A friend from my hometown recently posted something on Facebook that really hit me.  Her name is Cindy and she is an amazing mother of two adorable boys.
    Cindy is currently teaching a “Strengthening Families Class”.  She posted that when the kids in the class were asked what stressed them out or upset them, they responded, “When my parents don’t listen to me or they walk away when I'm trying to tell them something.”  They also said that it hurt them when their parents “Answered their cell phone during conversations".  (ouch.)  How many times have I been guilty of this?  I can be on the phone, watching a show, making dinner, working on the computer…it’s hard to think of the amount of times the kids have wanted or needed my attention and I’ve simply responded, “Hang on a second, I’ll be right there.” 
     Now, I don’t think that a parent should drop everything at all times and wait hand and foot on their children.  I do believe that kids need to learn how to be patient and respectful.  On the other hand, it breaks my heart to think that children in their little minds would ever have a sense of being ignored or neglected.  How many times are we texting, surfing the web, or anything else so simple, causing us to “put off” being with our kids?  So many things are so much less important than paying attention to them.  
     I’ll never forget one of my friends telling me how guilty she felt once when her five year old daughter relentlessly pulled on her shirt as she tried to clean the kitchen. When my friend had finally had enough, she looked down at her daughter with exhaustion and snapped, “WHAT?!” Her little girl looked up with hurt in her eyes and held a picture that she had drawn for her mom.  
    That happened before I had kids, but it resonates even deeper with me now that I do.  I am guilty of that same exhaustion, frustration and impatient attitude. I hate it when that’s felt by the kids.     
     It was good to get Cindy’s reminder of what’s really significant in life.  Friends, family and especially our children are irreplaceable and should always feel important.  Thank You for your wonderful words of wisdom Cindy!  I’m going to go hang out with the kids now!  XO

    When The Hallmark Channel asked if I would review some movies for them - I secretly jumped at the chance with excitement just thinking of the upcoming holiday premieres. There's nothing quite like making a big bowl of popcorn and snuggling up with a blanket during a Hallmark Movie around this time of year.  I recently watched "The Good Witch's Charm" and was happy to do just that.  
    To begin with, I love Catherine Bell (Army Wives) and have watched the Hallmark "Good Witch" movies from years past.  It was nice to see how this year things were pulled together, allowing us to see her character of Cassie Nightingale settle in with her family, new baby and community. 
     Aside from running her charming shop, Cassie tries to
juggle being the town mayor and spending time with her husband, town sheriff Jake Russell (Chris Potter, “Heartland").
     Like any busy mom, Cassie decides to plan a vacation for the whole family in attempts to get away and spend time together.  Things become complicated, however, when an investigative reporter (Geordie Johnson, “Durham County”) decides to run an unflattering article on her - stirring up questions of her "magical ways". 
    Things become even more entangled when there is a crime wave that sweeps through the town and Cassie's stepdaughter (Hannah Endicott-Douglas, “Casino Jack”) is accused of the town robberies. 
     On top of everything else, Cassie's estranged foster mother (Janet-Laine Green, “Haven”) suddenly appears leaving you to wonder how everything will work out in the end.
     I loved watching this movie and it was so much fun to get into the "spirit" of the holidays.  I hope you will enjoy it too! 
    The Hallmark Original Movie, "The Good Witch's Charm" Premiers on October 27 on the Hallmark
Channel - Saturday, October 27 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, 8:00 p.m. Central.  
     Have an Enchanted time...and enjoy!

     It happened.  Right there in front of the check out lady with her shiny name badge and pretty earrings...it actually happened.  The first Christmas presents for the kids were swiped and purchased right under my nose.  As each *beep* sounded with the slide of a bar code, I couldn't figure out if I was overcome with visions of sugarplums dancing around their heads, or simply just feeling a queazy knot build up in the pit of my stomach.  It isn't even HALLOWEEN for Pete's sake!  How did this happen?
     Maybe it was the fact that the whole store (from front to back) was decorated in Christmas trees.  Red, green, twinkling, beautiful Christmas trees...have I mentioned that it's not Halloween yet? 
      Has it always been like this?  Maybe I'm crazy but I remember as a kid being SO excited after Thanksgiving to start looking for the first signs of Christmas.  The decorations, music, the magic of it all seemed to take forever until it arrived. 
     I guess it must work though, because there I was - standing at the register with Christmas toys for the kids...in October.  
     Maybe I'll make the most of it and look at it as planning ahead...yeah...that sounds good.  I'm sure that just like everything else, it really is going to seem like no time at all before Christmas is actually here.
      So Happy Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas since they all seem to be together now!  May your days be Merry, Scary, Stuffing and Bright. 

    Try to imagine what a three year old little girl can do with a ton of silver glitter  - and a bathtub.  Are you picturing it?  Aaaaaaaand that was our day.
    Lauren Elizabeth found a whole container of glitter and poured it in the tub.  She got IN the tub and tried to roll around.  Evidently - it didn't stick well enough - so she decided to turn the water on to help.  Yes...there's nothing quite like a soaking wet three year old...covered head to toe in glitter.      
      Where was I you ask?  In the same room.  I knew she got in the tub, I knew she turned on the water...it was only when I noticed that the tub wasn't full of its usual clouds of bubbles that I focused in and saw how the water was completely sparkly.  I was folding laundry and happened to miss the glitter part...yes...it happens that fast. 
    When I screamed after realizing what she had done, Lauren got the biggest smile on her face and said..."But I DID IT Mommy!  I'm a Fairwy Pwincess!"
     The rest of the time was spent trying to wash glitter out of her hair and everywhere else.  You wouldn't believe how literally impossible it is to wash glitter off of a child in a bathtub, when the bathtub itself...is...full of glitter. 
     I didn't know whether to cry from it all or be proud of her for accomplishing her "goal" of becoming a magical fairy. 
    To all of you with Fairy Princesses of your own...Lauren wishes you a very magical (and sparkly) day too...minus the bathtub.

     My stomach hurts.  I have laughed so hard that the muscles in my stomach actually hurt when I move.  We spent the last few days back home in Ohio visiting my best friend and roomie from grad. school.  Her name is Amy and her birthday is coming up next month.  Her husband Dominic arranged to bring my husband and me home to surprise her.  We asked my parents if they could watch the kids, they agreed...and we were good to go!  (THANK YOU to the moon and back Mom and Dad!  You are the BEST!) 
     As soon as we landed in Columbus, Ohio we knew it was going to be a weekend of Birthday cake, beautiful fall weather, Buckeye football and best friends.
    There's something therapeutic about shutting off the whole world and getting together with friends or family.  You know it's something when the people you're with feel like they're both.  To be able to sit and laugh and talk, never realizing that it's well past midnight is a rare find.  
      My hope is that our kids will know such friends in their lives.
      We MISS You Amy, Dominic and your sweet babies!  We can't wait to see you again!!!  Thank You SO much for everything and may this year be the Best ever!  We Love You!  Happy Birthday Amy!!!

    You know how with kids - you can tell how much something actually hurts by the amount of time it takes for them to start crying after the pain? 
     Take today for instance...my parents were visiting and the kids were playing.  Mom and I were working on a scrapbook as the kids ran around the house.  Christian is learning how to zoom in his wheelchair pretty well since his foot surgery, so evidently, he and Preston were having a race.  Out of nowhere, there was a big "THUD".  It sounded like whatever it was, couldn't have been good - but there was no cry.  (Wait for it...)  WWWAAAAAAAH!  Little Preston started screaming like a madman and we knew by the amount of dead air it took between the thud and the scream, that it must have been something major. 
    "WHAT HAPPENED?!"  As we ran to survey the damage.  Big brother Christian looked at us with a guilty shrug and muttered, "Uhhh, well, we were just having a race and then, um, Preston was watching where I was going but, well, then he ran into the wall by mistake."  (Seriously?) 
      As we tried to pry Preston's freakishly strong hold off from his forehead, we could tell there was already a big goose egg starting to grow. 
      It took no time at all for Christian to call for his younger brother, Ethan, to come check out the "cool" knot that was growing on their little brother's head.  Enjoying the undivided attention, Preston suddenly got the biggest smile on his face and his tears began to dry.  For the rest of the night, he wore his big bump like it was a badge of honor.
     I never thought we would have to establish a rule of: "No playing chase or racing with the wheelchair" but sure enough, there it is. 
     With that being said, you never want your kids to get hurt.  It's almost always worse when there's that lag time between the incident and the cry though.  I don't know why it happens, but I sure do hate it when it does.       

    The boys finished their soccer season for the year.  As much as I was born and raised to love the game of football, I'll have to admit, it was one of the coolest seasons ever.  All of the kids from both teams grew together and had such a great time.  
    To help celebrate the end of the season, I happened to find a cool cake pan that was in the form of a soccer ball.  I was so excited to try it and see if it would really work.  The cake pan came in two halves and when baked and cooled, went together with icing to form a perfect sphere.  I could just see the kids go crazy over it and wonder how they had such a super magician mom who could actually bake a cake in the shape of a ball.  
     Everything looked like it was going great and the house smelled amazing as the two halves baked into sports perfection.  I took the pans out for the cake halves to cool and waited for the chance to frost them.  
     When the time came, I flipped them onto the counter.  One half turned out perfectly while the other half turned into nothing less than a science experiment.  It started to cave in through the middle while chocolate ooze started to fill in the hole.  It was hard to decide how something that smelled so delicious could look like some strange life form.  
     Having one good half, I did what any other parent would do when set on party mission mode.  I iced it and tried to decorate with whatever was left.  
      After dinner it was still fun to see their faces when I put the chopped-in-half soccer ball cake on the table.  They didn't know the difference (and probably didn't care) because after all, cake is cake.
      I washed the half round pans and put them away on a shelf until next time.  Come to think of it...basketball season will be starting up soon.  I'm sure it couldn't be too hard to try and make orange frosting to give it another try. 
     Until we meet again, impossible round cake, until we meet again.

     Preston and Lauren have been wearing their Halloween costumes non-stop, just waiting for October 31st to get here. 
    Preston has been full of questions about Star Wars lately, wondering such things as - if Luke Skywalker's best friend was Han Solo or Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Was Princess Leia his sister and if so, then who was their mom? 
      He's really getting into the world of Star Wars which is fun...fun that is - until today when the mother of all Star Wars questions came out.  "Who is Luke Skywalker's Dad?"  I gulped as he looked at me with his big wondering eyes.  I didn't know what to say.  "Ummmm, er, uhhhhh..."  The last thing I wanted to do was to crush his little Skywalker spirit and blurt out that it's the bad guy of all bad guys himself...Darth Vader.  How could he understand that?  How could the evil Darth be the FATHER of all that is good? 
      I quickly asked Preston where his light saber was and told him that he needed to go and find it...fast!  As he ran off, I couldn't help but grin and shake my head.  At least there will be one more day in a galaxy far, far away that a five year old little boy will only know of "good guys" and "bad guys" without much confusion in between.  To tell the truth, I'd actually rather have him watch the movie and hear the iconic line first hand.  That will be a little time from now when he's older though. 
      Until then, I know of one little Luke Skywalker that will be counting the few days left until he can conquer planets full of chocolate and candy, one front porch at a time. 

    "Catch THIS one, Mom!" Ethan yelled as he went back to throw a football.  Flying through the air, I watched as the ball came right towards me and bounced off my hands.  Flinging back into the shrubs behind me, the football rolled and stopped in the mulch and flower bed that is in front of our house.  "Aaaahhhh, Mom!  You could have caught that one!"  Waving an acknowledging hand to our son, I went barefoot into the bushes and flower bed to bend down and reach around for the football.  (Got it!)  As I started to stand back up, I suddenly caught a glance at something that looked long and scaly.  As one more fraction of a second passed, I realized that I was standing right beside what looked like a great big snake. 
      Now I'm not one to scream at the sight of a creepy crawly snake or spider...but being barefoot right beside one (not knowing where the head or tail is) is a whoooole different story. 
     Believe me when I say that I have not moved that fast or jumped that high in I don't know how long.  I swear I could have made the qualifying rounds in this past summer's Olympics.
     My mind began to race at what to do next.  I knew that first I had to determine if it really was a snake, and then I had to figure out what to do about it.  I didn't want our seven year old son to come and investigate, so I threw the football as far as I possibly could as he ran after it. 
      Darting up the front porch stairs, I had the heeby jeebys as I looked down into the flower bed and saw a huge long snake sprawled out under the shrubs.  It was different, though...it was perfectly still and the closer I looked, it didn't look right at all.  I got down closer and realized that it wasn't a snake but a perfect and complete snake's skin.  It even had the shape of the snake's head and eyes.  It was one of the most unreal things ever.  
    By this time, Ethan was almost back to me and I had another decision to make...let him see the snake skin or avoid it altogether.  Not knowing where Mr. Snake actually was and hoping that he was long gone, I called Ethan up on the porch with me and had him look down to see the skin.  I ended up having to hold him back from wanting to go down to try and get it.   
     Adam and the rest of the crew came out to see the remains of our slithery friend as Adam picked the skin up and put it in a bag.  
      As luck would have it, Ethan's second grade class is studying reptiles - so he took the bag to school saying something about being the "Coolest Day EVER."  (So sorry to his teacher.)
      If you would have told me years ago, that one day, my life would be filled with a house full of boys with mud and dirt and footballs and snakes, I never would have believed it.  As wild as our house is though, I sure wouldn't have it any other way.  One thing's for sure however...you can guarantee that from this day forward, I'll be wearing shoes when we go outside...and if anything ever goes into the bushes from here on out, be it a ball, toy or frisbee...I will be just fine if it stays there.  Mr. Snake can have it...all to himself.    

      I haven't really started to feel "old" yet.  I feel tired definitely, but not old.  This weekend just about knocked me over though. 
      Back in 1976 I was three years old and my mom took me to the park.  While I was playing, mom met a another mother who had a three year old little girl too, named Tricia.  Tricia and I formed a friendship from that day that is like no other.  Time passed but she and I have stayed close throughout it all. 
      Even though I live in North Carolina now and Tricia is home in Ohio, we still talk on the phone at all hours -laughing away like time stands still. 
     In 1998, Tricia and her husband had a beautiful baby girl named Mackenzie.  She was a perfect bundle of pink happiness.  It was so cute to see her little fingers and toes and be in awe of such a blessing.  Fast forward to 2001 when Adam and I got married, Mackenzie was our flower girl.  She took her job very seriously making sure that each flower petal found its place.  It was amazing to think that Tricia and I were just around the same age as Mackenzie when we met at that park.  For whatever reason, even though I know that Mackenzie is 14 years old now, I still think of her as that cute little flower girl from our wedding.          
      Tricia and I were talking on Saturday and she was telling me that Mackenzie made the freshman attendant for our high school's Homecoming court.  She told me about the game, the dance, Mackenzie's dress...finally she said, "Go get on your computer and see the pictures".  As soon as I logged on, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  Mackenzie was beautiful.  So grown and tall and by no means a baby flower girl anymore.  Tricia could tell I was shocked at how much she had grown even in the past year.  That's when she said what hit me the hardest..."It goes by so fast."  I looked over at my three year old little girl and tried to imagine Lauren Elizabeth as a freshman in high school while a knot welled up in my throat. 
    I don't know if I'll ever feel "old" no matter what my age, but it made me realize just how quickly time passes.  I think tonight when our baby girl puts on her princess dress and wants to dance around the room I'll pick her up and dance with her instead.  Seeing Mackenzie made me realize just how fast things really do change. 
    We're so proud of you Mackenzie!  Congratulations to you and have fun in high school!  Lauren Elizabeth can't wait to see you again and says that you are a "Pincess" now.  We know that you always have been though, ever since the day you were born.