this little child of mine...

I have a little message
for this little child of mine


I've been so hesitant to even open up about this
because it makes me hold a mirror up to myself in may ways too
but when it comes to my kiddos
I would do anything for them


I have a precious almost 5-year-old
that is a perfectionist
that does not like perform, talk, etc. in group settings

unless she can do it perfectly

this little child of mine
wants to study something so precisely
before she even tries the first time

she wants to do it perfectly the very first time


this little child of mine
is waaay too hard on herself
definitely more than she should be
and that breaks my heart at times


she wants to take on it all
precisely.perfectly.and.without.failure
every.single.time
to me…
that’s not reasonable
to be quite honest

so this sweet child of mine
I do worry about


I've even been told by a couple of people
"what's happened to her? she wasn't always this way..."
{really, hmmm…}


...a little sting to me as a parent
“when sorry...”
is what I want to say
“you are wrong”


she has in fact always been this way
since the day she was born
both of my children are not like this
Madison and Hayley are completely different
so I know it is with her personality


and with different children you have to do things a little different
depending on that child

this little child of mine has always been
extremely motivated, organized, precise,
and eager to learn/study to get it "perfect"
especially in front of others



she has always been particular
strong
determined
even to hold her head up very early {as a newborn}
she was determined
to crawl and walk so so early
she was determined


I do know Madison
I am her mother
maybe over-protective at times
as I can relate to her personality
so I just want to hold and love on her


I have a sweet child of mine
that takes on so much with that little heart of hers

for a parent knows their child more than anyone
one of the beauties/responsibilities of being a parent
in my eyes
is that you can acknowledge
and see these traits when they aren’t helping them grow
and I have seen them bring her down a bit in her confidence and belief
so Bobby and I are doing something about it


I don't want to change this child of mine and the way she is “wired”
I want to improve, encourage, and grow her belief
I want her to learn to use those traits in a very positive/healthy way
a way that only helps her to succeed and reach her dreams later in life


I want her to be careful about setting unreasonable expectations of herself

I feel like there are days when I can’t tell her enough:


“God made you perfectly just the way you are…
 you don’t have to be perfect…
mistakes are more than okay to make
that's part of life”


all the things I have really learned or succeeded in life
I failed in the beginning or
I’ve had to keep trying
to get better
she is at such a young age that
she doesn't quite fully grasp that concept
{and I don't expect her to...I just want to help her along}


"It's okay to make mistakes"
"It's okay to fail
wipe yourself off and get back up"
"It's okay to have to try again"


every.single.thing,in.my.life.that.has.meant.the.most
I've worked for
I've had to practice at
I've had to fail at
I've had to get better
and I've had to embrace myself with my limits
I do want my kids to still see I make mistakes all the time

this little child of mine
I want to just hold and protect
and tell her all that every chance I get

we wanted her to find her niche
something that didn’t involve me always telling her
and something she could work at herself


she needed this
 something she could learn in a group setting
and not be afraid to make mistakes in front of others


she needed something that had things she could accomplish and try again at
she needed to BELIEVE in herself
that she could do it
all on her own


I want to see this child use her traits to blossom
grow
and to always be herself


I wanted to let her know that she can try new things in group settings
and not *always* get it right
but with practice, study, and trying again she will get more comfortable
she will get it


and that is why


my sweet child of mine
is now taking tae kwon do
and I couldn't be more proud of her after 2 1/2 weeks of it
seriously
I have seen this child of mine
blossom more in these past couple of weeks than ever before


she was very intimidated to begin the first week
both Hayley and her are taking classes together
it really helped to have her sister, Hayley, there in the beginning


now after 2 ½ weeks Madison is keeping her sister “in line” in class
and helping Hayley
line up
run laps
and be quiet when it’s time to listen


 in class…
Madison is trying
and not always getting it right
but you know what
she is getting back up with a smile on her face
having fun
and trying again until she does


that makes me a proud mama right there
her just trying again
and having fun with it


that is all I will ever ask of this child of mine

before she started...I talked with her instructor about my worries with her
about how I want her to BELIEVE in herself
I want her to learn how to make mistakes and continue on
and learn from having to practice
not perfectionism


I want her to be comfortable with herself
and appreciate her strengths
not focusing on her weaknesses
unless it is to work on them in a healthy way


I want this little girl to be confident
and see herself succeeding
I want her to approach new opportunities without even thinking about it
I want her to know that perfection is not what is important
but more importantly
learning from everything she does is what is important


I think we have found "that something"
that is helping her with all of that
to see this little girl’s confidence grow and bloom
has brought me some tears during her class
happy tears of course that are quickly wiped away
{I swear I cry at everything they do now}


Miss Madison
is very proud and happy about her uniform by the way
yesterday before her class she wanted to put it on
and pose for me in a pictures
all poses volunteered by her
{she particularly loves that she has a belt by the way}


I just think that is the cutest
how excited she is


this sweet child of mine
I will always be very proud of you

{btw...the "wait and see" song I just love in that He does have a plan for each of us
obviously all the wording doesn't all apply to Madison with some things}

a celebration in photos

yes...I'm way over due on posting about the celebration
almost a week late
ouch...

there were a ton of pictures just because of her birthday on the 15th

and then her party on the 19th...

I thought I would just do
"a celebration in pictures"
from both days

I hope you enjoy

and if you couldn't tell her theme she chose was Tangled...

so maybe that helps explain some of the decor for the party

we had a fabulous time on her birthday
 I had a very special day with her last Tuesday

just her and I during the day
and then an evening of just close family

Saturday was very much a get together for the adults as well as the kids
{smile}

but that's just how we do it with friends

the kiddos love to play together

and the adults love to have fun together

fair warning to you all...

there are a lot of pictures

Happy weekend to you all

xo

and Saturday's celebration with many friends and family

Welcome to the Snuggly Duckling restaurant...

root beer floats for the kiddos...

I will say the first time I served soda to any children...

but when you are trying to do a "kid bar"

how could I not...

the adults enjoyed captain morgan or rum in theirs...

of course mine was not with root beer but Coca Cola

of course lanterns were a big part of the movie...

so a must for the party

 colorful flowers for Rapunzel...

so of course flowers for Hayley and the party

I usually find a way to add flowers to any party:)

and we could do without many many pascals

Rapunzel's friend in the movie

the girls colored about 20 of these for me

and then we cut and glued them to make them 3D

these little guys were so cute!

for the kids table...

I lined it with white paper from Madison's easel

filled galvanized buckets with crayons

placed the pascal blowers

and mini pascals

and let the kids write/draw whatever they wanted on the table

for the menu

we did bbq/bar type food because of the Snuggly Duckling bar in the movie

it probably wasn't the same food as in the movie

but hey we had 30+ people with kiddos

so wanted some easy food too:)

you can scroll back up to the menu to see what we had

but fyi

the smokies and "bean bags"

Madison calls meatballs...bean bags {just in case you were wondering}

but we had Irish butter and honey whip on french and asiago cheese bread

and croissants filled with spreads

nutella

lemon curd

strawberry spread

{since in the movie breads, butters, and cheeses was what her "fake" mom often brought back}

dragonfly cookies for my dragonfly

Maximus the horse...

who was my favorite character

maybe because Maximus was the name of our other min pin too:)

but we couldn't find a Maximus

so we borrowed Dora's unicorn

I wrapped her in burlap so you didn't see pink:)

and we had a temporary Maximus

one of my favorite parts were these cute edible flowers I found on etsy

for her cupcakes

we had Hayley's favorite two cakes

vanilla bean

and strawberry

the strawberry icing was to die for so hopefully next week I'll post the recipe

{that's Eugene in front of the candles...

the girls call him "Eugene" not Flynn Rider which I think is cute}

{this is Hayley with her love, Jay}

I got some cute photos with all 10 kiddos together but since I forgot to ask the parental's permission to post them...

I'll just show a couple with some of my besties

the men like to call us

"The Real Housewives of {our town}"

{without the drama}

{and one friend not pictured since she was sick}

I love celebrations

and this was a fun one