Brilliant in the Basics

Live in your home so that you’re brilliant in the basics, so that you’re intentional about your roles and responsibilities in the family. Think in terms of precision not perfection. If you have your goals and you are precise in how you go about them in your homes, youth will learn from you.

-Julie B. Beck

I so needed to hear this today. I need to get back to the basics.

TOnight as I was putting the girls to sleep, I couldn't help but say a little prayer for gratitude. I have the happy family I always dreamed of. SUre we have fighting and yelling, but our family is a happy family.

Katie had the activity for family home evening. She announced pillow fight. Best activity EVER.

if you ever wonder where the pineapple went, don't just assume your husband ate it. It's probably hidden under the 4 year old's bed with the train set and getting moldy.

If you want your kids to think you're the best mom on the planet, make them brownies for no reason. and this picture is not staged at all. Grace didn't even know I had the camera out. she normally won't let me take a picture of her by herself.

who needs toys or a tree house, when the kitchen meets all of your playhouse dreams? Apparently pulling out all the drawers in the kitchen makes a perfect house.

sometimes a girl just needs a rocket.

Being a mother is tough on your heart. It seems Katie and Grace and Amelia are growing faster than I can catch it all and store it in my memory space. I found little rectangular scraps of paper today with Katie's writing all over them. She had spelled all the words by herself. "Booc Marc (Book Mark) for Moom (mom), your Katie." Makes my heart so excited that she is unlocking the world of words, but at the same time my mommy heart is sad because she is growing up, and I am losing that little girl part of her.

Justin left today for business trip. He called me to tell me his plane had landed and told me he loved me before he hung up.
Me: I love you too
Grace: from the other side of the room) I love you three.

Often I go into the bathroom and find "stuff" all lined up on the counter. TOni bought a pink comb and mirror set for Katie for her birthday, and we picked up this plastic purple case that came with a fake straightener from a yard sale. Also included in the "stuff" is an empty perfume bottle, chap stick, and several hair bows. This is Katie's "Little Hair Boutique" and poor Grace is forced to get her hair done every day in the "Little Hair Boutique."

Grace has taken up wearing her swimsuit every day all day so she can do "gyn-asticthssss" (gymnastics). I can hardly stand to be the audience because it is one of the most hilarious things I ever seen. 

THis week I taught the girls how to play bull fighter. My siblings and I used to play Bull Fighter when we were little, don't ask me why. We would get a dish cloth and hold it to the side and say "Torro! Torro!" and then another of us would run at towel pretending to be a bull. Oh so funny. What joy comes from sharing the simple things from my own childhood with my kids.