Thanksgiving Crazies

I believe I've been deemed crazy by all who know me. When asked what our plans are for Thanksgiving I say, "Well, I'm going to Colorado, to be with my husband's family for Thanksgiving and he's going to be with my family for Thanksgiving." I just get these odd stares and confused looks after that. My sister in law jokingly asked if I was boycotting my family for some reason...but then why wasn't my husband? :P Well, I try to explain all the crazy details that led to this arrangement and how it makes sense once you know all that, but I still see those looks. All I have to say is that it makes sense to me, mostly. :) (Actually, I do think it odd myself, and feel terrible about leaving ML alone for the holiday. He won't be flying to CO till Friday night, after work. I guess those looks might have merit after all. :P)

Miracle Moments...

Well, we've had a few "miracle moments" in our lives this weekend...First of all, I was at a "Pampered Chef" party with my sisters on Friday night when My Love (ML) sent me a text telling me that he'd pulled my daughter's (MC) tooth and that she was very brave. Well, I write back that I'd had no idea her tooth was loose enough to come out. His reply was that it wasn't, but there was a tooth coming in behind it so he'd wrapped some floss around it and pulled it out. To MC it was a miracle that she'd finally lost her first tooth! She's SOOO excited to tell everybody all about her tooth and show them. When my dad saw her today he told her that she had a hole in her smile. She laughed and laughed over that one. :P It's great fun.


Well then on Sunday I suddenly got inspired to put up my Christmas tree. So the kids and I did it in a few hours while we listened to Christmas music. And now it's up and we're all starting to feel more in the spirit. The miracle part is...that I actually got my tree up before the second week in December!! I don't know if that's ever happened before, nor may it ever again. ;o

"That which we persist in doing"

On Saturday I was watching BR do his chores and marvelling about how far he's come since we first started teaching him how to sweep, vacuum, do the dishes, etc. And I was reminded of the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.” I noted to myself how true this quote is and that my children have proved it to me. I then continued thinking about this quote and had further insight that I'd never had into this concept before. I thought of it in context of some of my less glorious habits, like nagging at my children, and how it remains just as true for negative behaviours as well as positive. So, I persist, for example, in nagging at my children then this behaviour becomes easier, if you will, or more ingrained, my power to nag increases. The habit soon becomes second nature to me, and is continually harder and harder to break. Knowing this, I now have resolved to reverse that process and choose a positive behaviour with which to replace the negative one, and work to make the positive one second nature. If I persist in finding something to praise my children about, rather than nag, then that behaviour will become easier because my power to praise will increase....now to put it into practice. :-P

Me with the Love of my life

The Love that warms up my side of the bed for me when I stay up late; The Love drives the kids to school for me so I can have a break...even though he has to work anyway; The Love that gets a brand new iPod as a gift from work and gives it to me to sell and tells me I can keep the money to buy new furniture; The Love that works all day then comes home to piles of homework, but stops to give me a hand in the kitchen instead; The Love that makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world!

Our Little Piece of Paradise

Welcome to our little piece of paradise.  We moved in on October 8th (well, that's when we moved most of our stuff here.  We actually started sleeping here October 5th. (The night we got back from Chicago. That's where we were when the closing finalized.)
 
It's great fun finding places for all our stuff, it's also fun finding new stuff to make our home all cute.  This part is really addicting and it's hard to not get carried away. :)