Celebrate Good Times

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I love June. It’s my favorite month of the year.

Today my heart was full.

Charlie had his promotion ceremony, ending an era at our elementary school. We were quite proud of him and all of his accomplishments and involvement in our school community.

My parents were here to share the celebration and I am so thankful they took the time to come and be with us. Charlie was thrilled too!

ML and I have been working for months on the promotion dance for our middle schoolers. Tonight was the event and we spent all day and night preparing and setting up and cleaning up with an awesome team of volunteers, including my mama. We were pleased with the results and were happy to see our kids so happy! I loved working side by side with my BFF, my mama, and friends.

Congratulations graduates from preschool through college! xo
Life is good and I am excited for summer vacation to begin this weekend! Be well. xo

22May2015

Celebrate Good Times

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I am still in celebration mode with the end of the school year wrapping up and have more good times to share. We’re tired and we are arguing a bit more than usual, and yet we keep on going, of course!

We came to celebrate Charlie today for being recognized for his math skills.

After his award assembly, we had another celebratory party to recognize the Future Scientists and Engineers of America. They had their last class today and celebrated with cake and chips and fruit and drinks.

We found the bench at the elementary school, which is dedicated in memory of Lynn Rose, who served as a mentor and giver to our community, and who Juliana was given a memorial award to in her honor last night. We ran into teachers who congratulated her and told her that she was well deserving.

And one last celebration was being able to all join Christian for his swim team awards. He’s come along way and has been dedicated to practicing every day even with his injuries.

I am proud of my kids and am glad that they have found activities that they love.

What are you celebrating this week?

Life is good – celebrate!!

xoxo

1May2015

Last Walk-a-Thon

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This one enjoyed walking his last laps today and was ready to go home early. He insisted he was done with his laps and did enough for the day with 26 laps. I don’t blame him as it was very hot and I am happy he chose to participate.

From the soccer field we moseyed on down to the pool to see CJ do his thing at his meet. I love this shot of him and love that he’s enjoying swimming every day.
Juliana had fun meeting her friends at Starbucks after school and joining me to watch her brothers. I love that they all support and love one another.

Being with my kids and watching them enjoy themselves are some of my favorite things.

What are some of your favorite things?

30Mar2015

The Easter Bunny is Coming!

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Charlie loves holidays and today we realized Easter is already this weekend. We went up into the attic together to bring down the Easter boxes.

He’ll probably hate this one day but right now, he gave me permission to share this picture.

I adore him and his spirit.

We love to decorate and to look through our treasure boxes of holiday decorations and memories. I LOVE that he still loves this tradition.

He asked me to look through the box with him and I loved seeing the Winnie the Pooh dressed as a bunny from 1999 that was Christian’s when he was a baby. I loved seeing the crocheted chicken that my grandma made. And I loved the kids’ art and even the messy grass.

Easter is this weekend. Are you preparing for HIS arrival?

Hope you have a good week!

Namaste

17Mar2015

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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My little leprechaun set a trap last night, hoping to catch his sneaky little friend. He placed a gold coin inside to lure him in, but this year the leprechaun wasn’t fooled and never attempted to go in. He just left shiny foil wrapped chocolate coins outside the ladder and left fun toys.

The leprechaun also made quite a mess of our house, turning the cushions on their sides, placing chairs on the table and bananas on top of the glass cabinets. He barricaded Charlie’s room and had Charlie up by 6 am to let us know that he was no longer at our house.

I love his spirit and excitement for the holidays. He brought his leprechaun hat and clover necklace to school today and wore a green shirt. I love this almost middle schooler, and just really admire his enthusiasm and way of celebrating life.

I made the traditional corned beef and cabbage and boiled potatoes that I make once every year on this date. Jeff and I shared a stout beer and celebrated a quick family dinner before going on with our nightly duties.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Wishing you the luck of the Irish and may all your dreams come true.

Life is good.

3Mar2015

Goodbye, Hello

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My friends Yin and Yang were with me all day today.

First thing this morning, we reluctantly said goodbye to Charlie as he loaded the bus to go on his overnight adventure to science camp. He was excited and nervous and so were we. I am hoping he has a great experience and I’m sure he will be ok.

Then early this afternoon, we anxiously awaited the arrival of our Japanese student and were so happy to finally meet her when she arrived.

It’s been a day filled with mixed emotions.

I am happy and tired.

Charlie, I miss you.

Akie, I am glad you are here and hope you enjoy your time in California with our family.

Namaste.

2Mar2015

Feeling Anxious

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I know I have nothing to complain about and that my worries really aren’t worries. But they are on my mind and make me anxious and rock my world a bit.

My baby is leaving for sleep away science camp in the morning. He laid out all his clothes and toiletries and personal items and walked through his checklist, checking things off as he found what he needed. I helped him to pack everything away, but mainly he did it all on his own. He’s growing up and I see it. I see him changing in front of my eyes and it makes me a little crazy. I know it’s a good thing and it’s really weird when you’re actually aware of the change happening as it’s happening. This rite of passage trip is a good thing. This rite of passage…yeah, I know, I know. Still anxious.

I know he has to go off with his classmates and sleep away from home, with “strangers.” He doesn’t find out who his bunkmates will be until he arrives. He’ll have to do things on his own and repack his bag and remember all of his belongings without my help. I know he can do it. But I kinda like looking after my little bird.

My nest will feel empty with him away. I like knowing that he is safe with me and that we are here for him, if he needs us, not that he ever really does. He’s pretty self sufficient, and tonight when he asked me to get him some water, I felt honored to help him and not irritated. He needed me.

He does need me of course, and I need him. He asked me to come snuggle on the couch tonight since it was his last night at home. He’s feeling it too. Of course, I stopped what I was doing and we snuggled and watched tv, under a cozy blanket. I am going to miss him.

At the same time as he is leaving, we are also receiving a Japanese exchange student for 12 days. I am excited and anxious about this too. I was nesting, getting her room ready and cleaning up the house and wondering what to bring her and what to buy for her and what to cook. I was even learning and practicing Japanese. We don’t speak any Japanese and I hope she speaks a few words of English. Otherwise, I am hoping that Google Translate will help us to understand one another. I am excited to have a guest and to share and learn from one another, despite our language barrier and my initial anxiety.

Life is good, and sometimes a little anxious!

23Feb2015

Being Invited

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This kids cracks me up. I was looking for him today and found him perched on his dresser in his closet. He borrowed his brother’s headphones and was creating his March article for the school newspaper, using Google Docs. I think it’s really cool that he chose to be on the school newspaper editorial team and I think it’s funny that he likes to hide and work in his closet. He makes me laugh.

I like to think that maybe my blogging every night influenced his interest in writing too. I love that he shares my passion.

Tonight I was tired and told him it was time to go to bed. He wanted to read with me while I was working and I told him to go to his room. When I came to check on him, he invited me to join him instead.

With his big, beautiful doe eyes he looked at me and said how much he loved me. I told him these were the best words ever and was the greatest gift he could ever give me. He asked me if I wanted to come sit with him on his couch and write my blog while he read. How could I refuse?

I know my priorities and I know these little moments are what make life matter.

Here I am.
.

I hope you had a great day and enjoyed the little moments too. xo

12Nov2014

They All Grow Up

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Please slow down time. I’m loving this life right now.

One of the coolest things about having three kids, is that as I watch the oldest move through his high school years, the youngest one reminds me that the oldest was once his age and I can see time passing. It makes me be more mindful of the moments.

Tonight we stopped at the park between appointments because we had 30 minutes to spare. We went to Las Palmas park, which was closed for remodeling for sometime. When Juliana and Christian were little, I used to spend almost every week there watching them play with their friends and spending time with other mamas.

Coming back tonight, I admired the young mamas with their babies and reflected on that stage being over for me. I’m ok with that and happy to be where I am now, but every so often I remember what used to be as I look back with fond memories.

But tonight I was there to make new memories with Charlie. I LOVED watching him run around and exploring the new digs. He climbed to the top of the climbing wall, over and back, over and back, three times, without touching the ground, making sure I was watching. He climbed to the top of the highest slide and ran all around figuring out the new environment.

And I sat and watched him and loved him and got up to tease him and tickle him and was so very happy that we thought to spontaneously stop at the park to play.

This moment made my day. And tonight during prayers, he said, “I love you mama” and pulled his arms from under the covers to wrap around my neck to give me a good, tight hug. And then he said, “Let’s do roses and thorns” and he let me go first.

I told him my rose of the day was playing with him at the park and luckily I didn’t have any thorns today.

He said his rose was playing at the park with me too and that his thorn was missing out on serving at lunch duty today because he thought he had a newspaper meeting when he actually didn’t. He wished he could have worked with his friend Mark, and instead said he’ll have to wait to serve until Friday. We have to remember to do this every night and day.

These are the days.

Go outside and PLAY and plant some roses, BeLoveRs. xo

Namaste.

21Sep2014

Rest and Recharge

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How did you spend your Sunday?

I hope you found some time to slow down and to relax before the new week begins again.

Our family is trying to not be as scheduled on Sundays as we are so busy during the week. We are open to play yet we don’t want to feel committed to responsibilities if that makes sense.

For example, after church, one of my BFFs came over to have lunch and to watch a chick flick matinee together. Jeff went to watch a football game with his buddy and the kids just hung out. This was totally relaxing.

We came back together later in the day to share a celebratory dinner in honor of Charlie’s presidential win for his elementary school, followed by a trip to the grocery store to bring home ice cream.

This is how we relaxed and rested today. What did you find relaxing? I wish you a peaceful week, filled with love, BeLovers.