I don't do resolutions because I feel like it sets me up for failure. Too much performance pressure! However, I do believe it making a decision to attempt to make lifestyle changes small steps at a time.
My biggest area of opportunity is patience with my family. I don't have nearly enough of it. And I think it rubs off on my children because they don't have patience with me or each other.
Not quite sure how to accomplish this yet. I'm going to try to stop and breath before I open my mouth or react. I'm going to try to walk away when I can. I was a much a much calmer level headed person before my youngest was born. I'm truly unhappy with how I automatically react to stressful situations at home. My heart races and I automatically get annoyed, like someone is intentionally trying to push my buttons and irritate me. And who knows, maybe sometimes they are. But, I am in control of myself and how I choose to react.
So, change starts slowly, one step at a time tomorrow. Breathe...1,2,3... Wish me luck. I can use all the support I can to help me be a better person and mom!
(Good thing I'm starting tomorrow because the kids are arguing and my 8 yr old is grumpy and overtired...thank goodness midnight is only an hour and 6 minutes away!)
Friday, December 31, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Holding my family closer this Christmas
The kids went to bed last night excited for Christmas Day. Our plans were to go to my parents house and open presents in the morning and then have the kids open ours when my husband got home from work in the afternoon. Santa is making a special delivery tomorrow (Sunday the 26th) with his gifts.
I awoke a little after 6:15 a.m. to the sound of the town's fire alarm going off constantly like it was stuck. And then the sounds of sirens for at least 15 minutes straight followed by about a 15 minute break and then another string of sirens. I just knew it was something horribly bad. I also knew that it was someone I knew. I live in a small town and am active in the school/PTO.
By 9 a.m. I found out it was in fact someone who worked in the school and was a part of my daughter's girl scout troop. I am thankful that she, her husband and 2 children (7,10) made it out. They lost everything but the clothes on their back, including pets. I don't know her too well but she is always nice to me and my daughter. My heart broke when I heard the news. I walked around for hours in a daze needing to help in some way. I always feel things strongly and it was even harder knowing the family effected. I soon found where they were accepting donations and the sizes of the children. I sat my daughter down and calmly explained what had happened and that her friend (not a close one, but a friend all the same) was ok but that her family house was gone along with all of her clothes, toys and Christmas presents. I debated long and hard about if I should tell her and what details I should give her. It was a given that she would learn in a little over a week what had happened, so I decided to let her know so she wouldn't be surprised at school with it.
My daughter made me so proud! It took her a moment to truly grasp the details. As soon as she did, she offered me lots of her toys some new and some old but in good condition. I think she would've given away almost everything if I had let her. My precious baby girl with a heart of gold. In the end, we had a huge bag filled with at least 8 pairs of pants, a dozen long sleeve shirts, hair accessories, gloves, winter hat and toys. A friend of ours was heading to the fire department with a donation of her own, so I gave her ours to take too. She told me that the community had already rallied in a matter of hours and things were pouring in. Hopefully within the next days we'll get more details concerning shoes, coats, food, etc. I want to get together another care package and bring it over. My heart goes out to the family and I just want to sob my eyes out whenever I think about it. It's been hard to put it to the back of my mind.
Today, I hold my family a little tighter and take more time to appreciate the small things. Also, going to review our fire plan with the family again and maybe install a smoke detector in our basement. I never thought of that until a friend of mine mentioned how her dryer almost caught on fire when she was younger and the smoke detector is what saved them from harm. Never even thought of that. I hear in this case, the fire started outside, possibly with the lights and came in through the walls. There was no warning for them. Thank God that they got out alive. It truly was a Christmas Miracle. Please keep them in your prayers.
I awoke a little after 6:15 a.m. to the sound of the town's fire alarm going off constantly like it was stuck. And then the sounds of sirens for at least 15 minutes straight followed by about a 15 minute break and then another string of sirens. I just knew it was something horribly bad. I also knew that it was someone I knew. I live in a small town and am active in the school/PTO.
By 9 a.m. I found out it was in fact someone who worked in the school and was a part of my daughter's girl scout troop. I am thankful that she, her husband and 2 children (7,10) made it out. They lost everything but the clothes on their back, including pets. I don't know her too well but she is always nice to me and my daughter. My heart broke when I heard the news. I walked around for hours in a daze needing to help in some way. I always feel things strongly and it was even harder knowing the family effected. I soon found where they were accepting donations and the sizes of the children. I sat my daughter down and calmly explained what had happened and that her friend (not a close one, but a friend all the same) was ok but that her family house was gone along with all of her clothes, toys and Christmas presents. I debated long and hard about if I should tell her and what details I should give her. It was a given that she would learn in a little over a week what had happened, so I decided to let her know so she wouldn't be surprised at school with it.
My daughter made me so proud! It took her a moment to truly grasp the details. As soon as she did, she offered me lots of her toys some new and some old but in good condition. I think she would've given away almost everything if I had let her. My precious baby girl with a heart of gold. In the end, we had a huge bag filled with at least 8 pairs of pants, a dozen long sleeve shirts, hair accessories, gloves, winter hat and toys. A friend of ours was heading to the fire department with a donation of her own, so I gave her ours to take too. She told me that the community had already rallied in a matter of hours and things were pouring in. Hopefully within the next days we'll get more details concerning shoes, coats, food, etc. I want to get together another care package and bring it over. My heart goes out to the family and I just want to sob my eyes out whenever I think about it. It's been hard to put it to the back of my mind.
Today, I hold my family a little tighter and take more time to appreciate the small things. Also, going to review our fire plan with the family again and maybe install a smoke detector in our basement. I never thought of that until a friend of mine mentioned how her dryer almost caught on fire when she was younger and the smoke detector is what saved them from harm. Never even thought of that. I hear in this case, the fire started outside, possibly with the lights and came in through the walls. There was no warning for them. Thank God that they got out alive. It truly was a Christmas Miracle. Please keep them in your prayers.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Holiday Ice Show
My kids skated in their ice rinks annual holiday show last night. I was so nervous for my daughter because it was her first and she tends to be shy about performing in front of people.
She got a nice surprise from my stepdaughter. She bought her a cute little purse and a wallet and gave her some makeup to wear during the show. Bless my SD because she is so good with the kids and my heart melted when she presented DD with these gifts. She helped DD shower and get ready. DS is an old pro at this so he was dressed and ready hours before hand. It's easy when you're a hockey player. They put on their favorite jersey, helmet and skates and their good to go.
DS skated with some of his fellow teammates to the song Shout and Bad to the Bone. It was great! Some of it was choreographed and the rest was a mini game with Santa. Too cute. I loved the part at the end where they were jamming with Santa. It had the audience laughing!
DD skated two numbers...one right after the other. She nailed it! I was so happy for her. She overcame her stage fright. She told me she wasn't really even that nervous. Now she's looking forward to signing up to do a skating competition. I figure, if she can get through a holiday show with a bigger audience than what the competition brings in then she's good to go.
And....to top the night off DD lost her first tooth while we were out for pizza after the show! Yippee!!! That tooth has been loose for at least 6 weeks now. One of her skating coaches told her not to loose it on the ice or the Zamboni would eat it up and then the tooth fairy would give it the money. That made me laugh so hard! I tell you though, it kept DD from playing with it during the show because we were so worried she would actually loose it while she was skating! The tooth fairy was very generous since it was her first tooth and gave her $10.
She got a nice surprise from my stepdaughter. She bought her a cute little purse and a wallet and gave her some makeup to wear during the show. Bless my SD because she is so good with the kids and my heart melted when she presented DD with these gifts. She helped DD shower and get ready. DS is an old pro at this so he was dressed and ready hours before hand. It's easy when you're a hockey player. They put on their favorite jersey, helmet and skates and their good to go.
DS skated with some of his fellow teammates to the song Shout and Bad to the Bone. It was great! Some of it was choreographed and the rest was a mini game with Santa. Too cute. I loved the part at the end where they were jamming with Santa. It had the audience laughing!
DD skated two numbers...one right after the other. She nailed it! I was so happy for her. She overcame her stage fright. She told me she wasn't really even that nervous. Now she's looking forward to signing up to do a skating competition. I figure, if she can get through a holiday show with a bigger audience than what the competition brings in then she's good to go.
And....to top the night off DD lost her first tooth while we were out for pizza after the show! Yippee!!! That tooth has been loose for at least 6 weeks now. One of her skating coaches told her not to loose it on the ice or the Zamboni would eat it up and then the tooth fairy would give it the money. That made me laugh so hard! I tell you though, it kept DD from playing with it during the show because we were so worried she would actually loose it while she was skating! The tooth fairy was very generous since it was her first tooth and gave her $10.
Awesome Compliment
I just had to share because I'm bursting with pride! My son has been playing hockey for about 2 1/2 years. He started playing goalie about a year and a half ago. He's honestly a natural. No bragging on my part, it's just true. After my son's Mite game on Saturday I had a fellow hockey mom come up to me and ask me about him while we were in the locker room unchanging. She asked how long he'd been playing and I told her. She said she was amazed by him and that he was so talented. She told us that she looks forward to watching him play every week. Is that amazing or what?! I told him that his goal is to be play in the NHL and her reply was...you can tell he wants it by how hard he plays. Wow! I'm so proud of him!
First Sleepover at our house!
For most little girls one of the most dreamed about thing is sleepovers and slumber parties! My DD6 had her first sleep over at a friends back in early October and since has 2 more since. However, until this weekend we have yet to have a girlfriend sleep over our house. There's one little girl we've been planning for (DDs BFF) but it's yet to happen because her daddy is still nervous about her sleeping over at other people's houses. I totally get that. So, it was quite unexpected when we had an impromptu sleepover Friday.
DD had a new friend over for a play date after school. This turned into dinner and a sleepover. I have to admit, we were both super excited! Everything went great.
The girls played baby dolls and did a lot of singing and dancing. It seems very few girls play with baby dolls anymore. I was so glad to discover the girl down the street liked them too when I was talking to her mom earlier in the week! We ate brownies, had hot chocolate and watched bits and pieces of Christmas shows/movies. The girls could settle on exactly what they wanted to watch. It was so much fun to watch them enjoying themselves.
Poor DS8 is having a little trouble with everything because DD new friend is a girl his age that he's known since they were in kindergarten together. Hopefully he'll move past this. I'm trying to get him to understand that while him and this girl have been friendly, they've never really hung out before and DD is not stealing her.
The girls were great about going upstairs around 9:30 and playing quietly. I blew up the twin air mattress and they argued good naturedly about which one would sleep on it. Funny thing is, they both wanted the bed before I blew up the mattress and then they changed their mind afterwards. Silly girls! The lights went out by 10:30 since we had to be up by 7:30 for DS hockey game. They did great and were asleep by 11.
What a truly wonderful night. I'm looking forward to the next one! I have a feeling it may become a weekly (or bi-weekly) event between the two houses.
Yeah for new friendships!!
DD had a new friend over for a play date after school. This turned into dinner and a sleepover. I have to admit, we were both super excited! Everything went great.
The girls played baby dolls and did a lot of singing and dancing. It seems very few girls play with baby dolls anymore. I was so glad to discover the girl down the street liked them too when I was talking to her mom earlier in the week! We ate brownies, had hot chocolate and watched bits and pieces of Christmas shows/movies. The girls could settle on exactly what they wanted to watch. It was so much fun to watch them enjoying themselves.
Poor DS8 is having a little trouble with everything because DD new friend is a girl his age that he's known since they were in kindergarten together. Hopefully he'll move past this. I'm trying to get him to understand that while him and this girl have been friendly, they've never really hung out before and DD is not stealing her.
The girls were great about going upstairs around 9:30 and playing quietly. I blew up the twin air mattress and they argued good naturedly about which one would sleep on it. Funny thing is, they both wanted the bed before I blew up the mattress and then they changed their mind afterwards. Silly girls! The lights went out by 10:30 since we had to be up by 7:30 for DS hockey game. They did great and were asleep by 11.
What a truly wonderful night. I'm looking forward to the next one! I have a feeling it may become a weekly (or bi-weekly) event between the two houses.
Yeah for new friendships!!
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