Hey All,
Just wanted to take a moment out of the day to wish you all a fun and safe night. I hope that you are ringing in the new year with your loved ones and celebrating one heck of a 2015!
May all your dreams come true in 2016.
I know I have a lot to be grateful for in 2k15, especially a new job that I am loving, so I will make a promise to myself to carry on in this positive self reflection.
Even though is has been a busy couple of weeks, I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving.
I have so much to be Thankful & Grateful for at this moment and I know that the coming year will be amazing.
For me, this marks the beginning of the holiday season, so let's make the most of everyday! May your day be filled with lots of food, family & fun!
I didn't want October to end without wishing you all a very spooky, fun & safe Halloween!
From my family to yours...
Autumn is my favorite season. Mostly because my birthday is in October. As is my wedding anniversary. Basically, my family has adapted to the fact that the month of October is associated with ME.
I've told you all about my crazy google searches, my crazy diet fads and how I love to find new recipes. I follow Lauren Conrad's blog and she has a get fit section. I was reading up on her skinny jeans reboot and I came across some of her pages with recipes on it. I decided to give the low-carb lasagna a try. This recipe replaces the lasagna noodles with zucchini slices.
Family.
One word, six letters, a million meanings.
What does Family mean to you. I'm going to try and put into words what Family is to me.
Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I may have been born in the wrong time period. Growing up I wanted so much for life to be like the TV show Happy Days or the movie Grease (my favorite, by the way!). Hard-working dad, doting mom, happy siblings and friends that become part of your family. Poodle skirts and leather jackets optional, but the singing is required. Oh to sing & perform for a good time, what fun!
I have a dad who worked a lot, a mom that worked too, an older sister and younger sister. Perfect, the ideal family, right? Ummmm....no. My older sister and I are a year and a half apart bringing sibling rivalry to a whole new level. My little sister is five years younger than me. We tried, but were never really in sync back then.
***To be fair, now that we are older, my sisters and I have awesome relationships, even though we all live in different states. ***
If I had to describe my childhood in one word, it would be lonely. My mom's idea of punishment, aside from actually grounding us, was the Silent Treatment. To this day, I will scream bloody murder in your face if you ignore me. I hated walking into the house when my mom was in a bad mood. She will tell you that I have a mouth on me. I have never been the type to let someone just say whatever they thought, especially if I thought differently. Apparently I don't care who you are, either, because I will argue with my mom til I am blue in the face. It has only taken me til now to realize I can scream, curse and yell my point but people will not hear what they don't want to hear.
My sisters will laugh and say that the theme for my life is ♫"One of these things does not belong"♫ I like to consider myself normal. I have friends, I trust everyone until they give me a reason not to, I like to think I am friendly and somewhat outgoing and I believe that immediate and extended family are most important. My mom and my sisters are more not that way. They like each other and sometimes me, and that's about it. Really, I'm not joking even a little.
I escaped the loneliness with friends and music. I was constantly getting in trouble, and I couldn't tell you why. I was not a rebellious kid. No smoking, no staying out late, I can't lie to save my life and I generally just tried to stay under the radar and unnoticeable. (I think that only worked on boys, haha) I am pretty sure my mom and I have different interpretations on the type of kid I was. I don't know why, and I think that is what hurts the most at this point in my life.
One survival mechanism I've noticed is that if someone feels that another person has done them wrong, they will cut that person out of their life. I could never do that, or so I thought.
I started dating my hubby when I was 19. When we decided to move in together, the Internet was available to us and we were able to look for jobs online and out of state. For some reason we decided to move to PA. My parents, not being the social types, weren't especially nice to my boyfriend. But as soon as I said I was moving out with him they were his new best friend. Who cared that it was in another state, right? To be honest, we only lasted a year in PA. When we got engaged (to which my moms' reaction was , "oh, you must be so happy.", really that's what a mother says to her daughter who just called with the most exciting news ever???) I got depressed being so far away from friends and family and planning the wedding in NY anyway. So we moved back. By the time we did though, my parents had already moved out of NY themselves. I planned my wedding without them, we bought a house without them and I had my daughter without them around me. They came to my wedding, I had my mom and dad give me away. They came to see their first grandchild and I was able to show them the house we were buying. That's about as close as we are to each other.
I don't know if because once I got friends and starting dating my mom felt I didn't need her or what, but she got that into her head once and has never tried to change that for us. Ironically enough, all I ever wanted was for her to be proud of me and to act like a doting mom for just one moment. She used to say that I put people on some type of pedestal that no one can live up to. There was no pedestal, I just want her to act like my mom. Like get excited and help me plan my wedding. Jump for joy when I tell her that I am pregnant. Come visit when my kids are born. Be there on our big days. When my son was born, I kept asking when they were gonna come visit. By the time he was three months old and I realized they weren't coming I had had enough. How do you not want to run to see your new grand baby? How can you possibly find excuses to not travel as a grandparent? I just don't get it and I was tired of being hurt and not feeling important.
I can't say for certain who stopped talking to whom first, but I do know that my heart was broken. For three years my husband and kids became my center. Then other relationships starting changing too. That is when I realized maybe all I needed to focus on was my husband and children. The extended family I created in my world was just that. An extension of a circle. As long as me, the hubby, my daughter and son were happy and together my motto for everyone else was pretty much whoever wants to be in my world will be, if you don't then see ya around. I am not begging anyone to love me.
It took three years, but my mom did finally decide she missed me and my children. It was the greatest surprise of my life and the love I felt that day can never be taken away. For one moment in time my mom hugged me like I mattered and what didn't matter was whatever we had been angry about. It was in the past. And its been great since then.
Til last week. There was no strain on the relationship. No one saw it coming. Especially not me.
I will admit that I am a petty person. Or maybe jealous is a better word? It's my insecurity and I live with that cross to bear. It is how I know I am not perfect, and as much as I say I don't care, I know that I do. I know that when I get angry all those ugly thoughts come crashing around me. However, I am sane enough to know that I may not be innocent, but I am not always in the wrong either.
It must be me. I have the ability to make people walk away and not look back. It makes me sad to fight with loved ones. Maybe my mom was right. I have expectations for everyone in my life and when they don't live up to them they fall off those pedestals. If that is what I do to those I love, I hope to God I never do that to my children. I will pray on my hand and knees that I never make them feel they have disappointed me in any way. I will try like hell to not smother them but at the same time I will give them the best childhood I can and I will be by their side in all their critical moments. When they pick a memory to look back on, I will be in those memories because I was there. I make my vow now that my children and their children and so on and so forth will be loved, feel loved and know motherly love.
Family to me is the people in your life that no matter what are there for you and you are there for them when they need you, want you and include you. Family to me is the man who has given me my children and works so hard to give us all that he can, the daughter who keeps me awe and takes my breathe away with how smart and kind she is; the son who make me laugh even when he is being a scutch; the sister who can count on me in times of need but would give me her last piece of bread if I needed it; the sister I am so proud of and carries a burden she doesn't think I appreciate. Family to me are the ones who are happy to hear from me when I call, the ones who open their homes to me when I visit, the ones who are interested in what is going on in my life and want to tell me all about theirs. Family means to me is love, trust and honesty.
I am one excited mommy this week. My baby boy had his birthday and he is not a baby anymore. OK, maybe I am a little sad too. But he is so excited, it's a little contagious.
One cute little quirk in my son, he is a big on lists and planning. I know its weird, seeing as he only turned 6 this week, but I think he might have inherited that from me. So, each year his sister has had a celebration or party of some sort in June for her birthday, and he might have gotten jibbed as a baby...for the last couple years (since he could talk I guess) he has been naming what he whats to do for each of his birthday til he's 10.
Let me explain about this kids birthday, first. My children are 5 years apart. Before his first birthday we signed our daughter up for the local Pop Warner cheer program. One doesn't have to do with the other, right. You would think. But no. Unfortunately for my little guy, our daughter has either had cheer practice, a pep rally or a game to cheer for on his birthday. Also unfortunate for him is that I can not celebrate a birthday except for on the actual birthday. Meaning, I do not plan birthday parties or gatherings on the the weekend before or after a birthday. We celebrate on the actual day. No if, ands or buts. My excuse was always, 'Well, he doesn't know we aren't doing anything."
Obviously last year he was turning 5. That's a pretty big deal. Even though he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's (and normally I would be all for that because that is the easiest party planning you will ever do for your child) I just couldn't go all the way down into town one way and then head back in the other direction to get my daughter to cheer on time. Did I mention I was assistant coach on her squad, so I had to be there too? My plan was just to have him and his cousins play at the local bounce house, get pizza for everyone, leave early with my daughter then have cake just us after practice. I left him playing with his dad and cousins at the bounce house and I would see him later. It would be late night, but it was for a special reason. Worked out not too shabby, but he did say at the end of the night he wanted a party with his school friends next year at CEC. OK, baby, sure. Hmm....
Flash forward to this week, his next birthday. He has adjusted so well to his new school, made new friends...I couldn't deny him any longer. Plus, his sister hasn't started cheer yet. We are going to try another program this year, before she hopefully makes school cheer next year. Also, did you see what I did for his sister's birthday this year. Yeah, I'm gonna get in trouble in a couple years.
Sitting down with an excited almost 6 year old deciding on a party that is within reason and doable for everyone was not easy. He had lots of plans, but it ended up being his older sister who finally convinced him on on what he should do for his 6th birthday. And it had nothing to do with that fact that this was what she did for her 6th birthday.
I know, I have gotten this far and haven't even yet revealed the exciting theme yet. My lil guy had a basketball party! How perfect is that! We had signed him up for a few 9-week session of basketball for beginners. My hubby loves b-ball and is really hoping our son gets into it as much as he did. So this was kind of perfect. The local sports factory has party packages and it includes playtime, pizza and cake. Of course his cousins make up more than half the count and I felt the need to invite his whole 1st grade class, but I made it within the allotted number of kids.
The anticipation once we got the planning underway was more than this kid could handle. Everyday he was asking questions and making plans. So cute! We finally get to the day of and he could hardly count down the hours. Luckily for mommy he had school. Although I'd promise to bring his class treats. Now, this is one thing that I could never do for my daughter as her birthday is always during summer break. Hey look at that, he has something that is just his own tradition! He does have a few kids in the class with allergies, and in trying to be school-friendly and bought at the store, we decided on ice pops. His class sang to him and they were all excited for ice pops after recess.
I have attempted to start re-organizing my work. I have a list of stories I want to write that include notes and timelines, I have some completed short stories and a few beginnings that I am not sure where I want to take it. My binder and notebook are full, so I am looking for a new way to keep it all together. I have a couple of flash drives so that my work is saved.
Looking through one of the flash drives today I found a sweet story that I wrote a couple of years ago. Like the last one I shared with you, I had submitted this to a Writer's Digest Contest. Again, I never heard anything about it, but I like it and I hope you will too. It was a short story contest, so there is not alot of background to the story. But it is a story where the characters have a history, so you eventually get all the details needed. I had originally started this as a novel-to-be, but then when I wanted to enter the contest I scaled it down. I think I did a pretty job. I may be a little biased!
I once said that all it takes is a thought, a memory, a song, or anything really that can form an idea to create characters and tell the tale of how they fall in love. I remember sitting down and wanting to write this one. It came to me from a vision of a lonely girl sitting at a piano, picking at the keys, playing a very beautiful but maybe haunting melody. That was it. It got very long winded and detail-oriented. I took a look at what I wrote and loved the story, but not the words that I was using to tell it. At the same time I got some advice on sticking to the basics, write what I want told first, then fill in, I got an email about the contest. What better way to try than a Short Story contest.
Lo and behold this is what I came up with for "David's Melody". I hope that you will enjoy the story, and it will hook you in for the rest. If you like what you read, let me know in the comments and let me know if you would like to see it written out novel length. Any feedback is welcome! Enjoy...
The joys of parenthood are too numerous to list. As are the pains. We love our children with everything in our souls, I believe that. They can also drive us to drink, I'm pretty sure.
When you are about to be a new mommy or new daddy, whenever friends, family, co-workers or acquaintances find out your having a baby they offer you all sorts of advice. Everyone has a story, and everyone knows better than you.
I smiled, and listened to everything everyone said. Then promptly forgot it all. The one piece of advice I never did forget, though, was "Pick Your Battles".
Pick your battles, huh. OK, I can see the wisdom in that. Sometimes it seems like parenting is a never-ending uphill battle, so that would make sense. Let the kids think they've won every once in a while.
So, with that in mind, early on with my daughter, I decided to just let go of the wardrobe issue.
Remember when they are babies and you can dress them however you wanted. How cute you think they look in the most adorable clothes you could find? Yeah, then they turn 2/3 years old and want to pick out their own clothes for the day. You gently steer them in another direction, because honestly everything in their drawers and dressers you picked out anyway. Then they turn 4 or 5 and they want to pick out their own tops and bottoms at the store. A little bit of negotiating goes along way to make sure they have at least matching pieces.
So now we are going to school and picking out our own outfits. The day will come that those strong-willed little people will decide, "I WANT TO WEAR THIS AND ONLY THIS!". On that morning, the best thing to do is just say OK and walk away.
Pick Your Battle moment. Do you really want to argue at 7:00AM with a toddler. Have you ever tried to argue with a child? Doesn't go so well for me, at least.
So what if your 4 year old daughter goes to preschool with her party dress and beat up sneakers on? And maybe at 7 she thinks it is really cool to wear purple leggings with a long sleeved Christmas shirt and her cousins gray boots. In June. No problem. And when your son is 3 and has a favorite outfit, does it really matter that it is a green Jets tee with red shorts and camo socks? No, it does not. And when he is 5, running late for the bus in 1st grade, tell him to pull an outfit from his closet. When he comes over with plaid shorts and a striped shirt, you just laugh and go with it. Hey, it was the same color scheme, so it matched!
Back to school was yesterday! Oh my, our 4 weeks off was fun-filled and now it's over.
I have a 6th grader and a 1st grader. And both of them went to new schools, as well.
If you remember, we moved a few months ago, so even though they were able to finish out the school year by me driving to and from school each day, since our address changed that meant a new elementary school for my son. My daughter would be going to middle school so that actually did not change. Whichever address we were at, it would have been the same school.
Last month I took my daughter to orientation at her middle school. She was very excited, but it was still next school year. She hadn't finished 5th grade yet, so the reality didn't exist. Then the day before school was to start, it was open house. This is where she would get her schedule, agenda, gym uniform and meet her teachers. It was mass chaos and that is when I realized she was super nervous. She made me walk her hallway at least a dozen times. We practiced from where the bus would drop her off, find the 6th grade hallway, went to each classroom, to the gym, to her elective class and to the cafeteria. She practiced with her lock and asked where her locker might be. She got to see a couple of friends, and saw who would be in her classes.
We got home and put all her supplies together and labeled everything. She tried on the gym uniform and picked out her outfit. We distracted her a little with some Sparklers leftover from the holiday weekend and then it was time for bed. She asked me if we could have coffee in the morning together before school. I was about to say, 'What?', when she clarified she meant could she have hot chocolate when I had coffee. Whew, lets not rush time anymore that we have to, you know! I told her she'd have to wake up at about six in the morning. She was OK with that, to which I snorted because this little lady would sleep all day if you let her. I didn't hold my breath, but everyone took showers and off to bed it was.
My alarm goes off at 6am, I hit the snooze one time. I walk into her room to see if she still wants to wake up this early, thinking she is just gonna roll over. Um, hello...she wasn't even in her room. Me, still being disoriented was so confused, I check her bathroom, nope not in there. I hear something downstairs. I go down there and the girl is dressed and making her breakfast. The Keurig is on and she is pulling out mugs. What??? If I wasn't so out of it I am sure I would have laughed. But there she was, all excited and ready to go. I told her that I had to go get cleaned up and I'd be right down.
We drank our drinks, her dad came downstairs to see her off before he went to work. My son came down just a little before she and I needed to head out the door for the new bus stop. Got him dressed and out the door we all went. Our bus stop is not down the block where we can walk to or see from our front door, I have to drive the kids down the main road of our development just about the 3/10ths of a mile allowed by transportation. Wouldn't you know it, we get there and she gets out of the car, finds a new friend to talk to and doesn't even look back. Its a good thing my son came with me or I'd have been lonely. The bus pulls up and I did get a little wave, so that was nice. Bye for now my little girl.
Next up is my little man. We get back to the house and I give him his breakfast and drink. We have a little more time to pass, I let him watch some TV, but he was excited to go and kept asking when we leave. Finally it was time to get his backpack on and drive back to the bus stop. This time we both got out of the car and talked with another parent and child that was already there. His bus comes, and now I have no kids for the rest of the day. Am I sad, or am I speeding home to have a mimosa??? Just kidding, I went to a friend's house and we took her little kids to the pool.
I get home in the afternoon in time to go with my father in law to the bus stop for my daughter. He needs to know where the stops are for the days that I work. Here she comes, whoo hoo, I am so excited to see her I give her a big hug and ask how her day was. Her response, 'Eh'. After all that, all I get is a measly 'eh, its OK'. I ask her if it was better than she thought, was she nervous for nothing? She just said the classes seem shorter than she thought, but it was kind of a blur because it was the first day. She did have a little homework though. She told me to ask her again in a couple of weeks. Oh, OK, sure. No big deal, I guess.
We decide that we can leave her home for the little bit that we will be at the bus stop for her brother, so we head out again to pick him up. I see his bus pulling up to the stop, so I get out to greet him. This is the first time he is on a bus by himself. He used to have his sister with him. So, there is all the kids from the neighborhood, but where is my son? I look questioningly at the bus driver and she looks in her rear view mirror. Then I notice him waving at me through the window and he gets up. As he is stepping down off he has a big smile on his face and he says, 'I forgot this was my stop!', he laughs and gives me a huge hug. That is my boy, in a nutshell. It takes him about 3 seconds to tell me about his day and as soon as we get home he asks his sister how her school day was.
Everything was going to be fine. She was going to adjust to middle school just fine, and he is going to do great in a school all by himself. At the end of the day if I can say that with confidence, that is all that matters. Our normal after-school chaos resumes and as I fill-out and sign all the paperwork they both brought home, I smile to myself and think we always worry for nothing, it seems.
I am proud to say the kids had an amazing track-out and were ready to go back to school. They had play dates galore, I spoiled my daughter for her birthday, she also went to an away camp so my son got some one on one time with his parents for the first time ever. We took them to the movies and out to eat a bunch of times. I think some happy memories were made this summer break 2015. We aim to get through first semester and do it all again during fall break in September...
What do 11 year olds look forward to the most on their birthday?
Well, duh, their acceptance letter to Hogwarts, of course!
And how do you get to Hogwarts, you ask? By train, silly.
Let me explain to you how I pulled off the greatest birthday surprise, ever. (At least in our household, anyway)
First, I'll take you back six years ago. In 2009 my daughter made new friends in pre-school. She loved school and meeting all these new kids her age. They were just like her! Flash forward to the end of the school year and she has a new very best friend. The other mother and I decide to make sure the girls get together in the next couple of weeks before Kindergarten starts and they go to different schools.
Hello friends,
One thing I would to do with this blog, along with journaling my writing and bragging about my kids, is share yummy recipes I find online.
Nowadays, it's so easy to jump on the internet, search for something to make and create a delicious, possibly new, meal for your family. We can get creative, or fancy, even healthy. So many blogs out there now help with healthy eating, clean eating, low carb diet here, gluten free menu there, etc, etc.
For me, I tend to get on one kick or another and I try every other month to set up meal plans for myself and family. I look online for quick and easy dinner options. Sometimes they coincide with whatever fad diet I am working on. Sometimes I get a hit, sometimes I pick a dud. My family is awesome because they eat it, no matter what. Well, by 'they' I mean my husband and father-in-law (he lives with us). My kids, well, their eating habits would be a whole other blog entry.
Facebook is definitely a place where I have found new recipes to try. There is always something popping up in my news feed. One day I was scrolling through fb and a pasta dish came through. Now usually when it is getting close to figure out what to make for dinner if I see something that catches my eye, I'll open the recipe to see what its about. This recipe seemed easy enough, and as I went through the list of ingredients I realized I had everything. Score! Instead of just making the usual spaghetti and sauce, which is one of our go-to dinners, I was going to make this new recipe.
Well, let me just tell you - this is by far the most delicious pasta recipe I have tasted in a long while. Oh my god, yummy goodness at the very first bite! Even my both my kids enjoyed it.
Let me introduce you to the
Creamy Garlic Pasta recipe I found.
And I want to thank Jessi over at Nummies for You blog for sharing this recipe. The pasta is full of flavor and can be eaten as written in the original recipe, or as suggested by adding in chicken or vegetables.
I made the recipe just as is, I didn't add anything and I can't rave enough about how yummy it came out. It was like getting a really good pasta dish at a favorite restaurant. I have tried in the past to make recipes that copy a dish I ate out, but it never really tastes quite the same. This pretty simple pasta dish isn't the same old same old. Very tasty change for a pasta night in.
I really hope you will give a try and let me know what you thought. The next recipe I am going to try is from the same blog, a pumpkin alfredo pasta...can't wait to try this fancy dish. Happy Eating!
I really want this blog to be a place where I not only talk about my kids, but where I can journal my writing. Personal stuff has kept me from getting my thoughts and stories organized and I think I have been talking alot about my kids and what's going on in our lives.
I thought I would put a short story up. If you click on the tab at the top, "Young Love" is the first story I am sharing. Be gentle with your comments. ;)
I submitted this to a Writers Digest contest in 2012, I think. It's original title was "I Remember", but I think I changed it right before I submitted it.
I am pretty proud of the story. When I first decided to enter the contest, for some reason I had this thought to be different. What if I told the story from the male perspective? Personally, I think it came out really sweet. I never heard anything from WD, but that is OK, I didn't expect to win my first entry ever. I thought that I would get feedback or something, but aside from entry confirmation, I never heard anything. So, now this story is just in my files waiting to be read.
I hope that you enjoy my first story shared. More to come in the future, until then Happy Reading!
As a mom, I have noticed that when I decide to do something for one of my kids, I do everything in my power to make it happen. However, if I think to do something for myself, somehow it never gets done.
How does that happen?
Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I think it is quite funny. At least my kids will always know I am reliable. I just don't seem to be able to help myself. For example, the more I say I am going to start running again, the less inclined I am to get out and actually do it. There always seems to be a legit reason why I can't. Same thing with watching my diet, too, unfortunately.
Recently I made a promise to myself that as soon as we had a break from all the unpacking and our new house resembled a home, I would get cracking on my writing. It has been a while since I have written anything, I do realize it will be like starting all over again. I really want to dig in and re-organize my paperwork. But here we are, the house is a good as settled, and I still haven't looked at my writing folders.
Well...I did look at them. As a matter of fact I quite enjoyed the few moments I took to put away my books and my personal writing. I have a huge closet, so the hubby put an extra bookshelf/cabinet in there and that is where I decided to keep my books, schoolwork and writing binders/folders. Of course I sat and looked through all my class photos and yearbooks, which was packed away with my writing samples from high school and college. I had quite a good laugh over stuff I wrote in college. More than a little embarrassed over things I wrote as a teenager, but overall it was an awesome trip down memory lane. When it was all finally put away, I took a step back and realized I still don't have a minute to sit down and get my ideas organized to start writing full time yet.
I admit to feeling defeated and a little sad. What is it about the changes I'd like to do for me that I just can't get it together. Where is my motivation? Writing and publishing at least one romance novel has been a lifelong dream of mine. You'd think I'd be all over it, stomping on anything in my way.
I do have a game plan in mind. And it is centered on this blog. Once I get going, I know I will find my groove again, and hopefully I won't stop this time. The whole purpose for me setting up this blog was to keep up to date with my writing skills. Find my voice, if you will. Eventually I would like to create an ongoing short story that will be featured in the short stories page. But first I want to work on my first romance novel. I have lots of ideas, synopses, and partial chapters written. The OCD in me won't let me work on 'starting' another story until the first one I ever wrote is completely finished. Not that I have any idea when that would be.
At one point I thought it was finished. I even sent it out to publishers. I got a rejection letter, but that is OK, because there was some feedback. I worked on it some more, showed some friends, even put it on my first blog. I joined RWA and the local chapter and was put in a critique group. Of course my friends all praised me and thought the story was wonderful. My critique group did not like it so much. Nope, not at all. Talk about being crushed. I didn't quit then, but I stopped writing all together and eventually did decide the timing wasn't right for me.
But it was always there, nagging at the back of my mind. I can't give up, actually I won't ever give up thinking someday I will see my name on the cover of a book. I know that I say I can't find the time, so I am hoping that this blog, my online journal as I like to call it, will remind me that I have my own goals and that I can do this.
I will say bye for now, but I will be back before the end of the month with some news and progress. Until then, my friends!
Hello, Friends!
Here we are, on the last day of April. Did anyone ever tell you that the older you get, the quicker time flies. They weren't kidding. It seems the more plans I make and wait for, the sooner the events pass by.
I knew this month was going to be busy - we are still unpacking, my daughter's 5th grade overnight field trip was happening as was my nephew's First Holy Communion. All things I planned for at the end of last year, and now...it is all over. It has all come and go, and I am over here like
Happy Easter or Passover!
Spring has sprung. There is something wonderful about celebrating meaningful holidays as the weather is getting warmer.
We are still busy moving everything over to the new house and unpacking. It is really overwhelming, which surprises me. The hubby and I have moved a few times in our life together and I have never been this consumed with the unpacking process.
It is alright, though. I will not let it stress me out. We have a lifetime to make it perfect, right?
Holidays are a time for reflecting and rejoicing. I grew up believing that the more friends I had and the bigger I made my family, the more I would be loved. Or feel loved. I now see that I was looking at it all wrong. Yes, you can have lots of people around you all the time or you can try to plan the most wonderful holiday celebrations, BUT only the people who truly want to spend the time with you are worth having there at all. It took major drama for me to take a step back and realize that even if it is just me, the hubby and kids, then that is all I need. No amount of friends coming over, in-laws feeling obligated or family members not really wanting to stop by will make the day feel accomplished. I know that I just end up with an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach because I have forced something.
I used to try and plan 'wonderful' holiday get togethers, the more the merrier; whoever can make it, come on over. After I took my rose-colored glasses off, I realized 'well, gee, no one really wanted to be here, and look at that - the four of us just had the most special time together!'.
Sometimes I do miss having the house full of every person I know, but I can appreciate spending quality time with the most important people in my life. When the time is right, I'll have that great big family get together that I would like to have for my side of the family; but until then, me and the hubby will just spoil those two creatures we created and show them that celebrating equals family.
My door is always open to those that want to share time with us, and I hope those in my world know that.
And if I don't get to share the holiday with them, my wish is that they are enjoying their celebrations.
Sending hugs and kisses to you all!
Greetings everyone!
You may have noticed a time lapse since the last entry. It's all good, though...I took the kids to visit my parents in Arizona and then when we got back, my husband and I closed on a new house.
Since then, we have been packing and moving slowly into the new place. How exciting for us. It's so beautiful and new. :)
Let me rewind a bit though. Not sure if I have mentioned this before, but my kids go to a year-round school. Basically they have 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off. Give or take. Their school year goes from July through to the end of May. So, every once in a while we get to take vacations on off times. March happened to be really busy for the hubby at work, so I took the kids to AZ for a week. My parents live there, along with my younger sister and her family. I haven't been to visit in a really long time, and I forgot how beautiful it is. It was so wonderful being there again, and relaxing with my family.
We didn't do much, but that ended up being just perfect. I really just wanted to see my parents and for my kids to enjoy some time with their grandparents and cousin. My daughter had been there, but she was 1.5 the last time we went. My son has never been there before and he had a grand old time. My niece is 9, just one year younger than my daughter, so they had the longest play-date ever. While my son sat around talking Nonnie & Poppy's ears' off, my daughter and my niece got along so well. They played, watched TV and played on their tablets together. Who knows what they were actually doing, but they kept giggling and showing one another their electronics, so at least they were interacting.
We went from a Wednesday to Wednesday and it was bittersweet leaving. I know that it is good to get back home and into the swing of normal routine, but leaving family is always hard. Luckily though, the next day we closed on a new house, and have been busy ever since.
That brings me to Our New Home! This is so exciting. We sold our house last May and decided to rent while we looked for what we wanted. Our lease ends this May, so we have plenty of time to move in on our own pace.
We bought the kids some bedroom furniture and they were super excited. Picking out a refrigerator was fun for us because in the rental we have the smallest fridge ever. We call it our son's personal fridge, lol. We got the biggest one that would fit in the spot that we could afford. It looks good, now I can't wait to fill it up.
Right now, we're just using our minivan to make runs back and forth, moving in as we pack. We are going to need movers for the big stuff, but we can wait a bit longer. I can't wait to be in the new place fully, but everything worth waiting for always takes a little time, right?
Next up, I am hoping that once I get a chance to sort all my personal boxes and go through my writing notes, I can re-organize my stories and get something up on this blog. Fingers crossed it doesn't take me too long to unpack. Until then my friends, sending much love and happy thoughts!
This is a school year we have been waiting for. As my kids are 5 years apart this is the only time they will ever be in the same school together.
My daughter is in 5th grade and my son is in Kindergarten. For the last 7 school years (pre-k-5th) all fundraisers, fun runs, jump-a-thons, etc have been totally geared for my little girl - ONLY. Imagine my surprise when I realized 'oh gee, my son is going to do all this now, too.' My solution? As the parents, my husband and I supported whatever school function was going on, but that was it. No asking relatives and friends. No social media saying 'hey y'all, my beautiful daughter is doing (insert activity) let me know if you can support her.'
Needless to say, the girl was not happy! LOL. She had been getting prizes and attention galore all these years. Now she has to share support with her brother. It was not all about her and what she can do.
It's not only the fundraisers I'm talking about either. Let's not forget all the school functions, parties, meetings and projects. So when it is Dr. Seuss' birthday week, it is not just about what she needs to dress up at school; hello, my son needs a costume, too! Oh boy! And let me tell you, it is not that easy to just throw something together for a boy. My daughter has clothes and dress up clothes; my son is lucky if he has two weeks worth of school outfits. (not really, but you know what I mean, he definitely does not have the same amount of clothes as his sister)
So when its celebrating reading week at school it is now time to send two kids to school all dressed up in characters. It was a little chaotic the beginning of this week, trying to figure out what they wanted to do. The kindergartners had to dress up as letterland characters and the 5th graders needed to dress as their favorite character from a book.
(Letterland characters are the characters used to teach children the sounds for each letter. http://www.letterland.com/parent-guide/alphabet-sounds)
Well it all worked out. My son was Fix-it Max (X) and my daughter was her version of Hermoine Granger (Harry Potter). And they left the house happy as clams.
In the end, that is really what it is all about. Who cares about the stress from figuring out who is going to wear what or will I get to see both kids at the school function; will they both know that I am there. When they get on the bus or off the bus with smiles on their faces and both talking over each about their day - that's my happy mom moment!
Today is laundry day. I love to listen to my music when I put the laundry away. Yes, I sing and dance while folding/hanging our clean clothes. What - it's fun!
The other night I was on youtube and I came across the full album 12 Inches of Snow by Snow (you remember "Informer"...right?) So, that is what I am jamming to right now. My favorite song on the album is Lady with the Red Dress.
Hello! Welcome to my new blog! I have tried my hand at this before and it didn't work out the way I wanted. I love the idea of a blog, or journaling my thoughts. My mind races at any given time, and this seems the perfect outlet for my many moods and ideas. I am intrigued about the idea of putting my thoughts out there for anyone to read and comment on.
I find the internet helpful and addicting. You can search for anything at any given time. There's no judgement and you can learn so much, find so many things. I, for one, am constantly looking for new recipes to try, listening to music, scrolling facebook, entering contests, keeping up with my favorite authors, oh my gosh, so many things. My most favorite is taking pictures of my kids. And to think, once I do...the pics are uploaded to my cloud and all of the sudden I can post and share how awesome they are.
Well, I hope that you will find my thoughts and observations interesting and that you will keep in touch. I don't mind putting myself out there and I would love to learn more about you. I will share my story ideas, my personal life, new recipes I try and all crazy kinds of things with you. Maybe you will have some similiar stories to share.
Here's to new friendships!
xoxoxo
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13671629/?claim=f2h36tjw997">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
