Welcome back to day 8 of “One Word, One Goal-2012″. I don’t know about you, but I look forward to it every day!

(ps…I’ve had a lot of people share their One Word posts with me via comments or e-mail. I wish I could feature them all! But, I promise at the end of the event we’re gonna have a place for EVERYONE to share! Deal?)

Today’s guest is the author of one of the VERY FIRST blogs I started following. Something about her blog name made it so I KNEW I would love her blog from very first glance. I LOVE simplicity.

Steph from Somewhat Simple

Now, I’ve had the fantastic opportunity of getting to know Steph in-real-life as well as online. And I get to go hang out with her in a couple weeks in California. (so excited!)

Somewhat Simple is one of those blogs where you can get inspiration for ALL KINDS of things. From decor, to creativity, to being a Mom and woman.

(I SERIOUSLY needed this little guy last night when I started bagging up toys and threatening to take them to the thrift store where they could be given to “little children who would take care of them!”)

And mostly, I just have to say that Steph is hysterical, and super kind. I’ve outed her before on this, but one time I totally forgot about getting a guest post to her, and she bailed me out. I was seriously bawling, I felt so bad. And she was so kind. After that, I loved her forever.

So let’s see what Steph has for our series today…..

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Perhaps my greatest blessing in life is the chance I have to be a mom to these 4 darling kids. I adore each of them and I’d like to think the feeling is mutual! I love being a mom and I wouldn’t trade this job of mine for anything in the world. But as with anything in life, I know I can do better, which is why this year, my efforts in becoming a better mom are summed up with the word

EMBRACE.

Kids grow up way too fast, and I want to embrace every single second of this time that I have with them. I don’t want to look back and wish I had taken the time to play longer, to laugh harder, to teach better, and to hug tighter. I don’t want their childhoods to slip through my fingertips.

I want to hold them tightly and tickle them with kisses ‘til their sweet belly-laughs fill my ears and are impossible to forget.

I want to find joy in the little things.

I want to be the kind of mom who can put down whatever she is doing to play Candy Land with her kids.

I want to bake and cook in the kitchen with at least 1 kid standing on a kitchen chair next to me- {perhaps in a matching apron!}

I want to be the kind of mom who takes pictures- lots and lots of pictures- of the types of things you don’t set up a backdrop for; the everyday moments that make you both happy, and frustrated. The details you never want to forget- the smiles, the scowls, the messy faces and dirty feet.

I want to be the kind of mom that lets the phone go unanswered and turns the TV and computer off because her child is yelling, “Mom, watch this” from the backyard.

I want to embrace motherhood in its entirety- to appreciate the fun parts, and learn to laugh at the hard parts.

I want to focus on embracing the blessings that make my life fabulous!

I made the following printable for my home that I will keep framed next to my bed. Feel free to download it is you’d like to!

Embrace Printable

I hope this will be the reminder I need to stop for just a second longer and embrace those precious kids of mine. They grow so fast, and I don’t want to miss a single second of the time we have to spend together! Cheers!

You’re right Steph.  Embracing all those moments is SOOOO important.  In my own life, having lost my Dad at a very young age, I can totally attest to the need to “embrace” every moment.  You never know. 

Plus….embrace makes me think about hugs.  And they are one of my favorite things in the whole wide world!

Go over and visit Steph at Somewhat Simple.  You will not be disappointed!