my little abercrombie models & a little nkotb

OK, so I'm combining posts because of...well, several things: 1. Gwen and Daddy are having bath time (and Graelyn's asleep); 2. I can no longer look at my blog at work...I know, I almost cried; 3. I have limited amount of time before someone will holler my name and I'll have 1000 things to do all over again!
OK, so here is a picture of the girls today as we went to the punkin patch! Fun times....to me, they look a little like the abercrombie pictures we used to take at OBU...think Grand Canyon girls...reality is that Gwen had NO intentions of staying still with all the bounce houses and Graelyn was just chillin' as usual.

Sooo, the other thing...last Sunday night 3 of my friends and I (all 3 of these friends are from 3 different stages of my life and have become "blog" friends and now real friends...it was AWESOME to go with them) went to see New Kids on the Block...you heard right...the tickets were free and AMAZING! Even better, the show rocked and I've now become a fan all over again...the show really was great, they are older but so are we...it was great...we laughed (because this lady in front of us had the old school jacket from the late 80's, no lie, read KJ's blog about it...and the lady, not KJ was CRAZY!) we sang and we screamed...it was a hoot.

Here are some pictures:

And finally, here's a video of them singing...cool...yes, I'm a fan and YES I would have purchased a t-shirt and worn it proudly but let's face it $45 is a heck of a lot of money to pay for a t-shirt...unless it's the cutest t-shirt you've ever seen and it makes you look like you've lost 15 pounds...I'd pay $50 for that kind of t-shirt...

And then you remember...

I'm tired...yeah, I know, its 10:43pm, I have to get up at 5:15 (ok, 5:30 because I'll snooze) and I'm sitting here on this computer typing...but something must be said...surely someone wants to read it. I get up in the morning, tired, nay, exhausted at the thought of taking another shower, putting on my makeup and getting ready again for another day at school...don't get me wrong, I like what I do, I miss my girls more than I can say but I like what I do...it's the ideal situation for our family right now...but lately, I've been complaining, not to anyone mind you, but to myself. Yes, I'm admitting that I talk to myself...whatever, you do too, you just might not admit it to thousands (OK, 10's) of people! 

Anyway, I've been complaining to myself, not enough time, not enough money, not clean enough, nothing fits, no time to run, no time to run errands, no time!!! Just before this, I went into the girls' rooms, I do this every night before I go to bed, just to check...really just to take one more look at them, breathe them in before I collapse on my bed. They are so peaceful, so beautiful, so close to our God...these are the times when I speak to our Father...these are the times I feel closest to him...it's almost like this is how he sees us, peaceful, pure, open...and quiet enough and still enough to receive his grace and mercy and love.

I am gratefully blessed by these angels God has given me...grateful for their precious hearts and giving spirits...they already have Jesus with them and I see it when Graelyn gives her best friend Abby hugs over and over throughout the day at Ms. Kathy's and when Gwen volunteers to share everything I've packed in her lunch on Museum School days...she wants to share with my mom...and she even wants to share candy corn...her favorite fall candy.

I need to be more like them...I need to dole out the hugs and share my candy corn, again and again, just like my girls.

I promise not to preach anymore this week...maybe this month:)