Ballerina!

Keira took her first ballet class today! She's been sooooo excited about becoming a ballerina. The outfit was very important....of course it had to be all pink. She was very serious and attentive to everything her teacher said. I can't believe my baby is big enough to take ballet already!

Happy Birthday Kim!!

My dear friend Kim turned 40 this week!! To celebrate we had a 1970's Dance Party! Blue eye shadow, polyester, gold chains and disco ruled the night.
Everyone had so much fun and totally got into the spirit of the night. Of course, the free flowing spirits helped quite a bit. A bit too much Tanqueray and Tonic on my part......slept until about 3 today.....but hey, that was partying in the '70's right??!!??

Happy Birthday Breck Girl!!

My Precocious Princess

Oh My Darling Daughter! I'm never sure what she will do or say next!

This morning we had 30 spare minutes between dropping the boys off at school and having to drop her off at school. That's plenty of time to run to the grocery store and Starbucks.....until I run into a friend I haven't seen for awhile. While she and I chatted, Keira began expressing her iritation at the fact I hadn't bought her a muffin or coffee from Starbucks or doughnuts from the grocery store. Gema and I were just ignoring her ranting until, in her lovliest voice, Keira says, "Mommy, don't make me fire you!"

Ah ha! So my friend gets to see the "true essence" of Keira and me....well we jumped right into the car, zipped up to her school and blessed her teachers with her presence this morning.

Oh So Sad

This is my dear friend Julie .... She's 28, a wife and mother to 2 beautiful little girls.

Julie has always had asthma but right before Thanksgiving she really began having trouble breathing. The doctors upped the amount of meds in her inhaler and some other things but nothing seemed to be working. In the last few weeks every breath has been a struggle for her. Yesterday she had to be taken to the ER and through the course of this weekend the news is this.....

Julie basically has end stage emphysema...she's never smoked or lived with any smokers, never has had any jobs that would put her lungs at risk....it's all baffling to the doctors. When I left the hospital today the Drs. were in the process of getting paperwork filled out to get her transferred to a lung treatment center.....in a nutshell that means she will be on the list for a lung transplant and it needs to happen sooner than later.

This has happened so rapidly....all of us that love and care about her and her family are trying to rally around and support them with positive faces and attitudes.....but at the same time we're struggling with what the future holds for them.

If you are a praying person could you please lift them up in your prayers? Julie is a true woman of faith and knows that her God is in control of all of this and His will is what will be done. But as for me, my will is that she will be healed fully and completely and soon.

My Next Tattoo

I really think I need to get a tattoo that reads

JUST SAY NO

Why is it so hard for me to tell people NO??? I think I am just one of those "people pleasers"....never wanting to disappoint anyone but then totally burning myself out because I can't say No when I should.

Maybe if I learn to say no in some foreign languages it might make it easier.....any suggestions?

I've Quirked My Son!

Yes! My poor son is going to turn out as quirky as I am.....is it because he's the first born and I just coddled him too much or (spoken with horror) is it because he's like me?!?!?!




He's no Monk but here are some examples :

- He agreed with me that color coding his Legos was a good idea so we have a box for each color
- He won't let his friends come into our house unless they take off their shoes first
- He's totally grossed out if someone puts their hands or mouths on a faucet
- He can only sleep if he's given the "tight tuck" first
- Shoes cannot be tied and if they are they have to be tied around his ankles

I know some of these things seem totally normal, but he's only 7 and I listen to him talking to his friends about some of these and other things and his friends just look at him like he's from another planet!

I Resolve to Resolve

I've never made New Year's Resolutions....I've always thought that if there was something about me that needed to be fixed I should do it right then and there....not wait until the New Year.

Last year I did this layout for the Diva Contest at ScrapAddict
but I hadn't even thought about it until today. Looks like I went 1 for 3, Greg went 1 for 3, Keira went 2 for 3 and Kade went 3 for 3! Leave it to my overachieving son to meet all this goals!!

So this year I am actually going to come up with sincere resolutions and consciously try to achieve them. I think 4 will be enough - one for every three months. So here we go.....

1. Lose 8 pounds - harder than 5 but easier than 10 and doesn't everyone have some kind of weightloss goal??

2. Be a better listener - really try to hear what other people are actually telling me

3. Get a layout or project published....I guess this is my selfish goal....I think it would be very cool to see something I have created in print

4. Trust and never doubt my faith

So what about you??