Wordless Wednesday
Apple Trees and Monkeys
Sunsets
I always love when it gets cooler, not only is it a break from the heat, it brings some of the most beautiful sunsets. Unfortunately, I live in an area surrounded by houses. That has been my only regret living in the a neighborhood amongst all the houses. It seems I cannot get a full view of the setting sun. I was able to get a shot earlier in the week where they haven’t begun to build. I am still on my quest to find a place where I can photograph the sunset.
Celebrate Umi’s 6th Birthday!
We love Umi shoes and they are having a great sale to celebrate their 6th Birthday! September 14-17, you can save 15% on all online orders when you use the code Bday6. Happy Birthday Umi!
Kroger Add Up The Savings Winner
September 11, 2010 by Laurie
Filed under Closed Contests, Contests, General
Congrats to the winner of the Kroger Add uP The Savings Event!
Breyers Giveaway Winners
Congrats to the winners of the Breyers Smooth And Dreamy Giveaway….all winners have been emailed!
Breyers Sundae Scoop-Off Contest
Who doesn’t love ice cream? One of my most favorite parts of the warmer weather and even the Fall is to sit outside with the boys enjoying some ice cream. Ice Cream is a great way to bring the family together and enjoy a tasty treat that even has a history.
There are so many incredible and yummy treats you can create with ice cream. You can load it up with sprinkles and hot fudge (which is my favorite) or eat it straight out of the container. Either way, it is truly and indulgence.
I wanted to let you in on a fabulous contest that Breyers is running.
Breyers® is in search of the next great sundae with the Sundae Scoop-Off Contest and you could have a chance to win! From now through September 13, 2010, the Sundae Scoop-Off Contest is challenging America to create original, family-friendly ice cream sundae recipes including 10 or fewer ingredients. View complete contest requirements and enter the recipes at www.breyers.com for a chance to win $10,000, a trip to Chicago featuring a private cooking lesson with renowned pasty Chef Gale Gand and one years supply of FREE Breyers® ice cream. The sundae recipe entries will be judged on taste, creativity, use of Breyers® ice cream and presentation.
This is a perfect excuse to get to the store pick up some Breyer’s ice cream and if anything, indulge in a little sundae making with the entire family. If you brainstorm, who knows what you can create!!!!
“This post is a blogger promotion on behalf of Breyers and I may receive product as a result of my post.”
What Is It With Bugs and Boys?
What is it with boys and bugs? Why is it that, they must bring them to me like a cat brings you a dead mouse or a bird?
I am a girl! And I do not like the creepy and the crawly, and somehow God had a sense of humor and gave me two very bug loving boys. We have to search for worms in the garden and aptly name all of them. Anything that has legs, we have to put in a cup or a jar and examine. As long as there is a screen that separates me and the creepy crawly, I am ok, but sometimes I am not so lucky.
My husband laughs at me, when I am squealing out in the garden, and I am sure I amuse the neighbors with my arms flailing and me running from what may appear to them as the air. Thankfully, I do have boys and a husband and anything I see, they can go and get. I guess you could say I have a pretty good set up! Thank heavens for little boys, gloves, and bug spray.
Jack and the Beanstalk, and A Child’s Imagination
We recently picked up some of the fables and fairy tales, at the library. It had dawned on me that I had never read any of the classic fairy tales, that I knew as a child. My husband and I spend the time before bed reading two or three books to the boys and they look forward to it each and every night.
The most wonderful thing about being so young, or being four years old, is the ability to have an imagination and engage in imaginative play. And if you think they aren’t paying attention when you read to them, they are! I love to see how their little minds work, and as an adult you find yourself going back to your own childhood experiences.
I was doing my normal evening clean up while the boys were on a walk with their dad. When one of them came running in the house, shouting “mommy! mommy! I brought you something!” He held out his hand, “guessssssss what mommy, guess what you can do with these!, and filled my hand with mostly acorns and something I could not identify.
“Mommy you can plant these magic nuts in the ground and grow a giant beanstalk so you can reach the sky!” All I could do was smile.
Encourage your child’s imagination and you might get a few of these!
Legos
Both of the boys love playing with legos, but one of my sons his a fanatic about them! Before he got a bunch of them for his birthday, I was busy trying to pre-plan ways in which I could keep them together and organized to avoid stepping on them in the middle of the night and losing sets before we even got started.
On any given day we can spend an hour or two sitting around the big bin of legos on the floor building an ice cream shop, a construction vehicle, or anything that their little minds can imagine. For their birthday, I got them the legos wheel set, so they could put wheels on anything, and got some of the basic brick sets. Growing up I didn’t have legos, mainly because it was considered mostly a boy’s toy I guess, but now I find myself enjoying digging through the lego bin with both of my boys.
The best part about having legos, is that there are no rules if you don’t want them. You can build an alien, or a house or whatever your mind can imagine, or you can try your skills at building one of the bazillion and very cool sets they have to offer. The boys both turned four, and they love the smaller legos vs the duplo sets, and the best part is they grow with your child. I love toys like that!
Check out my son working on his garage and ice cream store. I think for being 4 he is doing quite well!
Cancer A Word No One Likes
I usually tend to not get particularly serious on my blog because I have family that comes and reads and it is always hard to show others your vulnerabilities. But I am slowly beginning to realize that this is my platform, and the things I say here may help others who go through some of the same things.
I haven’t been posting much because I have been busy getting my motivation back and my thoughts in order. Life, seems to have some major ups and downs and it is up to the human spirit to weather the storm.
The word “cancer” exudes a reaction in most people. Whether it is just reading the word, or you are faced with the possibility of having cancer, or someone close to you has had or does have cancer, it is never something that makes you feel great. I don’t know anyone that has ever been happy about it.
A few months ago, a really good friend of mine, my coach and mentor, in the middle of one of our coaching sessions said “oh by the way,” I have this rare form of cancer and I think it’s a good idea if you come see me. In a previous conversation we were arguing about me coming to see him and his family in New Zealand (his home). I had always wanted to go back (it is where my husband and I spent our honeymoon), but out of money etc and yes you do talk finances with your coach, he suggested Canada. I had not known about his cancer when he suggested a visit to Canada instead of NZ, but he did.
It was barely a week since I had gotten that news when I was just out of the shower. I reached over to itch my armpit when I felt it. There was a lump, and not just a small one. So I made my typical appointment with my OB and mentioned it to her. I was sent off to an ultrasound and it turns out it is lymph node. This can be good or bad, so they told me to come back in eight weeks for a rescan.
You start to play your life in your head, about what will you do if, and what I should have done, and what I need to do. The world seems to narrow around you when you are faced with the word cancer. It simply affects everyone around you. I have spent some nights crying for my coach and his family (well, a lot of nights). It is a grieving/emotional process for everyone involved. It feels horrible to not be in control of something that puts you at the mercy of the doctors, and all the what ifs. You want to do things for someone, but the truth of the matter is… there isn’t anything you can do, other than provide that person with the support that they will allow you to give. It is a dance where you have to be careful where you step, while your heart, and your brain wants to impulsively lead.
I had become a wreck in terms of stress and emotional turmoil and it was as if my life had begun to mirror his. It was like life was pointing out to me, to learn deeper levels of compassion that I had not yet experienced. With each passing day, I am learning how to dismiss the little things that make me mad or upset, to see that the things I thought mattered, like a messy house, or minor irritations from the husband and kids, are just a tiny speck in this world.
Of the many things, I have learned from my coach and incredibly dear friend…it is that you get back in this life what you give and if you keep doing what your are doing, than you will also keep getting what you got.
Love your family and don’t sweat the small stuff!
