Dancing Baby

my little dancing baby for the grandmas and aunts this friday morning.

everyone have an awesome friday!!

Spring Break is Almost Here!

Spring Break is Here! from Rebecca Darling on Vimeo.

           Just a little fun I had over at Darling Memories this week.  I asked all my friends & family to send me pictures that evoked that perfect feeling of Spring in honor of Spring Break.  I thought it turned out awesome - Check it out - you might recognize a few friends.  And look for my favorite picture - the one of the ice cream sharing- see if you can figure out which one it is.

         So it is in the high 70's and sunny here in Texas- Yee Haw!!!  And the weathermen are predicting nice weather for our Spring Break next week.  Last year, the kids and I went on a trek across Texas- we hit San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas.  We had so much fun at the San Antonio zoo, visiting a underground cavern, the Texas State Capitol, and going to an FC Dallas game.  How can we top that?

       

        We have company coming to town this year, so we are thinking of doing some local stuff like climbing Enchanted Rock (a huge pink granite boulder that is 425 feet tall- I climbed this as a child!),  visiting the Dr. Pepper Museum, getting a tour of the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory (those who have followed my blog know my love for Blue Bell....), and possibly Sea World.  It is amazing how much there is to do within a 100 mile radius of our home!!  I am looking forward to it!

        

         What ever your plans- traveling or having a stay-cation like us- I hope you have an incredible Spring Break!!!

Mine.

             Do you ever just sit and reflect on how blessed you are for God to have given you your children?  Not just any child, your child - hand picked just for you.  And through all the laughs, the tears, the stubbornness, the back-talking, the hugs, the loves.....these kids were perfectly designed for you.  I couldn't imagine any other kids than the ones I have.

          In 2000, after 5 years of marriage, Matt & I decided we were at the right place in our lives to start a family. We were both established in our careers, we had a house, and even managed to keep a dog alive for more than 6 months - we're ready!  Right?  So funny to look back now and see that our children weren't a part of our "life plan", but one of God's plan for our lives.  After a few bumps, we gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, and she was simply amazing.  She opened our eyes to a whole new kind of love.  One of gratitude and awe and protection.  She was our everything.

          When she was 9 months old, along came another sweet gift from God- he took us by surprise then as he still does most days.  Two babies, 18-months apart?  Surely God was joking.  Brody Boy came along in the Fall of 2002 and he fit perfectly into our sweet family.  And wow - he knocked my socks off - a mother's love for her baby boy is unbelievable - I wanted to squeeze him hard and never let go (still do most days!).

          Two years ago I never would have imagined we would be given another sweet baby to love.  We had a complete little family of four. We were movin and groovin in our everyday life.  Our family was set. Ha.  I thank God each and every day that he blessed us with one more.  Our sweet Bubba Baby has enriched our lives.  

            He makes every one of us smile - no matter what the situation.  He is joyful and happy.  He makes us calm and loving.   He brightens up our lives as much as his megawatt smile brightens up the room.

        With this baby, I feel the need to soak in every second, to squeeze every drop of life out of every moment.  I often sit and stare at him, taking mental pictures of the moment, to remember them when he is 18.  Life moves by us so fast, I find myself wanting it to slow down, let me have more time with my precious 3.

       But for now, I reflect on how thankful I am to have been blessed to be at home with him - that's more time with him than I had with my other two.  It has given me so much peace to be there to play with him in the mornings, to take walks with him during the day, to sing silly songs with him that no one else will hear, to love on him every second of every day.  I live with no regret and am happy with the way I have raised my children.  God puts us in unique circumstances for what is best in our lives.  I am thankful that he had the foresight to put me in a circumstance to stay at home with the baby each day.  It has been a life-changing experience.

 

My children are precious.  My children are unique.  My children are mine.

Brace Yourself: We have a Change...

Tuesday, February 27, 2010

Wednesday, February 28, 2010

Notice a change???

            My big girl (she informed me the other day that she is NOT a 'baby-girl' anymore) would be crushed if you didn't notice the big change that has rocked her world..........

P.S. Thanks to all my bloggy firends for your support of my new adventure, Darling Memories.  I am in the process of creating a movie to commemorate Spring Break and need your help!  Please consider allowing me to use your Spring Break Pictures!  I want to kick off Spring Break in a fun way- by showing everyone what Spring Break LOOKS like through your pics!!  Please email me if you'd like to participate!  rebecca@darlingmemoriesdvd.com

From Sun to Snow

Don't forget to enter my 
Spring Break Giveaway 
for a custom dvd slideshow!

Click here!

************************************************************************************         2 Days.  That's it.  We went from sunny 75 degrees to blustery snowy 30s in 2 days.  Sunday to Tuesday.  And that my friends, is typical Texas weather.           We had an incredible Sunday- all of us were in shorts and t-shirts.  We spent the day outdoors - the baby loved the sun.  

We took a bike ride- all 5 of us - with the baby around the neighborhood trails.  

He loved it so much, he promptly fell asleep.

We also spent some time at the local park- just soaking it all in.

Cause we knew- we knew that the "big, bad, storm" was coming.  Did we believe it? Nah. Our weathermen never seem to get it right.  Only this time they did:

We had the biggest, fluffiest, cotton-ball-like snowflakes falling all day.This is the bus stop at 3pm- the kids were so excited to get off the bus!

Poor little Bubba Boy didn't know what to think about all of it though.

But the kids knew exactly what to do:

Don't you just love our shout-out to Illinois weather?

The sun & snow gave us similar reactions.....

A Spring Break Giveaway!

            I made a new movie today:

Spring Break'n Across Texas from Rebecca Darling on Vimeo.

        How fun is that, right?  It is so cool to look back on all that fun we had last year on Spring Break!  And wouldn't you love to have a special souvenir of your great Spring Break fun like that?

You Can!  
Just hop on over to Darling Memories and enter our Spring Break Giveaway!

Hurry!  Contest ends March 1!

How Many Adults Does it Take to Make a First Grade Project?

            In January, Brody came home with an impossible assignment, "make something out of Nine 2D and 3D shapes".  What?  Quick, clear out the cobwebs and think back to 2D & 3D shapes (or just hit Google). Oh, ok- like a cylinder and a square.  We can do this. 

            Did Brody have any suggestions?  Uh no.  Ok- Matt, what can we make?  We pondered this for days until we came up with either an aircraft carrier or an offshore oil rig. But wait a second- isn't this our "son's project?"

            So there's our dilemma - if we leave it up to him, it wouldn't get done.  Frankly, the directions for the project are a little more complex for a first grader- I mean, am I really going to let him use a glue gun?  Not if I didn't want legos glued to his bedroom walls!  So, I asked around to get the sense if this was meant to be a "first grader's project" or a "family project" with the majority of answers coming back as a family project.  And family it was!

             My parents were in town that weekend, so we put my dad to work on it too.  Brody & I went around the house collecting as many shapes as we could and headed outside to paint them.  After they dried, we all started to piece them together to make what we hoped resembled an oil rig:

    

Do you see all the adults diligently working on HIS project?

and working.....

and working.....

        So, I think the 3 adults and one 7 year old came up with a pretty awesome project:

          Look at the detail- the soda straw and toothpick ladder, the 48-sphere chain, the helicopter landing pad complete with helicopter (Brody's idea!).  We rocked it!  Uh, wait a minute, wasn't this supposed to be a first grade project?  And shouldn't it look like a first grade project?  We got so carried away and were all having fun putting it together that we forgot about that......

          Luckily, the project was meant to be a family project and the majority of other's at school were just as detailed.  Whew! So the next question is, "what grade did we get on it Bubba?"  The 3 adults want to know how they did. "Uh, Mrs. D said it was good."  GOOD?  That's all we get????  That oil rig was awesome!!   Good thing Bubba could care less.....