Big Sister

This is truly what life is all about. The blessings that come in small packages and the knowledge that we are leading our children to be great people. The love and caring that my children have for each other sometimes leaves me a bit breathless. Don't get me wrong - they beat each other up with the best of them, but no matter what - they are sisters and they are best friends. Heaven help the person that comes between my close little family. This picture shows how loving Anna is to Julia. Because Anna is a "reader" now - Julia will take books up to her for her to read. I have caught them in bed like this as well! It is just so stinking cute to watch. Look how intent and focused they are? Doesn't it pull at your heart - just a bit? It does mine. By the way - on a change of subject and I'm not bragging - well not much - Anna is now able to read up t0 a 4.9 grade level!!!!! That means 4th grade, 9th month of school!! And she's seven!!! How cool is that? *Also notice that Julia is covering up the fact that Anna is in her underwear! So is Sophie standing next to them! Gotta love my kids!

Bambi

While watching Bambi with my class, we neared the scene where Bambi's mother enters the meadow. This of course is the scene where Bambi's mother is shot. In this scene - Bambi's mother says, "You wait here and I will see if the meadow is safe." One of my sweet little girls looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said, "That meadow ain't safe - Mrs. Gerling. I just know that that meadow ain't safe."

She was right - the meadow wasn't safe! LOL

I just thought it was so sweet and innocent of her - it sure made me chuckle!

Remodel

Before

After 11 years in our house and numerous soda accidents, make-up accidents, potty accidents, and whatever else may have happened, we finally redid the girls' room! With a LOT of nagging and a ton of patience on the part of my husband - we tore up the disgusting carpet in both rooms and put down hard wood floors. Do I love the change? You bet! Now if something happens to spill (which shouldn't happen due to the fact that the girls have been sworn to NEVER take anything into their rooms again) it just wipes right up with orange glow. Also, no more dragging the vacuum back and forth - just a handy dandy broom and dust pan! What a breeze. The girls think it's great and so do we. We then finished up by giving Anna and Sophie's room a fresh coat of paint - it needed it horrible! The girls got to pick the colors - they chose yellow and orange. We painted the room and then the girls and I painted the dresser. They did such a great job painting the drawers that I found it hard to believe they painted them!! Where have my little girls gone? I wish I had the before pictures with the carpet - that would show the most change - but I didn't think about it!

After

Big Mouth

It's confirmed. That's right - it is now a known fact that I, Megan Marie Gerling - have a big mouth. No doubt about it. So if you ever had any question as to the fact that I have a big mouth you can put your mind at ease! At approximately 9:30 this evening it was discovered that this foul rumor was true!! While driving home with Donald and the girls, Anna asked, "Mom - does your mouth grow?" I halted for a split second when she went ahead and answered for herself, "Well... it has to grow because your mouth is way bigger than ours." In which Donald so lovingly replied, "your right - Anna - Mommy does have a big mouth."

Ha Ha Ha

My family is a riot!

You know you're in Missouri when...

Well - it never fails. I believe the old saying is, "If you don't like the weather in Missouri - just hang around for a few minutes and it will change." That was definitely the case this week. We woke up Monday morning to a "surprise" snow day! We actually had about 5 inches before it began to melt later in the day - here is a picture of the girls having a good "hopefully" last hoorah in the snow before spring "officially" begins on Sunday. Now - fast forward two days...














Here is a picture that was taken just two days later! It was nearly 80 degrees today and the kiddos romped around outside without all the winter garb. It's amazing how fast the weather can change!

On a different subject - take a look at Sophie - her headband says, "kiss me - I'm Irish" - she's all puckered up and waiting (silly girl)!

Einstein

World's Future Einstein!

Julia loves her "gasses". She's always putting them on and walking around the house. I think she just might be the cutest darn baby with glasses out there!! What a ham!

Clarification

So I was informed yesterday that some clarification might be needed for one of my posts. My loving husband was discussing the things I have been blogging about and brought to my attention my post on "puppy chow." Now - I guess I just assumed that everyone knew what this was and that in fact I was NOT eating dog food - obviously I was wrong! So just let me clarify - "puppy chow" is a snack food - for people - not dogs! Yes it IS a type dog food, but this was not was I was intending. So...

for those people that assumed I was gorging myself on dog food, I have posted a picture of this deliciously sweet and addicting snack! I will also post the recipe if you have never tried it in the past! So - don't worry about me and any strange habits that you think I might have acquired! :)

Puppy-Chow Recipe
Ingredients
9 cups crispy rice cereal squares
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
Directions
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate; add peanut butter and mix until smooth.
Remove from heat, add cereal and stir until coated.
Pour powdered sugar into large plastic bag, add coated cereal and shake until well coated. Store in airtight container.

Donald and the horse!

I found this as I was going through our Chritmas photos and thought it was so funny. I captured this lovely photo of my husband on Christmas morning. Sophie had just handed him her new horse to take out of the package and I guess he might have been just a wee bit sleepy - don'tcha think?? I'm sure he'll regret this lovely picture when he sees it on here!! Sorry, Donald - just couldn't pass it up! At least it's not Facebook!!

Simple Things!

It's the simple things that make life worthwhile. The hug of a child or the laughter that rings through the house. It's marshmallows and hot chocolate. It's warm blankets and soft pillows. The simple things. It's the love of sisters and the love of family. It's cheese puffs on a cold day in the front yard ON an umbrella! The simple things. I love my girls and it brightens my heart that they are so close. I heard them whisper in the car the other day how much they loved each other. There's nothing more simple and wonderful than that!

I'll take the simple things.

Remembrance

In our daily lives - each and every day - people come and go. Some are forever friends who are with you through thick and thin and some people just pass through. Each person that we meet in one way or another leaves an imprint on us. Some of these imprints are good ones, and some of them teach us lessons along our life's journey. I am writing to say that I had an imprint made by a special person. No - this person was not one of my "best" buddies. This person didn't "hang" out with me. But all the same this person made an impression. I met this person right after I had my second daughter Sophia. She had also just had a baby so we were right away talking about all the little things that go along with having an infant. She was very easy to talk to and I enjoyed her company. As the years past we would see each other at church social events. Always we would fall into the discussion of our kids and how big everyone was getting. We would joke about the funny things the kids would do. It was a simple interaction. The last time I saw her was at a wedding. She joked about how she had heard this "wedding" song in the video her husband made, "so many times" that she was sick of it! She held my daughter and gave her a mirror to play with. A mirror that my children were just using yesterday. Why does this mean anything? It means a lot because this sweet, young, loving mother of 3 was taken into God's arms yesterday. That suddenly. That quickly. She become sick and three days later - she was gone. I think about her family. I think about her husband. I think about her two oldest boys. And I think about her daughter - the "Mommy's girl". I pray that God will wrap his loving arms about them. I pray that good will come from this tragic, tragic, situation. They say there is a reason for everything - and I believe that no matter how hard it is to accept. I know that the power of God is strong and that this small family will conquer anything that is thrown at them. Did I know her well? No. But just because I didn't know her well does not mean that she didn't leave a forever impression on my heart and my soul - for it's the little things that people do and say that can stay with you a lifetime. So - when my husband came home from the hospital after her passing - he found us all crammed into our bed (the little things). So as you travel through your life's journey - remember that even the smallest things you say or do can leave an imprint. Life is short - live it to your fullest.

This is it...

This is how I wish I could be every single day of my life! This is how God would want us to be. Look at her face. She has such a carefree smile about her. In this one moment my friend Tonya captured the essence of my beautiful daughter. This is Anna. Don't you wish you could go through life like this? I know I do. So trusting and so free. God intends us to be this way. Trusting only in him and in what he can do for us. This picture is proof of that. To be so young and so carefree and have so much life and potential ahead of us. We were this way once. Wouldn't it be nice to be that way again. To cast all worries and cares aside and just live. I want to live like my sweet Anna and praise God everyday for his many blessings!!

This is it...
This is what joy and happiness look like!

Yep!

You CAN really have too much of a good thing!
Oh - puppy chow how I hate you! LOL

Too old...

Alright. So this is it. I know now beyond a doubt that I am getting old. There is no second guessing or questioning - it's just a fact. Old. I know that 33 isn't really old, but boy am I starting to feel it. Within the past two weeks I have been plagued with the weirdest problems. Last week for example I woke up to look just a wee bit like Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notredame. My right eye was completely swollen shut and I was unable to go to work for fear I was "contagious." Really?? Like half of my class doesn't contaminate me on a daily basis anyway. But I digress. It turned out to be an infected sty (which is still there by the way) but I am no longer a one eyed pirate. Still - not very attractive to say the least. Then yesterday, I was helping Donald pull up the carpet in Julia's room and stepped on a carpet staple. That silly thing went right into my foot. All - the - way. OUCH! Donald removed it promptly and then informed that I would need a shot. No way! I hate shots. So I voiced my question to all of my facebook friends and decided that unless I wanted amputation or to DIE then I best get the shot. So... during my lunch I drove to Union to get jabbed my a needle and then head back to school to show my class my "band aid." They felt sorry for me for like 2.5 seconds. :) So now as I'm typing I am stuffing my face with my lunch and hoping that I can make it through next week without incident. We'll see...