she came into this world so easily. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. She was a beautiful little sweet bundle of pink joy - and my boys were so little!! (amazing how quickly they change into older looking kids in such a short time).
Two years later, we feel like she just gets cuter and cuter everyday. Her little sayings and her big personality provide our family with A LOT of daily entertainment. She is one tough little cookie! For her birthday this year, we enjoyed a party with a bouncy castle. Brooke had a ball! She jumped til she couldn't jump anymore and worked up quite a sweat.
And on Sunday, we tried a day at the football field as we forewent her nap.
She had a great time out there - and then decided to rest for a few minutes (yes, moms out there, she was covered in sunscreen. Mama, however, did not put one little tiny droplet on herself because after making sure all three kids were properly covered, she forgot about herself. She is presently the color of Matt's shirt in the picture below - and experiencing mild discomfort).
Marist is the Alma mater for both myself and Matt, and it was funny in an interesting and nostalgic kind of way to see our boys in their Marist shirts on the sidelines.
I put dinner on the table every night last week and one afternoon, I even spent several hours making a chicken/spinach lasagna. It was excellent - my best one yet, but it is slightly labor intensive so I hesitate to share it with you (I prefer to share the recipes that are super tasty and pretty quick and easy). It is my sister, Karen's, FAVORITE dish of mine. If you want me to share with you the recipe, go to my actual blog site, www.christabdavis.blogspot.com and in the "comments" section beneath this post, let me know!
I shall leave you with something that resonated with me this morning after church. The sermon today was on parenting and I was reminded of how perfect God's timing is as this sermon was one I really needed. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately - you see, when your kids are young, it's tiring, but it's all relatively easy - it's about meeting their needs and their needs are so simple. Then they get older, and all of their needs still need to be met, but there's all this other stuff like academics, social issues, logistics of getting to this activity and that, my own job, keeping the house clean, putting a meal on the table (which falls into the meeting their needs category).... and well, I've felt every night when I've gone to bed lately that I've not parented to my full potential - that I've been more reactive and too busy than thoughtful.
This morning's sermon came at the perfect time for me. I thought that it was so good that ANYONE who is a parent or might become a parent can benefit from it. But what has stuck in my brain all day is this: the days are long but the years are short. That's just it! Our days sometimes may seem so long - especially the days that require a huge outpouring of ourselves into our children - be it logistically with daily activities or emotionally... but even the long days, when strung together, create a season and the seasons join together to form years and before we know it a decade has come and gone! So while the days seem long sometimes, they go by so quickly. Before the days turn into years, let's invest in our kids - take the time and SLOW DOWN (this is what I must remind myself on an almost minute and by minute basis) and really listen to them, look them in the eyes, talk, share, laugh, teach...
I feel renewed and convicted to being a better parent and strongly urge you to listen to today's message. You can go to www.futurefamily.org and watch the whole multi-part series OR just listen to today's (9/9/12) message. It will be 40 minutes of time WELL SPENT, I promise!
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