Grateful for Today...

I am very lucky and I am thankful that I realize that every day. Tonight I listened to Kalli read her chapter book for her homework,

and I watched Kaya eat butter cookies off her little finger (like all of us used to).

And, we ended the night scrapbooking together and this is the page Kalli made all on her own.

She even selected the photos for me to print her from iPhoto (I love the Mac I inherited from Shannon and could not imagine not having it). We are the kind of family that "clinks" (toasts) our Milk Glasses and holds hands and prays at dinner.

I just felt blessed beyond measure.

Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.

This is long rather rambling post, so I wanted to start out with two photos I feel grateful that I have:

Have you ever had a day that you almost cannot even explain? You guys might think I am totally nuts, but man, yesterday was that kind of day. It is hard to explain, but for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be at this moment in time. I am so grateful that I lived my life yesterday....

It is too long to type out, but basically, I was overwhelmed with signs that everything I have done in the past has led me to exactly where I am right now.  I tired to explain it to my husband, and he thought everything was simply coincidence (and I think he thought I was nuts), but I do not believe any of it was an accident....  I met an amazing lady because I dialed the wrong number, I met another person who absolutely needed a product I had to sell her....  things like that. Oh, it does sound like I am nuts when I type it out.... 

And a woman came into my booth and was looking at my Gratitude Tree and she glanced at the following photo of my Mom and she said, "Wow - it is incredible that someone embraced life to that point." I asked her what she meant and she said that rarely does anyone allow themselve to enjoy life to the point of that kind of laughter. And she mentioned what a blessing it is to have it captured in a photo. She had no idea that the photo was of my Mom or that my Mom had passed away. She just noticed this one photo of a random person and commented to me how amazing the person was just from seeing that one picture. That person has no idea how impacted I was by her comment.

Anyway, the day ended with this long, drawn out way of how our family picks a movie.... and after this odd process, we ended up with Mr. Magoriums Emporium (which I had only seen a few moments of here and there). All four of us laid on the air mattress in the basement and watched the entire movie snuggled togehter. Well, I SOBBED through the darn movie...  it really struck a cord. It started with them saying how all stories end and then you need to start a new book (I knew I was in trouble at this point) and then it went on to show this amazingly wonderful last day and as he "left" this earth I was sobbing..... And there is this incredible life lesson played out in the movie.... it was beautiful and meaningful and MAN, it made me miss my mom. What I would give for one last day with her.... basically the story was about finding the courage to move on because that truly is your only option.

Here is an exchage from the movie that stopped my heart for a moment:

Mr. Edward Magorium: (to Molly about dying) When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? He's written "He dies."  That's all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is "He dies." It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with "He dies." And yet everytime I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know it's only natural to be sad, but not because of the words "He dies." but because of the life we saw prior to the words.

Mr. Edward Magorium; I've lived all five of my acts, Mahoney, and I am not asking you to be happy that I must go. I'm only asking that you turn the page, continue reading....  and let the next story begin. And, if anyone asks you what became of me, you relate my life in all its wonder, and end it with a simple and modest "He died."

Molly Mahoney: (starting to sob) I love you.

Mr. Edward Magorium: I love you, too.
(picks Molly up, sighs heavily)
Mr. Edward Magorium: Your life is an occasion, Rise to it.

listen to this if you have a couple minutes....  I found it while trying to link to a part of the movie I wanted to post here. I have no idea how to put a you tube video in here, but I think you can link to it. I never heard this girl before - I guess she was on TV.... I loved the video.....  I think, if you have not seen it, you should rent this movie and look for the message you might pull out of it.

OK, I have got to go back to my booth....  Both girls are coming with me today to play with the 7 year old in the booth next to me. They are so excited to make a new friend. I love how kids look at the world. I hope you all have a day that brings you some sort of clarity about something. And that you enjoy every moment.

Gratitude Tree

Oh My Goodness. I am in love with this new wrought iron tree from Once Upon A Family....
It just came out and I got it last night. I could not sleep I was so excited about turning it into a gratitude tree.

I have one of these to sell this weekend and I will also be taking orders. I hope to turn this into a class for the holidays. I will keep you posted. I am having issues with the link to my cart, but if you want to look into getting just this tree for your family, email me and I can help you. It is only $35 plus shipping. I LOVE IT!

Enjoy the journey

Hi Guys!!  I am so excited that for once....  I got a DEAL on two things I really really love. I always read about the smoking deals other people get (and I feel a little jealous). Well, I went to target today and happened to walk down the Scrap Aisle (which was mostly on clearance) and there were two things left on the TRAVEL pegs, and I LOVED THEM BOTH. And, I make travel journals all the time, so I could totally justify spending only $3.51 on $14.08 worth of stuff I really love!!  I am just excited. I never get deals like this. I am taking a little trip to South Carolina this weekend, and these new little babies are sure to get used!

And, on top of that - two other cool things happened to me. A good friend gave me an iTunes gift card to get this awesome new 33 Mile album (she knew my heart needed some happy new tunes) and my doorbell rang and when I went to open it, Kal, Kaya, and the three neighbor kids were holding hands and singing this amazing song.

After the other girls left, we all took photos of each other with my camera (the girls LOVE using my big Nikon - especially the little one). I mean, really - could I get any luckier today?

Hope you all took one little note on something that made you feel lucky today.
Thanks for reading this blog.

Blessed beyond measure....

That is how I feel tonight. Tired (even though I got a lot of sleep today), but grateful. Grateful for a fun & safe adventure to Colorado (and happy to have about 1200 photos of the journey)

and a very successful garage sale upon our return home.

And, I am MOST GRATEFUL for my husband getting the entire garage back in order and a local church for picking up things that did not sell, and my friend Lisa taking home all the excess scrapbooking stuff - so now - it looks like there never was a sale here! And our lives can get back on track. I also am grateful for the burden of stuff that has been lifted after finally making time to purge. Things got really backed up after my Mom's sudden death, and knowing I needed to do all that sorting a purging was a burden on my heart. Now that is done, and once I get things back into shape in our home - I know I will rest easier knowing that we have tried to only keep what we use and love. The sale was also a great success and my husband needs some car work done, and what we made will more than cover that. So, it was perfect timing after all.

Here are a few of the MANY photos I want to share with you guys.....

This is Kaya with fresh cookies Lisa baked that she was supposed to sell - but I think she ate them all!

Kalli with her Lemonade Stand (and chips and candy and hot dogs). She is trying to raise enough money to get her sister an American Girl doll. She has already saved enough for her doll - she is trying so hard to get one for Kaya!

Us on the train ride TO Colorado. It was an excellent trip and all four of us loved the train. (That is my Grandma - the girls Great Grandma that we got to take this journey with)

All four of us on the journey home. The girls are in their new Hannah Anderson Pajamas I was lucky enough to find ON SALE! (they never go on sale). They made the trip home more comfy for them. 

  

Us three girls in Estes park - amazing views. 

  

Where we live you pull the car off the road to show your kids one little deer - Well, coming down the mountain, we were lucky enough to be FIRST in line when the ranger stopped traffic to allow a herd of about 40 Elk to cross the road. It was unreal - like nothing I have ever seen. The mommy Elk had to nudge the babies down the drop to get to the other side. It was 20 amazing minutes. 

  

We stopped on the side of the road to enjoy a HUGE slide with the whole family. 

  

My cousin built the sets for Little Shop of Horrors and we were lucky to be there for closing night. Kaya was TERRIFIED of the plant, but Kalli loved seeing the little plant up close after the show. 

  

Auntie Julie took the girls on a wild girly shopping spree that ended with a fashion show and lipstick kisses. 

  

Kalli did SO WELL on her first day of first grade. She was amazing. I was so grateful that she has adjusted so well so far. 

  

Kalli all ready for day TWO of first grade (in some new fancy clothes from Auntie Julie).

  

Our amazing friends came in from Wisconsin to help me with the sale (thank goodness they were here) and Lisa brought her cash register which saved the day and kept the lines moving quickly. My kids love their family and we love them! 

  

One final train image - if you have not ever looked into it, price a train for your next vacation - my kids and 84 year old Busia loved it. It was an excellent journey. 

Will be back tomorrow with a few photos of the travel journal I made along the way. I missed you guys. 

Blessings in a cardboard box...

What an exciting package we received in the mail today!! I accidentally left my phone charger in the room at CHA and Danelle mailed it back to me. Well, I came home from work today to a box much bigger than my cell phone charger! I opened it and found an AWESOME assortment of shoes and almost all of them fit Kaya RIGHT NOW. It is amazing timing.... Kaya only has one pair of shoes that really fit her, and I dreaded having to find the money to go get her a few more pairs. Kalli is hard on shoes - REALLY HARD - so they never really last for Kaya. And I work in construction, and new home building is SUPER SLOW in Indiana, so there is no extra money right now. None at all. Like magic today, this box arrived as if I willed it here. Danelle is a true believer in thinking good thoughts.... bringing about good actions. Well, I think she just might be right. Kaya was so excited about the new shoes... she made all the little friends we have over come into my office to see them all - then, she hunched over them and protected them like a lion protecting her cubs so they would not think about touching her new prized possessions!! There are two pairs of boots that will be PERFECT this winter. Ohhhhhh, it just made me so happy. I love it when friends take care of friends like that. I am so grateful for this very happy package. I am actually happy I left my phone charger behind! :)

Grateful for a wonderful day

We were blessed to have 6 Chinese College students come to our home today for a peek into life of an American family (not sure we were the best choice for that... but my brother was in charge of their group, and we only live 90 minutes from Purdue University... so we were the best choice he had I guess!!). Kalli worked all morning on hand making them each a sign with their name on it. She was so cute about it. Today was just amazing. We had a nice cook out and they loved playing games in the basement my dad finished when he lived with us. They LOVED my girls and my girls LOVED all the attention. I took photos all day long and ran into my office and printed them as we went along, so when they left, I handed them each a Cropper Hopper 4 x 6 photo holders (I totally love these) full of about 30 photos from the day. YEAH for my Epson printer - ran through an entire ink pack, and LOVED letting them walk out of our home with photos they will have forever.

After they left, my family swam and Kal swam up to me and told me that between these kids and the two Australian Group Study Exchange girls we had with us earlier this summer - "This has totally been the best summer of my whole life." Cannot really ask for more than that. I am so grateful they have gotten to meet people from other parts of the world. When I think back, I think until I left for College, I might never have met someone who actually lived in another country. Amazing opportunity for us to have these guests today. And, they were such good, sweet students.

At the end of the night - we always ask the girls "What was your favorite part of the day?" And Kalli said "I had such a great day, I cannot even really pick - but I guess it was making 6 new friends from China. Even though we will never see them again, they will always be our friends, right??" And I told her yes, they will. What an amazing day for our family.
I hope your weekend is full of fun memories, too.

Happy for a BIG reason!!

THANK YOU to one of my very special blog readers for the amazing surprise that showed up on my porch today... the book I was obsessing over the book "Happy for no Reason". I was totally stunned to open the Amazon box and read her kind hearted note! It was a super part of a rather stressful day. I cannot wait to get the kids down (they have not been well behaved today, and they are totally getting on my nerves) and get things straightened up so I can snuggle into my bed and start this amazing gift. Never underestimate the power of a kind gesture. That one reader totally rocked my world today and I am so grateful.

11 years ago yesterday....

I got married. I just thought you all might like to see me with BIGGER hair and skinnier! :)

Ahhhh, the days where anniversaries meant fancy dinners and sleeping in the next morning....

Well, we spent our big night helping my dad's new wife move, had dinner at a new local place by their house with everyone, and took the kids swimming at 9 PM. Not what you would have thought would have been fun 11 years ago, but I LOVED IT! I loved helping my dad - having dinner at a fun new place, and just being together. And both kids are getting so much better in the water. It was a peaceful evening.... I enjoyed it all. Oh yeah, we went to bed REALLY late for them especially, and little Kaya drug me out of bed at 6:50 AM. Yeah, there are a couple things I do miss about those sleeping in days.... but overall, life is amazing. And I am very grateful for it all.

I made Neil a SIMPLE, cool album for our 9th anniversary. I will try to dig that out tonight and post photos of you to see a sample of another super easy gift. Have a great today!

What a weekend!!

I hope you all had a nice weekend. My family stayed up WAYYYY too late, ate WAYYYY too much and I took WAYYYY too many photos. It was all great. I felt lucky to live in the USA, happy to live in my neighborhood (we had an amazing block party), and just peaceful to be a Mom. It was busy, we are all cranky and a little sick to our bellies from eating so poorly, but we are happy. And that is cool. I am not sure if you will be able to tell in the photo, but cute little Kaya rode her bike ON HER OWN this year in the neighborhood parade..... she was so far behind anyone else - the policeman picking up the rear and Kaya actually became friends as he drove 2 miles an hour talking to my funny little slow biking kid.... it was neat. Then, they let off the fire hoses and the kids go crazy. On top of that and standard 4th of July things like parades and festivals, we had our annual block party yesterday and it rocked. Literally - the DJs were LOUD and we had a blast. Neil and I even came in 2nd in the Corn Hull Tournament - totally fun for all. The kids LOVED playing in the street! Not the best lesson, I know, but they sure love it once a year!! The food was in our garage (huge mess) and the borrowed waterslide totally tore up our yard.... but we would do it all again tomorrow if we could! Here are a few photos from the weekend.... cannot wait to show you what I have going tomorrow for MAKE SOMETHING MONDAY!