Carrot Cake

For Easter, I made a carrot cake.

It was the best carrot cake ever.
Best part for me - the kids reaction.
Second best part - There were no carrots.

Dear Mother

Dear Mother's Heart,

Remember when your children misbehave, it is not a reflection of your parenting.
You teach. You model good behavior. You guide.
They misbehave because they are young. They are testing the limits- the rules. They are learning right from wrong.
Remember that you are their mother. You love. You teach. You pray. You guide. You discipline. You let them grow. You do your best.

Dear Mother's Heart,
When your children are grown, remember that their behavior is not a reflection of your parenting.
You taught. You gave. You loved. You failed in some ways. You excelled in others.
When your children are grown, they are grown. They are who they want to be or they are trying to be who they want to become. Their actions reflect their heart, not your parenting.
Remember that you are their mother. You love. You hope. You pray. You want the best.
Let them be who they are. Love. Let go.


Dear Mother's Heart,
You will not escape pain- now when the kids are young or when they are grown.
You will also have great delights. Motherhood is not simple. Some seem to have perfection. Perfect mothering is a condition of the heart, not an end result in a relationship.
Does perfection exist? It seems so when you look at others. You do not know what they have or don't have. Remember this- despite circumstances, no one can control love. Don't ever give up on love. Never stop.
Take comfort in this- you birthed your children. Many don't.
Take comfort in this- you pray. Many don't.
Take comfort in this- you love. Many don't.
They may or may not pray or love in return. It doesn't matter.
It really doesn't matter.
Love anyway.
You may be close to your children. You may not.
They may or may not appreciate you.
Keep loving.

Dear Mothering heart,
I wish that I could be the woman I'd like to be.
I wish I were the mom that I strive to be...
I wish I were the daughter that I want to be.
I wish that I could eliminate the struggles.
Struggling is part of motherhood, I think.
I want so much more for you.
So I pray.
Love and prayer are essential to motherhood.

Love. Never stop loving.

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Spring Staycation

For Spring Break, we stayed home.

Instead of boredom, we chose liveliness.

Here are some of the ways we played.

When the weather was warm, we went outside.

We camped in the backyard.

We had a game day.

We went played board games.

We rented a few video games to play.

We played balloon games.
We sat in a circle and tried to pass the balloon with our feet.
Then, we tried to keep it in the circle using everything but our hands.
Then, we just tried to keep it in a circle.

We had a balloon race.
We were all on the same team and we were racing the clock.
We did the race twice so we could better our time.

And, yes, Momma and Daddy had as much fun as the kids.

We had an ice cream sundae night.

We laughed a lot.

School starts back Monday. I'm gonna be sad to send the boys back to school.

Wonderfully Weird

Tucked within a big Warhead candy egg, each boy found Warhead Spray.
They were delighted and thanked me for this wonderfully weird candy.

It is not like anything else.
It IS worth a lot of laughs.

My daughter only tried it once.

The boys tried it over and over. Our day was full of sour faces and laughter.

Sort of makes you thirsty just thinking about it, doesn't it?