{SUNDAY SNAPSHOTS :: Sunday @ Gramma's House}

SO most of our Sunday's are spent about 40 minutes from home at my in-laws. B rarely naps until we are in the car driving back home, so she might sleep all of 25 to 30 mins. Today was no exception, nor did she make any for sleeping and she chose a 15 min nap instead of a little longer.... maybe b/c she caught a whiff of some chicken nuggets we chose to grab on the way home to share and tide us over (LOL) ... she doesn't get them very often, but she would if she could - they are her favorite food. ;) ANYWAY, about an hour before leaving I decided to take her out to play outside once the sun went down a bit.... she shows exhaustion in her eyes like her daddy and I both do... note the dark circles. ;) My in-laws have a kitty .... not-so-creatively named "Kitty" and B loves to try and pet her, but Kit is not so enthusiastic about this tiny person trying to mess with her. B wanted to badly to give her water ;) There was no one image I could choose to post today ... since she was tired I just had to stand around and play for myself with the camera ;) (continued -->)

Kitty is hard to photo.... thank the Lord for an 85mm so I can stay out of her face ;)

I love odd angles and perspective.... it is not obvious to anyone but me, but she was trying to go after Kitty to give her the water pan ;)

After a while B gave up and proceeded to play with the pie pan on her own; bug and flower petals and all :)

This was a crazy hot Sunday, and my poor hubs wore himself to the bone in the heat with his dad, trying to repair their well. I am glad the day is over, and the wee one is trying to go to sleep .... she is beyond exhaustion, so it is not coming easily to her tonight. Tomorrow is sure to be as busy and hot :) But as long as we are together it is wonderful!

Thanks for reading and viewing!! HAPPY AND SAFE MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL :)

~Mama K (Heather)

{SUNDAY SNAPSHOT :: B+Lee=BFF}

I barely caught this moment.... I am SO glad I did though. The sweetie on the left is the DD of one of my very closest, best friends in the whole wide world. she and I have known each other for about 14 yrs as of this summer. We met at church when her family first moved to the area and decided to try out ESCOG. Our friendship has taken the craziest roller coaster ride ever, but at the end of the day we have become inseparable in spite of it all. We are as much like sisters as two people can get without being blood kin. And now, these girls are growing into that same sort of friendship.<3 They can fight like cats one minute and be loving and sweet to each other a minute later. lol  Leela is just a little over a year older than B, born in the same month, and the transformation of watching them learn to communicate, play and socialize in general is so much fun to experience; even when we are get super frustrated with their "only child" moments lol It was a great way to end our Sunday having Leela and T (her mama) over. <3


Until Next Time...
In Christ's Love & Blessings...
~Mama K

{Wordless Wednesday :: Remember ....}

{MAY BLESSINGS}

Sweet, sweet late evening sun kissing sunlight, a field of wild flowers and the perfect little dress on the  most darling of little girls to ever bless this Earth... yes this is Heaven on Earth <3 :] Truly, I am thankful for this sweet heart... life is complicated, but it is in these moments that I look back on these images and know that for a brief time, things just were "just so" and every bit of calm and perfection as life could get; especially in the eyes of a 2.5 yr old :) Thank you Lord for letting me be her mama. <3

{MAMA'S DAY MEMORIES :: SUNDAY SNAPSHOT}

This Mother's Day was so special to me... there were so many cute moments with B and the whole family, that deciding on snapshots was hard... but I wanted to make them memory-like. Thus, the black and white on most of these :) None of these are perfectly and technically right, but nonetheless I took them to mark the day. <3

DH snapped a shot of me and the B :) <3

This is my first LINK UP with Sunday Snapshot :) Sorry for the snapshot overload :) Thank you for stopping in if you popped over from the Ni Hao Y'all blog!! <3

{HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY}

Here is to all you sweet mama's out there... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY - praying your day is truly special and blessed!! <3

In His Love,
Heather
{BVLB Writer + Mom + Wife + Photographer +Artist}

{RE}GROWTH...

The dictionary defines growth, in part, as the following:

*development from a simpler to a more complex stage: the growth of ritual forms.

*development from another but related form or stage: the growth of the nation state.

I think about this, and as this new year started, and winter made way into spring, and the days and months passed and we watch our B grow up more every day; I also think about myself with this topic. Only, I have grown and grown up, and now I am in a stage of my life where I find myself looking to regroup, restart, and regrow within myself, as a mom, wife and friend. Health issues have come to light recently, and all I can think on is I want to lose weight, I want to be more of my former, pre-pregnancy self. I need to be healthy, I need to show my DD how to be and be an example to her and my step-son. But, at the end of the day, I find myself wondering... "HOW!? Lord, honestly, HOW?!"

Some odd months ago, I prayed and prayed and PRAYED, I asked for the desire to drink soda and feel the need for it multiple times a day to simply be gone. It took a while, but ya know what? One day, I woke, went about my day, and before I knew it not the first drop had entered my mouth! And from that day on it was that simple. No desire for my beloved diet soda at all. *Side note: I am not perfect with this weekly, I might have A soda weekly, but not most weeks.* ;)

Anyway, now.... I have changed several things about my diet, things in my diet, when I eat, how much I eat; and yet, something has still been missing. I have tried harder to stay offline more, to interact with B and play more, and make it a point to be out doors daily. But somehow, as much as I desired and do desire in my heart to be more active, to exercise... my body has not responded well at all. In the past, I could simply push and push, and get to it, get it done, lose the weight. But now, it is not that simple. I have every bit of the want, the desire, but something has stopped me. For over a year now, I have had the hardest time feeling "right" ... I just felt like I could go and go for the longest, and one day, about a year ago, it started taking EVERYTHING I had in me to do it. Finally, after the denial ended about 6 weeks ago, I knew something else was wrong inside.

I am not going to lay it all out here what is actually wrong with me; not right now anyway, but I will say this much, I am doing all I know to do. I don't know what more to do at the moment. Somehow though, I am going to renew, to regrow and to be that happy, healthy and vibrant woman I had come into in my mid-twenties. I will be the big ole 3-0 (30) this year. No, that is not old, and no getting older does not bother me one bit. I see it as a privilege and honor to age. My Mema is my example on that. She is one of the most beautiful, amazing women I know ... she turned 85 this year, and while her health is not perfect, she is still going as strong as she can. I want that for myself, and I want to show B what it means to be healthy physically and have a healthy self image. I did not have that growing up. 

If you have stayed with my ramblings thus far, bless you. All I am saying is this... regrowth can be the hardest thing ever, it IS PAINFUL, it is emotionally and mentally and spiritually torturing. I don't know how exactly I am going to get  through all of this, but I will report back when I do, because, I WILL. 

Until Next Time,

~Heather K.

{FRIENDSHIP...}

Socializing, learning to communicate and share and care... those are such important things for our development as a person. We are not in the position to do pre-school or day care even part time right now, so any chance we can have to coordinate a play date is the best way to get that "friend time" in for our girly. She knows no stranger, loves everyone so much, and she already says she wants to GO TO SCHOOL O_o .... she is not quiet 3, so I know that she doesn't totally get what that entails, but she DOES understand that you learn and play and see other kids in school.  And that is a great thing to me that she understands that much at her age now.

I have been so blessed in this life to have some great friends. Some have come and gone and come and gone; others have come, played their role in a chapter or two and I doubt we ever meet again once they've left. But God puts people in our lives to teach us things, I believe, and as hard as it can be to grow up it is the great memories I hold tight to and cherish for always. I am so grateful to have a handful of people from childhood and teen yrs still in my present life, and hope we always will be in touch. If you are someone who has been a part of my life, and we never meet again, I want to say thank you for the memories <3 (:

Until Next Time....
~Heather

{MAMA'S DAY .....}

{My Sweet Grandmother, known as Mema or Memom or Meme depending on the grandchild you talk to.}  [:

She calls me Mama. I called my mother "Mama." What do you call the lady whom gave you birth? Why did you choose that? Whether you have a great relationship with your mom or not, is there at least one time in your entire life growing up that you can remember that nothing but HER made it "all better"?

I know for my little "Sunshine" I am thrilled when she wants no one but me, but teaching her to be dependent on me at the right moments is a challenge in and of itself, let alone at her age.

This Mother's Day I am cherishing every second with the ladies in my life that have been "like" a mom to me. Mine passed on Sept. 6th 2000 from cervical cancer, and while I think the Good Lord has one of the most amazing women ever up there in Heaven with Him, I sure do know I miss her terribly. I have was so blessed to have the time I did with her, so thankful to now have a daughter of my own to lavish with love, affection and attention like she always tried to do.  Life was not simple then, and it is no less now. I am dealing with some health issues right now, but I can praise God knowing that what I am dealing with is nothing like what my mama dealt with in even the earliest days of knowing the cancer was in fact presiding within her. I will make it through what I am dealing with, with victory and in honor of her. My daughter will  learn what a warrior her "Grams" was and I will do my best to show her how much of one I know I want to be. I pray that I can teach her half as much as my mom did and my sweet grandmother has to this very day.

Happy Mother's Day to all the sweet Mama's & Grand-Mama's out there this 2012. 

{"Hey Girl" I HEART FACES CHALLENGE 5/7/12}

Here is my entry for the IHF Challenge this week... <3
Thank you for looking! :)

Heather
{Mom + Photographer}

{WORDLESS WEDNESDAY :: Wonderment}