There is NO Quit

Lizzie stood there, with tears running down her face, arms lifted up for me to grab her. I told her to go back to her class. My heart was breaking. We have started a new gymnastics class and Lizzie isn’t adjusting well, not well at all. Two classes down and it’s the same thing each time – tears and arms up for me to hold her. But she comes from a family who doesn’t quit – if you quit once it makes all the other times easier to quit – and we don’t raise quitters.

Later that class (maybe 10 minutes later) she was giggling and doing a great job. What would have happened if I would have told her it was ok to quit – would she push through and keep going on future activities? Getting out of your comfort zone, even at 3, is an important life skill. It’s also an important life skill to know that your parents / friends / church / God / support group will always be there to watch you succeed, but they shouldn’t be there to let you quit. Never quit. Never make quitting easy.

Celebrating the Mundane

Friday nights growing up were always celebrated. We went out to eat, or to a ballgame. Our Friday nights are pretty mundane, but last night I decided to have an indoor picnic to make it festive. Being routine and rule followers we always eat at the kitchen table. Last night was fun, for all of the 10 minutes it took us to eat our supper. Here’s to finding ways to celebrate the Mundane.

Dorable

“You look beautiful” I told Lizzie Lou after putting her hair in her signature side ponytail.

“Dorable” Lizzie Lou said.

“Yes, adorable” I said with a tear choked back, hoping that she would always be so matter of fact about how beautiful or adorable she is, always.

Happy New Year’s Eve – 2011

Goodbye 2011.  You were great.  I’m ready for an even better 2012.  Happy New Year!

Inspired by my sister’s 2011 blog post (mayorofthebux.com), here’s my 2011 recap:

• January – Must have been a busy month, didn’t blog 😦 Did plan to read 15 books this month throughout the year. That would be reading my monthly book club book, plus 3 more books for the year. Celebrated Super’s birthday and our wedding anniversary.
• February – Only posted one blog post – but it’s a super cute picture (go find it, I’ll wait).
• March – Almost the same for March….pictures are even cuter than February. You don’t know this from the blog, but I started reading through the Bible this month, March 21st. Embarrassed to say that I’ve never done that, read through the entire Bible. As of today, I’m 77.8% complete. Thanks to the YouVersion Android app, I’ve been able to stick with reading my daily plan – actually, I’ve been listening to it on the way to work. March also was Bug’s birthday, we had a princess themed party (small just family) and she LOVED wearing her princess costume.
• April – No posts in April. You’d think I was busy or something this past year.
• May – May I started back posting some…my favorite post was about Lizzie Lou eating the coupons at Kroger.
• June – June was big. We went to the beach and it was amazing. We also took Lizzie Lou to the allergist, which didn’t yield great results (we got those later in the year). The beach trip was one of the items on my dream list and this trip did not disappoint. We also went to the lake.
• July – July is a big month – it’s the annual Mt. LeConte trip and this one was the best yet. For one, both my sisters were there. Great trip. I also received a print that I’ve searched for on line for several years. The print is now hanging up in my office.
• August – Lizzie Lou turned 1 this month. We also had some challenges with Bug and her bladder, thankfully we’re much better now. Went to Cheekwood (another items off my dream list) and Bug got her first set of stitches.
• September – Two life changing things happened this month (one horrible thing, my car was broken into, but we won’t talk about that much). First, I ran a 1/2 marathon. I still can’t believe it. What was even more exciting was that my sweet Dad had shirts made for the event and my sister surprised me at the start line. Second life changing event that happened this month was I changed jobs, back to a place where I feel at home and fit best. This month I also vowed to not run on “low fuel” – I’ve almost succeeded. 🙂
• October – We went camping this month and decided that we’d be buying another camper. Girls had such a great time. Had an amazing Halloween (princess and cupcake costumes for the girls). Went to the pumpkin patch, first time and it will definitely be a yearly event.  Stopped running this month, decided I was never going to run again….picked it back up in November.
• November – One of my favorite “mom moments” happened this month, I got a paper from daycare from BUg on how to cook a turkey, go check it out, it will make you laugh.
• December – We had an amazing December. Reindeer Farm, ICE!, Dance recital, Christmas and just being together.

If you made it here. You’re either my sister or my parent. Thanks for staying to the end! BTW – I did achieve my goal to read 15 books, I actually read 26 (details on Goodreads, if you’re interested).

Sometimes You Need To Read