love all my regular friends. They each bring something so great to Lucy's life... and mine!

Lucy and I on her birthday. We celebrated at a local mexican restaurant. Yum! They came and sang to her... which she hated! She loves to hug her babies. She says "aww" and pats them on the back. I love this! I so wanted her to have babies and love them! Libby is the new baby she got from her daddy and I with a new baby stroller.
Lucy's birthday party. So, the kid freaked out when we all started singing and then would not eat her smash cake her Nana made her. She finally got to enjoy it when the party was over! All of Lucy's friends. We are so lucky to have these children in our lives! I used to babysit the two oldest children on the left back. I kept them since they were babies. Makes me sad to see them so grown up!
My table decorations. Lucy's Nana (my MIL) made all the cupcakes. She used to own a bakery and all her cakes are amazing. So glad she could make them for us!

As for Lucy being one year now, here are some of her highlights!

• You weigh 21 pounds.
• You are 31 inches long.
• You are almost completely off the bottle. She takes a night bottle, but lately, she doesn't want it so it's really almost a waste!
• You love stuffed animals and babies!
• Gammy and Papa (my parents) bought you a kitchen center that you love. You play and cook all day!
• They also bought you a picnic table. You eat breakfast and lunch there. You look sooooo cute when you sit there!
• You can say mama, dada, bye, yeah, no, star, what's that, and you know four animal sounds. My personal favorite is the lion. You roar so loud! You know a cat, dog, lion and a cow. We are working on a pig and a duck!
• You run. No walking. Full on go. You strut. You swing one arm out when you walk. so funny! You also do a beauty pageant wave when you walk by people.
• You are wearing a 12 month clothing.
• You dance. Omg, it is so funny. You get to going and I can't stop laughing!
• You push anything when you walk. Chairs, tables, anything that can move does.
• You love to swim and take a bath.
• You give the best kisses.
• When I dress you in the morning I hold you up to the mirror and tell you how pretty you are. You pat your chest and say "awww." So cute!
• You will hold my hand when we walk. love it.
• You sleep from 8:30 till 8. Now that school started you are getting up earlier.
• You take 2 naps a day, morning and afternoon.
• You can put away some food!
• You love your daddy. When he comes home, you like to "show off" and instead of running to him, you take things to show him, like you are so proud of your stuff.
• I made a great decision to not send you to daycare. I just couldn't do it. Gammy Camp is back in full swing! You love going to my parents house. You act like you own the place (and you pretty much do!) You love Maize. You love Sisterbeth. Gosh, you love her. You hugged her for the longest time tonight.
  She is such a special aunt and she loves you so much. You adore Papa, and you LOVE spending time farming with Gammy. She takes such good care of you and teaches you so much while Mommy is at work. It makes my day so much easier knowing you are taken care of by my mom!
• Your godmomma b and auntie c bought you a little blue box for your birthday. It was the sweetest "L" charm. Made me mad because I want a Tiffany box!
• You are growing much too fast. Slow down little one!
• I LOVE YOU!