"A daily routine built on good habits and disciplines separates the most successful among us from everyone else. The routine is exceptionally powerful."
-- Darren Hardy
"Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be."
-- Samuel Johnson
"People will try to rain on your parade because they have no parade of their own."
-- Jeffrey Gitomer
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The Girl With High Expectations
From the moment Brooke's family moved in with us, she has anxiously been looking forward to her birthday. She had such high hopes and expectations for the most elaborate birthday party ever to be held in the history of birthday party celebrations.
Many days she would be busy at work making different things out of paper that she could use for decorations for her birthday party. She knew exactly which friends she was going to invite. She had the games all planned out. She kept describing what kind of cake she wanted. On and on and on it went.
Perhaps it's because her parents have been so preoccupied with the million hours they have spent working on their new house that they didn't even want to acknowledge Brooke's birthday approaching because they weren't going to be able to live up to her high expectations. They wanted to just skip over it until they could get settled in their new home and then give her a proper birthday celebration.
Ta da! Grandma to the rescue!!!!
It wasn't fancy or frilly or anything like the visions of sugarplums and fairies or anything else Brooke had running around in that over-active little brain of hers. But, just as anticipated--she loved what we did for her and she was perfectly happy being the birthday girl turning 5 years old.
Rebecca had put up construction paper 5s all around the house for her to see when she woke up.
Brooke even had a 5 taped to her spot at the table. Rebecca had also made party hats for the stuffed animals.
Brooke's eyes lit up when she saw the pink, heart-shaped birthday cake with her name on top.
She wanted to put the candles on the cake where she wanted them.
It was surprising she didn't want to light the candles herself.
She sang the birthday song to herself.
She blew out her candles with the help of her little sister.
Let them eat cake!
Then it was time to open presents and cards.
After all was said and done, Brooke had a nice little birthday celebration. Of course it's nothing like she was dreaming up for herself. But, she was happy to be 5 and she's been doing so well to share her sticker book with Caroline. What a girl!!!
Many days she would be busy at work making different things out of paper that she could use for decorations for her birthday party. She knew exactly which friends she was going to invite. She had the games all planned out. She kept describing what kind of cake she wanted. On and on and on it went.
Perhaps it's because her parents have been so preoccupied with the million hours they have spent working on their new house that they didn't even want to acknowledge Brooke's birthday approaching because they weren't going to be able to live up to her high expectations. They wanted to just skip over it until they could get settled in their new home and then give her a proper birthday celebration.
Ta da! Grandma to the rescue!!!!
It wasn't fancy or frilly or anything like the visions of sugarplums and fairies or anything else Brooke had running around in that over-active little brain of hers. But, just as anticipated--she loved what we did for her and she was perfectly happy being the birthday girl turning 5 years old.
Rebecca had put up construction paper 5s all around the house for her to see when she woke up.
Brooke even had a 5 taped to her spot at the table. Rebecca had also made party hats for the stuffed animals.
Brooke's eyes lit up when she saw the pink, heart-shaped birthday cake with her name on top.
She wanted to put the candles on the cake where she wanted them.
It was surprising she didn't want to light the candles herself.
She sang the birthday song to herself.
She blew out her candles with the help of her little sister.
Let them eat cake!
Then it was time to open presents and cards.
After all was said and done, Brooke had a nice little birthday celebration. Of course it's nothing like she was dreaming up for herself. But, she was happy to be 5 and she's been doing so well to share her sticker book with Caroline. What a girl!!!
Monday, June 4, 2012
What You See When You Look Up
It was decision time for Dallas and Rebecca--paint their ceilings white or paint them the same color as the walls. As we were looking overhead to determine if our home has white ceilings or if our ceilings match the wall paint color, Rebecca saw something.
It was discovered behind the beam supporting the kitchen bay window and was up close to the ceiling line.
(We didn't find the arrow--I added that for pointing purposes...).
We saw this:
For the past few days I have been feeling very sorry for Sarah and all the trouble she's been having with her little wild "hooligan" as she calls her firstborn son who is getting into all sorts of things and is driving her crazy a lot of the time.
Perhaps Eli comes by his feisty little attitude naturally. If she thinks the terrible twos are bad (launching spoonfuls of tomato soup onto the walls), just wait to see what he comes up with when he's a teenager (writing graffiti on the walls).
I, for one, will just sit back and enjoy the stories! And by the way, Sarah, how in the world did you reach up that high to write your name? I couldn't even come close to reaching it to take a picture while standing on a stool. Thank goodness for the zoom feature on the camera.
It was discovered behind the beam supporting the kitchen bay window and was up close to the ceiling line.
(We didn't find the arrow--I added that for pointing purposes...).
We saw this:
For the past few days I have been feeling very sorry for Sarah and all the trouble she's been having with her little wild "hooligan" as she calls her firstborn son who is getting into all sorts of things and is driving her crazy a lot of the time.
Perhaps Eli comes by his feisty little attitude naturally. If she thinks the terrible twos are bad (launching spoonfuls of tomato soup onto the walls), just wait to see what he comes up with when he's a teenager (writing graffiti on the walls).
I, for one, will just sit back and enjoy the stories! And by the way, Sarah, how in the world did you reach up that high to write your name? I couldn't even come close to reaching it to take a picture while standing on a stool. Thank goodness for the zoom feature on the camera.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Quotes of the Week
"The possibility for rich relationships exists all around you -- you simply have to open your eyes, open your mouth and most importantly, open your heart."
-- Cheryl Richardson
"There's always going to be bad stuff out there. But here's the amazing thing -- light trumps darkness, every time. You stick a candle into the dark, but you can't stick the dark into the light."
-- Jodi Picoult
"It's the little things you do that make the big things happen."
-- Mike Dooley
-- Cheryl Richardson
"There's always going to be bad stuff out there. But here's the amazing thing -- light trumps darkness, every time. You stick a candle into the dark, but you can't stick the dark into the light."
-- Jodi Picoult
"It's the little things you do that make the big things happen."
-- Mike Dooley
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