18

This beautiful bundle of baby girl turned 18 the other day!

   

I've only used a few words here since they cannot even begin to express how much I love and have enjoyed getting to know her since the day we met! ... and - well - even 9 months before that ! :) 

 Grandma

 Big Brother

Baby Doll

Ponytails

New Bike! 

The Littlest Princess

Kindergarten

All I want for Christmas....

Remember this?! The Float-a-Boat contest?!  LOL

Wow ... all those years of piano lessons

 have sure paid off! :)

 Sisters

Growin' up! 

Awfully pretty for a hockey player :) 

At the park

Pretty sure this was at the beach

 the day before she started high school. 

Kayaking in Vermont 

Love this pic!

I got pretty good at multi tasking

 (watching and praying at the same time!) 

when she was playin' hockey with the big boys! 

Not sure if this car was made for her  

- or if she was made for this car.

All I know is that it matches

her beautiful eyes and it fits her perfectly! :) 

I hope she remembers this...

and I am so thankful that God entrusted her to us...

to teach and to take care of her

but

 I find it ironic

 that in that process, 

God has taught us & we have learned so much from and because of her! 

Funny - how that works.

Simple Woman's Daybook - 4/6/12

... where every day is a blank page.

  

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

I am thankful...to be back here - writing on my blog. I've missed it! I FiNallY made my facebook debut just very recently. Just as I tho't, I like it for some reasons & not so much for others. Perhaps therein lies the topic of a future post. Here I've shared so much of me/my story - albeit fairly privately & under the cover of a screen name.  On Facebook everything feels so "public" & kinda strange.

I am thinking...that life just swept into warp speed around here recently. Not sure how that happened. Probably had something to do w/ Playmaker going to school, getting a job, getting a car, doing observation hours in order to apply for the Physical Therapy program at our community college - and the high school softball season starting up for Strike. I am a stay at home mom of teenagers and I don't know how working moms do what they need to do at home when I can barely keep up myself at times ... and I'm not nearly as busy as most people I know. I'm just so grateful to be doing what I'm doing. 

-  and I'm also thinking that I'm really gonna miss driving Playmaker around here/there/everywhere. And, ...

I'm wondering ... when are Playmaker and I ever gonna talk (ReAllY talk) like we do now once she gets her drivers license.  We have the best talks in the car. Honestly, I think I've done some of my best parenting while driving :) Possibly some of my worst too! :/ What can I say?...We spend quite a bit of time in the car! :) She just got a job and she just got a car...now she just has to get her license. We never seem to do things in the "normal" way/order. Since she didn't take Drivers Ed she has to wait until she is 18 (that's just around the corner!) to even make the appt at the RMV to take her test. She's been so patient up till now...but now I think her patience is beginning to wear thin :) She does have her permit - and she's SO tickled w/ her new wheels! The car is a 2000 - but you wouldn't know it to look at it. It's in ReAlLy good shape! Playmaker contributed $500 of her hard earned money toward it. So prouda her for so many reasons. Hmmm...I think that last sentence should really be the topic of yet another post I should write in the near future. 

In the kitchen...I'm planning Easter Dinner. Thinking maybe we'll have brunch instead of a traditional dinner. Easter dinner will be just our family but friends are joining us for dessert.

I am creating...Well - I think I'm going to buy a dessert of some sort for Easter and make a gluten free version of this as well:

Quite possibly the best use of peeps 

(which I don't really like) evah! :)
via:  http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Peeps-Sunflower-Cake

I am reading...Haven't read much lately but I'm still reading Pride & Prejudice and I just started reading a short story called DRAWN TO JESUS - The Journey of a Jewish Artist.

I'm looking forward to...having Strike home from school today! And watching her play softball later. She just turned 15! 

and she just made the varsity softball team. She's the girl on the left with the  BIG smile on her face :) ...

A favorite quote for today... Change is the illusion of progress.

One of my favorite things...This looks packed w/ potential for so much fun! So simple/versatile. We could carry our bikes - our kayaks...store our camping gear ...oh the possibilities & places we could go :)

check it out! 

www.sylvansport.com

I am pondering...

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

 And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 

1 John 3:16NIV

I wish...I could sit here and write all day - but I've got places to go and things to do - sooo - until next time! - and hopefully not as much time will pass this time between now & then :)