Queen Mother and her Princesses

I have not written in a while, so I thought it might be time to share a story with  you all.

Yesterday the girls and I went for a swim in the back yard.  And by a swim in the back yard,  I mean the girl swam and I floated in my pink chair.  After a while I put one of their old floaties that they like to play with on my head and told them that they cannot enter my kingdom (the swimming pool) unless they follow my orders.  They liked this idea.  First, they must call me Queen Mother,  they each thought that was funny and follow my command.  Second, they must kiss my hand upon entering my Kingdom and tell me their full name.  Again they thought that was funny.  Third they must have a talent to become part of my Kingdom.  Here is where it gets interesting.  Princess Abbie was first, her talent was singing.  She told me she has a beautiful voice.  I immediately let her into my Kingdom.  Next was Princess Aubrie , she said that she could play the guitar (she has dreams), so I let her into my Kingdom.  Finally was Princess Kensie B.  I asked her “Do you have any talents Princess?”,  “Oh yes, I have many talents” she responded, “I can sing, I can dance, I can tell jokes, I can play the drums, I can play the guitar, I am fun to be around and I am pretty.  I am VERY talented”.   8 years old and she has the confidence of a 20 year old.  Oh my goodness do we have our hands full or what?

1/2 way to 16!

Our Makensie Brooke turned 8 years old a couple of weeks ago.  I asked her what was the best part about turning 8.  She immediately said “Well, I am halfway to getting my driver’s license”.  OH MY! OH MY! OH MY!  That is a scary thought.  Makensie Brooke is a unique young lady.  Most people do not know that she was born with a birth defect.  She had a major surgery when she was 8 months old and has had 5 surgeries since then.  Doctors told us that she would struggle in school, her speech would be greatly affected and that she would most likely be behind other kids her age.  For those of you who know my sweet little angel, you know that those doctors were completely wrong. 

Makensie is a leader, she is a comedian, she is so smart, she is compassionate and she lights up every room she walks into.  She does not like to be told that she cannot do something.  She loves to prove people wrong.  That being said, she is the most stubborn child I have ever met.  If you look up strong-willed child in the dictionary, I am quite sure there is a picture of Kensie.  The qualities that she has are going to make her a strong leader when she grows up.  I just do not want her to rush growing up.

Makensie Brooke makes me laugh every day. The other night she and I were in the car and it started pouring rain.  She started praying.  She said “Jesus, please keep me and momma safe.  Don’t let Abbie and Aubrie be scared at home.  And be with Julie at her dad’s house and keep her safe.  In Jesus name. Rock and Roll.  Amen”.  I am scared to death to watch that child grow up!!  So, on May 2, 2019, stay off the roads!!!!!!

Piggy Tails

So, I woke up late this morning.  I was tired and quite frankly did not want to get out of bed and  go to work.  After a long discussion with myself (Yes, I do talk to myself!), I decided to get up and get going.  I was running a tad late, thanks to the conversation I had in my bed…with myself, so I had to rush a bit.  I was not in the mood to mess with my hair so I decided to put my hair in piggy tails.  Now, I know I am not a child anymore but come on, a girl can wear piggys if she so desires right?  Well, by the time I had been at work for about an hour or so I had to go to the little girls room.  As I stood in front of the mirror washing my hands I looked at the middle-aged woman with grey hair staring back at me.   So I said to myself, “Kara Sawyer, what on earth were you thinking?”

Sometimes I wonder when did life start going by so fast?  When did I go from piggy tails to grey hair?  When did I become a grown up with all this responsibility?  When did I become someone who 4 little girls look up to for guidance on how to be a Godly woman, a wife, a friend and a momma?  Such responsibility is frightening.  With Mother’s Day approaching I have been thinking what makes a mom a good mom?  Does she always look put together?  Does she have a spotless house and a 5 course meal on the table each night?  Does she have perfect children?  Are her children so well-behaved that she never has to raise her voice at them?  Is her laundry always caught up?

If this is what makes a woman a good mom, I am not qualified.  In fact I sometimes leave my house with my hair in piggy tails and sometimes I go to the store in my pajama pants.  My house is NEVER spotless and sometimes I fix Spaghetti-O’s for dinner.  My children are not perfect, sometimes Makensie says things like “I just farted and it was awesome” when we are in public.  I raise my voice at my children on average 5 times a day.  And I have a mountain of laundry in the corner of my room.  But guess what?  I have a God that loves me and chose me to be momma to Julie, Makensie, Abbie and Aubrie.  He trusted me enough that even with my faults and my mistakes He knew that I would raise 4 beautiful young ladies that love God, love their Momma and their Daddy and are growing up to be something great.  I have no doubt that one day they will sit back and look at their family and wonder where did the time go?  Why did God entrust me, Kara Lynn Sawyer, to raise these girls?  Truth is, I don’t know why.  But I do know that when I am weak, He is strong.  And with God on my side, I am the best mom I can be.

She’s Growing so Fast

14 years ago today I became a momma for the first time.  I know what you are thinking “Kara Sawyer is not old enough to have a 14 year old”, and you are correct.  I’m only 20 years old.  (ha ha ha)   I am not going to lie, it was a LONG road.  I was induced on April 30, 1997 at 6:00am.  At 3:43pm on May 1st, my life was changed forever. No, that is not an error, I was in labor for 33 and 1/2 hours!   Nothing about birthing that child was easy!   I’d always heard that you don’t know true love until you become a parent.  That is so true.  Julie Lynn was beautiful when I first laid eyes on her, and she has gotten more and more beautiful each day since then.

Now, you know me…I’m an honest person, I’m pretty much just a surface level kind of girl.  So, let’s be honest.  Having a newborn baby was no bed of roses.  That child cried from the moment she was born until she turned 12 weeks old.  The only way she would stop crying was for me to lay her on my chest to sleep.  So, for 12 weeks that is how she and I survived.  I have always said I do not wish for my worst enemy to have a baby with colic.  She taught be patience.  She  taught me how to laugh.  She gave meaning to my life.

Today my sweet baby girl turned 14 years old.  That’s two years away from getting her drivers licence (if that doesn’t scare you, something is wrong).  Julie is the best big sister EVER!  When she comes home from a weekend at her dad’s house, her sisters eyes light up.  Julie has the biggest heart.  She loves people.  Julie puts others needs before her own needs.  And I might be a tad biased, but she is a beautiful young lady, on the inside even more than her physical appearance.  Don’t get me wrong, she is a teenage girl….so we have our drama, we have our tears, she is truly a dingy blond, we have our moments that I want to lock her in a closet and not let her out.  But I would not change one thing about my Julie.

So, Happy Birthday Julie Lynn.  You light up my life.  You make me so proud to be your momma.  You make my heart overflow.  I love your guts sweet girl.

It’s Twins!!

Six years ago this Thursday we welcomed twin girls into our family.  I will say that they were not planned, but I cannot imagine our home without them.  I have learned and experienced so much being the mother of identical twin girls.  So, I wanted to share some things with you.

First, people say the dumbest things to parents of twins.  Over the past six years we have heard it all.  Here are some of the questions we have gotten:

• Are they twins? (Um, no they just look exactly alike)
• Are they the same-sex? (No, we just dress the boy as a girl)
• Did you have them vaginally? (WHAT?  Who asks that?)
• How much weight did you gain with them? (Really?)
• Did you breast feed both of them at the same time? (Who needs to know that?)

Those are just a few of my favorite questions.  Those were questions people asked when they were babies.  Now that they are older the most common question is asked to the girls, not to me.  Complete strangers ask Abbie and Aubrie 2 questions almost on a daily basis: 1) Are you twins? and 2) Do you like being twins?

Raising twin girls has been exciting and challenging.  Our girls have always done everything together, and I do mean everything.  I had them on a strict schedule when they were babies.  Therefore, they ate at the same time, slept at the same time and well,  they pooped at the same time.  I can promise you that to this day they still do all three of those things at the exact same time.  They are so sweet with each other.  When one of them is hurt or sick the other one is right there beside her sister loving on her, rubbing her back and wiping away her tears.  They are so in sync with each other, it’s amazing and a little spooky.

God gave me a surprise blessing, times two,  six years ago.   They make me laugh, they give me lots of grey hair and they make my heart so full.  I cannot image life without my sweet Abbie Grace and Aubrie Hope.

Birthday x’s 2

Abbie and Aubrie will be 6 years old this week.  I cannot believe that my babies are almost 6.  Where has the time gone?  They seem so big now.  Today Brock and I asked them to make us a list of what they want for their birthday.  (Abbie Grace LOVES to make lists!)  I thought I’d share their lists with you so you can see just how different two individuals who shared a womb, look exactly like, are the exact same height and weigh the exact same truly are.  These lists are word for word what they wrote.

Abbie Grace ~

• Justin Beiber tshirt
• Rapunzel Hair
• Justin Beiber “Never Say Never” movie
• Flip Flops
• I want my tooth to come out for my birthday
• I want my very own nail polish painter that paints your nails for you
• American Girl doll stuff
• A pink guitar

Aubrie Hope ~

• Rapunzel Hair
• A purple Justin Beiber tshirt
• Flip Flops
• My own guitar
• My own iPad
• My own iPhone
• My own iPod Nano
• A baby pillow pet
• My own car
• My own computer
• My own camera

One very realistic child and one child with big dreams!!!

Squishy

Abbie has a favorite pillow.   Her name is Squishy.  Squishy is soft and pink, she is a girl.  She is a very important part of Abbie’s life.  She has been a part of Abbie’s life for many years now.  She goes everywhere with Abbie. She has slept with Abbie for five years now.   Many days we have to take her in the car with us, buckle her up and bring her back to pick Abbie up from school.  Squishy has feelings.  None of our other kids have anything else like this.  I guess it is her security.  Squishy is dingy, stained and worn out.  I had to perform surgery on Squishy tonight.  She has a laceration and is leaking the teeny tiny beads from  inside her.  After sewing Squishy up for the second time this week, I had to tell Abbie that Squishy is getting very fragile.  She needs to take care of Squishy because she is old and delicate.  So, after a few tears Abbie very serious and sweetly said “Like Granny?”

Sawyer Mafia

Brock and I are convinced that our children are part of the mafia.  It does not matter what the situation is, no one knows who did it, no one saw anything and no one will fess up.  Tonight I went into the kitchen cabinet to get out a snack.  I keep 100 calorie snacks around for me and buy regular snacks for the rest of the family.  I had one package of 100 calorie Hostess Ding Dongs left as of yesterday.  When I went to get my snack, the box was in the cabinet totally empty.  So, I asked “who ate my last Ding Dongs”?   I immediately hear their famous words “It wasn’t me momma”, “I didn’t eat it momma”, “I never eat your snacks momma”.  I proceed to ask more questions all with the same response.  It’s like a dead-end road.  Last week someone wrote on one of the chairs in my van with a permanent marker.  “Who colored on my van chair?”  The response “I didn’t do it momma”, “I don’t color on chairs momma”, “I don’t know who did it momma”.  About three weeks ago Brock noticed that Makensie had bangs, bangs cut to her scalp that is.  This was a new look for her since her hair has been all one length for most of her little life.  “Makensie, who cut your hair?”.  “I don’t know, I didn’t cut it”.  Really?  Someone broke into our house in the middle of the night, snuck into her room, cut her hair to the scalp just in that one spot?  Yep, according to her, that must be what happened!  To this day, she has no recollection of  how her hair got cut.

What are we going to do when these three musketeers are teenagers?  We are in big trouble!!

Girl fight!

As I mentioned before I have four sweet innocent young ladies living in my house.  There is never ever a dull moment in our house.  Yesterday after church I was standing in the church parking lot talking to a friend.  The girls wanted to go wait in the van.  So, Julie took the keys and they sat in the van.  After my conversation, I opened the door to my van to hear a blood curdling scream.  I looked in the back seat to find Makensie and Abbie screaming at each other and both were crying.  After getting everyone to calm down, I asked what happened?  I am still not clear on the events that transpired, however apparently Abbie touched Makensie’s shoe.  Makensie then slapped her sister on the back as hard as she could.  Immediately after that, Abbie grabbed a huge chunk of Makensie’s hair and pulled as hard as she could.  And from there it all went down hill.  The best part of this story is Aubrie.  I looked in the middle seats (while chaos was running rampant in the back seat) and Aubrie was sitting in her seat smiling.  “I didn’t do anything momma”.  Makensie did calm down long enough to ask me if we could go out to eat for lunch.  Are you kidding me?

Somehow I feel like this will not be our last girl fight in the Sawyer household.

My very first blog

Everyone I know has a blog these days, so I thought I’d hop on board and try it out.  I am not a deep thinker with intellectual philosophies on life.  I don’t analyze things, I don’t ponder things, and I don’t think things through.  I am a pretty shallow person.  I am a spontaneous person who knows what I want, I know what I think and I go with it.  So if you are thinking you can read my blog and get insight, you are probably wrong!!  However, I live a very fulfilling life with my husband and four girls and I have lots of stories and lots of opinions!!  So, here it goes!!

I am a mom of four girls.  That’s right…four GIRLS!!!  We are the Estrogen capital of the midwest.  My girls are all so different.  First is Julie.  Julie is 13-years-old, almost 14 if you ask her.  Julie is our melancholy child.  She is always worried about what people think.  Always worried about something!!!  She is also a teenager, so she is super-duper sensitive.    Her moods change daily if not hourly.  Julie is somewhat of a perfectionist.  She is so smart.  When I say smart, I mean book smart.  Julie is an honor student.  She gets all of her work done at school and rarely has homework.  She is in honors classes and excels academically.  Now, let me say that common sense…not so much.  She is a true blonde!!!   Enough said.

Next we have Makensie.  Makensie is seven-years-old.  She is our sanguine child.  Makensie is so outgoing.  People always tell us what a joy she is to have around.  She is the life of the party.  She can walk into a room and own it.  She is a true leader.  Makensie is also very strong-willed.  I am certain that if you google “strong-willed child”, her picture will immediately pop up.  Someday she will be a great leader, that is what I tell myself every day of her life!!  I will have many more stories about Makensie in my upcoming blogs.

Abbie and Aubrie are our twins.  They will be six-years-old in a couple of weeks.  Abbie Grace is our oldest twin.  She is six minutes older than her sister.  Abbie is our phlegmatic child.  She is the sweetest, most caring child.  Abbie will stop halfway through dinner just to say thank you or to tell me that she loves me.   Abbie is also our MOST sensitive child.  She can cry at the drop of a hat.  It can be exhausting at times.  Aubrie Hope is the baby of the family.  She is our choleric child.  Aubrie can change the mood of the entire house in 30 seconds.  Aubrie is NOT a morning person, and we all respect that!  Aubrie is unique in that she has to know the schedule for the day.  She needs to know what is going to happen, at what time, where we are going, who is going to be there and what we will do after that.  I cannot tell you how many times a day I say to her “Aubrie, it’s ok.  Just sit back and enjoy the ride.  Just go with it”.

My girls are all so different, and so unique in their own special way.  Everyday I tell each one of my girls that they are my favorite.  If you ask Abbie who is momma’s favorite, she will say she is.  If you ask Makensie who momma loves the most, she will  say it is her.  Same with Julie and Aubrie.  It may seem odd to other people, but for me it makes my girls feel special.  I love my girls and cannot wait to share funny stories about them with you all.