Who is Who? Contest

I was just scanning old pictures tonight....and I found this one. I thought you might all think it's interesting. I think it just reinforces the point that all pictures should be labeled! :) Wowsers. I knew they looked alike, but that's a bit scary, huh? :) You can only cast your vote by leaving a comment in the comment box. The top picture is #1. The bottom picture is #2. The winning entries will be placed in a grand prize drawing for a picture from our very own McKenzie Grace Clifton :)
Today was a great day! We had playgroup at our house (very impromptu) and McKenzie and Kylie had 8 friends over! Luke, Paige, Emery, Zach, Sydnie, Ava, Natalie, and Haylee all came over. It was a BLAST. We had so much fun. I love my other mommy girlfriends so much. It always makes the day go faster when the girls (well, McKenzie) has someone else to entertain them.
I had the chance to sub tonight at the community college. It was so much fun. I miss teaching and I know that when I do go back full time, I will be ready :) I still, though, long to teach middle school again! I know...I'm crazy!!! But, those kids are the best...and they're the only ones that still laugh at my jokes :)
Please continue to pray for Rob's job. Ford is making a cut in 10-12% of salaried workers by the end of July. It's craziness, but that's Ford for ya :) It's OK. We're praying God's will with that...and our house. It goes on a realtor website within the next week which means we will be generating much more interest in our house than than the three (or is it 2?) showings we've gotten this month. God's will. :) It would be really bad to buy and sell houses only to have Rob lose his job :) That's why we're trusting God. There...that feels better. :)
Have a great rest of the week!!

Kylie Noelle

I realized how much I have been posting about McKenzie, but poor little Kylie isn't getting much press time these days. I am not sure why. She's as cute as a button. Ok...even cuter than a button. Where did that expression even come from anyway? She is growing like a weed and sleeping super well at night now. Mommy is so happy. I am so blessed to have such a laid-back baby. I am so blessed she is not as "high maintenance" as McKenzie is/was. Not that being "high maintenance" is bad, but this little girl seriously ONLY cries when she is poopy, hungry, or has belly gas. I LOVE her...not only for that, but now she is giggly and she coos and yesterday she said "da da". OK...So, I won't write that one in her baby book yet (we'll wait until she says Mama), but this girl is great. :) She is going to be such a huge blessing in our lives and I am excited to see how God is going to use her. I know He's got great things planned.
I also wanted to comment (and yes, this has to do with McKenzie), but everytime we go out somewhere now and she meets someone, she is quick to introduce them to "Kylie Elle"...Most often, I get a strange response from strangers like, "what did she say?", but in the end, it's great to know she is so protective of her lil' sis and wants everyone to know who she is.
Ok. It's 12:10AM. I just finished working online and need to go to bed. More later. :)

The Brevity of Life

So today I learned that one of my all time favorite Christian artists, Steven Curtis Chapman, lost his little six-year-old girl yesterday in their home just outside Nashville. She was one of three adopted daughters from China, who, in a frightening series of events was run over by her older brother, who was backing out of their driveway in his Toyota Land Cruiser. How sad! Again, this drills home the reminder of the brevity of life. Of course, I don't know this man personally, but I think like anything, you feel like you know someone who is going through life challenges because, deep down, we all experience grief the same way. And when "accidents" like these happen, you just think "that so could have been me...." It's scary and frightening. So, I am sad today, but it also reminds me to not be as upset with McKenzie when she whines....or Kylie when she cries and I don't know what's wrong....or when I am just plain tired. Because, like I said, "that so could have been me" and my world would be turned upside down. Praise God for my little blessings. :) So...maybe it will remind you to hold your kids a little tighter today :)

Never without a lifejacket!

McKenzie's newest thing is the lifejacket. She loves it. We got this one garage saleing for 5 bucks! She is so funny. I literally have to hide the lifejackets from her, otherwise she will wear them all day, every day. In an attempt to go to Cotsco yesterday, I had to wrestle the lifejacket off of her. I always said that if my kids were insistent on wearing a dress-up dress or Elmo slippers or whatever out in public, that was fine, but I had to draw the line with the lifejacket because I couldn't get her in the carseat with it on! Hopefully, she'll find something more form-fitting soon :)

Total McKenzie

Here's our girl as we "normally" see her :) Gotta love that smile!

Strike a Pose...on the "Bouncy"

Even though she's too little to actually go tubing on the lake, McKenzie loves to "bounce" on the "bouncy" aka the tube. :) Here she is prepping to bounce. I call it her "strike a pose"/NKOTB reunion dance move. :)

Superstar!

Yes, she is a superstar! :)

People of Inspiration

There are people in our lives who inspire us. Sometimes, it's through our personal relationship and closeness with them. Other times, it's just through "knowing" them and couting them as an acquaintance. Regardless, I think the thing that I get from my inspirations is that part of me desires to be a little bit like them. In other words, I think inspiration is a great thing that makes us want to be better people. One of those people in my life is a former high school friend, Melissa.
Melissa was a year younger than me and we were in Spanish together my junior and senior year. She was a true Christ-follower then, and even more so now. She has given her adult life (in my eyes) in pursuit of all that it is to follow God's leading into whatever He may desire for her to do next. It's amazing how sensitive she is to his calling. She is serving right now in Asia for the International Justice Mission. During this year of service, she has fully immersed herself into this culture for the sake of just that ---justice to the people. While there, she somehow got into this dance competition for her gym. You have to check out this video on youtube. :) She's the only girl with shorter hair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhzmLZMnzD8
For more about Melissa and what she is doing, you can see her website at www.melissahayward.com. She's great :)
Who else inspires me? So many people for so many reasons. You might be one of them! :)
Most of all, I desire to seek the Lord like so many wonderful examples I have been given. I desire to serve God better. Be a better mother. A better friend. A better person overall. I'm not perfect (though none of us are), but there are parts of me that even at 30 years old, I am still learning how to "fix". There will always be room for change in our lives. I hope someday there is a part of Melissa that I will take with me :)

Giraffes and More Giraffes

Me, completely oblivious no one else is looking -- see explanation below :)

Giraffe Feeding at the Detroit Zoo

Ok. This was a big deal because if you've ever been to the Detroit Zoo, you will know that you can never get tickets to feed the giraffes because they always sell out in, literally, 10 minutes. So, yesterday, when we went with my friend JaNell and her daugthers Ava and Olivia, we had the chance to feed them! It was sooooo great and EVERYONE was so nice to McKenzie! She cried because she only got to feed the giraffe one "cookie", so they asked her if she wanted to do it again, and she said, "yes!". It was great. This particular giraffe is a mommy, but I can't remember her name and her baby Raspberry is in the background. And yes, that is Kylie in the Baby Bjorn, completely oblivious to the fact that her sister is feeding a giraffe! Hilarious! Youll see in another picture how I am completely oblivious trying to get that "perfect" shot, yet I am the only one looking at the camera! :) McKenzie is talking away to the nice girl and the giraffe and I am posing....So is a day in the life of a mom, trying to get a two year old to pose with a giraffe. :)

Busy Days of Spring...and the girls get a new COUSIN....

Well...we've had a couple busy days here and I will try to keep up! :) On Saturday, we had a play day. We played outside almost all day. Daddy put in the dock, fixed up the yard, and moved things around in the driveway, and did all kinds of "man stuff" :) The girls and I played in the yard, built sandcastles, went swinging, and helped daddy occassionally with planting new grass seed. McKenzie also re-discovered the garden hose! It was great.
My Mother's Day was blessed. My girls wrote me cards thanking them for being their mommy. They were so cute. :) Rob blessed me a few weeks back (he couldn't wait!) with a Mother's Day/5th wedding annivesary necklace. It's a cross in the shape of eternity crosses (really pretty, but hard to describe) and it has the girl's birthstones in it. "He went to Jared's!" no joke :) It's beautiful and represents all I love in life --- God, Rob (hence, the eternity part), and, of course, my babies. :) Oh...Rob also made breakfast AND dinner!! What a man :)
My sister Sara also called that day to let us know she is having a baby!!! Yay!!! The girls get another cousin. How awesome! The baby will be here in December, so after that time, I am sure we will have many opportunties for photo ops with the cousins...keep your eyes peeled :)
Yesterday, we spent the day with Kiki and her kids, Autumn and Jonah. McKenzie LOVED every minute of it and kept telling me last night (hours after we were home), that "Mama, I held Jonah's hand"...(which she did....it was so cute)..."Mama, I found Jonah." Yes, we did that as well. I had to tell her that we would go find Jonah when we transferred from the library to lunch at a restaurant because Miss McKenize laid down on the ground refusing to go to the car without holding Jonah's hand (Jonah's mommy was parked in a different part of the parking lot). It was cute. We played at the library, went to lunch, and of course, in true Kiki and Kelli style --- we had to go to Starbucks :) Yes, I am a sucker and am willing to pay $2.50 for hot chocolate. What can I say? :)
This morning is storytime at the library, then we are going to the zoo!! It's a busy, busy day!! There is much to and I have 2 hours to get ready, which you think is enough time, but I have learned the hard way, that isn't always true.
Oh, and our dear friends Shelby and Ty had their baby boy. A shout-out to Lincoln Daniel born May 8th. For pics, click on the link to their blog on the right side of the page! Yay Shelby for birthing a 9.5 pound baby!!! Crazy, girl!! You are a hero in my book, especially compared to my six pound peanuts :)
Have a great day....1 hour, 58 minutes left...gotta go!

Dedication Sunday and The Rest of the Story :)

So, on Sunday, Kylie was dedicated to the Lord! YAY!!! It was so special and beautiful. :) Rob's mom, dad, stepmom, and two aunts were able to share this special day with us. :) As much as Kylie enjoyed the attention, I think little Miss McKenzie enjoyed it more :) Everyone was so nice to us. Thank you for driving up to share in this day! :)
I attached some pictures below for you guys to see. I know....I still have a long way to go with the weight battle :), but when I look at where I started, I'm feeling pretty good about it :) I just looked back at pictures fully pregnant with Kylie. Wowsers! Was my belly ever big! :) So...I'm working on it :) Yesterday, I ran 2.5 miles with the girls in their jogging stroller. Now, "running" is not exactly the word, but I was passing the walkers at the park, so I know I at least had my slow jog going :) It felt sooooo good to run again! I am hoping that as time progresses, it will just get easier and easier, as most things do.
The rest of this week is pretty busy for us. We are having dinner with my friend Laura and her "new" boyfriend (2 months?) Jeff on Friday. Yay for Laura! :) On Saturday, we are supposed to be hanging out with our friends Mike and Meg and their two chillins'. Sunday is church again. And in one week, Rob heads to DC. :)
So...life is pretty packed! We had to miss storytime this morning at the library because McKenzie has a pretty bad cold/cough. I don't want to be one of those parents to infect other children! That is probably a huge pet peeve of mine. Some parents don't even think otherwise when taking a sick child to public places, but I sure do :) I don't want to be that kind of parent!
Ok....off my soapbox....Better get going. :)

Our Princess on her Dedication Day!

McKenzie on Dedication Day!

Kylie's Dedication Family Picture

Inspiration at Walgreens :)

Hey everyone,
First things first....I did not write this. It's actually written by my old freshman college roommate who I have re-connected with on facebook. She's awesome and I would encourage you to read this with an open mind :) It's VERY inspiring....Kind of long...but seriously. Read it :)

I stood in line at Walgreen's on Saturday after paying for my things with a check. The cashier hit some keys on her till, fed the check through her machine, and nothing happened. I didn’t notice it the first time or even the next two times. By the fourth time, I was paying attention. The cashier would take the check and again feed it through the check reading machine. She did the same thing four more times, looking at me and smiling nervously. Another cashier noticed her troubles and finally came to assist her after she had tried another two times. Yes, ten times through the machine and it never read my check. This has a happy ending. The second cashier showed my cashier how to do it correctly and the sale was completed in less than fifteen seconds. But those five minutes at the payment counter stirred something in me. I was struck by the actions of my cashier, and I began to analyze it. She had a goal. The goal was to complete the sale and give me my receipt so I could be on my way. But something was getting in the way. The machine wasn’t working the way she wanted it to. It wasn’t registering the check. My cashier wanted to reach the goal but wasn’t sure what to do about it. So she continued to feed the check into the machine, hoping that this time, it would read the check. THIS TIME, it would register and print a receipt. THIS TIME, she could reach her goal. But it didn’t work out that way. Eventually someone needed to step in and show her what to do. She couldn’t achieve her goal by repeating the same actions.And that leads me to the “insanity" of it. In college, I had a psychology professor who defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I filed that in my brain as something I could learn from. And lately, I’ve been pulling that definition out more and more. We all experience our levels of insanity. In relationships. Friendships. Preparing for a test. Trying to lose weight. Making small choices or big decisions. We repeat things we’ve tried before, thinking this time it will work. THIS TIME I will succeed. And then we’re surprised when it doesn’t. Or are we? Because sometimes we repeat those failures because it’s what we know. It’s familiar. It’s safe. Even if we know it will fail. Funny, isn’t it? Those things won’t lead us to our goal (sometimes we’re very aware of this), but we do them, anyway. We fear change. We know that we have to try something else, but we’re afraid to do that. We don’t have the confidence in our ability to change. We don’t have the energy or motivation to do something different. So we don’t. Until that moment when we realize our own insanity. Until we decide that we want the goal bad enough. Until we see our need to change. We make a plan and take that first step. Then the second step. We commit ourselves to reaching the goal and before we know it, a change is taking place.I came face to face with insanity at Walgreen's. I am thankful for that cashier who was unaware of the significance of that moment. She demonstrated for me that I needed to do something different. For the past several months, I’ve been in a funk. It’s a bit hard to describe. I’ve been achieving many things, spending time with family and friends, and overall, I can say that I am honestly very happy. But I have felt so sluggish, so tired, so dull. My health is important to me, and each spring I spend time working out, doing Tae Bo, walking, and training for 5K runs. I join Weight Watchers and become mindful of my eating habits. Not this spring. I haven’t done any of that. I followed Weight Watchers so sporadically that it didn’t benefit me. Because I would see that doughnut on the team table and those cookies at guard rehearsal and the chocolate on sale at Meijer… and all mindfulness was tossed out the window. The treadmill is still folded up where it’s been all winter. I never even bothered to look for my Tae Bo DVD. And here’s where it all becomes insane: I KNOW that if I become mindful of what I eat and begin exercising again, I WILL FEEL BETTER. I could pull myself out of this funk. It would take ME doing something DIFFERENT, but I know I could achieve that goal. Saturday night I formulated a plan to begin my first step—I would run on Sunday. Two miles. I kept it on the forefront of my mind all day on Sunday. As I put away Abbie’s birthday presents. As I planned out my week. As I played with the girls. As I made dinner. I thought about it and held myself to my plan. At 7:00, I set everything aside and went on my run. I can’t say that I didn’t stop to catch my breath along the way. And I can’t say that it was easy once I set out to keep my commitment. As I ran, I thought of changing my course to one mile. Once I stopped to catch my breath, I thought of walking the rest of the way. But I pressed on. Coming up Ridgebluff at the end of the course is the toughest. It’s uphill and I thought I might give up. I felt like throwing up. So I looked up to the street lights next to the sidewalk and imagined myself drawing the energy from those lights. I breathed in strength and exhaled weakness. And I prayed. Before I knew it, I was up the hill and rounding the corner onto 87th Street. Ahead of me, I saw Katie and Abbie running toward me, yelling “Mommy! Mommy!” I saw Marc in the front yard smiling. Tremendous joy flowed through me and that feeling was incredibly powerful. I did it. Step one has been achieved. I am one step closer to breaking this pattern of insanity. Every moment of our lives can hold amazing power. We can change. We can grow. We can listen and learn. Because sometimes all it takes is a five minute wait in Walgreen's to open our eyes.