Documenting

I wanted to document the girls.

I know,

most of you are probably saying

"oh my gosh, does she not have enough pictures of her girls?"

but the thing is,

these pictures are a way of me remembering.

Remembering all those little moments that I would most likely forget.

Remembering the little things

like the way Pea always puts a blanket over her baby

and Ellie like to put her babies on time out.

I can remember how much Pea cares for her babies

and how Ellie constantly feeds hers.

I can remember the thousands of kisses 

they give out each day

and how they love to brush their teeth and will do

so for over an hour if I let them.

I want to remember all the little things that make them who they are.

I love that I can watch them grow every day.

Learn new things

and change.

I love that I can notice each little stepping stone

because I share the journey with them.

I love that I can whip out my camera and follow them around for 

a morning just to remember where they spend their mornings.

I documented a morning of their sweet little lives.

It consisted of babies, babies & more babies.

With a little teeth brushing as well.

They are in love with babies right now.

Dressing, feeding, burping, swaddling, changing bums, rocking.

Anything that involves a baby,

they are there.

It is quite amazing to watch them with their little dolls.

To see how God put such a nurturing nature into our souls.

Even at the young ages of 1 & 2.

So here is our morning, in pictures....

Anger

I have been spending the last 2 days

trying to process what is going on in this world.

trying to make sense of it all.

but is there any sense to make of it?

I have been trying to understand.

to show love without anger.

but the truth is,

I am angry.

I am angry that a man can kill innocent children.

I am angry that this scenario is even possible.

that this world has gone so dark.

I know there is light in this world.

but sometimes it is hard to cut through the darkness 

to be able to see the light.

This whole thing broke my heart.

and as much as I don't want to admit,

it shot fear right into me.

fear for my own children.

that I can't even send them to school knowing that they will be safe.

I have decided to homeschool. 

At least for the first few years.

Not because of this reason.

I have known for a while now.

but because of this, it makes me want to do it so much more.

I know I cannot keep my children in a bubble.

I know I cannot keep them from harm.

but there is so much evil in this world

and it honestly scares me.

and if I can keep my children away from that evil for even

a fraction of time, I want to.

I want to do everything I can!

I cannot even imagine what the mothers of those children

in Connecticut feel at this moment.

I know I would not be as strong as some.

I know the Lord is with them,

and He is pouring His peace and love into them.

but I just can't imagine what they are going through.

It takes guts to live in this world and not hide from it.

It takes even more guts to bring children into this world.

Where do we go from here?

What happens next?

I can say all the things that Christians would say at this time like

God is our protector

and we should not live in fear

and love is the answer

but at the moment,

I am angry at our world.

and I am fearful of what's yet to come.

I know God did not do this.

I know God had no part in it.

It is just the opposite.

The world has rejected God.

Sin has crept in and taken over.

It frightens me,

what man is capable of.

I will hold my girls tight

and love them with everything I have in me!

Day To Day

Every day is a new day.

I never know what the day will bring.

Each day brings 

surprises.

laughs.

 regularities.

unpredictability.
Staying home with my two girls is never boring.

never slow.

never quiet.

Here is a glimpse into the house of the Haggett's:

*Every time the furnace comes on, Ellie says "HOT Mommy, HOT!"

*Priscilla asks for a dance party at least once a day.

*Never give a 2&1/2 and 1&1/2 year old glitter and glue because you 

will be seeing glitter all over the house for the next year.

*You better be able to sing & pray if you are going to put my children to bed.

*Ellie does NOT stop talking. EVER! She will repeat the same thing 100 times 

if she feels it is appropriate and she will not stop talking from the minute she 

wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep. ALWAYS BLABBING!!!

*every day Ellie has a saying she says over and over randomly throughout the day

ex. "Papa's hands dirty" "I don't like puppets" "finger in the door"

*you cannot go into the bathroom without both girls asking to brush their teeth

*Pea is obsessed with helping in the kitchen from doing dishes to making dinner

*When I am having a rough day with the girls, Pea asks daddy to do a craft for mommy

On Hold

I regret to inform you

that my dreads will be put on hold.

It saddens me to be saying this

but I just can't do it.

I have spent the past week trying.

Dreads are ridiculously hard! 

At least if you want to do them properly and have them look nice.

I am a person that is persistent on getting it right.

I won't do it unless I can do it properly.

and I just can't get it.

I can do many things to my own hair but

dreads,

I just can't.

So....

until I can find a ridiculously amazing dreader

in my area or I go to Massachusetts

where my dream dreader lives,

I will have to just wait.

and in the meantime,

I may have braids more often than not

just because it gives me a little feeling of dreads

and makes me feel happy!

On a side note:

If you read my last blog,

you will know that yesterday was an AWFUL day.

but I have to say,

this morning was WONDERFUL!

The girls and I baked some cheese biscuits 

and had a little tea party.

There was cheese squished into our carpet in the kitchen

(WHO PUTS CARPET IN THE KITCHEN!?!?!?!?!)

and Maelle ended up dumping cups of flour on her lap

when I had turned my head

but all in all,

it's been a GREAT day!

 

"some days are like that, even in Australia"

Alexander and the terrible , horrible, no good, very bad day

The Mommy Guilt

Do you ever get it?

the mommy guilt?

When you have missed a certain moment in time

away from your children.

You feel terrible that you are away

for such a momentous time.

Even if it's small.

Tonight.

I have the mommy guilt.

Today was a HORRIBLE day!

Probably the worst we have had in months.

The girls were at each other constantly

and I felt like I was yelling at them 10 times more than 

I was actually talking to them.

It was a BRUTAL day.

It didn't stop.

I tried to do a fun craft with them.

Side track them.

Instead, 

it turned into a screaming match that ended with

both girls on time out and mommy about to lose my mind.

They went down for early naps

because if not,

I think I may have gone insane.

Thankfully they actually slept and I got at least an hour

of peace and quiet.

Ellie woke first.

She came down in such a good mood.

I thought maybe the nap did them good!!!

Then Pea woke up.

The minute Pea put her foot onto the bottom step of the stairs,

all hell broke lose.

AGAIN.

They were at each other.

I had no idea what to do.

So I did what any normal mother would do at this time.

I broke down.

I bawled.

not just a few tears.

I BAWLED!

Pea came up and snuggled me saying

"mommy sad"

and hugging me and rubbing my face.

Ellie snuggled beside me as tight as she could get.

and for a few moments,

there was peace.

Did it take to a mental breakdown

for my children to understand?

Maybe.

I sat there for almost a half hour.

Trying to get myself together.

By the time Luke came home,

I was drained.

I AM drained.

emotionally, physically, mentally.

It's Halloween.

The girls are absolutely adorable in their little outfits.

Pea is a wonder bread girl 

and Ellie is a cheetah.

We were supposed to go out tonight

but instead,

Luke is out with the girls

and I am here at home.

mommy guilt is setting in.

I am missing a night of fun

but at the same time,

I have no energy to be there.

I have no energy to socialize.

To open my mouth and say a word.

I am afraid somebody may ask me how my day was

and I will breakdown in tears.

These moments.

the mommy guilt.

We all have them.

Tonight

is mine.

but I need this.

a moment to breathe.

So this was my day, and I am praying that when we wake tomorrow morning,

it will be a new day.

A day to start fresh.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

(I don't have a picture of them in their costumes tonight so her are the two clowns)

 

 

Clicking Away

We had a little photo shoot today.

The girls were already dressed up so cute

so I got out my camera

and snapped some pictures.

I bought Pea's dress second hand,

I think it's been around for a LONG time.

I found Ellie's pants second hand as well

and fell in love!

Even though I don't have a boy,

I bought them instantly and started thinking 

of how I can incorporate them on my little Ellie.

I made her little shirt

and a hat is in the making

but until then...

So this was our 

"today"

Two sisters

who love each other so much

and fight like cats and dogs.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you had a great day!

A Slap In The Face

I am reading a book called

"Raising Godly Tomatoes"

by : L. Elizabeth Krueger

I really got challenged as I was reading.

Being a stay at home mom is a very challenging job

and sometimes I forget how important

of a job it really is.

It is probably one of the most important jobs

a person could ever have.

In this book there are two paragraphs that really caught me.

I have written part of it on my blog before but the whole thing just grabbed me.

"Most of us can relate to feeling frustrated and angry with our children from time to time. Parental anger and frustration are usually the result of one of two things: ignorance of effective parenting strategies or wrong parental priorities. A parent who does not know how to handle an out-of-control child will certainly become frustrated, and this frustration will often turn to anger. On the other hand, if you know exactly what to do when your child begins to misbehave, and you are willing to do it, you will simply handle the matter and move on. Stress will be eliminated and replaced with a feeling of satisfaction with a parenting job well done.

Sometimes parents know what to do, but are simply unwilling to do it. They expect their children to behave perfectly with little or no effort on their part. Or they expect their children to just stay out of the way while they proceed with their lives as if their children didn't exist. They let their ambitions, housework, or hobbies become a higher priority than parenting, and they begin to view their children as annoying interruptions. This attitude guarantees failure, frustration, and anger. Only by reordering priorities and recognizing that parenting is a highly demanding, full time job will there be any hope for decent results and the absence of frustration. Give up everything else if necessary, and undertake the world's most important and fulfilling job to the best of your ability. Expect it to be a demanding job at times, but look forward to the challenge instead of resenting it. Parenting will be far less frustrating if you learn how to do it well, and if it is not competing with everything else for you time and attention"

 These two paragraphs practically brought me to tears.

I am so frustrated sometimes.

As I sat back and read this,

I realized....this is me.

I am not putting parenting as my #1.

I may think I am,

but when I do a reality check,

I push my girls aside way too often for other priorities that I have put before them.

And then I get angry because they have interrupted me.

This book is really showing me how important it is to

be there for my girls 100%.

Not only when it's convenient.

If I need to stop doing something to help them,

so be it.

If I have to can my ideas of getting all my dishes done

because my girls won't stop bickering and I need to 

be beside them the whole day to teach them

what's right and wrong,

so be it.

My dishes can wait.

They are my #1 priority.

I need to keep reminding myself that.

They need me to teach them.

They are not going to learn on their own.

They need me to love them.

To discipline them.

To encourage them.

Not to ignore them.

I may sound nutty.

I may sound insane.

but I think she is really onto something with this book.

We grow up with these worldly views that we just accept as normal.

 I am ready to over step those views.

Parent as God intended parenting.

Not as the world says is satisfactory.

I am not willing to just let me children grow up being taught by society.

I want to have them be taught by God through me.

 

Bedtime Routine

Do you have a bedtime routine with your kid/s?

I have recently been so touched

by our bedtime/naptime routine.

Both my girls are still on bottles,

trying to cut one and not the other seems impossible,

so one day soon, 

we will give the bottles away to a baby that needs them.

and they will be gone for good.

Until then,

they both get up on the couch,

Ellie with her special blanket,

Pea with her special bunny and her handmade quilt from 

great, great grandma.

Ellie always finishes first

so we take her upstairs and give her kisses.

We put on her fan and then instantly she says

"Jesus?"

So we hold her hand as we thank God for the day.

Pea usually takes a bit longer.

She likes to milk her milk!

We take her upstairs,

give her kisses and hugs and turn on her fan.

Then she asks me to sing "Joy"

by "Joy" she means the song that goes:

"I love you Lord,

And I lift my voice

to worship You,

Oh my soul rejoice

Take Joy my King

In what you hear,

May it be a sweet, sweet song

in Your ear"

Then she wants you to pray with her.

And since I have gotten my locket,

she asks to see it every time.

It has touched me how much they except God in their life.

There is no question.

It is just what we do.

We pray to God and sing to God.

They have such faith that what mommy & daddy 

are teaching them is right.

They don't question it.

Instead, they remind ME to do it.

They keep ME accountable to what we have taught them.

I am so blessed to have my girls.

I am so thankful for them and

I just pray that as they get older,

they don't lose that faith.

The Haggett's Are On The Move

It's holiday season.

Luke took 2 weeks off.

So...

last minute planning and we are off to Logos Land 

with our two little girls

and our close friends

Te Kapua & Lindsay.

We rented an RV

because you have to be INSANE to tent camp

with two toddlers!

Either that,

or really hardcore campers

which we are not.

We got to Logos Land and it started 

POURING!!!

Not just raining...

it was POURING!!!!

So....

a hang out in the car was issued until the rain died down

enough for us to run into our new home for a few days.

and what do you do in a car with 

two parents who are photographers?

PHOTOSHOOT!!!

 Finally it stopped raining and we got to see what we had in store.

The camper was AMAZING!!!

Full kitchen, bathroom, enough sleeping for 10 people.

We had no real plan.

all we knew was we were going to have some fun 

with our little family

and 2 of our closest friends.

We spent the next 2 days on waterslides, at the beach, at the petting zoo,

on paddleboats, sleeping, eating and of course playing games. 

Ellie even fell asleep on the kitchen floor on morning!

Here is a little glimpse:

these are iPhone only. We didn't bring our big honker cameras so my phone will have to do.

 This first picture ^^^ was right after we got back from a visit at the playground.

Lindsay & I thought it would be a good idea to take the girls on a walk.

We ended up at a playground, 

like most people with children often do.

We were there for 5 mins and it started POURING!!!

We ran under the play structure for shelter

but you can only crouch under something

while holding onto 25 pound little girls for so long.

our legs felt like they were going to break off.

The rain didn't look like it was going to let up,

so I looked at Lindsay and said

"do you want the lighter one or the heavier one?'

She took the lighter, Ellie

and we picked up the girls and ran as fast as we could up a big hill to shelter.

We got drenched!

 We are so glad we got to get away with our friends

because it seemed like summer was just so busy,

we barely got to spend any lengthy time with them!

After a breakfast in Noah's Ark,

we departed from each other and went our seperate ways.

We had no idea what was in store,

we just started driving.

We decided we would take a trip up north.

Luke has never been north at all,

and I spent half my childhood up there,

so we decided to take a roadtrip up there so I could show him where I grew up.

We hit North Bay and decided to rest there for the night.

We rented a hotel room and took a little tour of the city. 

Luke ended up driving down an underpass walkway which was HILARIOUS!

People were walking on it and had no idea why a car

was driving down it.

We got some dirty stares while we were laughing hysterically,

trying to figure out what was going on!

We found a BEAUTIFUL old carousel that they have running all the time.

The girls LOVED it.

We also took them on a little miniature CP rail train.

 We ended up at the GORGEOUS waterfront 

with an INCREDIBLE sunset.

It was a perfect day.

The next day,

we were off to New Liskeard & Englehart.

When we got to New Liskeard, 

we took a walk along the boardwalk.

I forgot how much I loved being down there.

It brought back so many memories.

It had seemed like nothing had changed,

but everything had changed all at once.

I have not been back to that area for over 10 years.

It was nice to re visit.

See everything through the eyes of an adult. 

A parent.

I forgot how beautiful the north is.

and how friendly the people are.

Everywhere we stopped,

people were just so friendly.

So willing to stop and chat,

even though you were strangers.

It's as though time moves slower up there.

We drove by my old house

and the school I graduated grade 8 from.

We drove up to Englehart and I showed him all the houses we lived in.

We traveled back to the booney's in Marter Township,

down the big dirt hills.

One house particularly,

was my favourite house I think I have ever lived in.

and I have lived in a LOT of houses.

The A frame.

I remember playing up on the balcony,

with my best friend Rachel.

Pretending we were old women,

dressed in my moms clothes

and using tv table stands for crutches.

I remember having the BIGGEST Christmas tree EVER!

It had to be like 10 feet high!

I remember laying on the couch with a broken arm,

a cast from my wrist to my shoulder.

and this is where I shaved my legs for the very first time.

We used to make forts under the edge of the roof

when it snowed.

It would become a little cave

and we would bring nailpolish out and decorate in the icy walls.

So many memories.

Flooding back.

It's wild how vivid your memory can be.

After our little visit,

a stroll around Englehart and a good 

workout on the play structure,

we headed back to North Bay.

We stayed another night in our hotel room and had a pizza party.

The next day we headed our trek home.

With construction and a hail storm that was so fierce,

we had to pull over and wait it out.

We finally made it home.

It was an incredible trip with my most favorite

people in the whole world.

A spontaneous road trip

that was not planned

but turned out just perfect!