this is the day that the Lord has made...

yesterday was just one of those days...that leaves you feeling exhausted but completely thankful to be a mom. there is no one in this world that can push my buttons like my little ella...i know maddie is coming up in the ranks...but there is also no one that i would rather have as my first born!!!!! she is one of a kind & i love her to the moon and back!!!!!

she got in major trouble yesterday for being disrespectful so she was "grounded" from television & snacks. well, she managed to get my mother on the phone & cry that i was grounding her from food...she made it sound like i was running some kind of prison camp!!!!!!! i assured my mom that i was only withholding the "good" (in ella's opinion) kind of snacks like JUNK...she was not going to be sent to bed without supper!!!!! oh ella...

before all of this happened though, we went to the park for a little outing...it was either that or start a regimen of vitamin D - the weather has not been great - and my little maddie (remember moving up in the ranks) pulled some stunts of her own!!!!! as you can see by the pic...she has decided to become quite the climber. she can scoot up our stairs, on the rare occasion that the gate is not up, like nobody's business!!!! she thinks she is really something...laughing the whole way!



let me start by explaining what my park experiences are like now that madeline is on the move. it goes a little something like this..."mom, i want to swing"..."ok, ella, wait just a minute and let madeline get comfortable"..."maddie, don't go up those stairs" - run to help madeline climb the stairs, walk across the wobbly suspension bridge, go down the slide, take madeline as far away from the stairs as i can - "mom, why did you leave me here in this swing...i want to go high" - go swing ella so high that my stomach drops and i can barely reach her without my bra showing - "maddie, don't go up those stairs" - run to help madeline climb the stairs, walk across the wobbly suspension bridge, go down the slide, take madeline as far away from the stairs as i can - "mom, i am not going high any more...i want to go HIGH"...YOU GET THE PICTURE!!!!!!!

so, from this pic you would think that i might have just left my children to go have a pedicure or something. madeline managed to find the ONE puddle of thick, sticky, stain and ruin this precious outfit MUD!!!! thanks to my friend megsy and another wonderful mom at the park, we were able to clean her off. but thanks to yours truly - i did not have another change of clothes for madeline and it was 49 degrees outside! once again, i am sorry that no one was handing out "mother of the year" awards...because i certainly deserved one!!!! ella also had to use the bathroom while we were there (not a "code yellow) so the whole experience just turned out to be hilarious!!!!! all you can do is laugh...otherwise, you might cry so hard you will never stop!



i was so grateful when bedtime came around last night...but as usual, when i went to kiss their sweet little faces before i retired for the night...i couldn't have been more proud & my heart could not have been more full. i won't trade these times for anything because i know they won't last forever!!!!!