My Kids, Part One

I realized that here I am a proud mama of nine and I haven't written all that much about my children. I guess I thought, "who would want to read my ramblings about my kids". But then I realized two things: 1) This blog is really for me. It helps me to be creative and thoughtful, and helps me to appreciate all that God has given me. 2) Almost all the blogs I read, ok maybe not almost all, but a lot, write about their kids. And I love reading about them!! It reminds me of when my older ones were little and I can still laugh about things because I still have little ones too. Plus the teenager stories, the preteen stories, you name it, in my household I have everything but infants right now. So I love being able to identify with people.

So here are my two oldest. Emily is on the left, Elizabeth is on the right. Emily Rose was her sister's confirmation sponsor. Emily, my nineteen year old, being the oldest, is pretty much my hard working, perfectionist, older and wiser daughter. When she was born, she was what they call, "collicky", and it was a miserable experience. I am still convinced that I made her that way. I was so nervous that I couldn't do anything right, every time she made a sound, I jumped. She would cry, and cry. Oh, I felt like the most awful mother in the world. I remember saying to my husband, "This is awful. Why do people have more than one of these?!"

But then she became the most wonderful toddler. She was obedient. I could take her into a store and I only had to tell her once not to ask for anything, not to touch anything. She was good. And actually quite delightful. Very smart too. Learned how to read at four. I remember the kindergarten teacher, could not believe that Emily hadn't gone to preschool. She had not experienced a child that came from home and knew how to use scissors, who knew how to color, could name her colors, recognize letters and write her name. She was ready to scold me because I hadn't sent her but she couldn't because Emily was so smart. I just don't believe in it. I always wanted to keep my babies home with me for as long as I could. I cried the summer before I sent Emily to school. The whole summer. Every night. It was awful.

Emily is in college now. She was on the Dean's list all last year. She is a very hard worker. I miss her. She didn't even come home this summer because she has a job at school and they gave her a place to live. She does come home often, (but not often enough) and we do things together. We still have a movie date to get to. She has grown into a beautiful young woman. She makes great choices in life. I love her group of friends! She has chosen well. She is like me though, in that people go to her for advice, a shoulder to cry on, just when they need a friend. Emily is outgoing and kind and loving, but she is not afraid to tell it like it is. She has a great sense of humor, and can zing out great one liners, that can stop others cold. They don't know what to say. She is an awesome woman! I always worried because she didn't always make good choices in high school, but she does now. She has a really nice boyfriend and she is a very faithful Catholic. She goes to Adoration. Cause she wants too!!!!! Need I say more. She wants to be a director or producer of movies. Maybe she will join the other great Catholic kids out there and we will start to see some really good, wholesome movies. I am so proud of her, and who she is becoming, she really is a beautiful girl, inside and out.

My second oldest is Elizabeth Grace. Elizabeth is seventeen. She has been a pistol since the day she was born. She gave Emily a run for her money. Elizabeth is one of our drama queens. Has been since about the age of two. She would provoke Emily and get her going and always managed to come out smelling like a rose. She is a dancer and an actress. She is also very funny. When she was about four or so, we were all sitting at the dinner table and she was laying down on her chair with her foot up in the air. I said, "Elizabeth, what are you doing?", and she said, "Pretending my foot is a flag". We all fell out laughing. It was so random.

Elizabeth is not so great in the school department. She tries, but it is not her thing. She is trying very hard now because she is entering her senior year in high school and she wants to go to college to major in special education with a minor in acting. She wants to work with autistic children. I have written this before, but my neice is autistic, and Liz has been led to want to work with children like Corinne. She is so loving and so good with kids. She is like a second mom here in our home. She is my right hand woman. I don't know what I am going to do when she goes to college. She cleans, she helps with the kids, she works very, very hard in our home. I could not do all that I do without her. I don't even have to tell her most of the time what needs to be done. She just looks around and does it. She has a job now and of course a very active social life, and I miss her sometimes. Not just because she is such a great help to me, but also because she makes me laugh. She is one of the funniest kids I have. She likes to walk around the house and sing everything instead of talking. So she could pass me by in the kitchen and be singing, "I wish I wasn't a woman cause I would love to cut off my woman parts right now because I have cramps......." You have to hear it to think it is funny. And you never know what she is going to be singing about so you want to listen every time. She is hilarious.

She is fun, she is entertaining and she works harder in my home than anyone else except for maybe John Paul. I love her to pieces. She can get into a mood. She is a creative soul so she has her dark days too. And when you get her and Emily together, they have fought over tee shirts and underwear! They will go at each other but both of them can say the funniest things to each other, Emily has good comebacks because she is so smart and can outwit Liz, and Liz is very, very funny, so I never know if I should continue to laugh or break up the fight. And if Tyler, their 15 year old brother gets involved, he sides with whoever hasn't ticked him off lately, and that is usually Liz, and he can be funny too! I get in so much trouble with Emily, the serious minded, fair is fair, oldest child, all the time for laughing instead of disciplining.

Elizabeth will do well in life no matter where she goes or what she does. I think God has His hand on her. She always has a deep experience in Steubenville during Adoration which lands us outside because of an asthma attack. She gets so overcome with emotion when she sees other teens praising God, especially the boys because boys don't usually do that, her own love for Jesus just wells up in her and she can't take all the wonderfullness. I know God has a great plan for her, He has filled her with love for others, and I am proud of her too.

The best thing I can say about both of my daughters, I LIKE them. I like who they are, I love spending time with them. I can see parts of myself in both of them. They are a delight to me. I am thankful for these two, because they taught me how to be a mom. They have been with me the longest, and I love them so much.

As you can see, I will have to do this in parts because I can write so much about each one of them. I even cut myself short on these two. But I can always add later. Right?

God certainly blessed me when He sent me my two angels, Emily and Elizabeth. I know my life would not have been so great without these two. I can't imagine my life without them.

I love you Em and Liz.