Feddy's Gift

Grandma Feddy gave Lily a special gift back in November for her birthday. It is such a gorgeous piece and I instantly hung it on the wall without remembering to share how precious and special it was and is. It is a beautifully detailed cross stitch alphabet. So much time, so much work, so much love went into it and I don't want to overlook the amazing heart of this gift.



One thing I know for sure is that my Momma is a gift lady. She absolutely adores giving to someone and watching their joy as they open and reveal the present. She has been this way from as far back as I can remember and it has taken me a while to really see the tremendous blessing that she is. My Mom loves to give. Whether that is time, energy, money, gifts, conversation, or talent. Some might see it as an inability to say no, but I see it as something entirely different. I see it more as a complete and utter outpouring of love, unfettered, unashamed and unstoppable. Sure, that giving spirit has, on more than one occasion gotten her committed to far too many things and stretched her very thin, but that never seems to stop or slow her down.


Mom is always the first to help and the last to clean up. If you want something done, ask Mom. If you need a position filled or an extra salad brought, Mom is your lady. Need a shoulder to cry on? Mom's is pretty great. She is strong, unwavering, confident and yet somehow vulnerable even in the midst. She herself is a gift.. She gives from a tender place in her heart. A place of compassion, care and maybe even a small emptiness that only giving to others can fill. Perhaps its a Divine calling or perhaps its just a small reflection of the Lord Jesus pouring out in her life. Either way her tangible "gift love" has blessed me over and over again and is now simply overflowing on Lily Grace.

This beautiful keepsake is only a small part of all that she lavishes on Lily and yet it is my favorite. A true treasure given out of a Grandma's love.


Thanks Feddy.

And We're WALKIN'

Yes, its oficial, Lily Grace took her first "help" free steps the other night.



As a woman I always thought about that moment when my little baby would take his/her first steps. Where would I be? What would I be doing? Well Bob and I were in the kitchen and she took her first steps (about 2) to her Daddy without holding on! What a moment! Those first steps will be the first of many, after all, we are just sure that she might be a marathoner!

It has been quite a week. On top of an already bum knee, I managed to get horribly sick. Oh the sneezing, oh the snottiness, oh the headaches and nausea and stuffiness. Is the whole world against me? Thankfully it has been a fairly low key week and I have had many hours at home.

Days with Lily are just so special. When we aren't practicing our animal noises, we are doing everything else.


Lily is in a time of testing boundaries and as she starts walking and grows bigger her world opens up and new boundaries have to be set. The newest one is her rocking chair. She desperately wants to stand on this chair, and is having a hard time with the "on your bottom only." boundary. The other day we had to have two spankings for crossing that line. I love, though, that she gets it because 2 hours later I walked back in her room to find her sitting on her little bum rocking away.


Good Girl Lily! She really is a precious little lady. I see so much strength and determination in her and I love that the Lord gave her those qualities. I can simply not wait to see how the Lord uses her! As long as Bob and I can curb that determination and keep her grounded.

She is also becoming such an independent young lady and is so creative with her playtime. I was cooking in the kitchen the other night and left Lily in the living room. I heard a little rustling and came around the corner to discover this little set up. There she was just reading her book (our Longmire News Blog) in her little bucket office. So Cute!




Both of the babies have discovered the outside and just love standing at the windows. We had the windows open the other day and they were both pointing and talking at everything going on outside.



We have had to limit their exhuberance because they desperately try to literally crawl out the windows. They are small enough now, but in a few months it will not be a safe practice. So hard for the babies to be limited to just standing and pointing.

Livin' on a Budget.....No REALLY!

So inevitably, every American except the super rich or completely ignorant have, at one point in time, had to live on a budget. Oddly, though, most of us live "sort of" on a budget. Where we know "sort of" how much we make and "sort of" how much we spend. If we see that something in the window that would look just perfect on our silhouettes we buy it. Its not really in the budget but honestly, how much could that $40 really impact our monthly "sort of" income. Three days later finding yourself in another spending dilema. I know I don't really need that and its not REALLY in my budget, but honestly how much could that $20 really impact? This is the story of my life........until a month ago.


There is one thing that has been clearly defined in Bob and my marriage. I am the detail oriented person, I am the organized person, therefore it makes good sense for me to handle all of the finances. It was never an argument, or a control issue, it just naturally flowed from the best parts of our personalities. I have always thought that I was an excellent money manager, and in many ways I am. I have always lived on a "budget," however my budgeting technique is far removed from what a true budget really is. Here is my version of a budget: Know what you make in a month (or close-always round up), Know your bills and what they generally are (always round down), add in tithing (always good intentioned, but writing the check and putting it in the plate is hit or miss), create money limits for all of the other categories, but if you exceed those limits its okay, they are only guidelines. So in essence I never budgeted my money, I had a flexible phantom budget that could be changed depending on what I wanted to buy.

Needless to say, this form of budgeting kind of got us behind in several areas especially considering that we are a one income family. So in stepped the Director of Sales, numbers wizard, to the penny manager of Connexion Technologies and I got put on a BUDGET. Hard core, no budging budget. Every dollar is accounted for and every penny spent documented. Completely transparent, no longer a guideline budget. At first every fiber of my being wanted to loose all sense of maturity, lay on the ground and throw a temper tantrum that I could no longer spend whenever I wanted to. I knew that I needed to be submissive in this area, but my "inner sinner" definitely did NOT. Thankfully, through the power of the Lord, I have been obedient with our finances and have stuck on the constricted budget that we have put in place. It has been challenging and sometimes frustrating, but you know what feeling I most feel?

FREEDOM. Strange huh? I never would have thought that by creating strict financial boundaries and working to stay in those boundaries I would find freedom. There is money left over, Nothing is hidden, We are more creative with activities, We plan ahead better and we have seen how much we truly have. The blessings are abundant and the chance to really be a good steward of all that the Lord has given us has made budgeting a joyful boundary instead of a messy guideline.

Guaco Hair

Lily and her "gzhee, gzhee"

Getting back into the swing of life has been challenging. My MILA business is booming and we have a promotion going on right now, so all of my “free” time seems to be centered around talking about MILA! I am determined to have a successful business and love watching the growth happen.


Yes, Lily discovered this fun "fort" all by herself.

It has been kind of a rough week with Bob's company having to go through some more layoffs and reorganization. Although Bob is still very much employed, it feels unnerving and I find myself really being tested in the “Do you REALLY trust the Lord?” department. Running has been my one avenue of stress relief, and I have a bum knee. Every run that I have done in the past two weeks (3) has been painful. Its frustrating and discouraging especially because running brings me such joy and self confidence. The knee problem is purely overuse and the fact that I made it carry me for nearly 30 miles a couple of weeks ago. Really, its to be expected. As Bob would say, “We aren't so young anymore.” I refuse to believe that 29 is old, but its definitely different than 18 in many ways.



Yes, Lily was brushing her hair with the spaghetti spoon

Lily has been doing great, but the poor dear has been cutting teeth like crazy. Her nose is literally running off of her face and there is a general existence of “Mommy I don't feel well.” She is super attached to me right now even at the extent of her Daddy. I don't take it for granted and love every minute.


Cookies make everything better!


She has been waking up around 5:45 these days, so I just get her and bring her into bed with us. She snuggles up on top of my chest and sleeps for another hour or so. It is so special. She is walking more and more these days, just not without some sort of support system. We have also learned more animal sounds to now include a kitty- “Mow” a doggie- “MM, MM” a cow- “ooooo” a monkey- “ah, ah, ah” and a duck- “ca, ca.” She is just adorable to listen to!

She has rediscovered avocados and LOVES them. The other night I gave her some avocados and within 3 minutes she had managed to get them everywhere.



Once they had covered her shirt, she decided that avocados made for excellent hair styling. I know I should have stopped her and forgone this mess, but it was just so cute. If you can't get this messy while your a baby, when can you?

The Ultimate Park Hopper Experience!

After the marathon was done we decided to start really enjoying Disney World, right down to the playground and the pool.





The weather was perfect out there and of course, Disney keeps their pools heated. Good thing because as soon as Miss Lily saw that body of water she anxiously wanted to be in it! The pool felt wonderful after so many miles on the legs.




After splashing around in the water we sat down for some much needed FOOD. Lily was way too busy to stay still so she did laps around the pool decking using the stroller as a walker.



Now don't worry, we all took turns walking with her. She may be getting very proficient at walking, but still has no concept of direction or what might be lurking down the road.

We enjoyed a long nap and a delicious dinner at Chilis (can I get a shout out for their chips and salsa.....YUMMO). Bedtime could not come fast enough. We had decided to take on the "see-as-many-parks-as-you-can-in-one-day-Disney-Challenge" and we needed our sleep.

We were up bright and early to head to the parks. Let me tell you, there is a reason that the best way to see Disney is in 5 days. We just couldn't see even 50% of all Disney had to offer. Our day was so full that the best way I can share it is with pictures. We started at the Animal Kingdom.



The first thing we did was watch the 3D movie, "It's Tough to Be a Bug." From what I remember it was a cute little bug movie, just perfect for the little one. OOOOOO.....my bad. In case the interactive wind blowing in your face and things shooting at you wasn't bad enough, there was a person size grasshopper that popped out of the stage and giant spiders that dropped from the ceiling. Lily was beside herself. Okay so still a little little, Gma and Gpa looked pretty buggy though!


We toured on Expedition Everest


And went on an African Safari complete with rhino that walked right up to the car, hippos, alligators, lions, giraffes, elephants and a baby elephant.



Lily was mesmerized and kept pointing and squealing with delight right before she crashed for a bit. Lovely.


Next stop Hollywood Studios. We arrived and met with our friends right around the Hollywood Towers.





We hit the big Aerosmith Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror while Lily napped (cat napped) that is, with Kathy, Gma and Gpa.


We spent the rest of the time at the Studios trading our collectors pins (I was collecting the Villians) with Mikey and Maggie, and having lunch. Onto Magic Kingdom.

We really saved the best for last. The Magic Kingdom is well simply Magical.






There is nothing else like seeing Cinderella's Castle as you walk down Main Street. We had to catch a picture of the whole fun party! We waded through the sea of people to try to hit all of the major attractions like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and my favorite Tiki Room. "In the Tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room....." I love that show! We pushed the baby hard all day and at 7 she was COOKED. Fully cooked. Gma and Gpa took her home and I hit a few last rides with the others. What a great day!

The next morning we put on our race shirts, packed up our bags and left the magic of Disney. While waiting for the bus Lily walked and walked. She is getting so adventurous! and sleepy!





She slept the whole way home, after peeing through all of her cute little outfit. Its tough to be a baby!