Author: Lindsey P. Brackett

When I'm not wrangling four kids and a middle school classroom, I sit on my back porch in the mountains and write southern fiction that's short and long. I believe in Jesus, library fines, supper at the table, the Edislow life, and strong coffee. Pretty much in that order.
30 Blog Challenge · birthdays · madelynne

Just a Happy Birthday

Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

There’s no reason.  Really there’s not.  No reason at all that birthday parties for kiddos should be so stressful.

Seriously, all kids really want to do is play and eat cake frosting, and open presents. 

So that’s what we did.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I love a well-planned event of celebration that involves such craziness as water slides or spa treatments or bouncy houses.

But I can’t handle all that stress.  Or work.  And by checking account can’t handle all those deductions.

So this year the rule is sweet and simple.  Yet, somehow I was still a little stressed.  It’s hard to put it all together when the baby is fussy and the birthday girl wants to play with all the bubbles before the guests arrive and the cake slides over in the car and the icing gets stuck to the side of the box.

But overall, it was less stressful than last year when the entire pitcher of lemonade spilled in the car after Joshua hit the brakes to avoid a suicidal squirrel on our way to the park to have a party in the rain.

Here’s some pics of all the fun:

madelynne · motherhood

I Can’t Believe She’s Six

Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

Dear Madelynne,

I really, really can’t believe you’re already six.  How can that be?  How can you have gone from Amelia’s size to taller than half of me in such short time?  And where did all that time go because it seems just yesterday your Mimi was prying you out of my arms when I left you for the first time.  Now you’re six and a big kindergarten girl who excels at reading and writing and aggravating Annabelle.

Sometimes I miss those sweetest first days when it was just you and me.  When you were all I had ever wanted, every prayer and dream come true.  A baby girl with her daddy’s long eyelashes and the sweetest smile.  When you were born and the doctor said girl I couldn’t believe it…I didn’t want a boy for my first experience.  I only wanted you.

You’ve put up with a lot, big baby girl.  It’s tough being the oldest, I know. It’s even tougher to be the oldest of girls vying for attention from an overworked Mommy.  I hope I’ve given you more these past few months.  It’s so special that you’re old enough now to get excited some of the same things I loved as a little girl like Laura Ingalls and Ramona Quimby.

But as exciting as this new phase of life is for all of us, promise me you won’t grow up too fast.  Be my little girl for a while and enjoy it.  You may be a sassy six, but you’re a sweet six and I want to keep you that way for as long as I can.

Love you,
Mommy

30 Blog Challenge · thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday

Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments
This week’s random (and late) list of things to be thankful for includes…
1)  Coffee.  At this point I really don’t care if it’s Starbucks or McDonald’s or Folger’s or whatever Karen makes in the teacher break room.  Somehow after I became a mom of two I developed an addiction.  It’s getting worse, I’m sure.  But I’m also sure it’s completely pyschological because the other day I drank decaf and it worked just as well.  
2)  The Exersaucer.  I don’t know what brilliant person (probably a mom) came up with the concept of this contraption, but I am oh-so-thankful that the Tinsley boys’ exersaucer didn’t sell at the Children’s Sale so it could live in my den and entertain my baby at this too early hour of the morning when it’s too late to get her back to sleep and too early for me to be entertaining.
3)  Leftovers.  That’s right.  We had clean-out-the-fridge for dinner last night and it was the first meal we’ve had all week that the girls haven’t complained about.  Monday they didn’t eat their Happy Meals.  Tuesday was london broil and potatoes au gratin and ended with Annabelle getting a spanking because she chewed up her meat but refused to swallow.  WNS was taco salad and my girls are not fans.  They wouldn’t even eat the banana pudding.  But Thursday….we had turkey sausage and leftover potatoes and leftover corn and…it’s all gone now.
amelia

Random Acts of….Amelia

Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

Millie Moo has a big update coming soon, but I felt the need to share with you faithful followers of all the randomness just a couple of quick things that for me are even more interesting than the movie being filmed at my school or the fact that Starbucks is coming to our local (and only) grocery store.

She’s a singer.  She used to think she was a NASCAR race car and would “rev her engine” before going to sleep.  Now she sings nonsense sound and syllables that I’m sure are the next work of great musical art.

Now once she puts herself to sleep, if we’re lucky she’ll stay that way until about 3 a.m.  That’s when Daddy has to go convince her that the paci is as good as mommy and she’s not going to starve to death before 5:30 a.m.

At 5:30 she’s my sweet cuddle bug (which reminds me so much of Belle).  This morning after nursing, she was lying on my chest with her head against mine shaking it back and forth.  I thought she was saying, “Oh, no, Mommy.  I love you more.”  But really she was saying, “Oh, no, Mommy!  I’m about to-“

That’s right.  Right in my mouth.  Luckily it was closed.

And that’s life with Amelia who spits up to let me know she loves me.

30 Blog Challenge · Manic Monday

Manic Monday

Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

So lately I haven’t been saying nice things about Mondays.  But today wasn’t too bad.  It was manic alright.  I mean, there’s nothing like having to wave at your boss when you pull into the parking lot 10 minutes late on Monday morning.

But in my defense I was giving my baby extra kisses and prepping her Mimi that as of last night, Amelia is mobile.  On all fours.  Across the floor.  Off the carpet and onto the hardwoods.  Making a beeline for anything in her path that looks remotely edible (and apparently when you’re a baby everything looks deliciously edible).

But the Monday mania is over and the day has wound down and we’re watching You’ve Got Mail which I don’t think I’ve seen in at least five years and now I have the sudden urge to buy pumpkins and read Pride and Prejudice and get some coffee.

But if I drink coffee I’ll be up until Amelia gets up again and as any good mom knows, when the baby is sleeping so should you be.