I am in love

with October Afternoon!

What does your family culture make you do?

I've been reading a book by Tim Stafford called Never Mind the Joneses. I've really only started, but the introduction talks about how each family has their own family culture. And your family culture includes anything and everything, down to your basic Saturday morning rituals. It begs the question to be asked, what is one thing your family culture makes you do?

For me, since I am going to Sonic for lunch, I am thinking about a Sonic family culture experience. And just like the book talks about, this type of experience really has been passed down through generations. From back to my Grandpa's day of taking his family to the DQ for ice cream cones in their pajamas, to my mom taking us to a drive-thru and parking by a lake somewhere to eat it, now I have carried on the tradition. I have done the drive-thru to the lake routine several times, but last summer we took it to a new level when the first nearby Sonic opened. Since we had a 1-yr old, it changed the experience a bit. We loaded up and headed to Sonic. We placed our order and then shifted the kids to the back of the jeep. We quickly folded down the seat, set up a portable high chair for said 1-yr old in the back, a TV tray for the 3-yr old (to save any spills, of course), and then we crammed ourselves in back with them. To me, this seemed totally normal, but that doesn't explain why cars driving by were amused by the scene - I mean really amused. To the pointing and laughing extreme. I don't think they were laughing at us, but they were laughing. I thought it was great fun!

May I continue passing down my bizarre fast food traditions from generation to generation. I sure hope Grandpa was watching us that day! He may have started all this business.

So what does your family culture make you do?

I am so looking forward to reading this book, which seems to first help you understand what family culture is, identify your own family culture, identify what you want in your family culture, and figure out how to nurture it and let your family thrive within that culture. I am hoping it is one of those life changing books you just have to read. If it is I'll let you know.

I love...

I love smiley face fries, macro setting,

and I love love LOVE little boys in basketball class, which we started going to tonight. The way to a boy's heart is through sports!

Purpose

Recently, a good friend of mine was working on a project to map out her purpose in life and inquired what I thought my purpose in life is. I realized I should have an automatic response and didn't. Or at least, I did have one and lost it along the way, or forgot to think about it. How easy is it to do that?

So on this Monday morning, it finally dawned on me. I didn't want to go ultra-Christian on her and spout off a bunch of stuff I should say, and then I couldn't think of something that would encompass everything sort of in one little package. It was bothering me that my mind was drawing blank in this area. This morning, I had a keep-it-simple-stupid moment, and realized my purpose quite simply is to live out God's purpose in my life. By simply, I mean, a simple phrase, not that knowing or figuring out God's purpose is easy or automatic. If you don't actually consciously think about it on a daily basis, it means nothing. I've lost sight of it several times, including maybe for several years now.

I enjoy reading The Positive Mom's blog, and haven't for a while, and today I happened to find this little quote from a mountain climber. “Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day-to-day obstacles of life - Facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, Testing our resources against the unknown and in the process, Discovering our own unique potential.” John Amatt

If I wanted a resume "Objective" line for life, I'd want to say something like that - to face new challenges, seize new opportunities, test my resources against the unknown and in the process discover my own unique potential. How cool and uplifting is that for a Monday morning?

Dear Purpose, stay with me and don't let me forget you this time!

Buddy Holly and the girlie girl

Look! My very own Buddy Holly!
And his sister the girlie girl

This is especially girlie - notice her pointing to my leg? She was exclaiming about my painted toenails! I just love these munchkins!

Things that amaze me

1. Matthew is starting to read! I can hardly believe it whenever it happens
2. Ellie's vocabulary. Tonight she said "I want to save the rest of my milk for later." That's an 11-word sentence! WOW!
3. Space shuttles, because we're about to take a trip to see a shuttle launch
4. The price of a trip to Walt Disney World! We modified our shuttle launch plans from a family trip including Disney World, to a 3-night weekend for me and the hubs. We're saving Disney World until the kids are older.
5. My extreme ability to sunburn. I went in for what I thought was a modest amount of tanning time, and today most of my body is red.
6. My little boy and how grown up he was getting his haircut today. Not cutting his hair myself is still a rather new development, so it's a new experience each time.
7. My husband's sensitive stomach. He broke it to me that one of my new layout experiments made him nauseous. I wanted a transparent background, darn it! But I can't be making my readers ILL. If I even have any readers anymore... Are you all still out there? Dear hubby, I hope you like my background better now. XOXO

These new templates are fun!

Hello, blogger, where did all these changes come from? I'm loving the new template options. I'm not sure if this one will stick because there are just too many I'm fond of! Yay! Renewed interest in blogging? Perhaps.

Sorry I have been M.I.A. I've been having a bit of my own personal crisis, which I think is coming to a close. Not a crisis like some might think of a crisis. No death, injury, illness (beyond the norm) to speak of, more of a crisis of motherhood. One week I've been ready to join the ranks of SAHMs (stay-at-home-moms), another week I've been ready to start my own daycare, another week I've been going to write the next great children's book. I'm going to thank God's timing on this one. As I was going through my inner turmoil, and trying not to drive the hubs TOO crazy, it occurred to me switching daycare might do it. I don't know why. Don't get me wrong. The daycare the kids have been in has been fine and good for them in many ways, just not exactly what this crazy lady has convinced herself her kids need.

One day, daycare suddenly closed for a death in the family, and I quickly found a substitute for the day, one we tried to get in with before and couldn't. It's also where our former beloved daycare now sends their daughter once a week, who is the same age as my boy and adores my girl too! Well, it went really well for the day and we decided to see if they had openings. They figured out how to make it work since my boy will be "school age" soon, which opens things up a bit. Long story short, they have openings, they're a mixed-race family like ours, they have several kids the same ages as ours in daycare, and several of them will go to the same school together with my boy. Perfect! Nervous about the transition to be sure, but it's for the best for everyone I do believe. Will this help my crisis? I sure hope so. I'd like to think it's all in the timing in this situation.

I vow to turn a corner and return to my more sane self. That self will never be fully sane, but what mom is? Let's be realistic here. For now, I shall enjoy my mother/daughter crafting weekend next to a lake, with a fireplace by my side. 2 days to go! Thanks for listening, hope you enjoy my new layout... which will probably change several more times.... (by the way, I enjoy purposefully ignoring sentence structure and proper punctuation)