"You Like Me, You Really Like Me"

Facebook has changed so many little things in our lives.
Take, for instance, our birthdays. Anyone out there who has a Facebook account knows that this is your wall's big day. I feel like I should get it all spiffied up and ready for company. But now I am to overwhelmed with the birthday love to worry about it.
As Sally Field said in her famous Oscar acceptance speech,"I can not deny, you like me. Right now, you really like me!"

My favorite part about all this is that your birthday starts a bit early. My first birthday post was a couple of days ago from my aunt who is going to be out of town. She wanted to wish me a happy birthday, so she did it early as to not miss it.
So at that point, I decided that it was on! It was officially my "birthday season!" haha
And now, tonight, I had a lot of birthday wishes. It's the greatest! "Why?" you ask... because my birthday is not until tomorrow!!!!
This is the greatest! Extended birthday!
Thank you to all of you who took out a little time from your day to write me. It really does mean a lot.

A couple of examples of how sweet my people are. I love you all!!!!!!

Mother Nature's Wedding

This is that time when the brutal Winter Lion marries the welcomed Spring Lamb. And you can certainly see Mother Nature preparing for the wedding.  She has draped white, pink, and yellow all over everything that is standing still and I love it.

This is my favorite time of the year in our neighborhood. The true peak only lasts for about a week, but boy is it beautiful!

What was snow on the ground just a few weeks ago, is now flower pedals sprinkled atop the grass. Or in keeping with the wedding metaphor, Mother Nature's version of the rice covered exit for the bride and groom.

These trees take center stage for a short time of the year.

They are even beautiful on a cloudy day.

***This is a re-post from my personal blog last year***

Have You Ever....

Have you ever had that song that made you cry every time you listened to it.... even if you've heard it 1000 times?

Pink's "Glitter In The Air" is that to me. I am so touched by the idea of the lyrics that it just brings automatic tears to my eyes. Who'd have thought tough-girl Pink could do that.... but that's why she's so brilliant.

There are so many things in that song that make me realize, that I should have no regrets. I am who I am because of my experience and I should make no apologies for it... but... I should learn from it.

The same ideas start bubbling up in me as the ones from "I Hope You Dance,". The idea of letting nothing pass you by. Enjoying the little things. The idea of never letting fear stop you... fear of making a mistake, fear of making a fool of yourself, fear of getting hurt. Take those risks, you can't miss out because you're too afraid to try. The result of overcoming fear is what builds character... more so than the events that work out for you just the way you wanted them to.

Have you ever thrown a fist-full of glitter in the air?

Photo from Breezy CA on Flickr


Back in the fall, that song was on my training playlist for the Nike Women's (1/2) Marathon. I usually listened to it when I was on my way back home, running down the road back to my family.

That's usually when the emotion of what I was doing used to hit me. It was after the ache had set in yet I had gotten past it. It was after the exhaustion tried to overcome me, but I overcame it. It was after those little personal demons had crept in to tell me I wasn't good enough to do this, but I rejected their nagging feeling and told myself that I was. This song reminded me to live the experience. It also made me wonder if my mom had ever.... Maybe that's why it makes me cry every time I hear it and it makes me cry to even type this.

I thought back then that I would create a series of posts on my blog entitled "Have You Ever?" and each of the posts would be a "bubble" from these inspiring lyrics. Then my kids would know that yes... we have. We've experienced life, truly lived it, and learned how to appreciate it.... good or bad. That's about all I can ask for as a mother. I know that both sides are going to creep in, and truth be told, as much as I don't want them to ever hurt, even more so, I don't want them to miss out.

So I look forward to posting our "Have You Ever..." posts that show how we are living life.

Who knows, maybe it will inspire others to do the same.

The Monster Truck Oxymoron

This post is a bit of a literary lesson. Take a look at this picture. What do you think? A great post title or what? Hehehe.

This is how Drew lined his trucks up the other day when he was finished playing with them. So nice and neat!

Another Bath Time Post

I'm surprised poncho vendors haven't set up shop outside of our bathroom door!

You would think you were at the Niagra Falls Tour when you are in my bathroom with both of our kids. Drew and Emma love to splishy splashy around in the tub.

Ya'll know bath time is one of my favorite times of the day. The kids are so funny and everything smells so innocent and clean. I love it, but it's starting to get a bit drenched in there.

It is for that reason, and the fact that Emma loves to hold her breath and put her face under, that we've gotten to the point where we can only put a little tiny bit of water in the tub with her.

Yep, you read that right.... she holds her breath and puts her face under...... scares me to pieces, but she loves it. She's such a dare devil when it comes to water.... and her mama's not at all!

So we bath her in the super-shallow end to keep it as safe and dry as possible in our bathroom.

Drew is just the poor innocent little one playing with his "wabba duckies" off to the side (yeah right). And he'll be the first one to tell you that Emma is being messy and he's being a good boy when really he's instigated the whole thing. But the moment he flashes that "I know your not buying this for a second, Mama" smile, I break and let it go smiling right back at him.

I caught a couple of cute moments with them last night that I thought I'd share.

Do you see what I mean about the splashing!?!

She loves playing with her scoop.

Here she goes! She's about to hold her breath.

This is how happy she is after putting her face under the water.

I have to say that she is a cutie!

She just figured out that her brother has gotten into the tub with her

Her brother makes her so happy!

Nothin' sweeter than a clean baby in her bed.

She and Daddy are playing peek-a-boo before bedtime

She loves playing with her daddy