Family

Thanks Mark for taking these photos!

You can check his website out at www.hingework.blogspot.com

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life as WE know it

Me & My Love

Classic Jorden Rae: baby in hand

Banana Boy

Uriah love :)

Swim Time

So thankful for this beautiful life of mine!

Fathers Day

Darryl is an amazing daddy to our three kiddos! I love watching him play with them, teaching them things, taking care of their needs! The other day I was driving the van and Darryl was driving his motorcycle, Jorden asked if she could pray for daddy, she prayed the sweetest prayer for him, then proceeded to tell Jonathan who seemed a little concerned for daddy, that, "daddy will be safe jon, he is a good daddy so he will be safe for us." They think the world of their daddy and so do I!

Five Years Ago

Five years ago on June 16th I married my best friend! I loved him then & I love him even more now! I can't imagine how much more love I will have for him in 10, 20 more years! As I think back over the past 5 years I feel full! We've been blessed in so, so many ways. This week, Jorden & Jonathan are on vacation with their grandparents, so Darryl & I are getting to spend more time together then usual! It's been wonderful! We are rediscovering each other, things we loved about each other when we got married & enjoying who we've become over the past 5 years! Sometimes life feels like a roller coaster, generally I don't enjoy roller coasters, but this is one ride I'll ride forever! Darryl Vaughn, I love you, respect you, and look forward to many more anniversaries with you, babe!

Banana's Anyone?

So Cindy I were in the living room talking after lunch today...Jonathan found something to do to keep himself busy...

So what do you do with six open banana's...We gave one to daddy, when he came home for lunch, we threw 1 & 1/2 away because they were severely bruised and we used the rest to make Banana Chocolate Chip Bread!

Cookies & Expectations

Tonight Darryl and Jorden are on a Daddy Daughter Date! So me and the two little boys are making cookies! I love cookies, Choc. Chip are my favorite, and that's whats on the cookie menu tonight! I love making cookies. I am terrible at making them. My cookies never turn out how I envision them turning out and I am disappointed every time. This time is no exception! I mean the cookie dough, tasted perfect, maybe the best cookie dough ever.I was sure this time my cookies would come out looking like this:

I can't even tell you how much they did not turn out looking like that. I have NO idea what happened! I'm blaming it on the cookie trays or my baking soda! They look terrible, but taste Ok. Now what to do with an ugly batch of cookies!

There have been a few other things recently, that aren't turning out how I expect. For example:

The other day I had drs. appt scheduled for Uriah, written down in my planner. I arranged for a sitter for Jorden and Jonathan, dropped them off and headed for the drs. When I got there they informed me that his appt. wasn't until Thursday morning. Great, all the way to Strasburg and back. Okay, no big deal I'll just do a couple other errands that I need to get done. Pay the trash bill downtown, and return some library books. So downtown through the traffic to the police station to pay the bill. The drive through window is closed...arggg. Okay I'll pay it online when I get home. You've got to be kidding me a $2.00 convenience fee to pay the bill online. Not convenient at all. So I swing by the Library at 9:50am, and seriously they don't open until 10am. I felt like I spent my first 2 hours of the morning doing nothing! But then I realized after talking to a friend, that my first 2 hours weren't spent doing nothing, they were just spent differently then what I expected.

I feel like this is true in parenting right now too. The expectations I have of my self to be a perfect mom are ones that I can never live up to. So, I'm often, at the end of a day left feeling inadequate and like I've failed. I know that there are always ways to improve my parenting, but I'm not a failure! The Lord is in me and because of that I have all that I need to parent, my little loves, well! So raise a glass of milk to ugly cookies & to letting go of expectations.

P.S. Jonathan and I had a great time making the cookies, and that's what matters anyway!