Tag: parenting

Room to Bounce

On By AngeliaIn Wee Wee Wee all the way home!27 Comments

In March, we took the girls to Oklahoma to visit my mom for her 72nd Birthday. It’s not a far trip (only about 3 hours) and we usually make a day out of it.

This trip we spent time at my brother’s house, too. He has a step-daughter in between Molly and Bridget’s age. And guess what she has in her backyard?

A trampoline.

Of course the girls LOVED it.

They bounced and bounced and bounced.

In fact, I had to make them get off so we could head back to Texas.

But it got me thinking…..What if they had room to bounce at OUR house? What if they had room to bounce at their MOM’s house?

What if I got the youngest to ask for a TRAMPOLINE for her birthday!

A plan was born and all I had to do was *insert idea* in the little ones brain.

I’ve heard she has worked on it (with BOTH parents!).

Can you blame her?

A girl needs room to bounce!

At the end of this month, we shall see if my our devious plan worked.

Not that I would take over a kid’s trampoline, or anything? Heh.

Check out more posts with room here at the The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge.

When it is Twenty Years Later…

On By AngeliaIn Beautiful Life22 Comments

On this day, twenty years ago, I gave birth to my baby girl.

© Angelia's Photography

The day I met her is the most amazing day I could ever imagine. I remember I couldn’t stop looking at her. Almost as if my heart was born outside my body. This little person was here. The one I had prayed and prayed about. I looked over every inch of her; from her rosy lips, to her tiny toes, and her little cone head. What a wonder it was to see this very real little person finally enter my life after a long nine months.

© Angelia's Photography

The two grandmas and great grandma were just as enamored with her.

© Angelia's Photography

We all fell a lot in love with this fuzzy-headed baby. A precious gift to us all.

© Angelia's Photography

And oh, how she grew…

© Angelia's Photography

Day after day…

© Angelia's Photography

One minute I am sitting and rocking my baby girl…

© Angelia's Photography

The next I am chasing after a toddler…

© Angelia's Photography

And then, I am holding her hand and I am praying that she grows and shines as bright as she is.

And she does, right before my very eyes.

Faster than I ever thought possible.

In a blink she is all grown up and welcomes her own baby girl…

© Angelia's Photography

And now I have two hearts outside my body.

I am so proud of you, Sydney. You are a beautiful Mom and an even more beautiful (now) twenty-year-old.

Happy Birthday! May the next twenty years be as good as the last.

Breaking Nine

On By AngeliaIn Into the Blender we go- Wee!, Life..Camera...Action!12 Comments

Backpacks gather. Shoes find the right feet. Dogs go into their crates and in all the rustle, bustle of preparing to leave Thursday night, I hear her Dad call out, “Can I hug nine-year-old Molly for the last time?”

She sheepishly grins and wraps her arms around him squeezing tight. I turn from my office chair and say just as loud, “Ohhhhh, I want to hug a nine-year-old Molly for the last time, too!” She smiles and opens her arms to me.

I hug her hard and I try to remember every single thing about her, right then, right in this very moment. I close my eyes and concentrate. Did six years really just flash by in a blink?

She is heading home to her Mom’s house for the weekend, and the next time I see her, she will break nine at ten-years old. Ten!

The tiny tot of four who I met all those years ago? She doesn’t miss a step as she leaps into her double digits. She does it and she does it with all the grace and muster of a grown-up, and all the soft, gentle sweetness of a child.

I can’t believe it.

It really doesn’t seem that long ago…

Molly at four years of age.
Molly at four years of age.

It’s bad enough I watched one little girl grow up too fast. Do I really have to watch another? And really, two more? What was I thinking? This is not cool. Not cool at all.

Dear Life….slow down!

::Sigh::

I put together some photos through the years. Mostly because, I like to cry like to see how fast they grow. Maybe it’s my proof that this all really happened, and I watched it happen.

Molly’s first major league baseball game – age 5.
Molly – Summer 2009 – age 5.
Molly with Daddy – Sep, 2009 – age 5.
November 2009 – Molly with Fred – age 5.
Molly at the park – 2010 – age 6.

Six years of it. Right before my very eyes.

Molly at her 6th Birthday party.
Molly on our wedding day Oct. 10, 2010 – age 6.
Molly at Scarborough Faire – April 2011 – age 7.
Molly’s 7th Birthday

I can’t imagine the next six.

Molly – Easter 2012 – age 8.
Molly – Easter 2013 – age 9.

But I guess I have to try. It’s happening…whether I like it, or not.

Molly - Easter 2014 - almost 10.
Molly – Easter 2014 – almost 10.

Happy Birthday to the biggest, brightest ten-year-old I know. You broke nine. Let’s see what you can do with ten.

Imagine, Dream, Achieve

On By AngeliaIn Beautiful Life35 Comments

It’s that time of year where all the children head back to school (at least ours anyway).

My goodness the summer went fast.

I took a few minutes to get some quick shots of the girls. Luckily, there is a school nearby (not the one they go to) that captured the essence of their youth and the thrill of new adventures.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
-Albert Einstein

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
– Eleanor Roosevelt

If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.
-Jesse Jackson

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.
-Benjamin Franklin

First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do.
-Epictetus

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
-Martin Luther King, Jr

Laugh often,
Dream big,
Reach for the stars!

To my first grader, third grader, and college freshman…

Happy First Day of school!!