Flowers for Mother: A daughter's wishes

I wish you sunshine on your cloudy days
A burst of yellow to pierce the gray
I wish you spring's flowers on winter days
A burst of color in the midst of pale
I wish you rain when your fields are dry
A blossoming of life where flowers die
I wish you joy every single day
And smiles to wash your pain away
I wish you wings so that you can fly
with the angels in heaven's skies
I wish you the fulfillment
of dreams unfulfilled
and the contentment
that fulfillment brings
My dearest mother you see
I wish you all
that you have wished for me
on this and every single day
I wish you flowers
to brighten up your days
{Injete Chesoni}

To: Sawyer From: Mom

Dear Sawyer,

Do you know that I am so in love with you?  You are the sweetest, cuddly baby and I don't want to forget anything about this stage that you are in.

You are 9 months old now.

Time is going way too fast.

You are our chunky monkey!  I could gobble you up!  You are our first baby with brownish, hazel eyes~just like your daddy's.

You are a very expressive baby.  You do so many funny things with your face.  You do this snorty, breathy thing with your nose.  And you giggle after you do it.

You are crawling and pulling up on everything.  You follow your brother and sisters all over the house.  Your sisters are the best babysitters.

I let them take you into their room and they play mommies with you.  They are so gentle with you.

Another thing you do.

You will grab our fingers and take your fingernail and pick under our thumb nail.  I know, crazy!

You just go with the flow in this chaotic family.  We are so busy and sometimes you don't get a full nap.  You wake up cooing, very loudly in a deep boy voice.  You are one early riser! 

You have had a tough time this month.  You are cutting your two front teeth and the two on either side.  Four teeth!  No baby, or mama, should have to go through this.  You and I have had some sleepless nights.

We are both ready for them to shoot through so you can start chomping on some real food.

You don't like being held much anymore.  You want to be down on the floor, exploring. 

My favorite time with you is bedtime.

It's just me and you and this is when you are so snuggly.  You nestle your head into my neck and I could just live there.  You like to hold a blankie or stuffed animal under your arm when you go to sleep.

You wave bye, bye.  You give the best hugs and pat us on our backs while your hugging. 

You spit all the time.  Especially when you have finished eating!  You talk and scream and laugh all the time.  You are so easy going but when you have had enough, you have had it!  And you don't give much warning.

I know that you have to grow up.  That's just the way it is.  But goodness, I just want to remember every little thing you do. 

You are such a blessing to our family and we all love you so much!

Love,

Mom

Luke

The only other time I picked up my camera over the 4th of July holiday was for this cute boy!  This is my nephew, Luke.  He has the most adorable dimples and big blue eyes and is always so happy.

He and I got on the floor and played cars.

He's growing up fast! 

A Happy Day

Seth took the rest of the week off after the 4th.  It's always great having him home.  We spent about three hours at the pool on Friday.

This was a day that made me smile.  I was so happy watching him with our four healthy children.  I just felt very grateful and blessed this day.  I need days like this.  To slow down and remember what is important. 

It makes me happy to know that He and I are on the same page with our marriage and how we want to raise our children. I was happy watching them as they played choo, choo train all around the pool.  Dad was the conductor and Sawyer was the caboose, with my help.  I was happy knowing that our children were so happy just because mom and dad were both in the pool playing with them. 

Maybe I felt a little happy because I wasn't pregnant this summer!  It feels good to know that our family is complete.  I was happy watching Laurel do a perfect front and back flip in the water.  It made me so happy to see Savannah dive to her daddy, when last summer she wouldn't leave the steps or go under water. 

Maybe it was just the holiday we were celebrating, Independence Day.  This day makes you grateful for our freedoms.  It just seemed like all was right with the world, on this day and that made me happy.  I made a mental note that we need more days like this.

Fireworks/Cookout

We cooked out with some good friends the Saturday before the 4th.  Seth took the boys home after the cookout and I took the girls to see the fireworks.
During the cookout something exciting happened....

Savannah came running up to me and said, "I fell and hit my face in the dirt and my tooth fell out!"  Poor girl had been tugging on this tooth for days.  We could not find the tooth anywhere.  So she wrote a note to the tooth fairy the next day.

translation:  "Dear tooth fairy, can you bring my tooth back?  It is in miss annie yard.  I want to see my tooth. I will give it back. write back"  funny girl!  Poor tooth fairy keeps forgetting about the note and has not been able to locate that tooth!

Sawyer sucked on his first piece of watermelon, and like the rest of us Claytons, loves it!

Watching the fireworks!

Cutest window washer

He does windows!

They are guaranteed to come out looking worst than before.

But he sure is cute to watch.

DIY footboard project

About a year ago, I was reading a DIY blog.  Isn't it crazy how these women do all of these crafty things around there house and actually get paid by having a blog.  Anyway, it's quite fascinating to me.  So, I had been reading this lady's blog.  Her name is Traci, at Beneath my heart.  I came across her blog and she sucked me in.  Yeah, that's what they do.  I loved seeing the things that she would do in her house on a budget.

So long story short.....
She did a post about a headboard that she turned into a towel rack in her bathroom.
I fell in love.
I kept my eyes out for a cheap headboard.  I wanted that headboard mounted in my house somewhere!

One day I was in the basement and Whala!  There was a footboard right there under my nose.  It went to a bed that we weren't using.  It went to a bed that was left behind in the house that Seth bought before we were married.  So it went to a bed that was FREE!
I snatched that board up and ran upstairs to see if it would work in the space.  I had decided to use it as a backpack holder.  I wanted it to go on the wall coming in from the garage.
It worked!  The door cleared it.  Backpacks didn't jut out too far.  I knew these were all questions Seth would ask.  I actually thought he would look at me like I was crazy for wanting to hang a footboard on the wall. 
He did look at me like I was crazy.  But when I explained to him that I was going to put knobs in the board and hang backpacks on it, he thought it was a pretty cool idea.
And that my friends is what I love about this man.  He pretty much leaves the decorating to me.  I come up with the ideas and he hangs it up!  Great team, huh?
So look at how it turned out!

I found the knobs at one of my most favorite places, Hobby Lobby.  I still need to find some wood coverings to go over the screws that Seth hung it with.

I love how it takes up this whole wall.  And the kids love it.  Now they actually hang up their backpacks!  The total cost was $15!!!