Off We Go To Neverland...

I used to have nightmares in college. Pretty bad ones that were semi-consistent, maybe a couple of times a week. I never figured out why, but one helpful piece of advice I received was to envision your happiest place on earth right before you fell asleep.
Every time, I would envision myself walking down Main Street at the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld.
It worked. All my nightmares went away and never came back.

Some of my fondest memories as a child are of our few lucky trips to Disneyworld. Riding the Pirates of the Caribbean with my parents and sister over and over again, swimming at the hotel pool like a "big girl," watching parades and shows and seeing characters that I thought were truly "real." Picking out that one, special souvenier at, what I thought was, the fanciest shop I had ever walked into. Crying on the boat as we floated away from the Magic Kingdom for the last time, not sure I'd ever see it again in my lifetime.

I never thought I'd be so lucky as to get to go with my very own family. I am so grateful for this adventure we leave on tomorrow morning. Grateful for Matt and I to be able to afford to do this, despite this year's challenges. Grateful to have two, excited and healthy kids who will no doubt love every second of every minute of the trip. Grateful to have two healthy parents to go with us, watching their grandkid's faces, seeing everything Disney as brand new through their amazed eyes. Grateful for a sister and boyfriend who love to hang out with us, even without kids, and enjoy the fun and excitement of us all being in a magical place together.

So off we go to our own personal "Neverland." Memories will surely be made, perhaps the earliest and most magical ones Lucy will ever remember. Tommy will take it all in with wonder and awe, his smart little two year old brain soaking in all the stimulation that awaits.

Wish us luck! We are so very lucky!

It Keeps On Speeding By...

Time passes with such great speed these days, I am not sure I can catch my breath sometimes. I think that's become a constant theme in my posts lately, huh?
I suspect it's because we have had such a wonderful, awesome, fun summer. Now we have a great final week coming to us.
Today is our eight year wedding anniversary. Yet another example of how fast time passes. Has it really been eight years since that day? I remember much of the days leading up the wedding - eating lunch out with friends after my pre-wedding mani/pedi. Our rehearsal dinner, giddy excitement at my parent's house on the morning of the wedding, seeing Matt at the alter for the first time, and dancing at the reception with my sorority sisters. Hard to believe that was so long ago.
So here we sit, eight years later. It is sometimes tough for us to carve out the time, money and resources to have a date night. But tonight, Matt has set it all up for us and I am psyched!
Dinner and vino right on the water...can't wait!
Happy Anniversary to us!

Moments to Remember...

Sometimes I will try to sneak in some hand holding with Lucy and she still goes for it. Most recently, we were laying together on our mutual chairs at the pool. I reached out to hold her hand and she held mine back. For a long time. We just sat there like that for a while, watching the world go by. Some bigger girls walked by and she could have cared less. I don't take these moments for granted for one second. I know these moments are so fleeting, I will cry if I think too hard about it.

My Little Secret...

You know how you just HAVE to do things when you are a parent?
I mean, things that you never in a million years thought you'd EVER be o.k. with? Things you must do because no one else is around to do it and you are THE MOM?

O.k....then here's my secret...everytime we find a spider in the house, I act like it's "our little friend who got confused...blah blah blah..." and gather it up to put outside or smash when no one is around. The truth is...

I WANT TO KILL MYSELF EVERY TIME! THE TRUTH IS OUT, TEENAGER LUCY AND TOMMY READING THIS! I HATED EVERY MINUTE AND WANTED TO SCREAM AND FLAIL WITH EVERY SPIDER I HAD TO SMASH! AND I HAD THE WILLIES ABOUT IT FOR 30 MINUTES AFTER! AND CURSED YOUR FATHER FOR BEING AT WORK SO I HAD TO KILL IT MYSELF! I AM A FREAK SHOW!

Whew...glad to get that one out....

Why Do I Do It...

Why do I feel the need to continue to terrorize my body by doing things like eating pinto beans. It tasted so good last night in my Santa Fe dip. So innocent and tasty. But now...NOW my stomach is screaming back at me and has been all day.
Damn my irritable bowl syndrome.

See what happens when I don't talk about the kids? I talk about guts.
What has become of me?

In other news, I have a JOB interview on Tuesday! What the heck? Stay tuned...

I Can't Stop Myself....

I've been holding off a few days on a post for a reason - I feel as if my 10 readers may be sick of me writing about my kids! However, I currently have no other exciting topics to speak of other than those two whack jobs. I don't blame you...it can be obnoxious. But, I can't help myself! It's my "mother's journal" of sorts, so here we go...
1. Tommy is saying many new sentences like, "Mama bear got blue chalk on it!" or "Mommy, are we going to go over there?" or "Sissy! You are being a naughty girl!" or "I had fun at the beach! (greatest one ever)" He is having another speech spurt and every day brings a new, funny sentence that makes me giggle.
2. Lucy is being a great helper. She randomly is into washing cars, the basement, tables, etc. She helped my neighbor wash her car last week for no reason, other than she genuinely liked to do it. My neighbor gave her 50 cents and she could not believe her luck..."I will take this to Disneyworld to buy something!"
She "cleaned" our basement for on hour today during her "quiet time."
She is different...oh, she's my daughter.
3. I really like hanging out with the kids and really miss them when I am gone. I went on a lovely overnight trip with neighbors this past weekend but oddly found myself missing them quite a bit more than I expected. My inner dialogue was all, "You are so lame, Sarah! You are luxuriating in the sun, laughing with friends and reading a smutty gossip magazine! Does it get any better?"
Don't get my wrong, it was super fun and relaxing. I was just sometimes wondering what they were doing and randomly sad I was missing out on watching them have fun. I realized that's one of the major reasons I decided to stay home with them. I can't stand missing out on what they are doing, what funny thing they said or watching them discover and explore things. I just have to be there and I can't even stand it. Ridiculous...
4. Umm...we leave for Disney in only 10 days. Can I just say I AM FREAKIN' EXCITED??!!! Holy moly I have been planning this trip for 1.5 years!!!! I have researched like no other and have what I believe to be the perfect itinerary for a 2 and 4 year old headed to Disney! Screw Hurricane Faye...lookout Mickey! We are coming next week!!!
5. Lucy peed in a trash can for no reason other than "to be naughty." She did not tell me. I discovered it today after 3 days had passed. This is so absurd, I don't even know how to follow up with that sentence.
And good night....

Best Errand Ever...

Yesterday morning, Tommy and I went shopping to pick out a new backpack for nursery school. And by "Tommy and I" I mean "Tommy."
The boy had a LOT of opinions about things. Once I talked him out of the ridiculous Kung Fu Panda ugly red backpack, we moved on to the cute, little, plain, sporty backpacks.

"Tommy? How about this cute blue one? You love blue!"
"How about the red one?"
"But blue is your favorite color!"
"I want red."
"You are sure you want red? You usually love blue."
"Yep."
(Can you tell which one I preferred?)

So the red backpack went home with us, and I currently have two adorable backpacks being monogrammed at the stationary shop in town.
I DO NOT want summer to end (do not get me started on my self-imposed pressure to get to the pool 3-4 more times between now and Labor Day), but imagining dropping off two cute kids at school in monogrammed backpacks made me pretty excited for fall for about 1.2 seconds.

Renewed My Faith and Then Some...

Whew! A successful camping weekend! Matt and I had held our breaths as we headed out to our last camping trip of the summer, praying this one was a goodie. And let's just say, it was much more than just successful.
Hikes were taken...adventures were created...friendships (for both big and little people) were rejuvenated. It was truly a relaxing trip that was MUCH more fun than work (not always the case with our camping trips of years past).
Highlights included the South Haven beach, luxurious ice cream, a lovely drive through town during their Blueberry Festival, and blueberry picking - a first for our entire family.
So now, we head into a lazy summer week of not a whole lot going on. Lucy is currently watching DVR'd Olympic gymnastics in winter snowboots, which of course is an entry all it's own.
So far, I'd say August is completely awesome.

Can't Stop the Dance...

Just as many parents get excited about their child learning to walk, I was excited about a Lucy milestone yesterday. We had our block party last night, which was a huge success. I told Lucy earlier in the day of this party and by "quiet time" she was working on some sort of dance with her ghetto blaster* in the basement:

"Mom? I am going to do a dance show at the party tonight. Can you bring a few chairs around? Watch this one, mom...I like to call this "the cowboy."
(Does fully choreographed dance moves)
"Now mom? Can you get me some paper? I need to make tickets."

Sure enough, she brought the tickets, ghetto blaster and her dancing feet to the block party. Sadly, the older girls had their own plan, while belting out the Jonas Brother's lastest tune on the porch with a real radio. But that didn't stop Lucy...she recruited Tommy and her friend Annie to dance-off to "the cowboy song" and didn't mind that I was her only audience.

*And by "ghetto blaster," we are talking the plg radio toy she has had since she was 6 months old.

Remembering...

My Godmother passed away this past week, after fighting a brain tumor for the past year. Tomorrow I will be spending the day at her funeral.
Obviously, I have been thinking about her off and on over the past few days.
Some memories...
*A new MSU sweatshirt from her for Christmas every year.
*Receiving cards from her for every holiday over the years and always liking her handwriting. I can envision it now.
*Laying in front of the fireplace with her as a little kid and cracking peanuts from the shell.
*She being the only one who could really give my dad a run for his money when playing Trivial Pursuit.
*Being happy to reconnect with her as an adult during my wedding showers, etc.
*Realizing we actually have a lot in common (camping, travel, etc.).
*Being lucky enough to visit with her every year and her getting to meet Lucy and Tommy.
Alice will be missed...