Not Forgotten

I love this talk by President Uchtdorf. 


As a mother, I find myself continually being surprised by
the blessings of this divine calling, as well as
the Incredible Responsibility I have to love and nurture and guide these children of mine.
The joy is greater then any joy I have ever known.
And conversely, the pressure is unlike any other I have known.
And with the territory come sacrifices, heartaches, guilt, and
exhaustion both physically and emotionally.
But knowing the divinity of my role, gives me reassurance
the Lord is always with me,
which brings me Peace- an invaluable resource.


Now if I could just tape that message to every wall of this house,



I love the way the gospel places value on Women.
Especially now that I have children.

I want Ginger to grow up knowing She is a Daughter of Heavenly Father,
and He loves her, with "an infinite love".
I want Oliver to be a man of worth and integrity
and to see women the way our Father in Heaven intends him to.
To respect the divinity within every one of them.


{Which reminds me to pray for the woman that does have my 
Sweet Oliver's affections...
may she be as perfect as possible.
just kidding. 
sort of}
  
And when the day comes that Ginger or Oliver may
be carrying a burden so heavy it engulfs him/her...


He will know, He is not forgotten. Heavenly Father knows him
and has prepared a way so that he may have that burden lifted.
and

She will know, She is not forgotten. Heavenly Father knows her 
and has prepared a way so that she may have that burden lifted.


And you know what? I hope that for you too.
when the day comes that You may
be carrying a burden so heavy it engulfs you...

You will know, Your are not forgotten. Heavenly Father knows you 
and has prepared a way so that you may have that burden lifted.

Whether you are LDS or not, a mother or not,
You should listen to the words and testimony of President Uchtdorf.
It is such a positive and powerful message.

Part One


Part Two

Oliber

I just want him to be a baby forever. 
He makes me sing church songs in my head. 
Thats how much sunshine he brings to my soul. 

secrets of superheroes

If you have a toddler or have had a toddler
you probably understand the great contradiction 
these little creatures pose.


I mean, they are quite bothersome, aren't they?


And yet, I cannot imagine my life without this beautiful, bothersome fairy, I call Ginger.





Warning... I just took my sleep meds 
and Just so you understand the frame of mind Im in...
Im currently listening to this:





Rock Steady. Its what happens when someone wants you so much, and you didnt get it.


The other day G brought a tape to me and 
asked, "Mama, What's this?" 


A piece of me died that night when I realized she'd never realize the glory of
running on a treadmill, rockin her fly new walkman.





So we called it an accessory and I moved on with my life.


You know that crazy, awesome, adventurous, super fabulous life I have
wherein I make things like this to pass my time...


I title this one Ginger's bedhead.





She likes to hang out with her boyfriend, the running man...


.


Anyway back to my gingerdoodle.
Isn't she lovely?



Point of this post is...


Ginger makes me laugh and smile and feel loved every day.
Every morning, I can count on going to wake her up and hearing her saying "oh my butt"
Like shes just realizing she's naked. 
And for the next 30 minutes, She is known as, Ginger "iwanna" Treese.
Because all I hear is, "I wanna color, I wanna eat. I wanna watch Shark Tale. I wanna Eat. etc. etc.
She's naked. Still.
And her hair is wild. Like Crazy "just escaped from the insane asylum" Hair.
And she is ocd about her clothes. random things like if it feel like their should be another button...
she loses her mind. 
If I try to put on a cropped sweater... ABSOLUTELY BANANAS.
HateS it. 
Empire waists... not into them. 
Maybe thats why shes always naked because clothing stresses her out.


She is obsessed with the garbage truck aka Mater.
The other day I had my headphones on and was lying down in corpse pose meditating.
no for reals.
How else am I supposed to stay sane?
When all of a sudden she jumped on me, I opened my eyes to see her crazy excited eyes 
an inch from my face.
And she yelled MATERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
I threw my headphones off, swooped her up and ran downstairs just in time to get out the door
so we can wave to Mater and they can give us a little honk 
and make Ginger's day. 
And she throws out compliments constantly.
"Ooooh I like your nails." "Ooooh those shoes are gorgeous." 
And she gives credit where credit is due...
the other day, I power cleaned the house while she was napping, and when she woke up,
as she was walking down the stairs she goes, " Oh my goodness. Look at that. Its gorgeous."
"You did that Mama, Im so proud of you". 


Not a man in sight would look twice, but that little 2 year old sees everything.
kinda scary.


But the most wonderful thing about Ginger is her thoughtful beautiful soul.


And every night I tell her a secret, its always I love you accompanied with a
compliment. Then Ginger tells me a secret. 
For three weeks its been. " I love you and I like your coloring"


But do you know what her secret was today?


"I love you and youre a superhero."


Then I died.







I LOVE HER.

Free Night

And so far Ive accomplished so much.

lie.

I swear I have a to do list a mile long...

and as soon as I have the time; Im like

Uhhhhh. errrr.

Quick someone demand something of me!

Im so lost.

Currently Im watching that documentary, Babies.

So much nudity. What is this rated?

No but really, Ginger would love to be an african babe...

All they wear are accessories. No clothes, just awesome necklaces.

Last week I had acupuncture,

this week I missed my appointment.

on purpose.

I just felt so out of wack since my first session.

I've been super low on patience and my body hurts more then before.

I have the worst back and neck pain.

I've even upped my yoga to two daily sessions.

sometimes its with Wiggles as my background music.

And occasionally I have to rig my poses around Oliver

in an effort to entertain him.

This is always fun because he gets super excited.

And when he's excited his legs go bananas.

So downward dog is usually accompanied by a kick to the chest.

Anyway, I was convinced my "off" week was because the doctor

screwed up my chi.

Maybe she tried to balance it but put a needle a millimeter too far.

Sounds logical to me.

Point is... I just realized something that may persuade me to pick up the phone

and beg her to squeeze me in tomorrow.

I realized...

I havent cried in a week.

Oh if you only knew how monumental this was.

Oh my gosh, African babies are so badass.

Remind me to buy oliver some wild animals.

Maybe a pet wildabeest or something.

Yes, thats the correct spelling.

I googled it.

This is the one Im thinking of buying him...

I think we'll name him, Pete.

Oh Speaking of Yoga... seven paragraphs above...

Happy Birthday to this lovely lady...

95 years young!

And also to this Gorgeous Mama

who is still under 50...

Thats not a new mole above her lip.

She's showing off Ginger's excellent makeup skills.

My mom is so amazing.

seriously.

Here's Oliver waiting to give her her birthday balloon...

Yes it says, "thinking of you."

Yes I bought it from the hospital gift store.

And yes, Oliver did almost poke his eye out with that and it had to be taken away.

Heres another picture just for cute sakes,

He was not too happy this night.

His teeth are coming in with a vengeance.

Luckily, he is a superhero and can tolerate this getting teeth nonsense.

And whats a post without this dollface/wierdo?

Not only is she pretty, she's also a total brainiac...

See, glasses to prove it.

okay, Im off to bed.

Oliver

Everyone needs an Oliver in their life.

He's amazing.

Because I must

Sometimes you have to just put words on something.

Ill say this most obvious statement.

I am having a really tough time with life right now.

But Im determined to walk out of this a winner.

Im not sure that sentence makes any sense.

so gratitude cultivates happiness and

acknowledging the good helps you notice more of the goodness.

I also heard that a stress free vacation on the beach is nice too...

At any rate, heres the goodness;

Milano Mint cookies- which I love, but my dad doesnt care for- strange.

Go Girl energy drinks... Mmmmm so good, but embarrassing to drink in public

because inevitably some stranger says, "You Go Girl"

which is nice but it makes me feel so dumb every time.

My family memory game that I am making... it's turning out to be pretty fantastic.

Much to my surprise.

thrift store books. I love only paying a dollar for a book.

Photoshop.

Netflix on my phone.

Kindle on my phone. Im currently reading Maine- by Courtney Sullivan- so far I love it,

even if I only can squeeze in five minutes of it.

pictures. Old ones, new ones.

My children are steller sleepers. Thats a beautiful thing. And I know Ive said that before.

But really, beautiful. They fall asleep easily and they sleep soundly. I like to think of it as Heavenly Father's gift to me; lest I go completely nuts.

Probiotics.

Oliver's smile. Its amazing. Oh and Oliver in pj's. And Oliver's face when he hears Elmo's voice.

And Oliver's hearty laugh.

Ginger and her gingerness. She can draw an e and an i - on purpose. she never wears clothes, random things like her saying, "Oh, for goodness sake" or "youve got to be kidding me." and her compliments, she's forever complimenting... " I like your earrings" "You made this! Good job Mama!" "Oooooh gorgeous", and the way she sometimes refers to me as sweetheart or pumpkin.

Okay, its late and I have a busy day tomorrow full of super exciting things like errands and paperwork.

Dont come here...

if your looking for optimism.

May I vent? Thank you.

I hated today.

It was just a bunch of busyness, mixed in with ridiculousness, mixed in with tears, guilt and anger

and there you go.

And Im so tired of days like these.

The ones that just come and go and you realize

there is just so much more to life than all of this.

And the only person I can hold responsible for the way I live this life is me.

Theres just so much sadness going on and it gets to be consuming.

But ugh, Im over it. I need to buck up and start saying, to hell with it...

Im doing what I can do better the situation, thats all I can do, I need to let go of the rest.

easy peasy right?

off to bed. tomorrow- a new day. another chance.

well what do you know? a smidge of optimism.

Wisdom

This deserves a reposting.

day 7

In the words of Rachel Zoe,

Do you die? I die over this picture.

How perfect is he?

Yes. I skipped day 5 and 6...

but I've been sick as a dog.

and Ginger's sparkles are driving her nuts.

Yesterday, she unfortunately had to ask me if my mouth was sick,

after seeing me throw up for the 3rd time.

Then she woke up in the middle of the night crying

and said Look! Look! to my mom who rushed to her bed.

Behold, vomit was everywhere.

My poor baby.

All three of us shared mild fevers.

And sweet Oliver nearly jumped out of his skin every time I blew my nose.

All I can say is thank goodness for moms.

My mom came to our rescue yesterday and babied all three of us babies.

And my mother in law, Peggy, took Oliver for the day

so I could recoup.

These pictures of G and me crack me up.

Thats her Calamine Lotion. Bottom's Up.

A Case of the Sparkles

Ginger woke up with some bug bites on her and

we just couldnt believe it.

We had the house sprayed twice within the last two weeks.

That was at 8 am, at 10 am she had about 18 bug bites.

Wait, that couldnt be right.

Chicken Pox!

Well, if I know one thing about my Ginger- or all toddlers, really -

it's that they are really, really impressionable.

One day I wore a shirt with a bit of sequin on it.

hey it's Vegas, totally acceptable.

Ginger said, Ooooooh, I like your sparkles.

I thanked her and then she pointed to a bug bite and said, I have a sparkle too!

Lightbulb!

theyre not chicken pox- they are sparkles.

Ooooh and they are so gorgeous!

We keep saying, I like your sparkles.

and she'll look at her arm admirably and say so sincerely, Oh thank you!!

And guess what?! You get to put pretty pink makeup on your sparkles!

Luckyyyyyy.

I would say this calls for a Sparkle Party!

And whats a party without some candles to blow out?

The cookies were supposed to look like sparkle pox.

And yes the first picture I did want the focus on the cookies.

However the seccond picture it was supposed to be on her happy little face.

Seriously it felt SO good to see the her look so happy as we sang

"Happy Sparkle Day to You"

Willow was a guest of honor, helping her celebrate...

and soon we will help her celebrate.

Yay.

I think it was a successful happy sparkle day overall.