Our story....

I have a story to tell. I know that it has been many, many months since I've posted on here. So much has changed...so if you're ready I'll tell you my story.

I had been going through a very difficult time in my life...life was changing drastically. I was hurt..broken.
Just getting through my every day-so thankful for my beautiful children who made me "ok".
One day I saw this man...Grady Shipman. I had heard of Grady, living in such a small town it seems that everyone always hears of the other person.
That was the first time though that we'd had occasion to actually talk. And we talked for nearly three hours. :)
I remember he asked me SO many questions that day...where did I grow up, did I go to college, why was I the only one in the bank wearing dress clothes? :) (It was casual Friday) We talked and talked.
It felt like we'd known each other forever.
Jumping forward a bit...Grady and I started talking a bit, outside of work. And one day we said that we should talk. He said it needed to be a face to face conversation. I remember being strangely nervous that day. :)
We talked...he said that he liked me. A lot. :) And that he understood all of the things that I had gone through. Grady had this way of knowing things about me that no one knew. Hadn't talked to anyone about them. He saw me. For exactly who I am.
I found my "home". I remember one of the first times I was over at his house, I was so drained..life had been somewhat of a mess. I was SO drained. And Grady reached his arms out to hug me..I walked over to him and he hugged me. I fell asleep, on my feet! In two seconds! haha
I have never done that, didn't know it was actually possible to fall asleep that quickly. I was safe. He was my home.
We knew that we were completely in love. Crazy in love. From our first day as "us" we were inseperable. Ridiculously happy. :)
We would dance, all the time. He shared my love for Prince and Michael/Janet Jackson. :) We'd dance and play, all the time.
We said "I love you" very quickly...because, as we later told each other, we both knew. There was absolutely no doubt in our minds. It is SO unbelievably magical to meet someone and to know like that. To know that they see your soul. It's beautiful.
We talked about everything- religion, philosophy, art, music, our children, our lives up until we had met each other. We both loved reading. One day Grady gave me this book..."A Grief Observed" by C.S. Lewis. He told me that he wanted me to have it..just to hang onto it. He said that it might help me with some things that I had gone through. I remember thinking that was an odd choice of a book to give me :) but I read it and kept it, along with several others that he wanted me to have..."The Art of Happiness" and some that were not quite as philosophical or deep, but funny none the less. Like "Why do men have nipples?" :) :)
A little more time went on...and we talked about getting married. We both knew, like I said. It didn't matter that we had only been together a short time. We just knew. We talked about going to Vegas to get married, because he had been there several times and loved it, and we thought that since we were going to shock everyone anyway we may as well do it right! :)
We talked a lot about getting married...he wanted to get a vintage wedding ring for me. We said that was fitting, because our love felt like an "old love". Like we had been together forever, and just found each other again. We had picked out a ring for him. ♥

We were like a family. My children adored him, and he loved them too.
I remember the first time Colin saw him...his eyes got SO big, and he got a huge smile on his face. He looked back and forth between Grady and I for the longest time. ♥
Katie said to me one time when I was having a rough day "Don't worry Mama, the prince, Grady, is going to take us to his house! We'll be so happy!" :) Yep, she got it...Grady was my safe place to fall, always.
Everyday things became beautiful...watching The Office together :) cooking chili, listening to our playlist on Youtube...a great mix of things like Prince, Diana Krall, Jill Scott, Floetry and India Arie. "Our song"..Butterflies by Michael Jackson.
We listened to that one over and over and over. I remember one evening Katie and Colin had fallen asleep on the couch. Grady dimmed the living room lights and we danced in his living room..barefoot and comfortable.
After the song was over he said "That was cheesy, wasn't it?" and I said "I like cheesy" he whispered "me too" and held me.
We read my copy of the book "She" by Kobi Yamada. Our favorite quote was "She decided to start living the life she'd imagined" That was so true, for both of us...we wanted to change the she to we and hang it up in our house when we got married.
We had always believed that life really could be that beautiful-that you really could have a happiness SO perfect. And it was real. :) We were living it, every day.
Grady wanted us to watch the movie "What Dreams May Come" early on in our relationship...he told me I'd get it. That it was us.
We watched it together.
One evening Grady told me that he needed to talk to me. I wasn't sure what it was about...he seemed burdened. I kept asking him if he was ready to talk, and he would put it off...he kept asking me "Are you sure? You might learn more than you've bargained for" of course I wanted to talk about whatever it is. We always shared everything...
he looked at me. And he looked like his heart was hurting. He told me (I will never forget these words) "I am not long for this world". My world started spinning, I cried and cried. Didn't understand it...didn't want to believe it.
Grady had been in a horrible motorcycle accident about 4 1/2 years ago..I didn't know him at the time but had heard how horrible it was. He was pronounced dead three times the day of the accident. Absolute miracle that he lived through it.
And Grady told me several times since we'd been together that he was waiting for me...that's why he lived through the accident. He said that he knew the first time he saw me, that I was who he'd been waiting for. He said that he actually thought to himself "Whoops...there she is" the first time we spoke. :)
He said that he breathed in, and out because of me. That I made him not want to give up. He had seizures from the accident...he hurt, all the time. Never complained. He told me that he wouldn't trade the experience of being in the accident because he had learned SO much. He said "Pain's good...suffering is good. Because it teaches you, and then you just know."
The night that Grady told me that he knew he didn't have long we were both hurting...both cried. I didn't want to believe it, like I said. I asked him how long he thought he had. He said he didn't think he had a year.
He told me that he was so sorry..that he thought that maybe he shouldn't have let me in, shouldn't have gotten close to me. Because he never ever wanted me to hurt. He said he didn't want to have to leave me.
He said that he remembered when he was pronounced dead from the accident...he said that death is nothing to be afraid of. That it's beautiful..calm. Peaceful and LOVELY. He told me he would never leave me...that when he passed away that death is just another step...just the next step. That he would always love me. That he would just go to sleep one day, and not wake up. And that he would be ok. And that he would never stop being here for me.
That night was so hard for us....but we both knew without any doubt that it was all worth it. If we had five minutes together, it was all worth it.
We loved each other so completely.
I asked him one time why he thought that we'd find each other, to be torn apart quickly. He and I were both sad that day. We talked again about how we would never truly be apart. We were one.
And it began to make sense...the movie, the book. He was preparing me.
Time went on....Grady had days that were hard, that he would get really sick from the seizures. And he'd always recover.
One day I e-mailed him to check on him because he'd had a really rough time, and this is what he wrote back to me "I'm ok....just staying awake...still fighting my love...not giving up yet, OK?"
He fought it. He never complained. :)
Time went on...more dancing, more days of him chasing me and tickling me until I would scream laughing :) more listening to music..more dreaming and planning our life together. He said that he wanted us to get married before his birthday in June.
So many little memories...we had tv trays for Katie and Colin, they'd always eat their chicken nuggets off of that while we'd sit on the futon. :) He had hooked up a small tv and DVD player in his bedroom so Katie could watch her cartoons. We'd always watch American Idol together..he'd record it on his DVR and we'd wait a little bit to watch it so we could fast forward through the commercials.
One night we took the kids to the part after 10 at night :) SO much fun...they were excited! We played on the swings, talked and laughed.
He laughed at me wearing my zebra print ballet flats and big necklaces and I laughed at him, wearing his "comfortable shirts" that had holes all in them :)...one time we went to Maurices and I was getting just one necklace. He was watching me shop with a smile on his face, and when I got to the checkout line he said "Charin, buy one get one 1/2 off!" ;) He spoiled me...wanted me to take care of myself.
He gave me the BEST massages, ever. He was teaching me some yoga..that's another book that he gave me. He told me yoga was brilliant. :)
Our days were full of little things, that meant the world to us both. They were beautiful.
And then March 8th..he was having seizures, wasn't himself. I got him to go with me to the ER. That was a rough night. He wasn't himself..didn't remember it because the seizures were so bad. The next day he "came out of it" and was back to smiling, saying he felt better...he just wanted to go home. They released him to come home, and He was SO glad to be there. He was tired, really tired.
He told me he was ok, just tired. That evening I didn't stay long at all, we left early so he could get some sleep.
He called me twice that night...the second time he called me he said "It's your stalker" :) and while we were talking he heard Colin fussing..he said "He needs some milk, Mama". Grady always went and fixed Colin bottles when he needed one.
We talked for awhile, and Grady actually fell asleep talking to me-we were getting off the phone and I said "I love you". He whispered "I love you too" and fell asleep. ;)
That next morning, March 10th, he sent me a text at 5:50..."Good Morning!". We talked a lot that morning, he e-mailed me several times and he said that he was feeling better. I went and saw him on lunch, and he said that he felt some better, he was just really tired.
We walked and got his mail...and he said some things to me that I will never ever forget. He said "You're lovely...beautiful. All that. Amazing. And I know you're brushing this off right now, but it's true. I love you so much. You have been much better to me than I deserve" We told each other how very much we love each other, I said that it was SO worth it. That I wanted him to be ok, to be healthy and well again. To not hurt anymore.
He and I held each other so tight. I had to get back to work, I told him to get some rest and feel better. He said he'd be ok, just tired.
That evening when I got off work I went over to see him, he was REALLY tired. We visited for awhile, but I had to pick up my kids. I told him I didn't think that I'd bring them back over that way he could just rest and feel better. That I'd see him the next day.
But then, at about 8:30 that night I was crawling out of my skin....missed him SO much, had to see him.
We went over there, and I laid Colin on his chest to wake him up. He woke up and said "hey!" to Colin, gave him kisses and held him. Then he hugged me...he held me so tight that night..it was like he didn't want to let go. We held each other, said I love you...he talked to Katie. And then I told him we should go, and that we'd see him tomorrow. I said I love you, and he said I love you too...I asked him if he was going to be alright, if he was going to recover. And he said "I'll be fine, I'm just tired" we said I love you again...he laid down on his futon and the kids and I left. He was sleeping before we left the front door. SO tired.
The next morning I didn't hear from him. I was scared...I think I knew. Didn't want to believe it. Grady was always ok..always recovered.
Didn't hear from him...at about 10 I left work, had to go check on him, couldn't stand it anymore.
And I hadn't gotten completely in the house when I knew. He was gone. It was just like he told me...just like he'd been preparing me for. "I will just go to sleep one day, and I won't wake up. And I'll be ok, I won't ever leave you"
My beautiful love, my soul mate and my other half was sleeping...he was in that "beautiful, lovely calm" place that he had seen glimpses of before. And I know that he hasn't left me..death is just another step. Our life is only part of our journey.
And I am so thankful for his love. I am so thankful for him. He has my heart...and I am still struggling to breathe a lot of times. He and I had a perfect love, and he restored my faith that life really is beautiful. Regardless of what we go through.
He has given me enough love to last my entire life. I love him...will always love him.
And all of those beautiful things about love at first sight, soul mates and a complete joy with someone? They are absolutely true.
Grady and I were given an incredible blessing in that we had no regrets...we told each other constantly how we felt about each other and never had a moment of fighting or anything coming between us. Don't hesitate to tell someone. If you love them, tell them. Life is much too short...and love is worth everything.
Thank you Grady...I love you hon, and I miss you more than words can say.
*This new playlist on my blog is a sampling of "our songs"

You are the sweetest..

I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU! to those of you who still peek in on my blog, during my abscence of posting. :) That makes me smile..thank you all!
When I finally do get back on here I will have a lot to update..there have been a lot of changes and stories to tell. :)
Happy weekened to you!
xo
Charin

First kiss :)

I just had to share, today when I went home on lunch I puckered up to give Colin a kiss and he reached over with both arms and pulled me to him and kissed me, right on the mouth :)
Awwwwww :) Can't believe my sweet boy will be 7 months old tomorrow!
I can't wait until my silly computer is working again, I need to share pictures of my beautiful babies. :)

Front page news...

So I am still without a computer at home, but this was worth sneaking a quick post on a different computer today...our local newspaper had a front page article saying that our local fair purchased *Michael Jackson's Ferris Wheel from the Neverland Ranch!!!* Isn't that crazy?! So next week, everyone that goes on there for a ride will be sitting where Michael did. Kinda creepy, even though I adored his music. :)
P.S. Jessica, I thought you might be interested in hearing about that! ;)

I'm still alive, promise :)

I have not been on here in SOO long! Things have been completely crazy and I have lots to share when I have time...and also when I get my home computer fixed, as it has decided to crash. ;)
Miss you, sweet blog friends! :)
P.S. I was asked out by a 50 year old today..awkward!

Uh oh!

Katie and I were in the checkout line at Wal*Mart this evening and Katie kept sneaking glances behind us. :) After a few minutes she said "Mama, there's a kid!" and I told her that it was a boy, not a "kid" haha :)
Anyway, this cute little boy said hi to Katie and she said hi back (while blushing a little bit and hiding behind her hands) :)
He smiled, she giggled, and then he tickled her on the cheek. She giggled LOTS more, and said "You silly boy!" and kept straining to see him while I was putting the bags in the cart.
When we had to leave she said "Bye boy!" and he said bye to her too...once we got out to our car she said "Where's the boy?" so I told her that he had to stay with his Daddy. ;)
We were pulling into our carport when Katie said "Where's the boy?! I gotta show Daddy!" :) :)
HAHA!!! :) Way too young to be bringing boys home to meet Daddy, sister! ;)
I thought all had been forgotten until just a few minutes ago, I was rocking her and reading her bedtime stories when she said "Mama? That boy...he tickled me...so silly!" "Where's the boy? I like him! I gotta tell him nite nite" :)
And then....she whispered "I love you, boy!"
True story. Did I mention that he had to be at least 6 or 7?? She likes older men. :)

Wish list :)

All of this from Pottery Barn...don't care that it's for teens :)

These cute paintings by Elsie :) A gumball machine...for my living room! Oh yes :)
This adorable apron, minus the garter and gloves! haha
Lots of cute cardigans, even though it's not close to Fall
This adorable hat for Colin :)

What are some favorite internet finds of yours lately? :)

baby*baby :)

Here are some *much* overdue pictures of Katie and Colin from the past month-ish! :)
We have been so busy that I haven't taken nearly as many as I'd like...especially of Katie, because I can't take them of her late at night when things settle down like I can with Colin. ;) He doesn't mind if I'm snapping pictures of him after 11 at night :)
They are both growing SO fast, it's hard to believe that she's almost 2 1/2 and he's three months old now!
Here are some new things in Katie's world..
*She is loving when I break out her flash cards. And she's doing such a great job with them! I have a set that's for ages 4-6 and she got 50 our of 53 right the first time ever! So proud of her :) She's been mentioning "school" quite a bit lately, so I've been working with her on pre-school books that we have thanks to Aunt Jessica :)

*Every single night Katie wants me to read three books while I'm rocking her to sleep (yep, I still rock her to sleep. :) I didn't want to make her give that up after Colin was born..it's my time just with her and I think we both treasure that) :) we always read The Going to Bed Book, and a WonderPets and Blues Clues night time book :) Kevin can't help but laugh when he's in the room and Katie has decided on a random book that she'd rather read instead. I always make up and ending, because normally it will be saying something like "The frong jumped over the rock to play!" and I add "and then he lays down, and he goes night nightttt" haha :)

*She has been keeping an eye on her toes, and when the polish starts to wear off she says "pink, Mama! Paint them!" :)

*She is still doing an absolutely wonderful job of being a big sister :) She's always helping with him, and keeps him entertained when I have my hands full :)
She has even named one of her tiniest baby dolls Colin, and I've caught her "nursing" that baby a few times :)

*She has decided that when she's in the bathtub, she's a mermaid :) She giggled for a long time last night when I said "Come over here, little mermaid! Let me wash your hair" :) Or she'll say "I'm a mermaid! I gotta swim" :) :)

And here are some new things with Colin..

*First of all, he is sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!! I can not tell you how happy that makes me. :) He started at 11 weeks old and has been going strong, except for a few exceptions. I love that he is such an easy baby, so completely sweet and perfect :)

*He weighs 17 lbs now! :) I love that. He has the cutest squishy cheeks and legs :)
He actually weighs over half of what Katie does :)
(My Mom said that I make buttermilk. haha)

*He's starting to play a lot more. We have a toy bar on his swing that he'll kick at, and I love to watch him. He'll raise one eyebrow and I can tell that he's concentrating so hard! :)

*He's starting to talk a lot to us :) My favorite..I love when I first come home from work and pick him up and he looks at me and starts smiling and cooing :)

*He still only cries if he's needing something..can I say again what a sweet little boy he is? :) :)

I miss this girl already

I miss my sister Jessica so much already! ;) It's been a week since I said good bye for her to move to Alaska...I miss being able to see her whenever I want to. :) The last couple of weeks before her move I was over at her house about 3 or 4 times a week and I loved it :) :)
Kevin took these pictures of us on her last night in Arkansas and I'm so glad that we have them. :)
P.S. I will back soon with lots and lots and lots and LOTS of new pictures of my babies! :)

Best finale ever! :)

Did you watch last night? :) I loved it, I think that was the best finale I've ever seen from AI! :)
I'm so happy for Kris...I loved him *almost* as much as I love Adam. ;)

P.S. My blog will be going back to "normal" again soon...It's been neglected lately.
I have been trying to soak up all the free time I can with my sweet sister and my nephews who are moving to ALASKA this Friday!! :( I am going to miss them sooooo much...I've been in denial about the whole thing, I think. ;)
I'm happy for her family though, because her husband got a great job and they'll get to experience a whole different culture. But Alaska seems way too far away right now. :(

WOW

Read about this amazing baby girl here...Kayleigh's Story
P.S. Crystal, I saw this on your blog and I'm so glad I did!

Happy Mother's Day!! :)

I saw this poem on this Mama's blog and this postcard on postsecret and thought they were beautiful :) Being a Mama really is the greatest thing in the world! Happy Mother's Day!



Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.


Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.


Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.


Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.


Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.


Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

Cuteness from Katie :)

I just wanted to share a few of my favorite things that Katie has said lately...she is such a silly girl!! :)
The other day I walked past our cat's food bowl and had a piece of cat food stuck to my foot. I said "Ewww, Katie! What's on the bottom of Mama's foot?" and she looked at it and frowned, then said "crackers!" :)
For some reason that just really really made me laugh, so she started laughing too. Except she didn't know *why* she was laughing, so she looked around to see what could be so funny. She looked at the computer and saw a picture of shoes that I had pulled up and said "Oh, Golly! Shoes!" and giggled some more. :) :) :)

And just now, as she's watching her Daddy mow the back yard, she said "Hey! That's my house!" when she thought he was getting a little too close. :) :)

Charin's a *bad* blogger!! :)

I have been away from here for too long! It has just been sooo busy...but I will be back soon. :) :)
Hope your week is going well! :)
Charin

My beautiful boy! :)

I got the pictures back from jclare studios today, I had to share! :) These are the two that I bought digital negatives of, so I can make prints for family and friends...there's lots more but you would have to come to house to see them. hehe :)
I can't get over how much Colin has already grown! These were taken at 2 weeks old, and he's 7 weeks old now..gosh, it goes by so fast!
He's smiling a lot now, laughing for us once in awhile, staying awake *lots* more during the day (and night! haha) and just melting my heart. :)

I also wanted to thank all of you for your sweet words about going back to work this week..it was tough leaving Colin and Katie behind after being with them 24-7 but I'm doing ok. :) I had 600 e-mails to read at work and lots of changes in the bank to catch up on so that helped the time go by quickly! :)
Katie had the *best* time staying with my sister too! Up until yesterday Katie and I had been over at her house every day for 6 days, so Katie was really getting used to spending lots of time with her Aunt Jessica and "boys" (cousins Jathan and Jared) :)
Yesterday Kevin was back to his normal work schedule so he enjoyed having both babies home with him...I think he was a little nervous about how it was going to be having two to care for but of course he did great :) and so did they.

Well, I am going to finish baking some turtle and snickerdoodle cookies, mmmmmm! And get Katie ready for bed.
I hope to back soon with lots of scrappy pages to share! :) I got the CUTEST stuff from Scrapbook Addiction and some really cute tags from Shabby Chic Crafts that I can't wait to use. :) And Albert and Veronica from Shabby Chic Crafts sent along a stash of little boy tags and icons for me to use, they are so sweet! I can't wait to play with them . :)
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Charin

Over way too soon :(

I can't believe that my maternity leave is over, and that Colin is 6 weeks old already! :( Gosh, this time has just *flown* by!!
I have really loved being home with Colin and Katie and spending so much time just being with them without a crazy schedule rushing me and dictating what happens when. ;)
But it will be nice to have a paycheck coming again! :)
I know that I'm going to be sad tomorrow, and will probably shed a tear or too.
It's going to be a long day, I won't be able to see them on my lunch break like I normally would either because Kevin's working day shift (an odd occurence!) so they will be staying with their Aunt Jessica (who they absolutely lovvvvveee!) :) several towns over...too far away to drive on lunch.
Man, I sound whiney don't I? :)
I will just miss them!
I'm going to get some things ready for tomorrow before bed so I will just leave you with my cute boys face :)
Back soon!
Charin

Happy Easter! :)

Moreover, Brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures;
(I Corinthians 15: 1-4 King James Version)
Enjoy your free gift this Easter! ;)

Family :)

I found this article on simple mom and loved it, wanted to share. :)
As a young Mama I think it's so important to develop our own routines and traditions for our family...it's something that I am constantly thinking about and wanting to improve on. (Note to self, spend less nights eating dinner in the living room and more at the kitchen table!) :)

Here's the article from their site, hope you enjoy it too. :)

Every Friday, no matter how hectic or stressful the week has been, my husband and I have a ritual to celebrate the weekend’s start. We crack open a bottle of wine, plug in the iPod to its speakers, and roll up our sleeves in the kitchen. I make dough for the pizza crust, and my husband chops, sautees, and grates the toppings.

In the spring and summer, we open the kitchen door that leads to our balcony, where we have a view of the bay, the kids playing in the courtyard, and the evening breeze. The sauce I made in bulk has thawed, and because we work together, dinner takes 30 minutes max to prepare.

Our four-year-old daughter enjoys topping the rolled out dough with sauce, cheese, and veggies, and the baby plays with the Leap Frog fridge phonics. While the pizza bakes, we whip up a simple salad. Our background symphony is anything from Jack Johnson, to Sufjan Stevens, to Coldplay, to Mozart, to Ella Fitzgerald, to The Shins.

We then sit down to eat, either at the dining table, or on the balcony. Oftentimes, we end with a simple dessert and coffee, and when the kids go down, my husband and I break out a board game.

It’s a great start to the weekend.

The Importance of Family Rituals
This little tradition of ours isn’t complex or costly, and it takes no advanced planning (except for the pizza sauce, which I’d make anyway, for dinner). But it’s something we all look forward to, and it’s become a little something that says “home” to us.

Kids love traditions and family rituals, because it fosters a sense of belonging and security. They also thrive on routine, so rituals only add to that need.

Adults who work outside the home can really benefit from a simple family tradition to look forward to on the ride home. And adults who work inside the home can anticipate that ritual as something to mark the end of a work day. I know I do.

Don’t Wait for a Holiday
Sure, those Labor Day barbecues or Thanksgiving backyard football games are great. But don’t wait for those holidays on the calendar to create a family ritual. Make traditions part of your family culture, and celebrate them often. Make it part of your family’s mission statement.


Photo by Rosana Prada

Here are a few tips for creating that tradition of yours:
• Keep it simple. That way you’ll do it regularly.

• Keep it inexpensive. That way, you’ll look forward to it, instead of letting financial anxiety build up.

• Include the whole family. If your husband doesn’t enjoy cooking, make it a popcorn-and-movie tradition. Or if your kids are too young to enjoy Trivial Pursuit, make it a weekly walk to the park.

• Do it regularly. Monthly is great; weekly is even better. By definition, a ritual is done often.

• Make it fun. I say either make it relaxing, or make it active. Veg with a Netflix rental, or hike the nearby trails.

• Make it true down time. Turn off the cell phones and laptops, and don’t talk business.

Chances are, you already have some sort of family tradition. And if not, there’s a bourgeoning one within your troops, and you only need to make a concrete plan. Do something fun as a family over the next few days, and who knows - maybe you’ll start doing it each weekend.

He's SO going to win! :)

TEAM ADAM!!
Soooo did you see Adam's performance on American Idol last night? :) :) He is SUCH a good singer!! Man!
I text my vote in for him every week. ;)
And Simon giving him a standing ovation?!? I don't think that's ever happened on the show before! :)
The guys are so strong this year. Who's your favorite?

We're girls, Mama!!

Katie saw my pink nail polish bottle sitting on the coffee table from my pedi the other night and she said "toes, Mama?" :) I love that she wanted me to paint her little toes..then fingers. Then she looked at my bare fingers and said (For real!!) "We're girls, Mama!" and handled me the bottle for me to paint my fingers. :)
Silly little girl! :)