Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great Easter weekend. I have to be honest and say that our weekend wasn’t the best. Nothing awful or even worth mentioning happened. It was just one of those weekends where things weren’t clicking. The girls seemed to be fighting a lot. Kole got all of his one year shots a few days ago and hasn’t been feeling well ever since. He was so fussy all weekend – just wanting to be held – not sleeping great. Not his normal self at all. Kenny and I have a lot going on and are trying to make some really important decisions. We couldn’t carry on a conversation for more than three seconds without being interrupted and we were just both on edge. A little tired – a little stressed – a little burned out.
I got Addison and Kole to bed early tonight and when it was time to put Ellie in bed she said out of the blue – “mom, you know that part in Dumbo when all the animals are with their mommies and Dumbo visits his mom and she rocks him with her trunk and they are so sad because they can’t be together? That part always makes me want to cry. I don’t ever want to not be with you.”
I don’t know what made her think of that because I can’t even remember the last time we watched Dumbo, but her words suddenly made me forget about the stressful weekend. They made me think about the real reason we celebrated today. How grateful I am for the Savior and how grateful I am for my family – even though at times they seriously exhaust me to the point of no return! I got in bed with her and we snuggled and I told her how we would never be apart and how much she means to me. Then we had an equally deep discussion about how stressed she is about losing her other front tooth which is so loose that it hurts when she eats and how she does NOT want to say words funny like in the song “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.”
Anyway – I was planning to post a few pictures of the girls at the annual egg hunt at the park or of them in their new Easter dresses all ready for church, but I changed my mind.
Because the conversation I had with Ellie is what I want to remember about Easter this year.
xoxo, Erin
Such a sweet post. It brought tears to my eyes. I can’t wait to have conversations like this with Ethan one day.
And this, my friend, is what it is ALL about. It was refreshing to hear even from my “Sunny Side Up” friend that weekends sometimes go amiss. I never would have guessed by your darling dressed and friendly fam at church today. Stress is real but nothing like a child to bring you back to what matters most. Cuddling with kids=the BEST:)
So sweet!
Sometimes, when life gets me so stressed out, and NOTHING is clicking, and the kids are fighting, and no one wants to go to bed on time when all I want to do is end the day so that I can start fresh with a new day in the morning…sometimes in moments like that, one of my kids will snap me back into the land of gratitude by a sweet comment. The other day it was my two year old, when I was pushing her in a swing at the park, she kept telling me “higher mommy! higher!” and I really just wanted to go home because of the day I was having, but she kept wanting more and more pushes…and then she smiled up at the sky, her head thrown back with hair blowing wildly, and she said to me, “Mommy…this makes me happy!” and I swear, just the innocence and simplicity of her comment brought tears to my eyes. I laughed and said, “This makes you happy?” and she said, “Yea. I SO happy!” and I said, “You know what makes ME happy?” and she said, “What” and I said, “Pushing you in the swing makes me so happy!” and she said, “I love you, Mommy”
and my day was suddenly better.
Just like that.
Happy Easter, Erin :)
Erin, that is so sweet! We had a trying weekend this weekend, too! Which I SO was not expecting!!! Glad to hear that it ended on a high note. (((hugs)))
lovely! leave to our kids to always “put us back to focus”…hope your week is a happy and less taxing one! :)
That is adorable and so so sweet!
Ours was horrible as well – the boys were arguing, CJ was extremely unthankful for his Easter basket, I got no pictures of said Easter basket…..we had to take the basket away….oh gosh it was annoyingly frustrating. oh well. Ours ended much the same way, though, Derek was in bed, and CJ said he wanted me to sleep with him and never ever let go. Guess who got snookered into sleeping with the octopus-like 3 year old? :)
This is very sweet and such a good reminder of what we really want to remember. Thank you. Hope you have a good Monday. (Cupcakes in St. George sounds delightful.)
I appreciate your honesty. I don’t love weekends like those, but it does make you appreciate these little moments. Your kids love their mom! You must be doing something right.
I am sorry you had such a rough weekend : ( We definitely all have them but what a precious way to end it with your sweet girl.
I totally understand. We all have those days.
Such a sweet moment w/ your daughter though :)
This made me get all teared up! Such a sweet little thing for her to remember! I love it!
Just precious!
When Ellie’s other front tooth does fall out be sure to get a super close-up of her face and toothless smile. I’m sure your will, but there is nothing cuter. I had professional pictures taken like that and have all of my kids toothless portraits hanging up.
So sweet! I love those good conversations with my kids. The things they think about and worry about is so real to them.
Hope Kole is feeling better.
And you are a great mom for capitalizing on that moment with Ellie rather than rushing her to bed. I know that when I make that choice to seize those times with my kids they always, always end up being the BEST part of that day.
*tears* What a sweet girl. And a sweet memory. :) There’s got to be something fun about having a toothless grin…
Aww, Erin…what a sweet little moment! It sure is tough when you are SO CLOSE to having them all in bed for the night and you are SO CLOSE to being able to actually stop being mom for a second and finally punch out for the night. What a great way to end the day. So precious. Thanks for sharing.
Awwww…what a sweet post and a nice way to save a special memory!
Very sweet post Erin! Had me in tears! Sorry to hear you had a rough weekend, but so glad that it turned around for you with your sweet little Ellie!! I appreciate your honesty and how you appreciate the good and the bad moments, your kids are very lucky!
I’ve had a few of those moments lately with my kids and I’m feeling very sentimental as they grow up! Hope you have better days ahead!
Kathy
I love it! That Ellie, she is such a sweetheart, I am always loving the things she says. So glad you got to have sweet and precious moment with her to end the day. I could have used one of those. I was so emotional all day- Easter fell on my Mom’s b-day and between thinking about her and feeling so crappy and just wishing I had her here for this, I kept crying off and on all day long! Great, here I go again!
Still post some Easter pics so we can see them in their cute dresses. I didn’t even get a pic of Madi in her new dress, that’s how good she was being.
I’ve been having some of those moments with my kids lately too. It’s nice to have them remind us of what’s important!!! Happy Easter!!!
That is so sweet. I am 7 weeks pregnant, so I am not quite feeling myself (needless to say), and I am having a hard time taking care of things around the house and taking care of my five-year-old. My sweet 12 year-old daughter has been doing such a great job helping me out. She put the little boys to bed last night and read to them. Then, I woke up to a note from her that says “Thanks for the Easter stuff you got us I love it and so dose everyone else. I know that you didn’t feel very good but you still let us play and have fun and thanks for being such a good mom”.
Wow–Heavenly Father really blessed me with such an amazing girl. Little girls are so sweet. Just wait–it gets even better.
Hope this week is better for you. :)
Love that post! It’s definitely the little things that mean the most!
Awe! Very sweet! I love having those types of conversations with my kids! They make those blah days all worth it!
Erin thank you for sharing with us and reminding us how important it is to slow down and make time for important moments and memories like the one you had wiht your sweet little girl! I can’t wait to have those moments with Kendall:) Have a great week!
honest. real. tender. perfect.
thanks for sharing, erin!
i just finished a “way too long” post on all our easter activities. at the end i wrote about what really matters. your post nailed it on the head. this is what it’s all really about. what a sweet moment you shared with ellie. love that girl. i really do miss being able to catch up with her in class every sunday. she’s a keeper! ;)
p.s. sorry to hear about all the stress. here’s to hoping kole feels better, decisions to be made become clear & easy (in a dreamm world, right?) and that the girls go back to getting along beautifully.
What a sweet memory that you will always have with your daughter.
Lindsay from Massachusetts here –
I recently became a follower of your blog – and I love your posts on Project Life (I’m starting mine soon) and your organizing posts insipre me to want to organize everything in my house!!
Thanks for your posts.
Stop by my blog – I have given you a little award.
That was very special thank you for sharing it :)
That is too sweet. It makes me even a bit emotional. Those really are the moments that you remember forever. You must be quite the Mommy! :)
Cori at ILoveLucyJean
so sweet Erin. Sometimes it’s the times like this that we will remember more than the perfect holiday weekend.
What a sweet convo with Ellie…she is such a great little girl. These kiddos really can keep us in check with what is important.
I would LOVE to get together when we ever get to St. George at the same time! I actually thought about you when I was there the other day….I wondered if you were in town because I saw a car just like yours! Guess not.
Hope your week is going better than your weekend was!
Is your daughter in a photograph advertising Emily Lacey clothing? I saw an ad on Zulily.com today and it sure looks like your oldest daughter!
What a priceless memory to have remembered and captured through this blog post!! She sounds like a very sweet girl! Sabrina