My Little Guy

written December 30th

Dear William,

Your arrival on this day was such a foreshadowing of your personality and what you would bring into our lives.

Although your due date was January 14th, Mom and Dad had decided that December 29th would be the perfect day for your arrival. I didn't want to have to return to school after the winter break and we wanted you to avoid having a birthday on Christmas or New Years. We didn't schedule an induction, we just hoped that you would cooperate with our desires. I had contractions all week leading up to our wishful thinking due date and admit that I couldn't have been more impatient. The evening of the 29th I went into my 38 week doctor's appointment and found out that due to high blood pressure I would need to be induced. I was dilated to a 4 before they even started the pitocin and once the pitocin started things went relatively fast. You were almost compliant to my wishes, arriving one hour into December 30th.

That's my boy. Compliant. Almost. Sweet and obedient. Mostly. Fulfilling my every dream in your way, not mine.

You have taught me to put you and the Lord in charge of my life because you know so much more and can do so much more for me.

What I often think is perfect turns out differently. You have redefined perfection for me.

This birthday has especially been a trial for all of us, as you have spent the last week unable to keep down food or liquids because of a harsh and persistent cough. The perfect birthday week that I had envisioned changed drastically as I struggled to get you healthy.

In the meantime, I found myself loving you beyond measure. As I reflected on your birth three years ago, my gratitude for your resilient body was overwhelming. The knowledge that you have what it takes to heal and to be your full self again was the ultimate comfort.

The night when you were born was perfect. It wasn't perfect because of the date you came or the plans I made. It was perfect because your chosen spirit was passed into my care by our Heavenly Father. You were given to me to teach me so much more than I could ever plan to teach myself. The challenges that you have brought into my life have helped me to develop humility and patience, kindness and endurance. The joys you have brought into my life have caused my heart to swell and my cup to run over.

Thank you, William. Thank you for putting up with your less than perfect mother. Thank you for your patience, humility, kindness, and endurance. Thank you for the past three years, William. I look forward to an eternity more.

Love,
Mom

Wicked Good

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a Broadway junkie. I even took a Musical Theater class in college, just for the fun of it. Seriously, who takes any class in college just for the fun of it? Unfortunately Michael Ballam taught the class which nearly ruined it for me, but that is another topic for another post that probably won't ever be written. Sorry. Tangent. Back on track. My addiction to Broadway made it next to impossible for me to sleep at night knowing that I hadn't seen Wicked yet. Thanks to the incredible generosity of my parents my insomnia has ended. The day after Christmas we enjoyed the incredible talents of Eden Espinosa, Megan Hilty, and Derrick Williams as they starred in Wicked at the Pantages Theater. It was fantastic. My favorite number of the show was "No Good Deed" which was actually a bit of a surprise to me. I was very familiar with the music and expected "Defying Gravity" to be the show stopper. It was incredible and did not disappoint, but "No Good Deed" was by far the stand out of the night. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Life.

'I so wasn't going to post this picture. I am doing the classic "Bethany stare," as my dear sweet hubby calls it. It is so unattractive, but it is also a perfect example of how I have been feeling during this holiday season. We have had LOTS of holiday activities, which have been lovely, and the stomach bug, which hasn't been so lovely. Well, so far Marie and I have been healthy, but Brandon and William haven't been so lucky. We thought William was over it. We thought. So we took him to church today. His puking in the middle of sacrament meeting all over himself, my mom, Stephen, and Marie proved us wrong. Happy Sabbath!

You Complete Me

"What do girls do who haven't any mothers [or sisters] to help them through their troubles?" -Louisa May Alcott

We're missing you, Becca, Tanya, and Genni!

The Grandkids and their Dads

Yep, that's my husband, the one on the right wrestling his two kids after a LONG night at the wedding reception. Now look at Marc and Emma. Children are challenging at every age, no doubt about that, but picture taking appears to be much easier with a 2 1/2 month old then it does with a 3 year old and a 1 year old. What do you think?

A Mom's Version of a Temper Tantrum ... Venting on Her Blog

For the record, William will never go by Billy. Ever. Unless he is around his uncles, my brothers, then any and all teasing possible is bound to take place. Despite this minor detail William and Billy from Family Circus have a great similarity. Getting from Point A to Point B is quite the process. Much more of a process than this task-oriented-let's-just-get-the-job-done mom would prefer.

What reminded me of this was watching him head to the bathroom because he had to go potty. Crawl up the stairs. Push over laundry baskets. Turn on light. Turn on fan. Turn off fan. Lift toilet seat. Spin toilet paper. Sit on toilet. Look at toy on counter. Go potty. Spin toilet paper. Climb off. Close lid. Open lid. Flush. Climb on stool. Put hands in water. Turn water down. Put hands in water. Turn water up. Put hands in water.

It was at this point that I interrupted and asked him to turn off the water and dry his hands.

And this is where this character trait becomes much more of an annoyance than an endearing quality. This meandering process of his cannot be interrupted. Try as I might, patient as I may be, 9 out of 10 times when I ask him William to "just finish up already" it turns into a terrible temper tantrum which ends up in a time-out.

Suddenly going potty, which should take about 3 minutes at most, has taken almost 15 minutes.

I could have had the floor mopped in that amount of time, or the dishes done, or I could have showered. Or better yet, we could have done an art project or read a book or played with cars. I would much rather read to my son and do art projects than spend 15 minutes of every hour wrestling with him in the bathroom.

Ah, Billy. When am I going to get my sweet William back?

What We've Been Up To

Am I the only one that is feeling like, no matter how much preparation you do prior to December, December is just going to be crazy?

Perhaps the fact that we have two birthdays and a wedding this month, in addition to Christmas, has something to do with it.

Never mind the fact that I am Primary Secretary for a Primary with about 150 kids and we are frantically trying to get things ready to go for the first Sunday in January because I won't be attending our ward for the last two Sundays of this year.

Oh, and Marie went through a bout of croup-almost bronchitis again this weekend. Thankfully I took her into the doctor in its very earlier stages so we were able to get rid of it fast. (I can recognize croup from a mile away. It's not hard when my two kids have had it about 6 or 7 times between the two of them).

Phew. Alright. Thanks for listening. I am officially done complaining. Now for the good stuff.


On Friday night we got to celebrate Brandon's birthday with his entire family by going out to dinner. We didn't take a single picture, but William and I did manage to make a sign for him earlier in the week so I took a picture tonight. No birthday cake, we didn't want the calories. I didn't even wrap his present because he picked it out with me a few weeks ago. Just call me Super Wife. Thank goodness Macaroni Grill provided him with a cake, candle, and "Happy Birthday" sung in Italian by a wanna-be tenor or I might go into mourning for the Birthday that Wasn't. (That, might I add, was the best part of the night. William got giddy with excitement when they sang to Brandon. "Daddy. You have a birthday. Daddy. Happy Birthday to you!")

The next day Brandon's sister, Ashley, got married. Mother Nature decided to celebrate Ashley's wedding with the first real snow storm of the year. Even a blizzard couldn't wipe the smiles off this couple's face and the weather got us out the tradition of a tedious photo taking session outside of the temple. Does it get any better than that? Oh wait, it does. We got to stuff ourselves silly at Tucanos for the wedding luncheon. Delicious.

The Lights

Last Year

As we prepared to go see the lights this year, Brandon and I were reminiscing about last year. Our most vivid memories of the trip last year were that it was very cold  and the kids were fussy. That’s what traditions are for, right? HA.

  A bad picture of both of us. Perhaps because both of us were about 30 pounds heavier than we are now. Honey, my penance for posting this picture is dishes for a week. OK, not really, but I still hope you will forgive me.

William liked the lights, but got cold really fast (so did I). Marie wasn’t much more than a bundle of blankets. The only difference? A bundle of blankets would have let me put it down in the stroller without crying.

 

This Year

A healthier and lighter version of us poking our heads into one side of the picture so that Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus could poke their heads into the other side of the picture. This nativity is my favorite part of Temple Square at Christmas time. Hey, I didn’t even realize until I wrote this that this is a Christ-centered tradition we have started. Phew. Add that to the list. When we were listening to the narrative that plays William heard President Hinckley’s voice and said, “That’s a Prophet,” over and over again.  Cute kid.

Marie was just as disenchanted with the stroller, but not nearly as insistent about being held, naturally. Here she is acting as our translator. She told me that that bag says “hope.” What a smart girl.

We had company! Dad happened to be out this way for a business trip so he crashed the party. Yay! William thought the lights were OK. On the other hand, he was absolutely enamored by the water.

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE having two of my siblings nearby now? Rachel and Stephen, you do realize now that you live here I am holding you hostage and never letting you leave, right? Not one word. I don’t care how much you love surfing. Learn to snowboard.

All in all, it was a terrific little excursion. Fantastical!

Christ-centered Christmas

As I pulled out my Christmas decorations this year I realized that I don’t have a nativity. I made room for it though. It is the sad little empty spot above just crying for some loving attention. Every time I see it I am reminded of my lack of a nativity which in turn reminds me of the true “reason for the season.” So,the spot is serving the same purpose, right?

This year is the first year that William is truly aware of the whole Christmas thing. I have been amazed at how quickly he has picked up on the magic that this time of year brings. He has been bombarded with images of Santa and he is oh-so-aware of the purpose of Old St. Nick. In comparison he knows so little about the birth of our Savior and the joy that event continues to bring to the world.

I want my home to be more Christ-centered during the month of December, and all year for that matter. I was so grateful for lots of lovely ideas shared by ladies in my ward at our annual Christmas dinner, last week.  Some ideas that stood out to me:

Place an empty manger out at the beginning of December. Throughout the month family members can place a piece of straw (raffia) in the manger for every good deed they do. On Christmas morning the family gets to place baby Jesus in the manger.

An advent calendar that moves Mary and Joseph closer and closer to the stable each day.

Service – Secret Santa or Twelve Days of Christmas

An idea from my family is to read a part of the scripture story each night, as an advent of sorts. Some years we had a candle with 24 dots on it. Each night we read out of the scriptures and let the candle burn down to the next dot. Later on, when I was older, my mom bought a book that has 24 mini-books inside of it. Each one tells a little bit of the story of Jesus’ birth.

This article also has some simple ideas.

So many ideas. That is why I love a blog. I can gather and organize my thoughts and ideas so that I can be more prepared for December next year. In the meantime, tonight if you are a fly on the wall in my house, you will find me singing some Christ-centered Christmas carols with my 3-year-old that would much rather hear “Jingle Bells.”

The stockings were hung …

… on the staircase with care? Hey, we don’t have a fireplace. It’s the best we can do. It works, because then I get to see them all the kazillion times I go up and down the stairs during my day. They were made with lots of love by my mother. Gorgeous and sentimental. The perfect combination.

Guess what…

…I think you should go check out my craft blog, Toodles. Go on. Humor me.

edit: The link was incorrect, but now it is fixed. Thanks, Amy, for letting me know!

Guess what…

…I think you should go check out my craft blog, Toodles. Go on. Humor me.

edit: The link was incorrect, but now it is fixed. Thanks, Amy, for letting me know!

When I pulled out our Christmas tub William opened it up and exclaimed, “Look, Mommy, that’s Christmas in there!” Nothing makes the season more magical than children. How blessed I am to have two of my own to share it with.

How lovely are thy branches!

I am a sentimental decorator when it comes to Christmas. It is a tradition in our family that we get an ornament every year for Christmas. When we get married my mom passes those ornaments on to us for our tree. I love pulling out each one and remembering the year it was given to me.

This lovely gem of an ornament was given to me the year I was born. Do you see what I mean? You would have to be sentimental to keep this. (The bad photography doesn’t help much, does it?)

The ornaments that remind me of what was going on in my life at the time always make me emotional. This was from my mom last year, in honor of our first Christmas in our first house. What a special memory.

These two ornaments aren’t gifts, but have equal sentimental value. I remember as a child I loved putting the ornaments on our tree that my parent’s had made for their first Christmas tree. So, after Brandon and I got married I was super excited to get some ornaments that we could remember as our first. Being in the thick of my first concert season ever as a music teacher, handmade didn’t happen. I love what we chose from Terry’s Village, though. The heart is one of 12 ornaments that are part of an old German tradition. I’m not German and didn’t even know about the tradition until I saw the ornaments in the catalog, but I thought it was pretty nifty, so I decided to join in on the fun! The snowmen are just cute. William loved putting them on the tree this year.

What kind of tree decorator are you? Do you have any favorite ornaments?

Go read this post on my craft blog, Toodles. I’m hosting my first giveaway!

Thanksgiving in Review

1. From the time we began the Turkey Countdown William asked DAILY if he could go to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. Then Grandma told him she was going to give him a new bulldozer for going in the potty. The daily discussion evolved from just going to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving to going to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving Toys. Grandma did not disappoint. William is one happy camper with his new bulldozer, tractors, and monster trucks.

2. We ate well. Yummy. Yummy. I am proud to say that I only gained 1.5 pounds this year, as opposed to the 5 pounds I gained last year. I attribute that to the fact that this year I was chasing Marie (and William for that matter) around the house all weekend long. Last year Marie was 5 weeks old. All I did all day long was sit and feed her, sit and hold her, and sit and eat. It's not hard to gain weight that way. I do not attribute the lack of weight gain to the fact that I ate any more healthfully. Heavens no. That did not happen.

3. Speaking of Marie. She decided to take a flying leap from the top of Grandma and Grandpa's stairs, with no one there to catch her. The girl just walked right off the stairs. Brilliant. I was right behind her, moving to pick her up so we could both go downstairs together. There is nothing worse than seeing something like that happen to your child and knowing you can't help them. That was definitely a very scary mommy moment for me; and it was definitely a blonde moment for her. The upside, she has finally decided to learn how to crawl down the stairs. After we had unsuccessfully been trying to teach her since she learned to crawl up them, which was about 6 months ago, last night she just did it. I guess the tumble knocked some sense into her.  Thankfully it is the only thing that got knocked. No injuries to report.

 

  4.  This moment is absolutely precious for two reasons. First, the obvious reason, it’s William cuddling with Grandpa. Second, it was a source of bribery for several meals. “William, you better finish your dinner or you won’t be able to watch “The Incredibles” with Grandpa. It worked. I love it.

 

5.  Somehow, whenever we go on a hike or something with Jeff, Brandon ’s brother, the two of them  always end up throwing rocks. Boys. This time, Marc and Brett joined in on the fun as well.

 

6. We stole William away to the park for a bit while Grandma stayed home with Marie. William gets so wound up when he is with other people and especially when he is inside all day. He needed a bit of time on his own driving his newly acquired toys in the sand and running out his energy and Brandon and I took advantage of the time, too .

It was a great weekend. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for letting us come and stay!

Delish!

As much as I would like to, I cannot take credit for this picture. I googled "candied yams" and this is what I found. Mine did look a lot like this though, minus the gorgeous casserole dish and the fabulous photography skills.

Brandon will tell you that my Thanksgiving isn't complete without some good sweet potatoes (forgot the turkey, this sweet tooth wants the sugary stuff!) and these were definitely some good sweet potatoes! After researching recipes on allrecipes.com I used this as my base recipe and made a few changes.

Ingredients
4 sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cups marshmallows (I didn't actually measure these out. I bough a regular sized bag and almost used the entire thing, I think it was about 3 cups)

Directions
Peel and cut sweet potatoes. Boil until tender (but not mushy), about 10 minutes.

In a sauce pan, melt the butter and brown sugar together until bubbly. Add the orange juice and stir until smooth. Let simmer on low until the sweet potatoes are done.

Drain sweet potatoes and add them to a 9X13 casserole dish. Pour syrup over them and gently mix until coated. Sprinkle about 1 cup of marshmallows over the top. Cover with foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Uncover and add remaining marshmallows. Broil the marshmallows until they are golden brown. (Stay right by the oven this happens fast!)

My mouth is watering. I want some right now. The only change I will make next year? Double the recipe! We didn't have any leftovers.

It is Thanksgiving evening. My stomach is full. My heart is full. How does one manage to thank everyone and everything that they are thankful for? I only made it through my family and even that, somehow, doesn't seem like enough.

President Hinckley said, "Walk with gratitude in your hearts, my dear friends. Be thankful for the wonderful blessings which are yours. Be grateful for the tremendous opportunities that you have. Be thankful to your parents, who care so very much about you and who have worked so very hard to provide for you. Let them know that you are grateful. Say thank you to your mother and your father. Say thank you to your friends. Say thank you to your teachers. Express appreciation to everyone who does you a favor or assists you in any way. Thank the Lord for His goodness to you."

Perhaps if I walk with more gratitude in my heart and express it more readily each day, I won't feel, at the end of Thanksgiving day, like I haven't said enough, or shown enough, or that I've forgotten someone important.

So, to anyone out there that has been a part of my life, I thank you for making it more wonderful. That, my dear friends is what I am most thankful for this year. The tremendous support that I feel from family and friends is what keeps me going each day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And thank you C.S. Lewis for this quote. It is exactly what I was thinking ...

"In friendship, we think we have chosen our peers. In reality, a few years difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, strictly speaking, there are no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples 'ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you' can truly say to every group of Christian friends 'you have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.'" -C.S. Lewis

And who wouldn’t be grateful for …

…brothers? Dave, Dan, and Stephen, I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seats for this, I didn’t forget you. I love you all, even if you do tease me a bit too much.

Dear Becca

You need to move to Utah. We miss you.

Love,

Your favorite sister

Dear Rachel

You should send me that picture from our girl's night on Friday. Making caramel corn and watching "Pride and Prejudice" was just what the doctor ordered after a long, hard week.  Thanks for coming up and joining Sara and I. Good times were had by all.

Love,

Your favorite sister.

Dear Rachel

You should send me that picture from our girl's night on Friday. Making caramel corn and watching "Pride and Prejudice" was just what the doctor ordered after a long, hard week.  Thanks for coming up and joining Sara and I. Good times were had by all.

Love,

Your favorite sister.

Gratitude continued ...

Aren't sisters fabulous? Sara is here this weekend. Love it. We have fun together. If you can't tell.

Gratitude Part 2

Daddy. He is always there to offer words of wisdom and to show his love. He loves and adores my mother, of which I am eternally grateful. I love my dad and all that he does for me. Thanks for your phone call this week, Dad!

Gratitude

This past week has been tough for many reasons. Some I’ve shared, some I haven’t. Those things that have made life tough have caused for much reflection on my part. I found myself looking for things I am grateful for so that I could keep my chin up. The hymn, "Count Your Many Blessings" played in my mind. I often repeated to myself, "This is my dream. This is my dream. This is my dream!" And daily I became increasingly aware and grateful for the support system that I have been blessed with. In honor of the season, I have to express my gratitude and one post isn’t going to be nearly enough. We’ll start with a couple, but stay tuned. There is lots of gratitude headed this way!

This handsome, wonderful, loving, patient man. I love this man. He keeps me going. He keeps me sane. He dries my tears and helps me laugh. Love. Love. Love. Him.

 

My mother. I am reminded of a song from an old, believe it or not, chipmunk movie.

Hard to remember,
Summer or winter,
When she hasn't been there for me...
A friend and companion,
I can always depend on,
My mother, that's who I need...

If I can learn to my half the mother that my mom is, I will be doing pretty good.

Brainstorming.

This is my kitchen. Well, sort of. This is my kitchen previous owner-style. Unlike him, we actually have a kitchen table and a high chair and tons of crumbs on the floor. Focus on the cabinets and the knobs. Those look the same today and they become more and more yucky to me by the day. I already have plans for painting the walls, at least some of them. Assuming life goes as planned, that will be our home improvement project for February. I have picked out the fabric that I want to use to make valances for the window and the sliding door. That will be ... some day. If you could see all the sewing projects I have in the queue you would know why the timing for that one is so vague. Anyway, back to the cabinets. Totally replacing them is out of the question, for obvious reasons, the biggest ... they are in great shape. It would be wasteful ... even if we did have the money. Soooo ... refinish? Paint? Replacing the knobs is a definitely a must. Antiqued brass, pewter, nickel, antiqued nickel, black? I'm really just thinking "out loud". If you are still reading at this point, thanks for bearing with me. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures that I really like. What attracts me the most to these two pictures is the two tone/three tone aspect of the cabinets and cupboards.

Love how the island is the rich dark color to contrast the white everywhere else.

I would never do green on my cupboards, but I love it here, especially since there are three different shades (drawers, wall, and above the stove) Green, white, and cherry (is that cherry). That combination makes me happy. Maybe I will do green ...

The only thing these kitchens don't have enough of is red. There will definitely be a healthy amount of red in my kitchen. Did you know red supposedly increases appetites? Apparently I need more, based on the way William eats.

Oh yeah, I am also thinking of putting up some wainscotting or beadboard on the far wall, the one without any windows or cupboards. Would that look weird on just one wall?

My kids and their viruses ...

If you want to know what the past week has been like around here read up on adenovirus, bronchiolitis, and croup. Add to that equation a three-year-old that is perfectly healthy, but can't leave the house because his sister is sick.

Oh, and the Celine Dion concert that I got tickets for back in May was postponed until February. On a Sunday. It was supposed to be this Friday.

It has been a great week.

And yes, I would like some cheese with my "whine". Thanks for asking.

All Aboard the Potty Train!

First, may I say thank you for all the wonderful words of wisdom you shared? Support is such a fabulous thing in life, isn't it?

And now back to potty training. We did it! Tuesday, the day I wrote the last post, William stayed dry ALL day! Yippee! Wednesday and Thursday we had a couple of accidents, but no "I don't understand this" accidents, more like "I have way too much to do to bother with the potty" accidents. Any parent or preschool teacher would agree that there is a difference.

May I now attribute our success to Glenn Latham? Well, I just did. He is a fabulous man who I wish I had had the opportunity to meet. I am so grateful that he wrote a handful of books so his legacy can continue. Those books made me a better teacher and are now helping me to be a better mom. Bit by bit. I still have a long way to go.

Moral of the story: William is potty trained!

(enter clever title here)

Shabby Apple rejected me. So disappointing. Alas. I'll get over it.

In the meantime I am cheering up with a bit of free retail therapy. I am making a custom cover photo book on Snapfish and I'm putting it on Oprah's tab. Thanks, Oprah! Check it out, here.

I have talked about potty training here and here. So many of the lovely mommies that read those offered fabulous advice and support.

Let's continue our discussion shall we.

Saturday was the big day here in our house. Potty training day. William did fabulously in the morning. We started out with a bare bottom and he went right in the potty. No problems. Then I added underwear. Two accidents later he got the hang of that as well.

Naptime came. We put a diaper on him because he still wakes up really wet from his naps. (edited to add that we made sure William went potty before his nap today and he woke up dry!)

After naptime, we went back to underwear. He had two or three accidents. Right before bed, when Brandon had him stripped down, he ran to the potty.

Now here we are on Tuesday. Since the success of Saturday morning William has yet to make it to the potty when he is clothed. If we let him go bare bottomed he is 100%. He has never had an accident that way. As much as I would like to let him run around letting it all hang out, I hear that it isn't socially accepted these days.

So, wise readers that you are, here is my question:

Does that mean that he isn't quite ready yet or this just a brief barrier that we need to make it past? If you think we should keep at it, how would you do that? Bring on the advice. I'm ready for it.

Shabby Apple Contest

Shabby Apple is a site with cute and modest dresses. I lust after them. I daresay, I may even covet them. Check out the line for little girls, too. Covet. Covet. Covet.

Right now they are having a contest. I could be the lucky winner of the lovely outfit pictured below. Check out the details here.

Enjoy!

A Wish Your Heart Makes

Have you ever seen Fantasmic, the nightly fireworks show at Disneyland?

In this show Mickey comes out and creates a magical world with everybody’s favorite characters. Peter Pan. Winnie the Pooh. Belle. Ariel. Snow White. Cinderella. Prince Charming. You get the idea.

Then the bad guys come. Let’s be honest, would it be a Disney show without bad guys?

Ursula and crew do their worst.

After you are convinced that this is the end of all things Mickey, the Mouse takes center stage all decked out in a snazzy tuxedo. With all the power his squeaky voice can muster he says, “You may think you’re so powerful, well, this is my dream!”

With the flick of his wand the bad guys are conquered and we celebrate the return of all of our favorite characters as they sing a cheesy, happy, feel good song, sung in true Disney fashion.

That is totally my life. Totally. Completely. My life.

I have created my own little magical world. It is complete with Prince Charming and two adorable offspring. We have a warm cozy place to call our own. I have worked both my dream jobs; as a teacher, and now a stay at home mom. Our house is filled with laughter and giggles. It is everything I have ever wanted.

Except well, the bad guys. Oh, the bad guys.

Dirty diapers. Baby weight. Guilt. Frustration. Patience, or rather, lack thereof.

Temper tantrums. Temper tantrums in public. Strangers disapproving looks that just scream, “Why can’t you keep that child under control?”

Potty training.

Feelings that I will never be clean enough, cute enough, creative enough, smart enough, brave enough, classy enough. So why try?

Regrets.

This is where our story differs, Mickey and I, because I don’t have a magic wand. I can’t will the bad guys away with one flick of my wrist, never to be seen again. I fight these bad guys daily, hourly, to the minute.

So I take charge. I step up. I throw on a flirty dress from Shabby Apple that reminds me I can be cute! I put on some hot boots that will kick some bad guy booty. A soft pink bracelet will remind me that I can be patient and a sassy diaper bag declares that my kids are my greatest accessory. In this I can remind myself every day, every hour, even every minute that this is my dream!

And I plan on living happily ever after.

(cue cheesy, happy, feel good song here)

The Countdown is On!

Remove one feather every day from now until Thanksgiving, easy enough! Thanks to Marie from Make and Takes for this idea. William was a little distraught when I suggested he throw the removed feather away. So I let him put them in a wire pumpkin we keep on the kitchen table. Hmmm ... do you think I should tell him we plan on eating a turkey?

Dear Mr. President,

I didn't vote for you yesterday, but I did pray for you.

I prayed that as you bring your promised change you won't compromise the values and morals which our country was founded on, for without those we are nothing.

I prayed that the love for your family that you so readily show when the cameras are watching carries on into the walls of your home and into the decisions you make.

I prayed for your health and your strength.

I prayed that you might be a role model to young men everywhere, that you might inspire them to do good and to be better.

I prayed that God might continually bless America because in these tumultuous times we are going to need it.

So, Mr. President-elect. Last night I couldn't give you my vote, but I did give you my prayers.

May that make all the difference.

Sincerely,

A Mother

Take the Quiz here!

It was kind of hard to take this quiz objectively since I have read the books, but it is still fun. Give it a try!

Curious?

I don't know if I mentioned that my cute sister-in-law is getting married this December. Well, now I have. Anyway, if you love weddings as much as I do you can check Toodles for updates on the wedding planning!

William-ese

I had some family over for dinner last night. It was a grand time. With the elections coming up we naturally got to talking about politics. Who doesn't these days?

Cory: William, who are you going to vote for? John McCain or Barack Obama?
William: Barack Obama.

Hmmm ... he was a bit outnumbered on that one.

Several minutes later we were all focusing on William, trying to get him to eat dinner. Nothing new there. Anyway, we were having roast. William thinks all meat is bacon.

Cory: William, where does bacon come from?
William: Barack Obama.

Oh dear.

Once Upon a Time

Sir William off to fight the dragons

Princess Marie, "Someday my prince will come."

Apparently she had a different prince in mind.