One Word: Connect

My word for this year is 'connect'. I want to do a better job at connecting with those important people in my life. So often we get caught up in the busy-ness of life...homework, soccer, baseball, laundry, bills, errands, haircuts, doctor appointments, and did I mention laundry? Often we forget to make enough time for the really important things. I'm very conscious these days of the times I say "yes" to my kids vs. the times I say "no". I try really hard to find as many things as possible in a day to say "yes" to if I can. More importantly, if I feel that I can't, I hesitate to figure out why and if it's some old conditioning that says "don't stop in the middle of loading the dishwasher to do something else" - I take a good look at the something else. Most times that something else is a sweet request from my son to play a game, or from my daughter for help with a puzzle. Guess what? The dishes will still be there when they go to bed!
I've also found that I am a much happier person when I make time to reminisce with my husband about our older, funny memories as it reminds me of why we first fell in love. And, I can never go wrong with some quality ME time. I've stopped worrying about whether or not my siblings will be busy if I call and now I just call. Another piece of the puzzle that is really important is making time for my friends. So often I lose myself in the role of mother (don't get me wrong, I love it!) that I forget what the rest of me is all about. Recently I've been surrounding myself with friends, some new, some old and I truly feel happy! :-) I'm sure you've heard the old saying that I'll paraphrase for my own needs... if Mama is happy, then EVERYONE is happy!

Library of Memories

I'm taking a class online called Library of Memories and it is absolutely wonderful! It's about organizing your pictures in a way to help you make connections and capture the memories that are really important rather than just slapping photos and captions on a page. A recent assignment was to create a page noted your Least Common Layout. If you had asked me before the assignment I would've said that I did a pretty good job of capturing the people we love on my layouts. However, after looking through my books, I noticed that all the people were certainly represented but there was not much in the way of describing why they were special and what I loved about them. So as a jumping off point I decided to do a layout about my Dad and his nickname, Fossil, and also why that nickname has evolved into so much more than just a endearing term for Grandpa. I'm looking forward to looking at my photos in a new light and being sure to capture the wonderful and quirky personalities of those I love in order to preserve them for us now and for future generations.

Do you have a monkey?

This is a question I've been asked more than once at the grocery store. You see, both of my boys are avid health shake drinkers (so we go through 6-8 pounds of bananas per week). No need to scroll down through my posts to see if I forgot to mention another son, I still only have one boy and one girl, but as you'll recall, I also have a husband. My mother, just days before my wedding, gave me the best piece of marital advice, she said "always remember that your husband is your oldest child". At the time I laughed, listening but not really understanding, however now I totally get it. Hence, the "my boys" comment.

My darling hubby is seriously a kid at heart - sometimes it's endearing, sometimes it's infuriating, but it all washes out. In fact, when we first moved into one of our old neighborhoods, the kids told he and my son to "go ask your mother" if they could play - and they meant me!! Now, keep in mind I am 17 months older than him, but it's not as if I'm a gray hair and he's a young chippee - it was totally behavior based :-) So you see, sometimes I feel married, sometimes I feel like I have three children instead of two, and well, sometimes I just feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of monkeys!

Resulting scrapbook page:

It's ok to be me

It's so nice to have a friend that I can just be me with. No worries, no pretentions, no falsehoods - just me, plain and simple. I'm am very lucky to have someone close by that I can let my hair hang down and just be ME. I hope everyone has as least one person like that!

Stef & I at Halloween, the cowboy and the convict - so much fun!

Library of Memories: Decade in Review

So many wonderful things have happened over the last ten years. While sorting through my photos for my online class I thought it would be cool to do a 10 year snapshot - so here it is.

Dad Survived a Heart Attack (2 years ago)

Written two years ago but never posted:

Last Tuesday was the scariest day in my life. At noon, my sister called to tell me my father had a heart attack. For the first time ever, I didn't know what to do. I'm usually the organizer, the planner, the control freak ~ but I was dumb-founded it was so unexpected. Fortunately, my sweet husband took over and got all the kids and pets organized and we jumped in the car on our way up north. Because I was the furthest away, my other siblings got there before me and I wasn't able to make it back home until after visiting hours were over. My heart sank when the clock struck 9pm, knowing the nurses wouldn't let me in to see my Dad. Although I had been reassured by my other family members that he was OK, I just really needed to physically see him to know that was true.

Here is a layout I created a few months ago to show how we are so glad he is still with us.

The Sweetness of Snuggling

This morning, like many recent mornings because of the excess of snow and lack of school, I had the distinct pleasure of snuggling with my two favorite little 'ladies'. My DD is 7 and our DP {Darling Puppy, named Lady btw} is 21 pounds of snuggly, licky fun. She is a dachshund-beagle mix and has snuggled and licked her way into our hearts ever since we rescued her just 5 short months ago. I just had to mention how lucky I am to be married to a man who is willing to work two jobs in order for me to have the maximum amount of time with my kids during these formative years.  I am one lucky girl! To top it off, during above mentioned snuggling, my DD looks at me and says "I'm so lucky that God picked you to be my Mom". So, in true Mom fashion, I nuzzle my nose into her baby shampoo smelling hair and cry tears of joy. It is certainly a good day to be me.

Snow Much Fun!

A popular topic has obviously been the snow that has been poured down on our area in very large quantities... what this has meant for me though was an unexpected winter vacation with my kids. Since summer vacation ended, the leisurely days of sitting around in our PJs eating popcorn and watching movies at noon have since vanished. In the midst of the wintery wonderland I've been reminded of how lucky I am to now be a stay-at-home-mom of almost a year. Sure there are moments, especially in these last two weeks of an unexpected school vacation, where I've said, 'I wish they had school today'...however, I know all too soon, they'll be all grown up and their favorite place to be will NOT be up my kazoo.  I try to laugh and find some humor in that now to keep me sane even though as I write this my daughter is sitting on the floor next to my desk and has asked me at least a dozen questions during the course of this post. Now I am off once again to get the requested crafty item, because after all, how can I say no to "Mommy, can you print out a picture of Fossil & me so I can make a scrapbook page?"...those are certainly beautiful words to hear for more reasons than one!

Not so fast, please

Recently, during a playdate, Summer & her friend Jillian decided to play with make up. I gave them the ok as long as we could wash it off before we had to leave the house. Both girls had a blast applying lip gloss, blush and eyeshadow and surprisingly we did not end up with crazy looking clowns. What we did end up with however is a flash into the future, as I looked at my daughter's face I could see her growing up right before my eyes. Gone are the chubby, baby cheeks and the baby teeth. Her piercing blue eyes have, of course, remained but now they are surrounded by the face and curiosity of an elementary school girl trying to be fashionably girlie yet somehow still a tom-boy. I was able to capture the perfect picture as she looked up at me beneath the beautiful blonde locks and her dreamily long eye lashes. My little girl, my pretty girl - oh, how I wish you could stay this age forever, don't be in a hurry to grow up, at least not so fast, please.