FRANKENSTORM

Well, the votes were cast....and lovely lady didn't make it! It was one of the most heartbreaking days of our lives so far! We tried to prepare her for the possibility but she didn't take it very well at first. She just quietly walked up to her room after school and broke down in tears. I wasn't exactly sure how to comfort her. We took her to dinner that night to let her know we were still extremely proud of all her accomplishments. She overcame a fear of standing in front of room full of people that she barely knew. She made signs and campaigned all week. In our eyes shes still a winner!  In the end she realized it was a great experience and you can't win em all! She did come in second to a two way tie though! :)

We also completed the light the night walk.  There was a great turn out for such an amazing cause! It was very emotional hearing all of the survival stories and the stories of those who have lost a loved one to this vicious disease. It really makes you appreciate the life you were given. Don't take a single day for granted!

We were so blessed to be able to go there with my mom who is a lymphoma survivor!! Six years Cancer free!

Now...to prepare for the Frankenstorm!!! Hurricane Sandy is supposed to hit our area pretty good! Us Delawareans aren't really used to big storms so when they are predicted to hit, the stores look like its prep time for the zombie apocalypse!

 Even the Dollar Store had massive lines for batteries!! Schools have already closed for Monday and some for Tuesday! So after our fall fest today we will be coming home to batten down the hatches!! The kids love when we have these once a year threats for storms, we put their mattresses in the basement and camp out all night! Hopefully it won't be too severe, and my heart goes out to all of the families in the Bahamas and surrounding areas who have already lost lives due to this storm.  It really is no laughing matter, and its better to be safe then sorry!

Wishing everyone a safe weekend!! Stay Dry, Take cover, and stock up on water if you're in the areas that are predicted to be hit!! Don't forget about that baby formula and diapers if you have an infant!! Guess this wasn't the best month to give freezer cooking a try! I have $400 worth of frozen meals in my freezer!! Really hoping we don't lose power for too long! Happy Weekend everyone!!

Election Time

 I was always taught not to talk about politics. Its a very touchy subject to many and has been known to end friendships, start family feuds, and have your neighbors hide from you.  I've lived my life that way, until this year. This year is a very special election year for me, so I am going to be very open about who I'm voting for and why I believe in it!!!!

                                                       LOVELY LADY #1!! :)


 My oldest Cecilia is running for class president! I am sooo proud of that kid. She is in second grade and her teacher is AHHH-MAZING!! Cecilia is absolutely the happiest I've really ever seen her as far as school goes.  Everyone in the class had the opportunity to nominate themselves if they were interested in running.  Twelve out of nineteen kids decided to go for it. The class then had to vote for who they wanted to see run. Everyone got two votes each, because obviously all twelve would vote for themselves so to be fair you had to pick a second.  Now.... my lovely lady is brand new in this school.  She has made quite a few fast friends and is pretty social though very shy. I know its a bit of an odd combination. But still, brand new and alot of the other kids already have strong friendships and probably know who they want to vote for. So I had to help her think of something to draw in these votes! I don't always agree with it, but in this case we had to do a little "undercover" bribery! I took her to Staples thinking that we could just buy a few cool packs of pencils and hand them out, but in the middle of the aisle I saw a clearance on CANDY, which was kind of what I was trying to avoid, but the brain started spinning and I helped her come up with a pretty cute idea, if I do say so myself!

SMARTIES!! She made little baggies for all of them with a pack of smarties and a big smiley face sticker and wrote a slogan on a cute little Sticky note that said, "Be a Smartie and Nominate Cecilia for class President!" She worked for at least an hour straight packaging these all up! I started to worry that I was setting her up for failure! She was getting so excited about it, What if nobody voted for her?!? After all there were twelve kids going for it! Needless to say, my stomach was in knots ALLLL day long! And she had an after school walking program that day, so I had to wait an extra hour to find out! 
So, I get to the school to pick her up and she wont even tell me what happened! She didn't seem to upset so I couldn't tell if it was good news or bad news! Then she tells me that she wants to wait until we're home to surprise me.  I figured then that it had to be good news! So we get home, and it took forever to get it out of her but....She did it!!! Not only did she make top four but she had the most votes out of the four who were chosen!! Which meant she got first pick for her VP.

She's been working non stop since, on her poster board, speech, and "Vote For Cecilia" badges.  So, we'll just have to wait and see, but I won't keep quiet about this election! I'm am voting Cecilia for class president!! Her speech is on Tuesday and the big election day is Wednesday! FINGERS CROSSED!!! :)

Side Note: We're off to a cancer benefit tonight at the Wilmington River Front. Light the night, benefits Lymphoma/Leukemia.  Which my mom is a survivor of! We're so excited to be a part of these amazing event.  They are blowing up 1500 illuminated balloons!! Once it gets dark everyone get their balloons and walks the river front to literally light up the night, for all of the survivors, ones we've lost, and those who are currently fighting the courageous battle! Very proud to know that my kids will be a part of this. :)

Outta the Funk

As the infamous Diana Ross would say, "I'm coming out I want the world to know Got to let it show!" I've been in a serious funk lately.  And when I say lately I mean for the past three  years!! I"m not really sure what caused it, where it came from, or what it was about but I definitely felt it! I think I just started to feel sorry for myself. I'm basically a stay at home mom but I do have a part time job in the mornings at the YMCA.  My job is in the child care which was perfect because I was able to bring my lovely ladies with me every day when I went in.  After a while though I start to notice all of the true life "Stay at home moms" who have all morning to commit to classes and the fitness center.  I started to envy them, which I am not proud of! I kept telling myself that the only way I could make time for the gym is if I was a full time stay at home mom.  And so that was it, I made my mind up. Because I had to be in work for 3 small little hours every morning I wasn't going to make time for fitness and exercise.  And so came the 30+ pounds that I lost after having lovely lady #2. So obviously that was the root of it all.  With all weight gain comes some form of depression, which I really just like to call a funk in my case.  I still acted happy, it wasn't hard to get up in the mornings so I don't feel as though I was really depressed, but definitely not myself.  I haven't been myself for so long that I'm not even sure I know who "myself" really is.  Lovely Lady #1 came when I was only 18 years old.  She definitely wasn't written in my planner but i rearranged my schedule and managed to pencil her in! :)

 Life didn't stop, so I wasn't going to stop either.  I continued my then full time job at a local Christian childcare center and worked up until my due date.  After she was born I decided to stay at home full time because day care prices were expensive and the one I worked at didn't offer infant care. That didn't last very long, money got extremely tight so i contacted my old job and asked if I could come back with higher pay. She said YES! It was very bittersweet because I would have to leave lovely lady with a stranger! I shopped around a little and found the perfect fit for her.  She started when she was about 3 months old. Things were finally starting to look up for us! And then on her 1st Birthday I found out about lovely lady #2!

This time, I panicked! I quit my job when I was three months pregnant! No rhyme or reason, just pure fear of life. I was only 20! How in the world was I going to raise two babies?! My Handsome man, fortunately, was older and established and ready for it all! But that doesn't mean that it made it any easier for me to accept. All my life while everyone was dreaming of being a doctor, or lawyer, or teacher, I was dreaming of being a mom.  But when reality strikes and its about to happen wayyyy earlier then you ever anticipated, you get a little panicked and start to second guess it all.  In the end, she ended up being pretty cute so we decided to keep her! :) Thank god for all of the family support we had! But......back to my funk!

Years went by, My lovely ladies are now 7 and 5 1/2! I'm happily married to my Handsome Man, and things should be super for me. I should be yelling from the roof top about how happy and wonderful life is! Because it is! But along the way, I feel like I just put myself on the back burner on HIGH. My looks went downhill, my weight, my motivation.  I do fun things with my kids but at the end of the day I felt like I wasn't really there. I want to take more time to actually enjoy them. And feel happy about it all! And to do that, I need to make more ME time, even if it can only be 45 minutes a day, I need time for excercise, and time to discover who I am or who I want to be.  What do I want to do with my time now that they are in school? I want to be remembered, and talked about. I want to inspire others! So today begins my year long journey, that is if December 21st doesn't wipe us out first! If it does then today begins my 2 month journey to happiness! Being cleaner, more organized, creative, weighing less!, and putting that smile back on my face, that I left behind a few years back!

And with that, the treadmill that my handsome man bought me a few months back is calling my name! Lets get this party started!