day 4 - four books

i am an avid reader....i read daily for at least 30 minutes...

reading is me time...the one time during the day that i am doing something for me and me alone..
before our journey began with the military i was the proud owner of hundreds of books...all of which i read cover to cover...

since our stint with the government began i have had to find new homes for all of my gazillions of books...books are heavy which means we go WAY over our weight allowance which equals an unhappy hubby...

for now the girls and i make weekly trips to the library and borrowing as opposed to buying....that equals a happy hubby when it comes time to PCS...

i absolutely adore reading and am so overjoyed that my girls love to read as much as i do...

i have read to both of my girls since nightly since the day they were brought home from the hospital...

reading offers so many benefits.....improved memory....improved writing skills...increased analytical thinking....increased vocabulary...improved creativity and imagination...all of this was so important to me to instill in my children....

avery is doing a fantastic job reading and adilyn is reaping the rewards....

at night i can sit on the couch and hear adilyn hop into her sisters bed and for about thirty minutes i can hear avery reading to adilyn....it melts my heart...

of course it does mean sometimes that mornings are a little bit of a crank fest...but the cranks are soon forgotten as we get ready for the day...

so...my 4 favorite books you ask.....here they are:

love you forever - robert munsch (this book melts my heart and brings a tear to my eye every time the girls and i read it)

white oleander - janet fitch (love this book...just love it...so real and raw)

she's come undone - willy lamb (this one affected me to the core....it made me laugh and wince with recognition)

the help - kathryn stockett (this book went past phenomenal for me!!)

so those are my four favorites right now...

the funniest thing about this list is the fact that my favorite type of read is suspense/thriller and none of my fav genre made the list....the oddities of life...never will cease to amaze me!!!

i also wanted to share some summer fun pictures of the girls....love the hula hoop picture...

happy saturday readers!!!!!

xoxoxoxoxo ~r~

10 Day Challenge - Day 2

day 2 - two songs

i love listening to music...i like my music to be loud and to be full of base that i can feel in my body...it doesn't have to be a fast hip hop club mix but i want to feel it.....

feel it in my body....

i don't listen to music all of the time...but when i am driving or working out i have to have it...it's like an addiction...maybe that is why i love spin so much....the music is loud and the beat always seems to hit hard....

my taste in music has changed over the years....but the thing that has stayed constant is that is has to be something that motivates me...something that i can turn up and feel in my body...

right now i think two songs that i can listen to over and over......and OVER are:

motivation (remix version of course) - kelly rowland featureing trey songz and busta rhymes

party anthem - lmfao

i'm loving both of those songs at this moment in time....

i also wanted to share some pictures...can't have a post without pictures....

i have been going through ALL of my 1,298,349,475,763,398 pictures on my computer and finally getting some printed...about time is what i say to that....

i have sat at my computers for hours in the evening just looking and remembering and laughing and yes, even crying a bit over these said gazillions of pictures....

happy hump day wonderful readers

xoxoxoxo ~r~

10 Day Callenge - Day 1

my sister started the 10 Day You challenge on her blog and I thought it would be something that would be really fun to do......

i don't blog as frequently as i always want to...and i am going to start giving it that "ol' college try"....

when colby deployed this past january this blog was supposed to be a way that he could catch up on our daily goings on....i have failed miserably with posting regularly to my blog....

the important thing...i am really trying to post more frequently and i think this will be a wonderful way to get into a routine...it's all about routine...right??!?!?!?!!!??!?

so here goes....DAY 1....one picture of yourself....

one would think that posting a picture of them self would be an easy undertaking.....for me...it was no small feat....i couldn't even find a picture of JUST me!!!!

i have been telling myself for the past few years that i need to STOP deleting pictures of myself i am always finding something wrong with the pictures that have me in them....my double chin...i wasn't wearing make-up....i had a weird facial expression....i looked too fat...it was my bad side..i looked like i just woke up....i looked like i had too much to drink even though there was no drinking involved...

i make too many excuses...when i delete those pictures of me...i am deleting memories...for what...vanity?!??!

so today it stops...today is the day that i quit deleting pictures that i find fault with myself in.....

happy tuesday dear readers

xoxoxoxo ~r~

absolutly adilyn

oh my sweet girl....

my sweet, sweet, sweet adilyn....

today you started pre-school....next year it's pre-kindergarten....before we know it you are going to be driving off to college leaving good ol' mom and dad in the dust....

it seems like it was just yesterday when you were born and i was on the phone with your daddy telling him that we had an adilyn and not a lincoln....

the first time i saw your beautiful eyes, held your tiny body in my arms....looked at you for hours on end in awe and amazement at just how perfect one little being could be....

you and me kid....we got something special....

you are my special helper...my shy girl....my shadow....my little mini me....
our bond is strong and one that will never be broken....so many things that i see in you i know that i myself have those same traits....

you are painfully shy....you can hold a grudge like the best of them...you don't give your heart away easily but when you do....you give it for life....you don't make friends easily but when you make one they are yours forever...

you have made me laugh with your multitude of facial expressions like no one else has ever been able to do....

you have made me cry with your stubbornness and your refusal to back down when you have your mind set on something.....anything....

you give the biggest and tightest hugs and you know exactly when someone needs one....

you are my shy girl, me determined girl, my compassionate girl, my test the waters first girl, my beautiful beautiful sweet girl...

i love you so much my dear, darling adilyn....

Just Like That.....

Just like that the summer ended....and off you went to the first grade....wondering if you really looked like a first grader or still a kindergartener"

It's so hard to believe that my baby girl is getting so big, so grown up

It's happening WAY too fast....I closed my eyes to blink and you were no longer a baby...

i wanted to make your first day of first grade special so I woke up extra special early...

i wanted to make sure that you went to school with a full tummy and an overflowing heart...

i made you scrambled eggs with cheese and ham (your favorite right now by the way) with toast sprinkled with a little cinammon and suger and a whole lot of love....

we talked about what you were excited about, what you were scared of, and how you thought your day might go....

you also told me that you were the luckiest girl in the world because your mommy made the best clothes and no one had anything like what you had abd that you "loved times a bazillion the new dress you made for my first day of school" (be still my heart...you my lady have no idea how good that made me feel)

so off we went...you full of excitement and beaming from ear to ear excited of what the day would hold for you.....me holding back the tears knowing that once again I was handing you over to the wonderful teachers that are blessed to have you in their classes...

once we got to school i looked in the rear-view mirror and could tell that there was the slightest bit of apprehension...nervousness...a little bit unsure of yourself...

but it quickly passed and you were ready to charge off into the school leaving me in your dust....no way sista'...I'm not letting you get away that quickly!!!

and just like that....just like that another year is passing....

you are growing taller....brighter....more beautiful....more loving...more compassionate...

just like that i walked you into your class....

gave you a hug and a kiss....

told you how much i loved you and how much i was going to miss you today...

and just like that i left you there....i turned and watched you for a few moments from the doorway...

you were smiling...chatting with your friends...exploring your new classroom...i looked at you and knew that you were going to love first grade

as i walked down the hallway hand in hand with Adilyn i thought about all of the times that i was going to let you go....to have to walk away from you or watch you walk away from me...

i'll watch you go to your first dance....

i'll watch you go on your first date (and Lord help me worry each and every second you are gone)...

i'll watch you drive away in the car for the first time praying that you will remember each and every single rule of the road and of the car....

i'll watch you go off to college...

i'll watch you as you marry the man you love....

i know that you are going to do things that I do not agree with...i know that you will make decisions that i don't care for...

i know we are not going to get along faultlessly over the years....i know we will want to pull our hair out in frustration over the years....

but i know one thing....i will always and forever be proud of her...as proud of her as humanly possible...through the bad decisions and the good...the ups and the downs...i will be proud of her more than she will ever know...she is my heart...

Happy Monday Readers!

~R~

And So It was Born

Lillian Grace Originals and Audrey Coley Photography are looking for models for an upcoming commercial photo shoot.

We Are Looking For:

Both boys and girls in sizes 2T, 3T, 4T, 5T, 6, 7, and 8

Children with fun spirited personalities that feel comfortable in front of the camera.

All types of children. All different types of skin tones, hair colors and hair styles.

Children who listen and take direction well.

Details:

The Setting: An orchard and farm in Elizabethtown Kentucky.

The Dates: September 21st, 24th and 25th.

To Be Placed on the Waiting List:

Please send the following:

~ Child's name

~ Child's age and size

~ Date(s) which you are available

~ Some information on how your child acts in front of the camera.

~ A recent WEB SIZED photo to rebecca_murray2006@yahoo.com

Models will receive the following:

~ a custom made piece from Lillian Grace Originals made specifically for your child

~ a $60 print credit from Audrey Coley Photography

~ session fee of $150 will be waived and a gallery will be provided in which to use your $60 print credit and there will be no obligation to buy

Models must be able to travel to the Elizabethtown area and sign a model release.

Only those sending all of the information listed above will be considered and then placed on the waiting list.

You will be emailed back by myself or Audrey Cooley if your child has been selected from the waiting list.

Audrey Coley is an extremely talented child photographer! Her work is amazing. Take a few moments to visit her site Audrey Coley Photography! I am pleased and honored that she has agreed to team up with me to bring to all of your Lillian Grace Originals.

The website for Lillian Grace Originals is under construction but will be up and running in the new few months. Please feel free to visit me on facebook

Like Lillian Grace Originals to find out what I am creating and to help me name my new pieces! I am so excited to announce the birth of Lillian Grace Originals and will make a blog post in the new future my reasoning's and ideas behind Lillian Grace Originals!!!

A Letter To Her

you my dear avery are six years and six months old.....

you my love are larger than life....everything about you S C R E A M S "here i am"

you have so much love in your heart and you have never, i repeat NEVER, been afraid to love freely....and this my dear is one of the things that admire so much about you

you are stubborn...determined....a wee bit dictorial...chatty...loves loves LOVES anything that has to do with art and science....has a memory like a steal trap (one that i hope to be able to help you develop and grow as we learn new things together)

right now you love school...you are glad it is almost Summer break but you love learning....you love reading although you get frustrated very easily when trying to sound out new words (to that my dear you can thank me....your brain works much much to fast for your mouth...i have the same problem!) you love to tell me about your day and all of the 3937625809408276290 things that you learned and I pray, Lord do I pray, that this is something that you will always do with me...

you are so audacious...Lord knows i struggle to keep my cool when you roll your eyes or huff at me under your breath....(sometimes i have to close my eyes, go to my happy place and count to a gazillion) i know that this will not get easier...only harder.....the sassiness, the eye-rolling, the quick tongue...but we'll work on it...you and me together because you might not know this yet but I, my dear, am QUEEN of the eye roll!!!

you are beautiful...in every single aspect...you are beautiful on the outside...but what makes you stand out even more is the beauty you hold within....you are compassionate and tender....

at this point in time your sister is your best friend...you share secrets with her, have a secret "girls club only" hand shake, and even though your sister is not as kind to you as you are to her, it doesn't stop you....

your laugh is contagious just as your daddy's is and I love to listen to you and your sister giggle with each other....i hope that this closeness you have with her will one that will carry on through your entire life...

you wear your heart on your sleeve and you are quick to make friends and because of this, your heart is broken easily...

you are not afraid to cry and cry hard and i admire this in you...and once you are all finished with your cry, you feel better....i wish i could be more like that my dear sweet girl

you are a wonderful hugger, a first-rate cuddler and even though you are only 6 you offer some of the best words of encouragement....

i love watching you grow and become YOU....you have never and will never cease to amaze me...

oh how i love you my dear sweet avery!

*just a side note* these pictures were taken my the amazing and talented Audrey Coley....Audrey is truly the most talented photographer i have ever had the opportunity to work with...she was able to capture every aspect of who my girls are...from sassy and beyond!

~Happy Monday Sweet Readers!~