Treasures...

While cleaning out a drawer recently I found all these treasures from my girls!! McKenzie made me this ornament when she was 8 years old (7/2002) and the treasure box with shells glued to it in preschool in 1998. The next 2 pictures I thought were all from Megan, but the box full of coupons is actually from McKenzie! I'm not sure how old she was when she gave it to me-- probably around 4th grade to later elementary school judging by her writing. The dolphin figurine was given to me by Megan for Christmas in 2003 when she was 7. The "World's Best Mom" necklace was given to me for Mother's Day when she was 6 and I wore it proudly to church that Sunday! (2002) The bowl-- I think it is a candy dish-- was given to me by Brooke. I wrote her name on it, but it doesn't have a year on it anywhere-- I'm guessing early elementary school and I think it was a Mother's Day gift. (It's some kind of melted plastic!) All of the hearts were from Katelyn! She hand stitched all the pillow hearts from early elementary age, although none of them have dates, and she continued making them into late elementary age. She made these over quite a long period of time! I would periodically find them on my pillow and other places, sometimes with a sweet little note! She found the large rock that is heart-shaped on the beach on some family vacation and gave it to me. She carved the 2 small hearts with a knife out of small rocks she found!! (I can't believe she did this! Probably not too safe! Yikes! Hahaha!) She gave me the little red felt heart. The glass white heart was actually given to her in first grade by the counselor at school. Katelyn was having problems adjusting to 1st grade and being away from me and she missed me during the day. The counselor gave it to her to hold in her hand or put in her pocket and to get out and hold during the school day whenever she felt sad or missed me! She kept this heart for a long time--I must've found it somewhere and held onto it. I'm surprised she didn't eventually lose it! I know it really helped her to adjust and I don't remember the issue lasting too long.

I love all these treasures and they take me back to a simpler time. My girls have always been so sweet, kind and loving, but I really miss when they were little and I was their hero! These sweet little gifts always made me feel so loved and special.