Uncategorized – Page 5 – Angel Wheeler

The Joy of Childhood

She just turned 26 months old. I know I’m not supposed to do that anymore, you know, count her months. But I’m just going to make my own rules up as I go. Time is too precious to just cast it aside and not see every moment for the treasure that it is.

Guess what we did today?

We built a snowman. Not a real snowman of course. It’s actually a blustery, warm spring day, not a flake in sight, but it was her first day to watch the movie Frozen. Afterwards, she asked if I wanted to build a snowman with her. “Come on,” she said patting her thigh as if calling a dog, so of course I did.

She is such a joy. So smart. She pretends and plays make-believe all day long. One minute she’s Cinderella, forcibly kicking off her plastic dress up shoe and saying she better get in her carriage while running to sit in her pink Barbie Jeep, and the next minute she is pouring tea for me and adding spoonfuls of sugar. She goes on Bear Hunts and squelch-squearches through the mud and peels pinecones apart declaring they are surprise eggs and wonders what’s inside.

We built our snowman today with a carrot nose made from a blue piece of wire found in the yard and two eyes and arms she stuck in the ground.

Her shoes were on the wrong feet, chocolate smudged her lips.

Her dog-ears had long since lost their snugness and flopped haphazardly.

She searched for crickets and got scared by something and ran to my side.

I lay in the grass just watching her and feeling filled to the measure with happiness and joy that she is mine.

Our days are filled with magical make-believe, chocolate kisses and snowmen fashioned from dirt.

It’s been a very long time since my own childhood, but I can vividly remember the games I played with my own imagination. How magical my world of pretend was.

Watching EK grow and play in this same make-believe way takes me to a place I used to know. It reawakens a child I used to be. I remember care-free days where nothing really mattered.

And now all that truly matters is that this little dog-eared 2-year-old (ahem……26 month old) who brings me such joy.

Thirty-nine

My late grandmother, who lived to the ripe old age of 98 and died peacefully in her own home, who was tougher than anyone I’ll ever meet, who my dad actually said he was scared of when he first started dating my mom, who drove too fast and loved others too deep, who always offered to feed you and do your laundry when you visited, that same grandmother had a sign hanging in her kitchen that read, GETTING OLD AIN’T FOR SISSIES.

I don’t know where she got it. It wasn’t even a sign really, but a photocopied, yellowed, piece of paper with the edges curling up that someone had printed out for her. It was cute to see it thumbtacked to her wall along with and next to scriptures and framed cross-stitch patterns.

I’ve been thinking of her a lot and her particular sign since Monday when I turned 39 years old. The date rolled over on the calendar and I met it willingly. I’m not one to fuss over getting older. I’m not going to stay 29 forever or even 39 forever. I’m going to shout out my age to anyone who wants to know. There are so many who don’t get the privilege to grow older, who die young, that we should celebrate every year we’re given. Personally, I had been looking forward to my birthday because it was one year closer to my forties and my forties will be fabulous. I am actually ready to embrace my forties.

However, as my birthday progressed I began to feel poorly. EK had been fighting a fever for the past couple of days prior and then Ashlynn was struck down with some sort of vile illness of the kind which had her writhing and moaning. I almost thought I should skip the doctor and the mortuary and just drop her off at the cemetery to save some money. I spent my day running a small infirmary, wiping snot and making potato soup and the likes. By the time I crawled into bed, I was wiped out and hit hard with something myself. Honestly, I need a do-over on my birthday.

DO-OVER!!!

DO-OVER!!!!

Tuesday I was worse. But I am on occasion an optimist and I hoped that Wednesday would find me whole again. I arose and said my healthy affirmations. I am happy, healthy, and alive. Every cell in my body is filled with health. But as you can see, here it is Friday and I’m still down with the funk. Although no one has yet to bring ME a kleenex or a bowl of soup. What is up with that? There’s a hammering in my ears so strong now that I don’t even know if anything I’m typing is making sense.

In order to whip what I believe is a viral infection that a doctor can do nothing for, speed it along, and try to find some relief at the same time, the last few days I have tried a variety of homeopathic, home remedies here at home, and a few over the counter ones, including but not limited to herbal teas, gargling salt water, pain relievers, cold relievers, allergy relievers, humidifiers, Vicks Vapor rub, honey, ginger, cinnamon, garlic!!!!

GARLIC! I put an entire clove of garlic (cut in two—-a piece in each cheek) and sucked on it like a lozenge for like an hour. And I’m here to tell you, sucking on garlic for nearly an hour AIN’T FOR SISSIES! (Neither is living with someone who sucked on a garlic clove for an hour, my family would like to add).

The remedy list continues: oil pulling, yoga, lymphatic massage, thymus thumping (think of a gorilla beating his chest), vitamins, sitting in the sun, exercise to sweat it out, hot showers with steam, lozenges, alka seltzer, calling on my facebook prayer warriors to pray and my momma too, and the biggest no-no in the world: leftover antibiotics belonging to someone else (because why the heck not at this point).

After all that, I’m still alive! Not sure if I want to be at this point but nevertheless I am alive.

And still sick.

So I’ve come to the conclusion that the fates, the gods, the universe—-whatever—-is playing a really mean, cruel joke on this 39 year old, allowing me a taste of growing older. Chiding me for believing my forties will be fabulous and thinking the best is yet to come. No, no, no, I don’t believe that at all. I have come to the conclusion that incidentally a really tough virus got in my body at precisely the same time I had a birthday making me feel like it’s all downhill from here. But it’s not.

I will overcome. I am an overcomer. I am ready to be done with this sickness, have a DO-OVER birthday and have the greatest year of my life.

Starting tomorrow, I hope.

A Sesame Street Shindig

This past weekend we had a fun 2 year old birthday party, complete with the whole Sesame street gang. Initially I was just going to do Elmo, but once I got to checking out the internet, a.k.a Pinterest, for ideas, I knew the whole gang should be invited.

Every single idea was stolen fair and square. I take no credit.

I bought this cute Sesame street skirt and top from an Etsy shop called Sweet Sophia Designs. There was about 3 seconds in my thought process where I thought I might attempt to make it, and then I quickly decided that my sanity was worth the price of the outfit.

I made the Welcome sign with cardboard letters wrapped in wrapping paper and hotglued with ribbon.

I decided to go with cupcakes instead of a cake. With the cupcakes we served a fruit tray, some goldfish, and some cookies. To fit the theme; you know…..cookies for cookie monster, goldfish because Elmo loves his goldfish.

This was an easy idea for making an Elmo face, except either my platter was too big or my strawberries were too sparse and it didn’t help that EK kept sneaking in the kitchen and stealing strawberries.

These cupcakes were deceptively easy. I watched several different methods and decided to go with the easiest. I was so stressed about the amount of time these would take, but once me and my niece Ashlynn sat down, we had these decorated in less than one hour. Probably 36 cupcakes. I made cupcakes from a box cake mix. Then I bought that canned colored icing like Cheez Whiz comes in. I think if you study them they are pretty self-explanatory. For the eyes, I used round white candy melts and we used a tube of black icing to draw on the pupils. Cookie monster has a half chocolate chip cookie for a mouth and Elmo and Oscar have half an oreo with gumdrop noses for Elmo. We also just did some cupcakes with white icing and sprinkles just to change things up.

The cupcake tower is made with three cardboard circles, size 8″, 10″, and 12″ inch (or you could buy cardboard cake circles but I’m cheap). I used styrofoam flower circles as the base, hotglued together, and green beans as the center dividers covered in cardstock paper. The circles are covered in wrapping paper and then ribbon is glued around the cardboard circles. Easy peasy, just a little time consuming.

We played a couple of games. One was pin the nose on Elmo, which was just hilarious since noses were put all over the place and then a cookie monster beanbag toss, sort of. They mostly just stood and placed the cookies into his mouth instead.

It is simply a cardboard box with a cookie monster face glued on with the mouth cut out. I made 3 beanbag cookies by hot glueing felt circles together partway, filling it with beans or you can use rice, and glueing it closed. Those little triangles on top of the cookies are supposed to be chocolate chips, hehe.

Emma had four 2 year old and three-year old friends come and I think they had a fun time.

The sweetest part was telling Emma to tell her friends “Thank you” for the gifts. Well, she was confused and thought the gift was FOR them instead of FROM them. So she would open the present and then try to give it back to the giver. So sweet.

I had also told her prior to the party that her friends would want to play with her toys and that it was okay and she needed to let them have their turns (she’s two remember?) She did real good and let everyone do as they pleased, but as soon as the door closed after the last guest left, she ran to her little pink jeep and yelled “Emma’s turn!”

Oh the fun we’re having!

Blogs where I stole ideas:

http://www.chickabug.com/blog/2013/07/sesame-street-second-birthday.html

Kate’s Sesame Street Birthday Party!

2 Years Old

Emma Kate Darling,

Happy, Happy 2nd Birthday to you!!!

Oh I hope you know how much you are loved. But I’m sure you don’t. Of all the thousands upon thousands of words I have to use, there aren’t enough to convey it.

And not to boast or anything, (well maybe just a little), but you love your mommy right back. I mean a whole lot. Me and you? We’re like peanut butter and jelly. Or milk and cookies. Like hot chocolate and marshmallows or strawberries and cream. The two are better than one. Of the two years of your life, so far we have only been away from one another for a few hours at a time. 24/7 that’s me and you.

I keep thinking back to this day two years ago when you came screaming and crying into our world. People said my life would never be the same, and boy is that the truth. It is all the more enjoyable because of you.

So what does a 2 year old like you like? Right now, you really love Cinderella and you sing a lot. You pick up items to use as your microphone, and sing into it. You like to play dress up in your plastic, clompy heels and have tea parties with your daddy. You really love the playground and don’t like leaving once we’re done. There’s so many other things. Your dogs: Drew, Grace and Ozzie, your chickens, and your new fish Snowman. You make sure we wait for you to get your purse and put it on your shoulder when we take out the trash. You like to drive your daddy’s truck, so for Christmas you received a pink Barbie jeep but you barely push it to make it go one inch, then stop it.

People think you are timid and shy, but I think you are cautious. And that is a smart thing to be. You like to stay close to your people when we’re in a new place or around a lot of people and you don’t really talk to strangers or even look them in the eye. And that’s just fine for now. There’s not an impulsive bone in your body. You are an observer and a thinker. You wait and watch rather than jumping right in. And even though others might think they can boss you around, you know how to stand up for yourself. You have a strong voice and an opinion and you aren’t afraid to use it. Some of your favorite things to say right now sound very oppositional if you know what I mean.

But you also say so many sweet, kind things too. You are learning your manners very well and say thank you so much, please, excuse me and you tell people bless you when they sneeze. You say “I love you much” and if we’re really lucky we get hugs and kisses. You like to give long kisses until we start to laugh and our teeth bump. You give love pats and like to snuggle up in bed. You have a tender little heart at times and are learning compassion. You crawled into my lap and placed your hands on my face and asked me what’s wrong the other day when I was frustrated with something. Just last night you made me laugh when you fell upon the ground with your head resting on your forearms repeating, “It’s no use. It’s no use.” (learned from Cinderella) when you didn’t get your way. It is very obvious that you are a result of your environment and your daddy and I are trying our very best to show you the right way and give you strong examples to follow.

Of course books are still one of your favorite things but you’re pretty fond of movies as well. We take a weekly outing to the library for a story time and we take a weekly outing to a play group where you have lots of friends. Right now we’re working on learning to share and not be a Bossy Bessie!

Of course you’re smart. You have been from day one when you looked at us with those big alert eyes and understood everything we said to you. You are a talker with a big vocabulary, but you get a little frustrated at times when we don’t know what you’re trying to tell us. You have things memorized already like songs and the previews to Cinderella. You found this Youtube video months ago called egg surprise that you watch over and over and can recite verbatim. You are fully potty trained right now and are showing your independence with wanting to dress yourself and put your shoes and socks on.

You are a small, petite child. And healthy!!! Fortunately, we haven’t had to see a doctor in quite some time, so by our calculations you are about 32 inches tall and weigh about 22.5 pounds. You’re fearfully and wonderfully made and uniquely you. There is no one else like you sweet Emma. I must say I believe I won the jackpot with you.

Two years ago, you came into our world and settled right into our hearts. I have a very special place for you in mine. You will always be my little baby no matter how old or tall or heavy you grow and my desire is for you to have the best possible childhood available to you. I want you to know you are loved. I want you to remember good times with your family. I want you to understand that spending time with you is more important to us than spending money on you. I want you to be kind and generous and compassionate to others. I hope you read this letter when you’re sixteen and you think I hate you. I want you to know that always and forever our love for you is full, unlimited, and unconditional. That nothing you could/would/should ever do will change that. Ever. You are my joy, my love, my sunshine, my hope, my wealth, my legacy.

You are my love.

Happy Birthday, cupcake.

XOXO,

MomMEE ( how you say it, with emphasis on the second syllable)

Toddler Selfies

My almost 2 year old (like in 3 days) is a phone snatchin’-selfie takin’-Instagram postin’ whiz kid.

When I got a text from my sister asking if I posted some pics to Instagram, it caused a bit of alarm knowing I hadn’t. Geez, what could it be? I quickly popped over to see what she was referring to and discovered these.

I think EK has been taking lessons from the teenager in the house.

But after looking through my camera roll, I noticed she forgot one more so I felt obliged to add it here.

I have a teenaged toddler. Lord help.

At least she’s graduated from the placemat photos and has learned to turn the camera around. These were a bit bizarre.

It’s progress people.

The best magic show ever

Over the Christmas break my family was treated to the performance of a lifetime by my nephew ~~Harley~~, I mean Hobo Joe the Magician.

Move over David Copperfield.

Hand over your wand Harry Houdini because Hobo Joe is in da’ house.

Hobo Joe began with humble beginnings living in a cardboard box that was discarded after Christmas of 2013. But as fate would have it, his wonderful auntie (that would be me) bought him a magic show kit for Christmas and encouraged him to put on a show for the family.

Hobo Joe diligently learned his tricks and was ready for performing the very next day.

Admission was reasonable and well thought out for a 10 year old lad.
General admission—-$1.00
Kids under 4 (his brother and Emma)—free
His grandmother was free, ‘since she’s a senior citizen’, he added.
His dad was free because he owed him four dollars. Now his debt is only $3.
Teenage girls were $5 each. (He had 3 cousins in this category).

He lost his magic wand before the show and even after offering an award for free admission to the person who found it, with no success, he carried on without.

Hobo Joe will not be stopped by something so trivial as a lost wand. The show must go on.

Hobo Joe turned his cardboard box upside down for his table, threw a table cloth over the top, and began the show.

We all assembled to watch his debut performance.

The audience was wowed by illusions, coin tricks, and sleight of hand. We laughed and cheered and oohed and ahhhhed. And when Hobo Joe got frustrated and threw his trick and said he quit, the audience chanted Hobo Joe, Hobo Joe, Hobo Joe, Hobo Joe till he mustered enough courage to carry on.

It was the best magic show ever and I honestly can’t remember a time where my family laughed together so much. Truly an experience I treasure.

On a side note, Hobo Joe is no longer living in a box and is saving up for a tuxedo.

Here Hobo Joe is thinking of a number or a color or something that Emma picked.

Hobo Joe poses with a picture with his dad, whose been there for him since the beginning (taken before he lost his wand, obviously).

Word.

Two years ago, around this same time, there was some kind of hype going on about not making any resolutions for the new year, but instead choosing a word that you would make your word for the year. I don’t know, something like relax, or faith, or growth. My friend brought it to my attention. She chose the word BREATHE, so I thought, what the heck.

I chose the word CREATE. I wanted nothing less to create wonderful writings. Also to create some interesting crafts, grow a great garden, create a home from a real dump we were living in. It’s funny how things work. What I ended up creating is sleeping next to me right now, curled into a little ball, her little Clifford binky lying beside her. It makes me smile thinking of it. The irony.

This year, my friend’s word is RELEASE and her husband is playing along. His word is HUMILITY.

2013 was good to me. We moved away and that was hard. It still is, but overall the year was good. This year, I’ve made a few resolutions and I’ve also chosen a word. My resolutions are more like goals and my word is DILIGENCE. I must have diligence in order to accomplish my goals. My focus for this year 2014 is going to be writing and my health, aka my dress size.

When I was teaching school, there were two things we did that I pretty much hated to do, but were necessary for success.

The number 1) we kept a planner of what each day’s lessons were.

and number 2) we made goals for the kids.

We looked at where they needed to be at the END, and we set SMART goals.

specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

The resolutions of “I’ll lose weight, I’ll study the Bible more, I’ll exercise” are too generic. They are more like hopes and wishes with no action plan in place.

“I’ll lose weight” needs to have a measurable amount, how much weight are you wanting to lose? It needs to be attainable, not 100 pounds before summer. It needs to measured (by a scale or measuring tape) and it needs a deadline.

A better way to state the goal is: “I will weigh X pounds by March 1.”

That goal is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Then on March 1, evaluate your progress and set a new goal.

Now, wake up everybody! I know that was boring, but it was necessary. I like setting goals and the truth is, I can usually attain whatever I’m after if I have the written goal and a plan of action. So, after that lesson in goal setting, I give you mine.

GOAL #1–My Body:

– lose 16 pounds by March 10, my 39th birthday.

How: Incorporate a clean eating meal plan that I’ve already gathered. Spend each Sunday doing meal prep for the week for breakfast and lunch. And exercise to my home video Slim in 6 4 days a week, alternating days.

I’ll be following this Clean eating plan for the first 14 days with some modifications.

http://www.blessthismessplease.com/2012/11/eating-clean-2-week-plan.html?showComment=1352329785873

GOAL #2—My Mind:

Write!

How: 1)Blog once a week or more (every Tuesday). 2)Write one Helium article per week. 3) Finish a book I’m working on by March 31st. In order to do that I need to write a minimum of 1000 words a week 4 days a week.

Read!

How: Read at least one book every month—-12 books by year’s end.

GOAL #3—-My Spirit:

Maintain a positive attitude and practice gratitude.

How: Continue writing in my gratitude journal. Make 3-5 entries every night.

GOAL #4—-My Soul:

Grow my faith in Jesus.

How: Spend at least 10 minutes daily in Bible reading, journaling and prayer. Memorize the Book of Colossians following the plan for memorizing 2 verses a week, following this schedule:

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2011/01/the-seven-habits-of-highly-effective-bible-memorization-habit-1-for-a-new-year/

Yes this is a lot, I am no dummy. And quite honestly, I didn’t want to post them. I thought to myself that I would just keep them written down for only my eyes to see, but there I go losing ALL accountability.

So I share them with you all, my friends, who I know will be rooting for me. It will take DILIGENCE on my part. And one more small little thing called FOCUS. So in order to focus more on my goals, I am erasing distractions from my life, the number one distraction being facebook. I will be deleting FB from my phone, and only allowing myself to get on fb from my computer, which I don’t use nearly as much as my phone.

2014 will be my year!!!

Bring it!

Oh, yeah……forgot to mention. I’m starting next week. I’m away from home and although it may sound like an excuse, it’s a better guarantee for success for me to be at home.

How about you? Resolutions? Or a word? Or both?

Share with me if you’d like.

Happy New Year!!!

Crossing that Line

Today I’m coming off a 50,000 word binge and it feels great.

What in the world am I talking about you may be asking?

This November for the first time ever, I participated in Nanowrimo, short for National Novel Writing Month, and succeeded!

The challenge is to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in 30 days.

It was daunting, none the less, but I feel so proud. Last night I validated my 50,015 word novel.

Is my book crap? Absolutely it is. But it no longer is just an idea that’s been floating in my head since 2006. Now it is actually written down on paper.

I couldn’t sleep last night for the euphoria. The sense of pride and accomplishment after doing something hard.

Today I made myself not look at those words I wrote, but in a month or so, I’m going to revisit it, change it, mold it, and make it better.

But for today I took a nap with my daughter, instead of sneaking out of bed after getting her to sleep to write my daily quota of 1667 words. That was heavenly.

Beginning tomorrow, I’m going to spend some family time giving thanks and sharing EK with my peeps. But after that, I’m going to return to writing. I’ve got another idea to work on.

I have dreams and I know you do too. What are they? Think about your dreams for a minute. When was the last time you spent some time on that? It’s scary at first to admit you have them, to tell someone else about them. But it’s crucial if you want to achieve them. So, decide on a goal and work at it. Will it be hard, heck yes. Will you want to quit? Everyday. But dreams come true when you make a commitment and do the work every day. Commitment and consistency. Two very hard things that will get you to the finish line.

Keep dreaming friends and have a happy Turkey Day!

The Top 10 Funniest Things EK says

EK is 21 and a half months old now.

It’s a fun age.

She is a talker, y’all.

She can say anything she wants. The other day she told me “Ozzie chews on Emma’s hair clip”.

It’s good and it’s bad.

It’s good because she can express herself and answer questions and ask them.

It’s bad because even though she has this vast vocabulary, she still chooses to kick and scream and stomp at times.

But, hey, don’t we all?

I’m sure none of the things she says will be funny to my readers, but I wanted to get them down so I didn’t forget them. Time is flying so fast.

So, here we go……the top 10 funniest things EK says.

number 10) No, I not. (This means I don’t want to. I hear it ALOT!)

number 9) What da heck? (Remember, we also have a 14 year old in the house)

number 8) Hi durls (girls) {When addressing the chickens accompanied by a sweet little wave}

number 7) Aw, so toot. (meaning cute) This is said in the sweetest high pitched voice, usually when she sees a picture of herself.

number 6) I love you much (melts my heart, but I rarely hear it addressed to me)

number 5) Whose tripping over my bidge (bridge) asks the troll. (This is her newest favorite story. Move over Rapunzel)

number 4) I love my hair (A Sesame Street song)

number 3) Mama needs to poop! (What she actually means is Mama, I need to poop)

number 2) What’s going on? (We read this in a book and she finds the best times to ask)

And the number one funniest thing EK says:

I so funny.

Yes, you are a bushel of laughs, darling.

And so toot too!

This is how she gives two thumbs up. I love it!

Fingerprint

I have a new item to add to my most prized possession list. On second thought, it’s more like the only item on my most prized possession list.

I’m in love.

It’s a necklace and it deserves an explanation.

It was a gift to me from my darling, dear, precious friend Mrs. Z when EK was born.

At first I was baffled by it.

It was a brown cardboard box labeled Priceless Prints. Inside was a ball of clay with a page of instructions.

The idea is to press a fingerprint from your loved one in the clay and then return it to the company and they will turn it into a silver pendant.

A keepsake treasure of a loved ones fingerprint.

I waited a while to do this, simply because her finger was just so tiny.

You can see that the whole pendant is the size of my pinky, her little fingerprint only claiming a small part of the silver.

Recently, I felt it was time to capture it forever.

That small indention is the fingerprint of my daughter. At close inspection, you can make out the wavy lines.

The gem is her birthstone. A garnet for January.

The back is stamped with her initials EKW.

I will carry a piece of her with me for the rest of my life.

When I leave her at school for the first time in a few years, and then return to an empty home, no doubt I will touch this necklace, thinking of her and hoping she’s doing alright. And I will check the clock a hundred times before 3:00.

When she packs her bag for her first overnight sleepover, the first time away from me for the night, I will still have her near me, secretly hoping the phone will ring and she’ll ask me to come get her. I’ll jump up in my pajamas, not bothering to dress myself and rush right over.

When I drive away from her dormitory, tears streaming down my cheeks, continually looking in my rearview mirror, I will think back to the day I pressed her tiny forefinger into the clay to make this necklace.

I will wear it around my age spotted neck, through all the days, weeks, months, and years to come.

I love her little hands, her little fingers, the tiny fingernails with chipped red polish. I think of her fingerprints. Their uniqueness to her and no one else. They are her mark. I wonder where her little hands will go, what they will do. And I pray that she will leave her fingerprints on this world in a good way. That she will do good with her hands, that she will touch people’s lives and make a mark. A one of kind, unique touch that only she is capable of.

As far as I’m concerned though, she already has.