Say Cheese!!!

Levi's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese saturday was a total hit.
The guest list included:
little sister, Audrey
Caden Haustein (with mom, Sandi, dad, Dave, and baby brother, Chase)
Alivia Patty (with mom, Mindi)
Madison Mills (with dad, John)
Amy Steffen
B.A. Burroughs
and, of course, Chuck E. Cheese himself.

pics of the big day...

Thursday Thirteen

I've been horrible about doing the "Thursday Thirteen." Today's Thursday Thirteen will be Thirteen Things You May Not Know About Me.

1. I may not have the cleanest house in the world, but I have an obsession with cleaning products. Seriously. I peruse the cleaning product aisle almost every time I'm in Wal Mart and/or Target.

2. I can shop for other people all day long, but I find it extremely difficult to shop for myself. Even though I know there are things that I want/need. I would rather shop for others first.

3. I constantly like to have projects going. Usually more than one at a time. I haven't had a project going in a long time though, and I feel pretty unsettled about this.

4. Speaking of projects... it is a dream of mine to own a fixer upper one day and completely gut and renovate the place. I think that would be seriously awesome!

5. I get my thoughts out clearer in blog or paper journaling form then I do when talking to a person face to face. I can write one heck of a letter... but don't expect me to be good at words during a conversation with you. People who know me well already know this.

6. I want to own a Chinese Shar-Pei

7. I don't think I'm done having kids

8. I count things. It used to be a serious problem of mine. I would count cars going down the road for MILES. I would count chairs in a room. Or ceiling tiles. I haven't done it in a really really long time but it used to be a horrible habit I had.

9. I like to eat Cheez-its IN Yoplait's red raspberry yogurt.

ok, bathtime for kiddos. So, it's the Thursday Nine. maybe I'll come back and add four more later.

Happy Birthday, Princess

Audrey,

I sure don't know what I would do without you in my life. You make everyday an adventure for me. You have such a way of making me laugh at the goofy things you do. I hope your second year is as wonderful as your first. You are such an amazing little girl.

I love you with all of my heart!

Happy Birthday, Princess.

Love, Mama

Unconditional Love

I've had this blog about unconditional love going in my head for almost a week now. Ever since last thursday's bible study at Take T.W.O. I guess I just don't know where to start.

*think think think*

This morning as I was getting ready to get out of the house and do errands, I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came out, Levi was standing there and he looked at me with a twinkle in his eye, got a great big smile on his face and said to me "*gasp*, You are SO beautiful!"

There I was, wearing paint splattered wind pants, an old t-shirt, my badly-needing-to-be-washed hair thrown up into a ponytail, absolutely NO make-up, and flip flops showing off my horribly chipped nail polished toes....

and my two year old thinks I'm beautiful!

Yesterday I thought I was going to pull all of my hair out because of how horribly Levi was behaving. It seemed bed time couldn't come any faster. I was just DONE for the day. And then today he pulled such sweetness on me.

it made my heart swell.

Unconditional love.

Last thursday in group we talked about what we hope that we project to others about ourselves. I said that I hope that I project a sense of invitation. I hope that people know that they can come and sit with me whenever they want to. That they can talk if they feel like it, or that we can sit in total silence. Either way, I enjoy being hospitable and inviting, and I hope that others around me feel that about me.

Some others in the group said that they hoped that people felt accepted around them.

and that got me to thinking about uncondtional love.

I might not always accept the things that my loved ones do. I might not always like their behavior... but I always love. Unconditionally. When I commit to a relationship, I'm in it for the long haul. I don't jump ship when things get rocky. I don't bail. I'm loyal. to a fault many times. It's not a hard things to do... love unconditionally... so it makes me wonder why there can't be more people like that in the world. Why do sooo many people claim to love one day, and then the next claim that their love just subsided? My brain can't wrap around that.

and that's what I'm thinking about this week.