Bigger Picture Blogs’ Birthday!

There is a place online where you are always welcome. A place that invites you to pull up a chair and kick off your shoes. A place where you can make friendships and forge bonds. A place that cares. And that place, Bigger Picture Blogs, is celebrating its first birthday!

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I first became involved in Bigger Picture Blogs last October, when the wonderful women who joined together to form Bigger Picture Blogs were raising breast cancer awareness through a blog carnival named Write Pink: From the Head, Heart and Feet. Since then, I have participated in their Thursday link-up about Simple Moments, Bigger Picture. It has been a joy to belong to this community of bloggers. Won’t you join us? Hop on over to Bigger Picture Blogs, and read what we’re all about. Join us on Thursdays to celebrate the simple moments of life. We’d love to have you.

As a part of the birthday celebration over at Bigger Picture Blogs, here is a re-posting of my favorite Bigger Picture Moment.

“Mommy, come quick!” both my daughters cry from the family room. “MOMMY!”

Sometimes I start to get irritated when I hear that call…what could they possibly want at 6:25 in the morning? Can’t they at least let me drink my coffee before they start demanding breakfast?

“MOMMY!” they both yell again. It only takes me a couple of seconds to remember why they are calling me. “CAPTAIN HUGGY FACE IS GOING TO DANCE!”

And so I start dancing along with Captain Huggy Face in the middle of the family room, much to the delight of my little girls. They know I love Captain Huggy Face.

They also know which song on our Vacation Bible School CD is my favorite. “Mom, it’s the shifting sand song!” Emmy will exclaim every time track 2 starts playing. They know that I won’t eat watermelon and I don’t like chocolate shakes.

Just as my daughters know my preferences, I know theirs. Lily loves watermelon, especially when I give her my portion. Emmy like cheese — lots and lots of cheese. I know what they will wear and what they will refuse to wear when it’s time to get dressed in the morning. When I am shopping for their birthday gifts, I know what toys they would love to receive.

What about Ed? My husband hides his dislike for cucumbers. He doesn’t want the girls to stop eating them if Daddy won’t eat them. When the girls don’t wake up early enough to say goodbye to him in the morning, he writes them each a small note and puts it at their place on the table.

All little things. But these little things have big meaning. Knowing these little things shows my daughters: “You are important to us. You matter to us.”

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What small things do you notice about your loved ones?

Here’s a little Capt. Huggy Face to brighten your day:

P.S. I had insomnia last night, and Captain Huggy Face’s word “drowsy” suits me quite well today!

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A Picture For Emmy

Last Friday, Ed and the girls dropped me off at the Hyatt where I was going to spend the night, and then take a shuttle bus the next morning to Soldier Field. The next two days of my weekend was going to be spent walking 39 miles for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, and I spent my spring training and talking about “the walk.”

As I buckled three year old Emmy into her car seat, she started crying and holding out her arms, screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!”

Watching them drive away was not easy. Emmy kept on crying.

Hoping that Ed would be able to distract her, I walked back to the hotel. Later that night, Ed informed me that Emmy had cried the whole way home.

She is one stubborn little girl.

Despite those twenty minutes of tears, she survived quite well without Mommy for the rest of the weekend.

Ed and the girls came to cheer for me at mile 14 on a hot, humid Chicago day.

Lily brought a spray bottle to spray walkers…smart girl!

And they also met me at the finish line on Sunday. Emmy was a happy little girl all weekend long.

Monday morning I found a drawing in the car. I soon realized that Lily had drawn it for Emmy on Friday night to help Emmy feel better while she was missing me.

Oh, my sweet girls!

 Simple BPM

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